Athanasy on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Deep beneath the surface of the dead Earth, the City, the last refuge of humanity, hides. Engineering genius and efforts of all mankind; a giant structure of steel, concrete, and biopolymers. It keeps the remnants of civilization one step away from total extinction.
Athanasy is a visual novel, text-based and horror game
developed by Wirion
and published by ST Sinovar.
Released on April 13th 2022 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux
in 2 languages: Russian and English.
It has received 467 reviews of which 456 were positive and 11 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.0 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 8.19€ on Steam, but you can find it for 0.85€ on Eneba.
The Steam community has classified Athanasy into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Microsoft Windows 7
- Processor: Intel Pentium IV or higher
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: with 512 MB VRAM compatible with DirectX 9
- DirectX: Version 9.0
- Storage: 810 MB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
MacOS
- Processor: 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: with 512 MB VRAM
- Storage: 810 MB available space
Linux
- OS: 10
- Processor: 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: with 512 MB VRAM
- Storage: 810 MB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
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 Grace and Love. These enormous living mechanisms supposedly sustain human life and guarantee survival, but the population understands very little about how they truly function. Citizens live under the control of authoritarian ministries, endless bureaucracy, propaganda, and strict social hierarchy, creating a society built entirely around fear and dependence. Players follow Josiah Kaviani, a talented mathematician whose isolated and relatively quiet existence begins to collapse after he uncovers inconsistencies hidden within the City’s systems. What initially seems like simple curiosity gradually drags him into conspiracies involving political corruption, forbidden knowledge, biological experimentation, and horrifying truths buried beneath the foundations of civilization itself. The deeper Josiah investigates, the more unstable and terrifying the City becomes, transforming the story into a descent through paranoia, manipulation, and existential horror. One of the game’s greatest strengths is its world-building. Athanasy creates a society that feels disturbingly believable despite its surreal biopunk presentation. Every aspect of the City reflects themes of control and decay. Government institutions regulate daily life with relentless authority, while ordinary citizens blindly trust systems they do not fully understand because survival depends on maintaining order. The game slowly reveals layers of history, ideology, religion, and scientific experimentation that make the world feel massive and deeply interconnected. Every revelation adds another layer of discomfort, especially once players begin learning the horrifying cost of humanity’s continued survival. The writing is consistently excellent and carries much of the experience. Dialogue feels intelligent and emotionally grounded, even during the story’s most bizarre or disturbing moments. Athanasy explores difficult philosophical ideas involving mortality, identity, power, corruption, and the consequences of technological dependence without simplifying them into easy moral lessons. Characters are constantly forced into impossible decisions where every outcome feels ethically compromised. The game rarely presents traditional heroes or villains. Instead, it portrays a society where nearly everyone has been shaped or damaged by systems designed to suppress individuality and truth. Character development is another major highlight. Josiah is not portrayed as a fearless revolutionary or action hero, but as an emotionally vulnerable and intellectually curious man struggling to understand a world built on lies. His gradual transformation throughout the story feels believable because the game consistently emphasizes his fear, uncertainty, and psychological exhaustion. Supporting characters are equally layered, each carrying personal motives, ideological beliefs, and emotional scars that influence their actions. Relationships often feel tense and unstable because trust itself becomes dangerous within the City’s oppressive political environment. Visually, Athanasy is one of the most striking indie visual novels released in recent years. The artwork combines industrial dystopian architecture with grotesque biological imagery, creating environments that feel simultaneously fascinating and revolting. Flesh, machinery, decay, and mutation blend together throughout the City in ways that constantly evoke discomfort. The game’s visual style strongly embraces body horror, transforming living systems and human anatomy into disturbing mechanical-organic hybrids. Even seemingly normal locations carry an unsettling atmosphere, reinforcing the idea that the entire civilization is fundamentally corrupted. The soundtrack contributes heavily to the oppressive tone. Ambient industrial music and dark atmospheric compositions create a constant sense of unease that rarely disappears. The game uses silence effectively as well, allowing environmental tension to dominate many scenes before escalating into harsher soundscapes during moments of revelation or horror. Combined with the visual design, the audio creates an emotionally suffocating atmosphere that makes the City feel like a living nightmare slowly consuming everyone trapped inside it. Gameplay follows a traditional visual novel structure focused primarily on reading dialogue and making important narrative choices. While mechanically simple, the decision-making system significantly impacts the story and leads to multiple branching paths and endings. Choices often carry heavy emotional or philosophical consequences, and many routes reveal entirely different aspects of the City and its hidden truths. The game strongly encourages multiple playthroughs because understanding the full scope of the narrative requires exploring alternate paths and piecing together fragmented information spread across different endings. Replay value is surprisingly high due to the complexity of the branching narrative. Some routes focus more heavily on political conspiracy, while others explore horrifying scientific experimentation or deeply personal psychological struggles. Different decisions can dramatically alter Josiah’s fate, leading him toward rebellion, transformation, corruption, or complete despair. The game rewards players who pay close attention to dialogue, symbolism, and environmental details because many of its mysteries are revealed gradually through subtle clues rather than direct exposition. Despite its many strengths, Athanasy is not an easy game to recommend to every player. The tone is relentlessly bleak, filled with disturbing imagery, psychological suffering, and existential dread. There are very few moments of emotional relief, and the oppressive atmosphere can become overwhelming during longer sessions. The pacing is also intentionally slow, with heavy dialogue sequences and dense world-building requiring patience and concentration. Additionally, the graphic body horror themes may be too intense for some players. For players interested in dark science fiction, biopunk horror, and narrative-driven visual novels with mature themes, Athanasy offers an extraordinary experience unlike most titles in the genre. Its disturbing world-building, emotionally complex characters, and oppressive atmosphere create a haunting journey through one of the most unforgettable dystopian settings in indie gaming. While its grim tone and heavy themes may alienate some audiences, those willing to immerse themselves in its horrifying underground civilization will discover a deeply rewarding and thought-provoking story that lingers long after the final ending. Rating: 9/10
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 wuthimi '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!
