Image: Momentum Games & Black Lantern Collective

After a brief delay (it was due out yesterday), one of my most eagerly anticipated indie releases has rolled out onto Steam. Athanasia takes the classic Immersive Sim formula (think Deus Ex, Thief, System Shock 2, etc.)- a blend of stealthy sandbox exploration and action, spliced with something it found inside a lump of prehistoric amber. The end result is a low-fi, PS1-styled dino horror sandbox with all of the crunchy inventory management and systemic puzzling that you know and love.

While not quite as old as the dinosaurs, this one looks to be playing all the old tropes. A sketchy research facility in lockdown, most of the crew devoured by horrible monsters of their own creation (but not before leaving panicked audio/text logs or writing important info in their own blood), and limited resources forcing some creative solutions to the many threats. I'd almost feel like grumbling about how familiar it all feels, except for the fact that all of these tropes have (historically for me, at least) made for many a great time.

One aspect that the game has borrowed from the current generation of immersive sims and survival horror games (quite closely related genres, really - and I'd argue that the original System Shock is a survival horror game first) is crafting. Many items in your inventory can be combined into more useful things, because sometimes you just really need a Molotov cocktail here and now. There's also a bunch of utility items, including a zapper tool used for solving electrical puzzles, and a crowbar that actually functions normally and lets you pry open some doors.

All of this is wrapped in some deeply crunchy low-fi aesthetics. While not quite as fully committed to the PS1 bit as, say, Derelikt, the dinosaurs here are charmingly chunky creatures, and the world textures - while readable - all have pixels big enough to reach out and individually touch. A nostalgic style, but also a pretty good way for a tiny dev team to pull off stuff above their budget.

While not a complete game yet, Athanasia's initial early access version looks to be a meaty slab of game, featuring the first three of six regions from the final product. The back half of the game should be done within the next year, and while developer Momentum Games don't want to put any hard date on it, they estimate that it should be finished by 'mid 2027'.

Athanasia is out now for £14.49/$16, with a 10% launch discount running until November 2nd. It's also in discount bundles with a whole pile of indie immersive sims and horror gems, including Fright Train, which I've been playing a bunch recently, and it also features copious voice work from the comically prolific Gianni Matragrano.