Like many survival horror fans, I’m still quietly lamenting the lack of a Dino Crisis remake. Often overlooked next to the likes of Resident Evil, Capcom’s dinosaur series remains something I’ll always hold dear – at least for those first two entries. While it’s playing in a slightly different style, then, I’m very entranced by Athanasia, a new retro-futuristic FPS and immersive sim featuring a mysterious facility filled with prehistoric problems. If that sounds intriguing, you can try it for yourself right now, as Momentum Games launches a Kickstarter to support development.
In Athanasia, you are Carmen Flores, researcher and explorer. It’s 1999, and you’ve arrived in South America to investigate a seemingly abandoned private facility that’s suspected to be linked to a series of deadly animal attacks in the region. Part immersive sim, part horror, and part FPS game, Athanasia feels like an enticing fusion of Jurassic Park, Dino Crisis, and Deus Ex.
The opening moments of its demo are slow and methodical, but ramp up the tension in spades. As you creep through the facility’s darkened corridors, you quickly get to grips with the exploration and item experimentation. Bandages taken from a wall-mounted medical kit can be used to heal, of course, but combine them with a flask and you’ll create a handy firebomb that you can use to burn your way past a blockage.
As an immersive sim, developer Momentum Games promises that most troubles you face should have multiple possible approaches to solve or circumnavigate them. Whether you’re a crate stacker or a turret hacker, or simply prefer to take on your problems head-on with a gun in hand, Athanasia has your back. Of course, that’s all well and good until the dinosaurs rear their heads.
Athanasia’s dynamic enemy AI is designed to react to the player and environment, and that can make even the smallest creatures a real threat if you aren’t prepared. It can, however, work in your favor instead – lure a larger predator over to a group of troublesome raptors, for example, and you might solve two problems at once. You might even find some creatures that you can befriend, if you approach them carefully.
“Athanasia is fundamentally a game about player choice and immersing you in exploring a hostile environment that’s out to get you at every moment,” Momentum says. It compares its design to that of Looking Glass Studios classics such as Thief and System Shock, where “you will be faced with an overarching objective and various ways of trying to achieve your goals.”
All of that is wrapped in a striking, pixelated visual style reminiscent of late ‘90s PlayStation Games. Momentum cites Dino Crisis as an inspiration here, along with PS1 survival horror Alien Resurrection, which immediately came to mind for me thanks to the tight corridors and your character’s overexaggerated head bob as you walk (this can be disabled if it’s not to your taste).
“Our retro style is more than just an indie aesthetic, as our hope is that it can convey the mood and leave some to the imagination of the player instead of just making the game highly detailed for the sake of it,” Momentum says. “Above all else, Athanasia strives to make its world a believable, hauntingly beautiful place.”
Along with that comes the deeply unsettling sound design; Momentum lists “melancholy and danger” among its primary themes for the ambience and music, and adds: “We have put great care into the sound of our creatures to ensure we the player feels a primal fear well before you see them coming at you. Using modern research on prehistoric animals we don’t seek to make traditional movie monsters but instead real breathing creatures that once roamed the earth.”
The Athanasia demo is playable now on Steam. You can try it here. The team has also launched a Kickstarter to support development, explaining, “As of right now Athanasia is a part-time job for many of us, but with crowdfunding our sincere hope is that people who share our passion for this game and genre can help us make this more of a full-time gig instead. The more money we fund, the more people on our team can commit to the project full time, [and] the game gets done sooner and becomes better for it.”
If you want a bit of ancient action right now, here are the best dinosaur games you can play today. Alternatively, get spooky with the best horror games on PC in 2024.
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