Athena Crisisis a modern retro strategy game inspired byAdvance Warswhere players command over 40 ground, naval, air, or special units across its multiverse. Throughturn-based strategic combat, players can progress through a story-focused, single-player campaign or battle against bots or other players in its community or developer-created maps, with developer Nakazawa Tech regularly showcasing community maps of the week. Having recently launched out of early access,Athena Crisis1.0 also gives players numerous new features, including a few surprises like using Power Crystals to invade other players' maps through invasions or the option to team up in co-op with its mix of competitive and cooperative online multiplayer.
Game Rant recently had the opportunity to interview Christoph Nakazawa, Founder of Nakazawa Tech, just beforeAthena Crisis' 1.0 launch to reflect on the game’s early access period and discuss its full release. Nakazawa also talked about how the studio involved its community during early access and revealed more about post-launch plans for the game, which look set to continue its community-driven approach.
Athena Crisis' 1.0 Release
Speaking just beforeAthena Crisis1.0’s recent launch onSteam, Nakazawa saidAthena Crisis’early access journey was an “intense time,” but “a lot of fun.” That said, Nakazawa also mentioned it also felt like just “another step in the process,” with flipping the switch on Steam feeling “easy to some degree,” owing to efforts to ensure everything was working, stable, and balanced. As Nakazawa went on to explain:
Thankfully,Athena Crisiswas built entirely from scratch, so we control everything powering the game with ease. Even deploying fixes and rewriting core systems based on feedback from the community was simple as we can push those updates to players within three minutes or so.
While moving fromearly accessisn’t always easy, it seems likeAthena Crisis' launch was a smooth process from a technical standpoint, with the studio’s post-release notes on Steam mentioning only a few minor bugs to be fixed quickly despite the massive update. Nakazawa also talked about how the team recognized the importance of creating a balanced game experience, adding this was also something theAthena Crisiscommunity helped create during early access while ensuring the game remained fun.
Future Plans For Athena Crisis, Its Story, and Its Community
While theAthena Crisiscommunity played a big role in helping to improve the game during early access, it’s an approach that also looks set to continue. Nakazawa also spoke about how Nakazawa Tech hopes to continue to involve the community post-launch, encouraging fans to continue sharing their feedback and thoughts. As Nakazawa said:
Our vision is that we’ll work openly with the community to makeAthena Crisisone of the best games in the genre, and everyone is invited to share their ideas.
Of course,Athena Crisisis also astrategy game with a story, offering players a main story campaign to play through its multiverse. It seems the developers have also been busy sinceAthena Crisis1.0 launched, adding six secret maps that explore the factions in the main story further, plus a hidden ending. Speaking about the future plans forAthena Crisis, Nakazawa talked about how the studio hopes to continue the story further:
Our list of things we want to build keeps getting longer rather than shorter. The story starts slow, but opens a wonderful universe (multiverse?) with many characters, personalities, factions, and some lore. We’d love to explore what happens after the main story concludes, and what happens in other locations during the main story, but nothing to confirm on that front just yet.
While it was a busy month forSeptember game releases, and there’s more ahead in a similarly stacked October, it sounds like fans of games likeAdvance Warsshouldn’t sleep onAthena Crisis. Not only does it have a good amount of content in its current form, but it’s a strategy game with potentially even more exciting things to come.
