Info about Athanasia:

Official game description:
Inspired by classics like System Shock and Dino Crisis, **Athanasia** challenges you to outthink and outmanoeuvre the brute strength of your ancient adversaries.
You are Carmen Flores, researcher and explorer, called to investigate a mysterious facility in South America where reports of disappearances and strange phenomena abound. Within this winding maze of secrets and science lies a terrible truth and ancestral nightmares that have plagued us for longer than we have been human.
How will you survive?
**EXPLORATION**
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Use your wits to navigate hidden pathways and discover forgotten secrets. Gather knowledge of your foes and surroundings to take dynamic approaches to tense, hair-trigger encounters. Find caches of vital equipment and the audio logs of those who lived, worked and died in this forsaken place.
**SURVIVAL**
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Conserve scarce resources, pick fights wisely, and underestimate the enemy at your own peril. From creatures that once ruled the world to things previously unseen by human eyes, you must strategically utilize an arsenal of tools and deadly weapons to overcome the facility’s dangers. Find and combine items to create improvised weapons, distractions, traps, and more.
**IMMERSION**
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Between the dinosaurs and a facility-wide lockdown, navigating this labyrinth will be no simple matter. Hack into computers, jimmy open doors, and refuel machines to open new paths. Get to the bottom of what really happened here and find things you were never supposed to see.
**KEY FEATURES**
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*   **Exploration & Discovery:** Unearth buried truths as you navigate a lab overtaken by dinosaurs and \[REDACTED\]
*   **Crafting:** Find and combine resources to craft essential tools and items
*   **Dynamic Gameplay:** Overcome lethal encounters using stealth, wit, and an arsenal of weapons
*   **Environmental Depth:** Engage with a detailed, highly interactive environment

Release date: Oct 19, 2026

Categories: Immersive Sim, Survival Horror, Crafting, Inventory Management, First-Person Shooter, Exploration, Stealth Gameplay, Puzzle Solving


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 8.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The quote stating there are about 8 hours of gameplay in the early-access release supports a current content-completion estimate of 8 hours for Athanasia. The other playtime quotes report only early playtime so far (about one hour and 85 minutes) and do not establish a typical session length, a story-only completion time, or endgame duration, so those metrics are null.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Strong immersive sim gameplay (weight 0.97): Reviewers widely praise the game as a well-crafted immersive sim with creative systems, interconnected environments, and player-driven problem solving. It is frequently compared favorably to System Shock and described as a love letter to the genre.
- Tense survival combat and enemies (weight 0.81): Combat tension comes from fragility — heavy hits cause bleeding and panic can mean death in seconds. Enemy design scales threat with player weapons, and encounters like the giant dino and space suit enemies are cited as memorable setpieces.
- Great atmosphere, audio, and graphics (weight 0.77): Players praise the cool atmosphere, solid soundtrack, and good music and sound effects. The artistic design and graphics are called interesting and good-looking, and audio logs add to the presentation.
- Dinosaur and prehistoric setting praised (weight 0.68): Players love the dinosaur and prehistoric fauna, including rarely depicted creatures like gorgonopsids, presented in line with modern scientific understanding. The 90s research facility setting and failed lab atmosphere are highlighted as memorable and refreshing.
- Well-designed levels and exploration (weight 0.65): Level design is described as decent and well executed, with interconnected environments and great exploration. Lots of secrets and environmental interactions reward players who chart their own course.
- Enjoyable modern retro gameplay (weight 0.53): Players describe it as a very good modern retro game mixing retro gameplay with modern mechanics. They report having a lot of fun and an enjoyable, well-balanced experience.
- Fun crafting and inventory systems (weight 0.51): Reviewers enjoy crafting consumables and managing resources, saying the plentiful resources still leave room to experiment. Inventory management and the toolset are described as solid and satisfying.
- Challenging, deliberate paced experience (weight 0.49): The game is a deliberately paced experience that demands caution and forces players to think for themselves. Difficulty puzzles are top-tier and focus on creative problem solving, with movement pace suited to the environment.
- Good value and early access scope (weight 0.47): Early access offers about 8 hours of gameplay, and most of it is great at a price that feels warranted. Players describe it as a good purchase for immersive sim fans with high potential.
- Charming and promising gem (weight 0.38): Reviewers find the game very charming and simply incredible so far, standing out as a gem among low-effort indie releases. The developers are praised for their work.
- Familiar inspirations and homages (weight 0.33): Reviewers note close homage to Dino Crisis, Resident Evil, and System Shock, describing it as an FPS Resident Evil with dinosaurs. The physics engine takes strong cues from Half-Life 1 and 2.

