Update! This problem has been addressed in the new version of Aquaria 1.1.0. A small glow effect now indicates which menu icon is selected. A definite improvement.

Menu button highlighted with a soft glow effect

Summary:
When designing menu screens, use visual hints to indicate the current menu.

Recipe screen from Aquaria

Problem: When searching for a menu button it’s easy to choose the same menu button twice, the button currently selected is not clearly indicated.

Aquaria uses a tab like menu system divided into four menu screens, each screen is similar to the others.

Menu screens

Solution: When the gamer clicks on the menu button, display a visual hint on or beside it. The hint remains visible until a different menu button is clicked on.

Menu buttons without visual hint

Menu buttons with visual hint to indicate selected menu

Menu screens with visual hints

Aquaria is a beautiful game with beautiful artwork, however, beautiful artwork will not guarantee that a game feels beautiful to play. A menu system that is unpredictable removes that happy shiny feeling a gamer gets when playing a game.