Athanasy

Athanasy is not a game, it's an e-book that's been dumped on Steam masquerading as a game. As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay, it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print, which poses the question, "How did something this badly written end up on Steam?". When someone hoping to become an author is unable to get published in print, they spend $100 and dump their high school fan-fiction onto Steam, under the guise of a game. The subject of this godawful, badly translated Russian e-book is the author's imaginary girlfriend, Poliana, and he explores his relationship with his imaginary girlfriend while also plodding through one of the cringiest, badly written high school literature club fan-fiction that he expects people to pay him money for. Worse, it's a H.P. Lovecraft fan-fiction where the author has dug up the corpse of H.P. Lovecraft just to insult his legacy. It's incredibly cringey watching a Russian fan-fiction writer attempt to be as edgy as possible while also gushing over how amazing his imaginary girlfriend is. This e-book was slapped together with the godawful…

Athanasy is a dark and intellectually heavy visual novel that combines dystopian science fiction, psychological horror, political oppression, and grotesque biopunk imagery into an experience that feels both emotionally exhausting and deeply fascinating. Rather than following the familiar structure of romance-focused visual novels, the game embraces existential themes and disturbing world-building to create a narrative driven almost entirely by paranoia, fear, and moral uncertainty. Developed by Wirion, Athanasy stands out because of how completely it commits to its oppressive atmosphere and philosophical storytelling. It is not designed to comfort players or offer escapism. Instead, it traps them inside a decaying underground civilization where survival depends on obedience, and the truth behind society may be more horrifying than death itself. The story takes place in a distant future where humanity survives beneath the ruined surface of Earth inside a gigantic underground metropolis simply known as the City. The outside world has become uninhabitable after an ancient catastrophe, forcing civilization to rely on mysterious biomechanical systems referred to as the Machines of Grac…

An true masterpiece of a VN. I played this years ago, and still find myself thinking about it often. The world that is presented here is so brutal, yet so creative and memorable. I just came back to it to finish all the endings and I am still thoroughly impressed by the writing, the atmosphere of tension and oppression and hopelessness. A strange tale that I will likely stay with me for many years to come. Absolutely recommended to any VN reader.

fantastic writing and fantastic characters with meaningful choices

Одна из лучших визуальных новелл которую я читал. Сеттинг интересный, проработка выборов невероятно - ты действительно чувствуешь что можешь ходить куда хочешь в этом городе, узнавать его секреты так, как сам захочешь, многие концовки можно получить разными способами, немного храмают диалоги - уж слишком сухие достаточно часто - но в целом очень даже хорошо

A surprisingly good visual novel with a dark theme, a fresh story, branching dialogue and lots of characters and critical choices. The more you play it, the more you will like it. At least that's how it went for me. I think [b]wuthimi[/b]'s review sums it up perfectly. You can read it here: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198342710614/recommended/1769320 I'd like to add that there's significant replay value here, as there are lots of different endings and achievements available. Also, the skipping and saving options are really helpful in your quest to get to all the endings without having to sit through all the dialogue again. A must-play for fans of the genre, and it's definitely worth it to check out more stuff from this developer!