Common complaints:
- Movement and sprint feel clunky (weight 0.74): Sprinting barely faster than walking, stamina is too low to avoid attacks, and jumping loses momentum, making platforming unsatisfying. Controls feel unprecise and slow, with inconsistent gravity and floaty object physics.
- Enemy AI pathfinding issues (weight 0.6): Enemies often glitch by running into walls, moving in the wrong direction, or getting stuck on objects. Dinosaurs also stand under the player while being killed safely, and AI can be easily cheesed with a trank dart and knife spam.
- Audio cues and soundtrack issues (weight 0.51): Random music changes and combat music often play when no enemies are nearby, breaking immersion. Footsteps sometimes sound left-only, and the soundtrack is repetitive with annoying random jumps.
- Inventory space too limited (weight 0.43): Basic tools like flashlight, retro-fixer, rescue axe, and inducer consume inventory slots needed for other items. Players lack room to carry traps alongside weapons, and the inventory UI is not visually appealing.
- Softlock and map exploit bugs (weight 0.36): In the ladder tube section, prying open doors with power off lets players see the whole map and fall to death. An invisible one-way wall near the bottom softlocks players, and the elevator repair section is a headache.
- Missing keybind options (weight 0.33): There is no next/previous hotbar keybind (only direct 1-10 selection), no cycle ammo types bind, and no controller support. These omissions limit player control and accessibility.
- Early access status and bugs (weight 0.3): The game is currently in early access and has several minor bugs, which may affect stability and polish.
- No guidance or clear objectives (weight 0.25): Players receive zero guidance about what to do, and current objectives are unclear, forcing them to run around trying everything until something works. This leads to confusion and frustration.
- Lack of language support (weight 0.25): Only English is supported, and the absence of other languages such as Russian is frustrating for non-English players.
- Clunky ladders and jumping (weight 0.25): Ladders are poorly implemented, and jumping sections are frustrating due to lost momentum and inconsistent gravity, making traversal feel unpolished.
- Sprint stamina imbalance (weight 0.25): Sprint is barely faster than walking and useless for avoiding attacks due to low stamina, making the beginning feel bad.
- Combat feels unprecise (weight 0.25): Combat feels unprecise and clunky, with controls that lack responsiveness, affecting overall enjoyment.
- Camera UI and interaction bugs (weight 0.23): The camera UI shows a square instead of an exit button label, and players can drop items with the middle mouse button while viewing cameras. These UI inconsistencies detract from the experience.
- Monotonous environment and dated graphics (weight 0.23): The environment feels monotonous and contrived, and the graphics are dated, reducing visual appeal and immersion.
- Object physics feel floaty (weight 0.23): Picked-up and thrown objects feel like they are in zero gravity, and shooting an explosive canister with the crossbow sends it flying to the furthest wall, breaking immersion.
- Brightness and visibility problems (weight 0.15): The game is very dark with no brightness settings, making it hard to see in certain areas. This affects overall playability and immersion.
- Poor navigation and signage (weight 0.14): Most rooms lack signs with their name or number, making navigation difficult and contributing to player disorientation.
- Batteries have no clear benefit (weight 0.13): Batteries can be used but appear to provide no discernible advantage, leaving players confused about their purpose.
- Exploitable bear trap behavior (weight 0.13): The toxic bear trap never resets, allowing repeated placement exploits that trivialize certain encounters.
- Lack of enemy variety (weight 0.13): There is insufficient variety in enemy types, leading to repetitive combat encounters.

