- September Update - 5 September 2026
Excited to announce another big round of fixes for Athena Crisis as well as an upcoming content expansion that is now officially being worked on! We fixed a number of issues with campaign objectives, invasions, skills, and controls that should make the game more reliable and smoother for everyone. New: Persistent shields! Map creators can now choose between no shield, a temporary shield, and a persistent shield for units in the Map Editor. Persistent shields have a different color and remain active across turns. Improved: Gamepad support across all platforms should feel snappier and faster. You can now also use multiple gamepads and switch between them to play Athena Crisis. Improved: We've further improved the test and build pipeline for Athena Crisis. There are now more tests that run faster, and build times have been reduced to help us keep bringing you a modern, stable, and fast exp…
- v2.3.0 - 3 June 2026
* Added Steam Notifications * Significant Steam Deck performance improvements
- Legendary Difficulty + Skip Actions - 1 June 2026
We have another large update for everyone to enjoy: New: Legendary Difficulty (Experimental): A new AI, PersephoneBeta, was added that significantly improves upon DionysusAlpha, the AI you played against until now. It is still experimental, and may not perform as well on all maps, or might make some campaign maps impossible. As part of this, "Legendary" difficulty was added to Athena Crisis, which is unlocked upon completing the main Athena Crisis campaign once (this was backfilled for people who already finished the campaign). Please share any feedback as you play through on Legendary so we can improve the AI further! Rewards: If you beat a map in Legendary, you will receive a chaos star once per map. If you finish the main Athena Crisis campaign in Legendary, you will receive a nice glow-up on your user profile and a "Legendary Commander" tag. Legendary difficulty is available for off…
- New Features + 60 Fixes - 14 May 2026
In the past week we fixed over 60 bugs and added various new features to improve Athena Crisis and make it more stable and more enjoyable for everyone! We'll add more features to make Athena Crisis even more fun in the future. New: Notification Feed: All in-game notifications are now displayed in a notification feed which you can access from the bell icon on the right top of the main menu. Notification Types: You now receive notifications when you receive chaos stars (through invasions or message likes), and when a game ends. These notifications are also available as push notifications, and you can control them individually through the push notification settings. AI: The AI can now effectively use Medics and Support Ships to heal adjacent units. They will prioritize units related to objectives. Thanks to @iudiciis for implementing this feature! Filter: Added a "fog" tag to community fil…
- 3 new Curated Campaigns + New Units! - 25 July 2025
The community created tons of new high-quality playable content to keep you busy this summer:Athena Crisis has 3 new curated campaigns, featuring a whopping 83 exciting new maps to explore – from puzzle maps, fog challenges to epic battles:Trials of War and Wisdom: This gigantic 50 map campaign offers an exciting new story and mixes up familiar maps in a new way. Beat the campaign to unlock the Scientist unit – a unit that does the same damage to every other type of unit.Avenger’s Ace: A 12 map campaign that unlocks the Humvee Avenger at the end – a powerful long-range anti-air unit.Sneaky’s Impossibly Lethal Challenge: This campaign is a puzzle campaign that requires you to unlock most skills in the game and think deeply about how to solve each individual map. Are you an Athena Crisis pro?Among new skills, units and portraits that you can unlock from these campaigns, you also collect s…
- Athena Crisis Update: Major new Features and Content! - 3 June 2025
In the past several months we have shipped many major updates to Athena Crisis. Messages Athena Crisis now has an elegant real-time messaging system built from templates, tags, and conjunctions. Players can communicate during a game, and help others with hints even across maps and campaigns. Popular messages will appear the multiverse to guide (or hinder) players. Messages that are liked often glow in gold, and the author receives a Chaos Star which they can use in the shop to buy unlocks. New Campaign The new campaign, Waking the Colossus, by player iudiciis has been promoted into Curated Campaigns. The maps are well-designed, allow you to earn extra stars and you unlock a new unique skill at the end. Athena Crisis now features six curated campaigns and it’s been awesome to see so many content creators expand on the lore of the main story and its characters. There are many more curated…
- Quality of Life & Performance Improvements - 24 January 2025
We shipped a number of quality-of-life and performance improvements to make Athena Crisis more fun and faster than ever! Development of Athena Crisis is currently focused on 3 major area: Quality-of-Life, Performance and Mobile: Quality-of-Life There were two major quality-of-life improvements in the past month: Undo Actions: Up until recently Athena Crisis only allowed undoing the whole turn. This worked well, and gave each action especially late into a turn a lot of meaning, but it was occasionally frustrating when moving a unit to the wrong field, especially on small screens. In addition to undoing a turn, you can now undo every action up until the beginning of your turn. Undo was also added to the Map Editor and the demo at athenacrisis.com. If you are interested in how it works, check out the code here. https://buttondown-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/images/50c5c6ea-125c-48ed-9179-…
