While looking for assets to be used in my Treasure Hunt 3D project from last year, I came across a very interesting package named Underwater FX, made by Rivermill Studios, which contained a large variety of tools, textures and models, making it a must for any indie developer looking for underwater themed content.
It has a variety of environment models which include coral rocks, seaweeds and sand, with multiple shapes and sizes, allowing developers to create many different types of underwater environment. An interesting feature that really gives the underwater “vibe” is the particles prefab representing bubbles and small fishes. Not only it can be used in contrast with the terrain, but it can be also be used in the background to “hide” unwanted parts of your background.
The animated fish and jelly fish feel very natural with the environment models and the undersea background shader, which comes with a custom script. The icing on the cake was the addition of a looping underwater audio file, which feel extremely natural with the rest of the package and is a must use for any developer. Shaders were still compatible with my 2019 Unity version, even though the last update this package received was from a couple of years ago.
For an asset package from 2018, Underwater FX can still be considered one of the best for indie developers seeking a large amount of content for one single purchase. The price of $25 is a bargain for the variety of content included, specially considering that everything is still working with Unity 2019. Some might argue that the package could have included more types of sea animals, but I believe Rivermill Studios wanted to focus more on environment assets rather than animated animal assets, which is perfectly fine. There are many other asset packages that focus on that, while only a handful were able to deliver underwater environment. If you are looking to make your water-themed game more realistic and immersive, do not hesitate to give Underwater FX a try.
Unity Asset Store Link: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/particles/environment/underwater-fx-61157#description