Gameplay feedback:
- Immersive sim core design (weight 0.68): The game is built as an immersive sim with diegetic exposition, interconnected environments, and player-driven systems and routing. Gadgets and multiple systems support emergent problem solving rather than direct approaches.
- Inventory and crafting systems (weight 0.55): Inventory management, crafting consumables, and combining items are core systems. Resource availability supports experimentation with these mechanics.
- Level design supports exploration (weight 0.5): The game has deliberate level design that supports exploration and interconnected routing. Players are expected to figure out their own route through spaces.
- Retro style meets modern systems (weight 0.41): The game pairs retro-style graphics and old-school FPS feel with modern mechanics and systems. Some describe it as an FPS that often plays like Wolfenstein 3D.
- Exploration and combat gameplay (weight 0.41): The game features exploration and combat, including first-person shooting with dinosaurs. Combat uses both ballistic and melee weaponry.
- Diverse weapon arsenal (weight 0.4): The player carries a shotgun, bow, arrows, pistol, and molotovs, plus a crossbow and explosive canisters. Combat also includes trank darts, a knife, and toxic bear traps.
- Movement and physics systems (weight 0.39): The movement system includes sprinting, stamina, and jumping. A physics engine enables picking up and throwing objects in the world.
- Survival horror with survival elements (weight 0.35): Reviewers describe the game as survival horror with survival mechanics, including scarce ammunition and firearms. Resource scarcity pushes careful play and item crafting.
- Stealth over reckless charging (weight 0.32): Stealth is favored over reckless charging, encouraging careful positioning and avoidance. Enemy behavior and threat scaling reinforce cautious play.
- Melee and ranged enemy variety (weight 0.32): Enemies include both melee and ranged units. Their threat level scales with the weapons the player attains, and attack behavior changes after knockdowns.
- Puzzle-focused high difficulty (weight 0.32): Gameplay is puzzle-focused with high difficulty. The game avoids explicit direction such as yellow paint, leaving players to solve problems creatively.
- Vast underground facility setting (weight 0.23): Players explore a vast underground facility as the main environment. Setpieces and savepoints are placed throughout.
- Tool-gated environmental interaction (weight 0.23): Interacting with environmental obstacles requires specific tools. Tools are also used for lighting up areas and other environmental interactions.
- Half-Life and Alien Isolation blend (weight 0.23): Gameplay is described as Half-Life plus Alien Isolation lite. The story blends Half-Life, Jurassic Park, and deeper lore.
- Terminal-based save system (weight 0.13): Progress is saved at specific terminals rather than anywhere. This ties saving to the game world and resource management.
- Early access build (weight 0.13): The game is currently an early access build. This affects expectations around polish and content completeness.
- Silent protagonist (weight 0.12): The player character is a silent protagonist, which shapes the narrative presentation.
- Batteries as usable items (weight 0.12): Batteries function as usable items, tying into resource management and environmental tools.

Performance notes:
- Audio bug misplaces footsteps (weight 0.12): A player reports that all footsteps sound as if they come from the left ear, indicating a positional audio bug. This can disrupt directional awareness during gameplay.
- Performance runs smoothly (weight 0.11): One player reports that the game runs great, indicating positive performance on their setup. This is a vague but favorable note on stability.

Recommendations:
- Appeals to immersive sim fans (weight 0.32): Players recommend the game specifically for those who enjoy immersive sims. It satisfies fans of that genre and should not deter newcomers.
- Rewards self-directed exploration (weight 0.14): The game suits players who like figuring out their own routes. Those who dislike hand-holding or yellow-paint guidance will appreciate it.
- Strong overall recommendation (weight 0.13): Reviewers give the game a very strong recommendation. The feedback is broadly positive without reservations.

