You play as an ancient shark ascending through layers of cosmic ocean, hunting prey and reality itself while commanding a brood and collecting bioluminescent jellyfish. The game couples incremental number growth with prestige-style resets, building an unsettling, mysterious atmosphere through slow pacing and moody aesthetics rather than constant action. Best suited for players seeking meditative idle gameplay with genuine atmospheric depth and willingness to embrace the strange.
About this game
An eldritch incremental game where you are an ancient shark devouring fish, reality, and the concept of depth itself. Hunt with sonar, collect bioluminescent jellyfish, command a brood, dream the dreams of dead gods, and descend through layers of cosmic progression. The ocean is not water.
What players are saying
▲ Recommended0 hrs
The Ocean is not Water creates a really unique and unsettling atmosphere. The slow pacing and mysterious tone make gameplay interesting in a very subtle way, and the game does a great job of building mood without relying on constant action. The world feels strange and intriguing, and it keeps you curious about what’s happening beneath the surface.
I especially appreciate how much attention was given to the overall atmosphere - the visuals, sound design, and pacing all work together to create a calm but slightly eerie experience. If you enjoy atmospheric indie games that focus on mood, this is definitely a project worth keeping an eye on.
The ocean is not water. But it is, apparently, full of you.OceanFest came and went like a feeding frenzy like brief, violent, and somehow nourishing. The launch went well. Better than the shark dared hope when it first broke the surface, blinking and confused and ready.If you picked up The Ocean Is Not Water during the fest (or at any point, really): thank you. Genuinely. Every purchase, every hour spent hunting in the abyss, every save file the shark now carries in its memory it matters. The abyss noticed. So did I.You are the reason this thing exists outside my machine.The game is still young. The depths are deep. Reality is still occasionally negotiable. If you find something broken like a fish that refuses to be devoured, a number that shouldn't exist, a dream that won't end, a vortex that vortexes where it shouldn't please say so. Steam discussions, the issue tracker, a comment on this post. I read them all. The shark has many eyes now.If something is missing such as a feature you wish the hunger had, a quality-of-life current you want shifted, a mechanic that should descend further please tell me that too. I can't promise every request gets implemented, but I do promise they get heard. The abyssal backlog is real and it is growing.And if you've spent time in the deep and the experience fed you, even a little, I'd be grateful for a positive review on the store page. Not because the shark demands tribute. Because reviews help other hungry things find their way down here. Word of mouth, but with teeth.Until then: keep devouring. Keep descending. Keep listening when the ocean whispers.— Sharkey "Stars are visible below you. The abyss has no bottom. Neither, apparently, does your support."
v1.2.2 — "Readable Depths"The dream screen whispered in italics the player couldn't hear. Text scale now defaults to 150%, title and dream overlays stay legible at that size no matter what you pick in settings, and the subtext finally has enough contrast to read without squinting.🎨 UI / UX- Text Scale defaults to 150%. New installs and players still on the old 100% default are bumped to 150% once. The slider now runs up to **200%** for those who want even larger in-game text.- Title, dream, and offline screens fixed at 150%. These overlays no longer follow the Text Scale slider — they always render at a comfortable 150% baseline so narrative moments stay readable.- Dream screen readability pass. Larger narrative and choice description text, brighter contrast on offline duration and effect hints, and body copy switched from italic dim text to normal weight on primary/secondary colors.
v1.2.1 — "No Free Achievements" *(April 25, 2026)**A dev test save was hitching a ride into the build, handing every new player a half-finished trophy case the moment they launched. Also, the freshly-added Wooden Pixel track was sitting on the shelf with no price tag. Both fixed.*🐛 Bug Fixes- Bundled test saves no longer ship to Steam. The Steam depot manifests now exclude `Saves/*` from upload, so dev save files left in `release/win-unpacked/Saves/` or `release/mac-universal/.../Saves/` cannot be pushed to players. New installs start clean — no inherited cheats, no pre-unlocked achievements.✨ New Features- Water Minds — by Wooden Pixel Music. New 250-Pearl music track in the Abyssal Bazaar's MUSIC section.
Posts come from Steam's official announcements feed.
