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.

I'll start by saying this game is not Advance Wars, which should be obvious from it not being called Advance Wars, but muscle memory is a pain.
This is a well put together NOT-advance wars style game; it has a lot of really good pixel art, tons of unit variety and skills, multiple game modes, built in map editors, what seems like a Dark Souls invasion mechanic on a turn based strategy game, and more.
However, while a lot of the units are familiar, they mostly play very differently from its inspiration. This isn't a bad thing, as it keeps the game fresh and prevents it from being a weak clone. On the downside, this is also the same with its user interface.
Now, don't get me wrong, this is a competently made game and it works fine. That said, the lack of a "unit go back" button (that I can see at least, though the tutorial I did first didn't show one either) is frustrating as the option to undo an entire turn's worth of progress because you misclicked on the last unit... is painful.
The dialogue, while very much in good humour (the tutorial manages to be both funny and informative) is unskippable in bulk which for the longer maps you may have to redo can get a little grating. Additionally, while Advance Wars has always contained campaigns you go back to, the sheer difficulty scale of Athena Crisis coupled with its star system means you can accidentally cheat yourself out of stars by whatever means and then have to go through the entire campaign up to that point again multiple times. Bonus frustration if you were playing a secret level for which you have to go back and unlock it again too. I've had to take a break for now as, despite the quality of the game, I was finding my constant campaign restarts were driving me insane in chasing stars I missed at one point by destroying the last enemy unit a turn too early.
EDIT: the developer was nice enough to let me know that you CAN bulk skip dialogue (see comments for details) and levels can be selected for replaying after you beat a campaign. So... disregard that entire segment I guess!
To recap though, this is a very well made game that manages to distinguish itself from its inspiration despite taking on many of its better elements. It has a lot of options, some of which I haven't even got to yet, and has a lot of replayability. It is, however, lacking a few anti-frustration features (perhaps intentionally given a lot of the multiplayer content available, but still) that leave obsessive perfectionists like me on the verge of losing hair and/or monitors!
Definitely recommended, just don't be as crazy as me unless you're smarter than me!

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.

It's legally distinct Advance Wars with a stronger infantry game and a fun take on multiplayer.
If you know what that means, you'll have a good understanding of what's going on here. If not, let me explain.
Advance Wars was/is a series by Nintendo dating way back to a game called Famicom Wars. It's a chess-like tactical strategy game that was especially popular in the early 2000s on the GBA and DS (hence, "Advance" Wars, for Game Boy Advance). That is, before it disappeared for a span of 15 years until the 2023 remake, Reboot Camp 1+2.
During that decade-and-a-half dry period, the community came together through fan works and an unofficial online clone called Advance Wars by Web. This community would go on to make maps for each other, play online hotseat games via AWBW, mod the earlier games, and debate (read: half discussion, half flamewar, as is par with strong opinions) on how to expand on missing features.
Athena Crisis is essentially a successor game integrating feedback from that community. What you're buying here is an account and a game client for a web application, with many of the features feeling like direct lifts from forum posts over on AWBW.
Specifically, this means:
1. While the game is Advance Wars themed, it features an expanded unit roster and set of powers not found in those games. This means that while it follows a rock-paper-scissors-like unit balance, the interplay of units is a bit more complex (but not overwhelmingly so). Many of the units are direct lifts and play similarly to their Advance Wars counterparts, but have slight differences in terms of move distance, damage, and other characteristics.
2. The game is multiplatform -- buying it through Steam gets you a license the same as buying it on the website, just with a fancy client to play it from. This means you can play the same account through a web browser or on your phone, but it requires an internet connection to work (other than a preloaded offline campaign).
3. The game includes a map editor and at this writing, has several community and curated campaigns and maps on top of the official ones. These also serve the purpose of divvying out different unit and ability unlocks, which you can then bring into other maps and campaigns.
4. Games can be freely spectated, and there's even an invasion mechanic that drops other players into an existing map. Invasions are manually activated by the game's host, and it's more of a gag than anything else. But the reward is currency that lets you invade more or buy cosmetics from the ingame shop, and that's neat.
Overall, it's pretty great for $20, especially if you were starving for an Advance Wars clone like I was. Outside of that niche, the game probably has more limited appeal. But, I'm happy so far.

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.

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

most of my hours are spent in the browser version which was one of the major reasons i bought the title. you can play literally anywhere and i have enjoyed getting to start a mission, going to work, and then playing a little more on my phone while on break.
the game is hard, don't be misled by the pastel colors and cute graphics. it's the sort of game that will require you to think through your turns and consider the best paths for capping and such.
it is also still in development and some of the units and their strengths are in flux. don't get too used to anything as it stands (or, like me, don't assume the rocket launchers can still shoot after disembarking lol). join the discord and you'll meet plenty of helpful people and the dev is very constantly engaging with the player-base.
good game i still suck at it but recommend lol