Other player notes:
- Half-Life and System Shock comparisons (weight 0.77): The game is repeatedly described as a mix of Half-Life and System Shock, with its story, setting, and gameplay echoing those classics. References include resonance cascade plot points, System Shock 2-style graphics and gameplay, and Black Mesa's soundtrack.
- Resident Evil with dinosaurs (weight 0.61): Several reviewers compare the game to an FPS Resident Evil with dinosaurs, highlighting survival horror elements in a dinosaur-infested facility. It is also likened to Dino Crisis and Jurassic Park for its setting and story.
- Low review count and mixed comparisons (weight 0.37): The game has only a handful of reviews and is sometimes compared to low-effort indie releases. It is also compared to Project Zomboid's use of sudden sound cues and to the demo for Derelikt.
- Early access with ongoing development (weight 0.36): The game is currently in early access, with new content being added and active development underway. Reviewers note it will not be fully complete for quite some time and some are waiting for the full release.
- About 8 hours of content (weight 0.35): Early access offers roughly 8 hours of gameplay, which reviewers consider sufficient to justify the price. The game is rated as good value for its cost.
- Retro style with modern systems (weight 0.34): The game is part of a wave of indie titles that blend retro aesthetics with modern gameplay systems. It is also compared to Half-Life but noted to often play like Wolfenstein 3D, with a section reminiscent of On a Rail.
- Unique 90s dinosaur research setting (weight 0.26): Set in a 90s research facility with dinosaurs, the game stands out from immersive sims that typically use space stations. The story takes place in an evil murder facility with dinosaurs, adding a distinct horror atmosphere.
- Steam Deck and controller support (weight 0.25): The game is playable on Steam Deck, and controls are easy to bind by tweaking the standard WASD/mouselook layout on a gamepad. This makes it accessible for handheld and controller users.

Emotions:
- Enjoyment (weight 0.2): Players enjoy the immersive sim gameplay with dinosaurs, praising the exploration and well-balanced experience filled with secrets. They highlight top-tier difficulty puzzles, great enemy design and memorable fights, and fun combat using bear traps. The prehistoric animals and overall gameplay contribute to a highly fun experience.
- Frustration (weight 0.15): Frustration stems from enemy AI glitches, broken camera UI, clunky controls, and lack of brightness settings. Players also cite limited inventory space, zero guidance, unclear objectives, and movement issues like slow sprint and inconsistent gravity. Ladders and pathfinding problems further aggravate the experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.11): Excitement is driven by supporting a game that pays homage to classic titles and the desire to dig deeper into its world. Players are hooked and eager to see where the game goes as they continue their playthrough.
- Annoyance (weight 0.09): Annoyance arises from specific sections like the elevator tube being a headache, audio issues such as footstep sounds only in one ear and random combat music. Missing room signs, abrupt soundtrack changes, and the lack of non-English languages also irritate players.
- Appreciation (weight 0.07): Players appreciate the creative problem solving and modern retro style, along with the failed lab setting and prehistoric creature design. The interesting graphics of the immersive sim are also noted as a highlight.
- Admiration (weight 0.04): Admiration is felt for the technical and creative quality of the immersive sim and the developer effort behind it. The neat bundling of many different mechanics into a cohesive experience is particularly impressive.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.04): Enthusiasm comes from the combination of dinosaurs, atmosphere, and the freedom to find your own route. A love for good immersive sims further fuels this excitement.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope is based on the game's high potential and the anticipation of its full release.
- Mild dissatisfaction (weight 0.02): Mild dissatisfaction is caused by clunky sprinting and jumping mechanics.
- Pleasant surprise (weight 0.02): Players are pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals, which are rarely seen in games.
- Anticipation (weight 0.02): Anticipation is high because the game shows a lot of promise, and players can hardly wait to keep playing.
- Offput (weight 0.02): Players are offput by random music changes that simulate enemy presence, which can be jarring.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.02): Nostalgia is evoked by the immersive sim elements that remind players of classic games in the genre.
- Mild frustration (weight 0.02): Mild frustration is felt due to missing keybinds and lack of controller support.
- Skepticism (weight 0.02): Skepticism arises from the beginning of the game feeling bad because of the nearly non-existent sprint.
- Dissatisfaction (weight 0.02): Dissatisfaction is caused by slow and imprecise movement and combat.
- Disappointment (weight 0.02): Disappointment stems from a monotonous and contrived environment and an unattractive inventory system.
- Mild satisfaction (weight 0.02): Mild satisfaction is expressed because the game seems neat so far.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.02): Satisfaction comes from the retro gameplay combined with modern mechanics.
- Approval (weight 0.02): Approval is given for the atmosphere and the well-thought-out level design.}