An incredibly popular genre of gaming that hasn’t seen action in quite a while is turn-based tactics: placing you at the control of an entire military and strategizing how best to rout your opponents while managing your resources and troops. Similar styles have emerged, such as the turn-based tactical shooter seen in the XCOM games and hero-based tactical RPGs like the Fire Emblem series, but the original has fallen into relative obscurity. There have been attempts to re-energize the genre in recent years, such as Nintendo’s attempted revival of the genre-defining Advance Wars series, but nothing has quite captured the niche like before. Enter Athena Crisis, a game boasting an expansive roster of available units and the ability to create custom maps, battles, and full campaigns. Taking inspiration from the many games that came before it while inviting in a refreshing layer of fantasy and unreality not typically seen in the more grounded realistic settings of its predecessors, the game attempts to balance the intrigue of an original story and the full openness of a level creating platform in an attempt to take its place beside games like Mario Maker and Super Dungeon Maker.
Boasting an impressively detailed and enjoyable pixel art aesthetic, the game features a cartoony and humorous full tutorial, a full original campaign to play through as well as a prequel campaign, a map-maker boasting the ability to add events such as dialogue, timed unit spawning to replicate surprise attacks or the arrival of backup, the ability to toggle fog of war, and many other details. The game has a clear aesthetic and a niche that it wants to fulfill.
Which is why it’s a shame to say that it has yet to reach its full potential and realize its vision. This project from the outset was incredibly exciting to me, as it not only attempted to revitalize a nearly-abandoned genre that served to define video games during its early years, but also attempted to make game development streamlined and available publicly with access to finer details than would ever be allowed in similar games. However, I found that the game struggled in most of these regards, much to my own dismay.
The units in the game are given specific names and characterization during cutscenes, and the player can fully customize the names to their own preferences right from the get go. Yet at the same time, these named units are NOT the ones you use on the battlefield, instead being the singular named variant of the generic soldiers you’ll amass and wage war against. This serves to make the “heroes” less unique while also making the mass-produced grunts feel like they should be something more than they are. In relation to those units, either I was completely unable to grasp some of the basic mechanics of the genre or my units were comically outmatched during the campaign, frequently hitting opponents out in the open while hiding in cover for a measly 5 damage before being promptly killed by a counterattack despite full health. Most of the units also have a very, very limited supply of ammo, and you’ll have to send resupplies to them. This seems like it would make a very interesting balancing act for both yourself and for your opponents, but ultimately is made both too complicated AND too difficult at the same time: these resupply units have no use outside of their unlimited ammo capacity except as meat shields, making them fragile and unwieldy, yet at the same time they resupply all units around them whenever their turn begins AND whenever the player ends that unit’s turn. Other gimmicky units have similar flaws, such as when my sniper was completely unable to attack a unit standing only one space to their left for seemingly no reason.
It’s difficult to build something great out of a flawed base material, but it has been done before. I was hopeful as I booted up the custom map maker in an attempt to peek behind the curtains and try tinkering around for myself. However, I was disappointed here as well, finding the options available to me were unintuitive. I also noticed that I could only use the assetsI had unlocked by playing through the campaign, making a full completion of it a requirement to begin level creation with a full toolset. As it stood, I could only use the first team of characters that I had ever used as both the player’s team and as their enemies. I could also only create maps in either a jungle or a desert. I attempted to try making something with the dialogue boasted about in the trailer, but the menus for creating events were somehow oversimplified and simultaneously unintuitive. With no tutorial available for map creation, I had no clue what I was doing and quickly lost interest due to the lack of available resources, extreme bar to entry for even basic level creation and the frustration of realizing that the frustrating campaign I had ditched was a requirement for full access.
I have been harsh on this game, very much so. But this is very much NOT out of distaste for the genre, the game or the team. I wanted to like this game. I was incredibly optimistic going into it, hoping that it could be everything that it advertised in the trailer and marketing material. And despite what it may seem, I do like this game. I want it to succeed, because its sheer potential is so invigorating. The possibilities are nearly endless, and the idea of this game opening the door for a new generation of gamers turned developers is intoxicating. There are glaring flaws that need to be fixed, and as a journalist and reviewer it is my duty to report them accurately for the sake of both the public and the company behind the game, should they read my review. This is a game with incredible possibilities, and I want to see it succeed and become everything it sets out to be. However, as it stands, there are many things standing in the way of it. Combat feels slow, even on the fastest settings; the player feels entirely outmatched on the default difficulty in even the most basic of skirmishes; I found myself softlocked in one of the tutorial levels when my only attacking units died and the enemy had no win condition, forcing me to manually give up and restart.
If there is one struggle that the game is facing that needs to be addressed first and foremost, it is this: Athena Crisis doesn’t know what it wants to be. But this is not a permanent problem, it can be fixed. The game currently struggles between a dev-kit that feels underbaked and a built-in story that is required for full developer access yet is frustrating and tedious. Reworking the combat system to feel more snappy and to offer more feedback while also giving the player a chance on the battlefield would benefit not only the campaign mode but the level maker as well, naturally giving players a full experience of the various features of the game before unleashing them onto the built-in sandbox mode. At the moment, another problem is the lack of intensity, with all music tracks being incredibly well-composed and enjoyable to listen to but not featuring a level of danger or excitement that would come with the struggles of war. Adding more music variety can only be a benefit, especially when the player can use any and all of the available tracks for level creation. Just these two changes, while not easy by any means but entirely achievable, would completely rebalance the experience into a much better version of itself, a version I hope that I can one day have the privilege of re-reviewing.
As it stands, Athena Crisis stands on the shoulders of giants, proclaiming itself to be another titan like those who have come before it. When making big promises, it is incredibly easy to fall short of them, and that is clearly what has happened here. However, I don’t think the game is a lost cause by any means, let alone believe that it is a bad game. There is a seed of greatness in this game that just needs the right changes to flourish into everything that it aspires to be and more. As it stands, I see Athena Crisis as an investment game with an incredibly high possible return on investment if its developers continue to be as active, open and community-focused as they have been. It is not the most enjoyable experience as it stands, but the simple fact is that it CAN be, and I have no doubt that one day it WILL be with enough time, hard work and dedication. To the team behind the game, I acknowledge the energy and effort that went into its creation, and you have made something I am very invested in. The time is now to follow up on that investment, not resting on your laurels but refining the experience into something that draws others in as it drew me in while providing the changes necessary for it to flourish beyond the promises it made. Of course, take your time, but be consistent in your public discussion to maintain our trust throughout the process of turning this good concept into a great game and even a spectacular realm of infinite possibility.
The main selling point of Athena Crisis is the idea of a turn-based tactical adventure where anything can happen. I still see that bright future, even in the struggles of its current state. Will Athena Crisis become everything it set out to be? I’m optimistic. After all, anything is possible, especially in this game.
Athena Crisis is available for PC via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Aaron Grossmann
Gaming is a passion that I, like many other people, hold near and dear to my heart. As an aspiring Game Writer and general Storyteller, I enjoy looking into the vast worlds and deep stories of every game I can. Then again, sometimes bad guys just need a good pummeling, and I am more than happy to provide!
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