- Steam Winter Sale - 19 December 2024
It’s cold outside, but Athena Crisis is warming up with a new deal. Grab Athena Crisis at 25% off in the Steam Winter Sale - our deepest discount yet! 🔥 https://store.steampowered.com/app/2456430/Athena_Crisis?snr=2___
- Monthly Update: Flamethrower - 19 December 2024
Time for the December monthly update! Athena Crisis will be participating in the Steam Winter Sale, where you can grab it for 25% off (the deepest discount we’ve had all year) - we’re biased, but we think it makes a perfect gift. Yuki Who doesn’t love a Christmas flamethrower? This month we’re spotlighting Yuki, a lovable and hot-headed recruit. Just don’t make them in charge of roasting the marshmallows. Yuki comes from the cold north, but brings warmth with them wherever they go. They look up to more experienced fighters to help them know when to turn down the intensity. As the leader of the flamethrower elites, they are known for reveling in the mayhem of a battle and getting a little bit carried away when it comes to burning things down. Our Journey through the Multiverse Looking back, 2024 has been a great year for Athena Crisis. The game launched in early access in March, hit 1.0…
- Athena Crisis is in the Steam Autumn Sale - 27 November 2024
Athena Crisis is part of the Steam Autumn Sale, available for 20% off now through December 4th. Check out our most recent Monthly Update for a full list of all the recent changes, fixes, and improvements we've made to the game. They include a brand new curated campaign, Pressing Onwards, created by a member of the community. Completing the campaign unlocks a new skill, Seatbelts On, a fun skill focused on Jeeps and their leader, Remy.
- Monthly Update: Commander - 27 November 2024
Players of Earth, welcome to your monthly update on Athena Crisis! First, Athena Crisis will be on sale for 20% Off during the Steam Autumn Sale, so let your friends know! We're biased, but we also thinks it makes a great gift. This month, we’re featuring the Commander. Armies are composed of master strategists and troops on the ground executing orders. Then, there's the Commander unit, who specializes in making the worst slide decks you’ve ever seen. They’re not just bureaucrats though, as Commanders do provide your units with an attack bonus when they are adjacent. The Commander’s associated skill, Commanding Force, further buffs your leader units with a 100% attack bonus. Now that’s synergy! We’ve made quite a few changes across the multiverse, which include: a new curated campaign from the community, new skills, quality of life improvements, and some exciting news about the future o…
- Check Out Athena Crisis in the Turn-Based Carnival - 13 November 2024
Hurry to your seats and push up on those safety restraints, because Athena Crisis is currently featured in the annual Turn-Based Carnival, a celebration of turn-based games hosted by our good friends at Acram Digital! Turn-Based Carnival features a treasure trove of titles - including Nakazawa Tech's critically acclaimed Athena Crisis - that are sure to delight and inspire players who love strategy, tactics, and turn-based combat. From now until the final day of Turn-Based Carnival on November 20th, you can pick up your very own copy of Athena Crisis for 20% off! There's so much to enjoy in Athena Crisis, from the rewarding campaign featuring 50 unique maps, to the genre-expanding Invasions feature that turns single-player campaign missions into exciting online PvP battles for up to 7 players. But that's just the beginning! Uncover a host of other impressive features including: A rich m…
- Athena Crisis Is On Sale Now! - 8 November 2024
If you've been waiting to pick up Athena Crisis, there's no better time than now: it's 20% off until November 20th! You can take on the game's 40+ maps in the main campaign, fight against friends in online multiplayer, or take advantage of the Invasions feature to help out (or hinder) others, all at its lowest price yet. You’ll be right at home in the world of Athena Crisis if you’re a fan of Advance Wars and seeking a freshened up take on the genre classic. It expands the classic turn-based strategy genre with modern features such as: A robust map and campaign editor to create your own adventures. Options to create, share, and play endlessly creative maps and full-blown campaigns with friends and a strong online community, ensuring a constant stream of new challenges. Instant cross-progression between PC, iOS/Android, browser and Steam Deck (Verified). Pick up right where you left off…
- Community Map of the Week: Command And Conquer - 31 October 2024
Command and Conquer is a rare map in that it seems to be designed to be played as a 1v1v1 map, but to make the most of it you’ll want to have the AI control the central Green faction. You’ll discover why as you start the match: Red and Blue start on opposite sides of the map with only a Pioneer and a Jeep to begin with, and no ability generate funds at the outset. You’ll need to quickly expand and build your economy before moving forward to strike at your enemy. The kicker? Green stands poised to ambush anyone who crosses the central island. Their AI is set to Passive mode, so they won’t move on their turns if the AI controls them, but the snipers there have the ability to pick off almost anything that comes their way. They’re too far from the rail tiles to be easily hit by a Transport Train or a Support Train, and they each have Medics nearby to support them if they take damage. You’ll…
