Athena Crisis

Note: disregard these steam hours, I have 100++ hours on browser (no good way to track, but its a lot)
TLDR: Best aw like I have seen, great campaign (well designed missions, nice writing, strongest ai I have seen so missions are not designed to be too lopsided against you but you spend the game abusing ai really hard). Excellent pvp (design, balance, features)- and I am someone who can judge these things (top awbw player SonjaTheSuperior). The invasion system is brilliant, basically allows any campaign map to turn into pvpve if the campaign player wants it to (basically, people can invade to help, hurt or take over ai players, up to a max of 8 total players). Got a ton of enjoyment out of it. If you want to see how it can look like:
Actual review:
So before I start the review I will say a bit about myself. I am a competitive awbw player (advance wars by web, going by the name "SonjaTheSuperior", ranked near at the high end and with some high finishes in division 1 tournaments) and a competitive wargroove player (wg1 and wg2) having played countless hours (>2000) between these. I have spent some large amount on athena crisis but no good way to measure it, since my playtime is on browser (like how I play awbw).
As a result I feel I have a good understanding of multiplayer pvp, balance and how game mechanics interact for these purposes for an AW-like game (given enough pvp experience against good players in a given aw like game, which I have in athena crisis).
With that as background, athena crisis surpasses advance wars in many ways, and is arguably better then it (but not in a strict sense, you can like the differences advance wars has). Athena crisis has the best unit balance I have seen (combined with a massive roster of units, easily surpassing any other game), best skill balance I have seen and overall is very well designed. There is an understanding there on what makes gameplay better and worse and this is executed at the level of core mechanics.
It is a very good pvp experience, and one can expect one's lobbies to be filled very fast if you make any. In fact if you want to join a lobby rather then create your own, you tend to need to have notifications on in the discord to catch them (people fill them that fast). If you want to play live matches then you will need to organize it via discord but this is understandable. Even a game like awbw has a hard time with live games, despite by far the largest pvp playerbase in the aw/ aw-like space.
Some other reviews have people complaining about certain units being overpowered (I have seen mentions of flamethrowers, super tanks etc.), I would respectfully say that these players have no clue what they are talking about (I would also challenge them to play against me and see how op these units are in practice). Super tanks are one of the weakest units in the game (but the skill that lets you build them is useful since the power is good), flamethrowers are good units but ultimately just glass cannons good for taking out infantry targets (while being one of the most expensive infantry units). Ultimately well balanced. Its also worth noting that the most basic and first skill you get (attack up) is one of the top skills, so new players in pvp are not at a disadvantage.
The campaign is very good. Story mostly takes a backseat to character development and the gameplay, but the writing is good. Missions are well designed, on relatively small maps so that it doesnt drag but big enough so there are a variety of set ups. The ai is easily the strongest in an aw-like, which means the dev doesnt need to throw the ai tons of resources in order to make it not a cakewalk. The ai is still abuseable but much less then any other. There is quite a bit of campaign content if that is relevant to you. There are also currently 6 curated (vetted) community campaigns and many more uncurated ones (with people also working on more), so there is plenty of campaign content if that what interests you. Having played through some, I can say they are high quality, usually falling short of the campaign made by the dev but not always (and one in particular has very strong writing).
The highlight for some people would be invasions. This allows the campaign player to turn almost any campaign map into pvpve, where players can join to help, hurt or take over an ai player. The cap is 8 and it creates significant chaos, watch some of the video I linked earlier (link:
Its also worth noting the community is very good and helpful, its a good idea to join the discord to interact, but of course you dont have to. This also helps with joining invasions, since the discord has a bot which indicates whenever an invasion has started.
Overall: fantastic game and incredible that it was done by just one dev. If I had to give a rating, it would be something like 9.8/10 or 10/10.

This play like an Advance Wars clone. Though they added alot of units, it still doesnt change the combat in a meaningful way and at times it even detracts from the experience. That being there is a huge custom map experience. Though the campaign focuses way too much on gimmicks to be ground breaking. Its so so as far as turn based games go

A Fun Advanced Wars-esque tactics game. Plenty of content and a built in map editor with a friendly but small community on discord. Progression is gained via offical campaigns that grant Skills, Account Portraits and Stars via objectives. Stars can also be gained "Chaotically" by invading other players (who opt into invades) by either aiding or hindering them. All the stars gained by both methods can then be spent in a shop (NOT MONITIZED) for profile images, unique skills, unit skins and more invade materials! PvP games can both be real time (still turn based) and up to a week between turns for those with a busy life schedule. Not to mention the game is cross compatible with mobile devices! If you have the money and an itch for a classic tactics game with fun twists then please pick this up! On sale it's an absolute steal!

6.5/10
Athena Crisis is a fun but flawed Advance Wars like turn based strategy game.
The game looks pretty alright for the price point, and does sport a good soundtrack.
I will say the game is jam packed with content, which is its strongest point in its favor. The game features a 9 missions tutorial, a 10 mission prequel campaign, and a 40 mission main campaign, though some of the maps are locked behind secret objectives. And if that's not enough, the game also features both a map and campaign editor and easy access to community maps and campaigns. So you will get your moneys worth. But its does come with some issues.
There are quite a lot of units to play around with compared to AW, especially if you factor in the Bar units and a few other unlockables. But this also comes with a lot of balance issues. While there are no "uber" units that will carry the game by themselves, there are some that are clearly overpowered. And others will make you scratch you head and ask, Why? Why does sniper do as much damage they do to vehicles or even be able to hit air units? Why can jetpacks be hit by flamethrowers? Why do basic tanks suck as much as they do? But yeah, I can also see this giving new players a disadvantage in multi player against those that have unlocked the super tanks and bar units.
The other major issue I have is the fact that there is quite a bit the game either doesn't explain, or explains poorly leading to a lot of trial and error early on. The "mobile friendly" interface really doesn't help, either.
The story is kind of a mess, a lot of the characters are cringe, and the writing itself is just... ugh. The amount of 4th wall jokes should tell you all you need to know. Maybe that was the point, but that doesn't excuse it. Plus the main campaign ends really abruptly in obvious sequel bait, especially if you don't catch the trick to getting the real final level in twin destinies.
But despite its issues, It is worth picking up if you've already played through the better AW clones and still want more. because if you can put up with the with the balance issues, poor writing and the fact that the game doesn't explain its unique mechanics well, this game will fill the void.

i've gotten 200+ hrs out of this game and have plenty more ahead. the rebalancing of AW mech rushes, for instance, feels so nice :) the devs are great with giving QoL updates, and their curation of player campaigns is a very nice feature for solo players like me

I enjoy this game a lot. Unit composition and variety is excellent, graphics and music are nice. I've been mostly playing campaigns and I feel that's where the game has the most fun, polish and potential. There's always something new to unlock and discover. The option to open single player campaign battles for everybody online to join on either side creates an element of play and sometimes suspense. I enjoy the pvp stuff too, but, to disclose, the unlock system is built in a way that expects players not to skip on the "single player" campaign mode.
There's a degree of indie jankiness with the interface and such, notably some of the menu stuff. The game play interface itself is quite polished. The dev is also quick to respond to issues.
After 90 hrs of play time it's only now that I'm slowly starting to lose excitement. I believe I will be enjoying returning to the game time and again in the future as well.

Perfectly adequate advance wars clone with most of the fat trimmed and a focus on gameplay.