Athanasia is an Early Access immersive sim about dinosaurs, scarce resources and a sprawling research facility. It is already a substantial and surprisingly flexible experience.
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A dinosaur mystery in a vast facility
Dinosaurs have overrun a futuristic complex in South America. You play as Carmen Flores, investigating the disappearance of the researchers while trying to understand why the facility is filled with predators. Although the setting is not in space, its enormous metallic interiors can certainly feel like an isolated off-world station.
Progress depends on careful exploration, cautious combat and plenty of terminal puzzles involving access codes. The facility offers alternate routes, security systems, traps and a steady stream of clues about the people who worked there, including computer messages from staff who failed to update their passcodes.
Resourceful survival over brute force
The game’s retro presentation hides a surprisingly modern physical world. Boxes can be stacked to form routes, while chairs and other objects can be pushed into useful or amusing positions. Loading pauses are rare, even across the game’s very large environments.
Your arsenal eventually includes a shotgun, pistol, crossbow and several science-fiction tools, but ammunition and energy are so limited that firing blindly is rarely sensible. Traps are often the better answer: gas canisters can be placed near bear traps, explosive materials can be arranged in advance, and toxins can be manufactured and released into rooms crowded with dinosaurs.
Stealth is another viable option. Keycards may let you bypass danger, while tranquiliser darts, a knife and specialised ammunition create more controlled ways to deal with smaller creatures. The game supports both methodical avoidance and carefully planned violence.
Learning the facility’s maze
Each major area initially feels oversized and confusing. Over time, however, its floors, shortcuts and concealed passages become familiar. The three substantial sections available so far all develop in this way, transforming from intimidating spaces into locations that reward methodical route planning.
The third area, reached around seven hours into the current campaign, is particularly huge. It is built around a collapsing central hollow with unstable walkways and exposed pipes. Finding keycards, opening lifts and gradually making the routes safer becomes a satisfying routine, even when surprise attacks disrupt the plan.
Printed maps can be obtained from machines, but they do not show your position, making them of limited practical value. Building a mental map is considerably more useful.
An unforgiving inventory
Inventory space is deliberately tight. Weapons, tools, medicine, spare ammunition and bulky items must be arranged with care, creating constant pressure to decide what deserves a slot. You may have to choose between carrying several types of medical supplies and keeping a tool that can force open specific doors.
Athanasia handles these choices thoughtfully. Important tools can be found in later areas if an earlier decision left you without one, and the game avoids making every mistake result in tedious backtracking.
Early Access strengths and rough edges
The current release contains the first half of the game. It is generally sturdy and often feels close to complete, but frequent updates have occasionally repaired one issue while introducing another. At present, reloading a save can remove sound until the game is restarted, though the developers have said this will be fixed soon.
Switching the selected item is slower than it should be, which is awkward when a dinosaur is charging and you need to equip a prepared crossbow bolt. Reloading weapons is also slow, but that limitation works well by increasing tension rather than creating frustration.
Movement is similarly deliberate. Walking speed is low and running stamina is sharply limited. While both choices support the game’s survival-focused design, some form of progression could make the approach more personal. There are currently no statistics or skill trees, so players cannot trade one ability, such as healing, for a stronger sprint or another specialised advantage.
A deliberate pace with room to experiment
The slow rhythm is one of the game’s strongest features. Stationary save machines can be frustrating, but their restrictions encourage more careful play than repeatedly reloading after every mistake. Planning an encounter, testing the environment and accepting the consequences of a failed attempt all become part of the experience.
The current campaign reportedly takes about seven hours, not counting time spent replaying sections after deaths. The developers plan to add the final three areas through major updates over roughly the next six months. That means the present version ends after the third section, just as the facility’s scale is becoming most compelling.
Athanasia is an unusually promising Early Access release: lengthy, experimental and entertaining before its campaign is complete. It combines dinosaur survival with the locked doors, improvised solutions and resource management associated with classic immersive sims. Players comparing it with other games in the genre may also want to explore RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide or browse the wider range of arcade machines.
At under $15, the current version offers a substantial amount to play. Athanasia is available now on Steam.
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