Asthenia is a first-person action-adventure game set in a dark and fantastical world ruled by imposing, enigmatic gods. You play as Adam, a young man who is separated from his wife and family when he is transported to this divine realm, with no idea as to why, and his only goal is to escape. While there is more to Asthenia’s narrative, the demo features the opening hours of the game and only begins to allude to more of the story elements towards the end of it.
Before getting into the meat of this Demo Impressions article, I wanted to highlight the fact that Asthenia has been solo-developed by Manthos Lappas since 2019. This is the game’s first demo, and with a loose release date of 2027, there is still plenty of time to address many of the technical issues. In fact, Manthos was pushing updates to the demo throughout the week I played it, improving performance and fixing bugs as they could in time. While the demo still has a lot of rough edges that, at times, proved frustrating, I still see a great deal to be excited about, and appreciate seeing a project at this stage in its development.
Adam is not the first person for whom this Rapture-like event has happened. Others have been whisked away by the gods, and even Adam’s parents were chosen. This leads to some interesting worldbuilding, as you find notes left behind by previous victims of this phenomenon, describing their surroundings, their emotional state, or just chronicling their descent into madness. Even without reaching some of Asthenia’s other narrative threads, I am fascinated by its opening premise, and I’m curious to know more about this strange world and its machinations.
The demo begins with Adam having just been teleported, finding himself surrounded by ancient-looking ruins with unfamiliar sculptures, all overgrown and in disarray. As I walk through these ruins, I listen to Adam as he talks to himself, and the game introduces the basics of gameplay, from movement and jumping to checking my objectives. I immediately notice the very minimal UI, consisting of just two small bars in the bottom right corner of the screen: a blue one for Adam’s health and an orange one for his stamina. It offers a near-unobstructed view of the game’s world, which feels both dense and vast all at once.
Each area I encounter is cluttered with debris and strange-looking humanoid statues, with wide vistas behind its edges and towering, oppressive structures jutting up into the sky. No sooner had I gotten used to navigating these rubble-strewn locations than I would find myself running and jumping across floating panels of metal like corrugated iron, or scoping out the overgrown ruin of a suburban home.
What I saw of Asthenia’s world design was very impressive, not just because it is the work of a solo developer, but also because of how unique it feels. Knowing that the gods of this world are worshipped by all humans, regardless of religion or the names they give them, the mishmash of different architecture, materials, and states I found them in gives the world of Asthenia an unsettling, heavy quality. Aeons of human existence, its history, our creations, even ourselves, are seemingly plucked at random and then just left here with no regard. It reminds me of the VR title The Utility Room and the vast, uncaring space behind existence you get to explore, or Marvel’s The Void, a dumping ground at the end of the universe. This is clearly not a place we should be in, and yet we are.
Where the game does struggle visually is with the number of various textures on screen, all drenched in a light yellow filter, which can make things difficult to see. Some of this will be due to the graphical sacrifices I had to make to achieve a steady framerate, but I do think some work on diversifying the colour palette of Asthenia will go a long way to improving this.
Within a few minutes of walking through ruins, I see what I think is one of the gods for the first and only time. A stone colossus with the appearance of a bearded man, adorned with a spiked halo about his head, looms and watches as I approach. The moment is brief, with the giant disappearing as I go under an arch, but it conjures up feelings of vulnerability and mystery, leaving Adam and me to ponder.
As I make my way out of this starting zone and into more of Asthenia’s surreal locations, the game introduces several more mechanics and systems. Statues and monuments seem to play an important role throughout the game, with one holding a blue flame that heals Adam, another taller statue that saves your progress (there is no autosave in Asthenia), and a third for teleporting Adam to different locations. There are various doors and portals, some of which can be unlocked using orante keys I find as I explore, while others are inactive, leading to areas not included in the demo.