Athanasy is a highly overlooked and underappreciated GEM! I consider it to be the current FLAGSHIP of the entire BIOPUNK genre in gaming!! This visual novel game made by Russian Indie developers has masterfully incorporated the core of the genre. I always say that the Biopunk genre doesn't necessarily have to mean Biological Horror! The core of the genre has always been societal & ethical exploration of biotechnology. - With the mainstream popularity of the Cyberpunk genre that now stands apart the general Sci-Fi genre, the Biopunk word has been thrown around more often too nowadays. When talking about Biopunk games, people usually think of "Bioshock (2007)", "Prototype (2009)" or "Wrought Flesh (2021)". While I do not deny their part and inspirations, they do not fully embody the genre core. When I think Biopunk, games like "ATHANASY", "Scorn (2022)" and "Exit: A Biodelic Adventure (2024)" come to mind. Yes, Athanasy has horror elements, but it focuses more on post-humanist societal collapse and explores biology as an ideology! Bioshock may have incorporated the pure essence of the Biopunk philosophy but leaned more into sociopolitical tragedy than biology and hard science fiction. They (Bioshock/Prototype/Wrought Flesh) are action games first and foremost that simply use the genre as a backdrop setting because it is novel and cool. In that regard, I appreciate the absurd biological surrealism of "Exit" that is drenched in symbiosis and psychedelic art. Even the horror game Scorn offers a much deeper world with biomechanical/existential Giger-esque body horror. - Any other possible adjacent Biopunk games you can think off, fall in one of the previously mentioned categories, so I won't get into each one of them. The branching story paths, each explore a different aspect of the Biopunk genre. While on the 1st playthrough you might be left confused about many things, the more you explore then clearer the whole picture becomes. It is worth exploring every path, I don't regret it. Absolutely amazing. The game itself offers an amazing soundtrack and top notch sound effects. The scene art is beautiful and amazing, only wish character models would have been in the same style. The English translation was decent. I only encountered a SINGLE untranslated line in all the possible story paths! The writing was very introspective and mature but what stood out was the Russian writing style that is so easy to spot as they use a lot of unused words in modern English and global dictionaries. I wouldn't call it pretentious for using "hard/difficult" words but more akin to 1900s era English translations of Russian works from Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy. It may make this game a bit harder to get into and explains its forgotten niche status, but if you can work past that you will have an amazingly mature and solid story! (which may be too much for the modern 5-second attention span tiktok zoomer. ew) I am not that much into visual novel games, as it is hard to categorize them as games when they lack active gameplay. At this point I'd rather pick up a book. So when I encounter such an amazing concept, I expect a complete experience. Athanasy offers 4-12 hours which is around the standard size. I believe the game covered every possible aspect of the genre and having less or more would have been a detriment at this point. (Looking at you "VTM: Reckoening of New York" with its lacking 4 hours and "Umineko no Naku Koro ni" with its overwhelming 60-160 hours.) Until we get more Biopunk games, Athanasy is the quintessential Biopunk champion. Most definitely worth checking out!
I really enjoyed this VN, it impressed me right from the beginning! I immediately fell in love with the setting (sci-fi, biopunk, dystopian thriller/horror,..) and the intriguing plot kept me highly invested! I adore the different dimensions and twists of the plot and it was thrilling to learn about the lore. Although I believe that the writing could profit from more depth and specifications, especially when disclosing important information, to make the story feel fully complete. Also I would've loved more content in the endings but that's just due to my curiosity, I understand that the endings are open on purpose lol. Additionally there is a lot of well done artwork, which provides great help imagining the sceneries. Moreover the soundtrack is mesmerizing and very catchy! The overall ambience and vibe of the game are truly awesome and outstanding.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Athanasy is currently priced at 8.19€ on Steam.
No, Athanasy is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 8.19€ on Steam.
Yes, Athanasy received 456 positive votes out of a total of 467 achieving an impressive rating of 9.02.
😍
Athanasy was developed by Wirion and published by ST Sinovar.
Yes, Athanasy is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Yes, Athanasy is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
Yes, Athanasy is playable and fully supported on Linux.
Athanasy is a single-player game.
Yes, there are 2 DLCs available for Athanasy. Explore additional content available for Athanasy on Steam.
No, Athanasy does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, Athanasy does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Athanasy is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Athanasy.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 08 June 2026 00:38 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 08 June 2026 09:40 |
| Steam price | 13 June 2026 12:23 |
| Steam reviews | 13 June 2026 06:07 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Athanasy, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Athanasy
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Athanasy concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Athanasy compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
1
Developer
Wirion
Publisher
ST Sinovar
Release
13 Apr 2022
Platforms
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