Aquanox: Deep Descent

AquaNox
Archimedean Dynasty	1996
AquaNox	2001
AquaNox 2: Revelation	2003
Aquanox: Deep Descent	2020

Aquanox: Deep Descent is a first-person underwater vehicle shooter and a re-imagining of the AquaNox series, set in a period that predates the Archimedean Dynasty. It is the first game in the series to not be developed by Massive Development. Its development was publicly announced in August 2013 by Nordic Games and was followed by a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015.^[1]^[2]

The game was released digitally on GOG and Steam on October 16, 2020, followed by its release on Epic Games Store on October 20. It is also available through retail channels offering a physical version containing bonus material.

As of the release day, the PC version lacks a number of important options, including a field of view slider and a vertical synchronization toggle. However, many of these options are adjustable through configuration files, while the native field of view can be modified using a community-made script.

General information

Official Discord server for game series

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store		Collector's Edition is also available.
GamersGate		Collector's Edition is also available.
		Collector's Edition is also available.
GOG.com		Collector's Edition is also available.
Green Man Gaming		Collector's Edition is also available.
Humble Store		Collector's Edition is also available.
Steam		Collector's Edition is also available.
Amazon.co.uk (unavailable)		Limited Edition.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\ANX\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/254370/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\ANX\Saved\SaveGames\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/254370/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video[edit]

Video settings

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		Vert- scaling causing the cockpit to be out of view. See Field of view (FOV).
Ultra-widescreen		Vert- scaling and stretched FMVs.^[3] See Field of view (FOV).
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)	Horizontal FOV of 80°. See Field of view (FOV) for other values.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Bound to the Texture Quality setting, where High and Very High are x8. See Anisotropic filtering (AF) to override.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Uses TAA. May result in temporal artifacting on in-cockpit monitors when their status changes. See Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)	See Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	Capped at 200 FPS. See Frame rate limit.
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 4 page for more details.

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Modify FOV with Cheat Engine^[4]

Download and install Cheat Engine.
Download the cheat table.
Launch Cheat Engine and the game.
From the File menu of Cheat Engine, click on Open Process.
Select the game process and click on Open.
From the File menu, click on Load (Ctrl+O).
Locate the downloaded cheat table and click on Open.
Click on the checkbox next to Activate AOB FOV hack.
In the field Set FOV value, double click on Value, and set it to the desired FOV.

Below are the recommended values for different aspect ratios:
- 21:9 - 95.5
- 32:9 - 118.4
- 48:9 (3x16:9) - 136.6
- 48:10 (3x16:10) - 132.3
- 12:3 (3x4:3) - 124.1

Anisotropic filtering (AF)[edit]

Override anisotropic filtering^[4]

Go to the configuration file(s) location and open Engine.ini in a text editor.
Add the following and save the file.

[SystemSettings]
r.MaxAnisotropy=16

Anisotropic filtering quality can be adjusted by changing the value between 1 and 16.

Anti-aliasing (AA)[edit]

Enable FXAA through a configuration file^[4]

Go to the configuration file(s) location and open Engine.ini in a text editor.
Add the following and save the file.

[SystemSettings]
r.DefaultFeature.AntiAliasing=1

Notes

Enabling FXAA will disable TAA.

Setting the value to 0 will disable anti-aliasing.

Vertical sync (Vsync)[edit]

Enable vsync in a configuration file^[4]
Go to the configuration file(s) location and open `GameUserSettings.ini` in a text editor. Find a line `bUseVSync=False` and set it to `bUseVSync=True` to enable Vsync.

Frame rate limit[edit]

Set FPS cap^[4]
Go to the configuration file(s) location and open `GameUserSettings.ini` in a text editor. Find the line `FrameRateLimit=0.000000` and set the value to the desired FPS cap - setting the value to 0 will result in FPS being capped at 200 unless FPS smoothing is disabled.

Disable FPS smoothing (200+ FPS)^[4]

Go to the configuration file(s) location and open Engine.ini in a text editor.
Add lines at the end of the file:

[/Script/Engine.Engine]
bSmoothFrameRate=0

Notes:

Uncapping the frame rate is not recommended.

Input[edit]

Gameplay settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Steam Input
Steam Input API support
Hook input (legacy mode)
Official controller preset(s)
Steam Controller button prompts
Cursor detection

Keybindings (1/3)
Keybindings (2/3)
Keybindings (3/3)
Gamepad layout

Audio[edit]

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		^[5]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play
Online play		8	Versus, Co-op Co-op is limited to 4 players.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Direct IP

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11
Shader Model support	5

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware[edit]

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX
Multiplayer	Steamworks

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7	10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i7-950 - 3.3 GHz AMD A8-6600K - 3.3 GHz	Intel Core i5-6600K - 3.5 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 1500x - 3.5 GHz
System memory (RAM)	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	30 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 AMD Radeon HD 7870 2 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible	Nvidia Nvidia GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 580 8 GB of VRAM DirectX 12 compatible

64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/254370/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (254370) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ AquaNox reboot in development at Nordic Games - last accessed on 2020-10-06
↑ We're funded! - last accessed on 2020-10-06
↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2020-10-16
Screenshots taken at 2560x1080 and 1920x1080, then compared. Played through the tutorial and some of the first mission at 21:9.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 ^4.5 Verified by User:Suicide machine on 2020-10-15
↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2020-10-16
Tested on a 5.1 sound system and confirmed the use of the rear speakers with Orban Loudness Meter.

[Proton_path_note-3] 1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/254370/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (254370) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] AquaNox reboot in development at Nordic Games - last accessed on 2020-10-06

[2] We're funded! - last accessed on 2020-10-06

[4] Verified by User:Rose on 2020-10-16
Screenshots taken at 2560x1080 and 1920x1080, then compared. Played through the tutorial and some of the first mission at 21:9.

[Sui-5] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 ^4.5 Verified by User:Suicide machine on 2020-10-15

[6] Verified by User:Rose on 2020-10-16
Tested on a 5.1 sound system and confirmed the use of the rear speakers with Orban Loudness Meter.

[1]

[2]

[Note 1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Developers

	Digital Arrow
Publishers
	THQ Nordic
Engines
	Unreal Engine 4
Release dates
Windows	October 16, 2020
Reception
Metacritic	66
OpenCritic	68
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Shooter, Vehicle combat
Vehicles	Naval/watercraft
Themes	Post-apocalyptic, Sci-fi
Series	AquaNox