After Adam is instructed by an ominous voice to find an “ancient weapon”, I reach an area full of rusted metal that has been arranged into primitive abodes called the Scrapyard. It is here that I come face to face with one of Asthenia’s enemies, a tall, cloaked figure wearing stone armour, who howls at the sight of me and then advances. I have no choice but to run past him, and while the framerate begins to dip, I dash towards another teleportation statue, as other entities seem to apparate behind me.
The statue sends Adam to the Gauntlet Temple, another vast and ancient structure that overwhelms me at first glance. Ascending its wide carved steps, I reach the resting place of the Gauntlet, shimmering with an unknowable power atop a plinth. Adam puts the mystical relic onto his left arm, and I spot a third, gold coloured bar appear above my health and stamina bars. No sooner has Adam donned the gauntlet than two other stone-armoured fiends attack, and Asthenia’s combat is introduced.
Unfortunately, this is where I feel the challenging and oppressive nature of Asthenia becomes gruelling and frustrating. As it stands, Adam can hit enemies and certain breakable objects with the Gauntlet to hurt them, using some of its energy. It does not recharge, and if you run out of energy, Adam cannot attack with the Gauntlet. To restore energy in combat, you can do a well-timed parry when an enemy swings its appendage or weapon at you, which results in a counterattack and regaining some Gauntlet energy. So far, so good, until you’ve weakened one of your enemies to the point where large tendrils start to shoot in and out of their arms and heads. When this happens, their attacks not only have a longer reach in a melee combat-focused game that does not have a dodge, but also they can no longer be parried. As combat plays out, juggling attacks and blocks while managing Gauntlet energy, it inevitably reaches a point where I run out of power and have no option but to flee.
A fourth statue that refills your Gauntlet energy is introduced when Adam gets the Gauntlet, as well as large golden orbs that are hidden around the environment, giving off a sound to track them down. This means that, once you’ve run out of energy and can’t parry an enemy’s attacks, you’ll have to run around trying to find either the statue or a gold orb. This is further complicated by the fact that the gold orbs can only refill so much before they stop working, and the statues can be destroyed if they take too much damage. So, not only are you eventually forced to scour the area for health and energy, but those are often limited, can be destroyed, and may require you to return to a previous area, something the game even suggests you do.
Adam, whose movement felt measured and cautious before combat, feels heavy, sluggish, and due to the enemy’s rudimentary AI behaviour, I can kite them without much issue or flee to find more health or energy. There are environmental traps you can use to help soften up your foes, but they are so tanky that it barely feels noticeable to drop a ton of rocks on their lofty heads. Combat feels like a war of attrition, and I have a lot less fuel for the fight. There are meant to be more weapons and options to unlock in the full release of Asthenia, but with what I have experienced here, I fear that the combination of tricky combat, spongey enemies, and limited resources may be too much for most players.
I spent the latter half of the demo slowly making my way through a claustrophobic graveyard, fighting off more stone-coated foes and then walking around looking for health and energy before moving forward. I didn’t let it stop me from trying out the demo’s optional mini boss, who swiftly defeated me once I had got him down to start producing those damned tendrils.
Finally, I made it to the end of the demo, just before what appeared to be the real boss of this place. Aside from combat and the notes scattered throughout the world that expand its lore, the demo doesn’t offer much variety in activities. The demo progresses linearly, with no puzzle elements to speak of, no map or tracking other than your current objective, and no NPCs to talk to.
Despite the lack of content and the technical issues I had to contend with, I see a great deal of promise in Asthenia. I find the game’s premise fascinating, with worldbuilding and an art direction that justifies it. While I wouldn’t want to experience the rest of the game in this state, I would, even just to assuage my curiosity. The world has such an unsettling atmosphere that I find intriguing, and I have a great deal of respect for Manthos for creating such a unique and impressive world so far. My greatest worry for the game right now is the combat loop and application of resources, which feel unfairly bogged down by limitations that slow down what is already tough combat. With plenty of time between now and its 2027 release date, I will be sure to keep revisiting Asthenia and look forward to seeing Manthos’ final vision.
Asthenia is scheduled to release in 2027 on PC. A demo is available now on PC via Steam.
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