- Monthly Update: Vampire Medic - 24 October 2024
In this month’s update we are introducing Costumes & Invasion Skills! You can now customize your faction for PvP with custom outfits for Pioneers, Infantry, Rocket Launchers and our new Vampire Medic. We also added exciting new skills to go with the theme, such as Blood Moon. This skill continuously heals units, but uses those health points when activating its power. We also added brand new invasion skills like Bubble Wrap that equip all units with a shield for one turn, and Charge Overflow which brings charges into an invasion right away. NEW AND IMPROVED Unit Costumes: You can now buy various costumes for units in the shop to customize your faction! Initially you can choose between 6 different styles for Pioneers, Infantry and Rocket Launchers AND you can unlock the Vampire Medic style. Happy Halloween! Leader Animations + Leader Medal: There is now a subtle animation on leader units…
- Community Map of the Week: Explosive Supply Run! - 18 October 2024
You can always win a map by capturing the HQ, but what if there *is* no HQ? In the latest Community Map of the Week, Explosive Supply Race by Flak, we’re left with another tantalizing option: blow up your opponent’s entire base with a bomb. Big bada boom! The players here start in an X pattern, with each player controlling two corners of the map. The goal: take a supply train laden with explosives and drive it straight to the enemy HQ, where it will wipe all of their buildings off the map, instantly winning you the match. There’s a system of rails that lead from base to base, but which will also slow down your early wave of pioneers. The supply trains you need to move are also out of fuel, meaning you’ll need to capture a factory before you can build a Jeep or another Supply Train to refuel it and send it on its way. Don’t forget to build more rail units to escort it, though: if the bom…
- Athena Crisis Updates: 10/11/24 - 11 October 2024
It's been a busy week in Athena Crisis improvements and fixes! Check out all the latest changes below: New Art: New Decorations: Over 30 new decorations depicting destroyed units or objects common to the autumn season. Perfect to depict devastation on the battlefield. (Check closely for a variety of very spooky Halloween-themed items!) New Structure: Destroyed Super Tank: Similar to the Crashed Airplane, you can now place a Destroyed Super Tank structure. You need to clear it to make way for units. New Airfield design: The design of the Airfield was adjusted to stick out more. The look was aligned closer to that of construction sites, cc @TheSneakyDragon. Changed the color of the "Destroyed House" to look less like a neutral house.Curated Campaigns: There is now a new "Curated Campaigns" list that you can find from the campaigns screen. Curated Campaigns are high-quality, community-crea…
- Community Map of the Week: Demolition - 11 October 2024
It’s another devious puzzle map from Dxdydzd. We already have to mentally fortify ourselves when we see the “win in one turn” notification on these maps, but seeing “win in six turns” might be even MORE scary. There’s only so many things you can do wrong in one turn to fail a scenario map, but when you have six turns, any step in any one of those turns might be the wrong one. Here, you have nothing but a lowly Pioneer and a Small Tank, and are asked to defeat two snipers and an APU in six turns. The Pioneer can’t attack, and the Small Tank is not well-suited for attacking the enemy units, so how do you win? Perhaps the Radar Station has something to do with it…or it might be a red herring, as we know dxdydzd is fond of those. Also keep in mind that ammo is limited: your tank isn't quite full, and the northern sniper is out of ammo, but the mountainous defense will make it more difficult…
- Athena Crisis is a Hit! - 10 October 2024
The full experience of Athena Crisis has been out for a few weeks now, and we’ve got the reviews to prove it. Sitting with an excellent score of 83 on Metacritic and with a Recent Review mark of “Very Positive” on Steam, it’s been gratifying to see reviewers and players enjoy the 1.0 release, which includes the full campaign experience and the new Invasions feature. But don’t take our word for it! Here’s what reviewers are saying: Athena Crisis is… “crafted with love and shows in every corner.” - Steam Deck HQ “bursting at the seams with new gameplay mechanics - The Nerd Stash “an incredibly competent tactical adventure inspired by Advance Wars - Hey Poor Player If you’ve taken the time to play and enjoy Athena Crisis, please consider leaving us a review!
- Recent Patch Notes - 7 October 2024
Hello all, If you haven't been following the Discord news channel, here are (many) of the changes and improvements we've made to Athena Crisis since it hit 1.0 on September 23rd. There are plenty more fixes that have been implemented in addition to this list, so please check the Discord if you'd like more rapid updates. NEW AND IMPROVED Any type of casual PvP game can now be abandoned by a player, allowing you to clean up that list of games that has been sticking around. Thanks @Rishi is Here and @Jinjo for playing 3 games super quickly to make me realize I should enable this. Invasion messages on Discord now have better phrasing for games that have ended, and an "open in app" button was added. When there is no cancelable action in a game, pressing Escape now opens the overlay menu. This is a pretty big change to the cancel behavior, so please report any issues you might find and/or whe…
