A new survival game has been released on Steam with ASKA, where you establish your own Viking tribe and try to please the gods. Currently, there is a free demo available. MyMMO editor and survival expert Benedict Grothaus has played it and is thrilled, but the five hours offered are too little.
ASKA is currently one of my most anticipated games. The survival game visually and thematically reminds me of a prettier Valheim and I now know: It plays similarly as well.
As part of Steam’s open-world survival festival, a 5-hour free demo of ASKA is playable until June 3, 2024.
After I had a rough time on my last survival attempt and failed during the tutorial with the face-planted crash, I was a bit more cautious with ASKA. However, I quickly realized that the game is indeed quite relaxing.
Even though survival in ASKA requires quite a bit from you and death is supposed to be pretty harsh, building, exploring, and simply the environment are quite relaxing. At least until you pull the tail of the wrong wolf…
Survival between Valheim and Bellwright
At its core, ASKA is a down-to-earth survival game. You start with nothing, have to gather stones and sticks, create a first campfire, a shelter, and craft tools. There is even character creation where you can choose between Aska (female) and Ragnar (male), each with various strengths and weaknesses in combat and exploration.
From here, it gets particularly interesting. Right after the first buildings, the “Eye of Odin” becomes the most important step in the game. With this building, you can attract villagers, which sets ASKA apart from classic survival games.
You can simply use tribe members as construction workers or assign them to buildings – such as a lumberjack lodge, a gathering hut, a hunting cabin, or even a workshop or kitchen:
- Each villager has special strengths. Some are good fishermen, others are strong lumberjacks.
- However, everyone also has their weaknesses. Those who chop a lot of wood eat more. Some may be nocturnal and prefer to sleep during the day.
- That’s why you not only assign who works where, but also when people can take breaks or sleep.
- If you do not pay attention to their needs, the tribe members will leave.
Thus, ASKA is similar to the new Bellwright, which looks a bit like a new Mount & Blade, just without the army aspect. Your villagers gather and craft, they also defend the village, but they are not a fighting force.
A life to please the gods
The game has a certain guideline. The first steps are explained by some will-o’-the-wisps with a tutorial. Written tips assist with all buildings – and they become annoying eventually if you don’t disable them.
What I particularly liked is the “favor” of the Norse gods. Various notable figures like Skadi, Odin, Mimir, and Thor demand from you what belongs to their domains: survival, combat, wisdom.
While there are no rewards for this, a look at the gods’ page helps find new goals when you’re stuck. Over time, you learn new mechanics, such as:
- Do not build production facilities next to residential areas, as this reduces comfort and thus the bonuses you and NPCs receive when resting – similar to city-building simulations.
- Villagers can only work with the right tools, which must be provided somehow by another tribe member.
- Areas for gathering resources should be strategically marked so that production does not run to waste.
Events occur frequently, such as a rabbit plague or the blood moon, during which monsters attack the village. This can be quite tough at the beginning when undead appear, but the right challenges await in the open world.
And suddenly Fenris himself stands there
After about two hours, I figured out whom I could best assign to which tasks and what I should do in the meantime.
After I laid out the blueprint for a building, my people take care of the construction while I go gather the missing resources or farm what we currently need – usually materials for more villagers. These can be found in special deposits.
Once the village was finally running somewhat smoothly, I ventured further into the forest. From a building there, wolves kept appearing and bothering my hunter. I wanted to go teach them a lesson.
Actually, a good idea, if it weren’t for my curiosity.
The majority of opponents might be a bit dangerous at the beginning, but rarely deadly, if you familiarize yourself with the combat system a bit. It gets really ugly when suddenly the wolf appears in front of you, who is supposed to signify the end of the world.
After I destroyed two inconspicuous “things” at the wolf’s den, a ghost wolf appeared in the air. Within seconds, it transformed into Fenris or Fenrir himself, the wolf who in Norse mythology bites off the hand of the god Tyr and initiates Ragnarök.
Three times I tried to skin him. Three times he showed me that I wasn’t good enough for that. Although I never died, I really owe that more to luck than skill:
5 hours are simply not enough for the demo
At some point, however, the demo came to an unfortunate end. Just as I was peacefully lying in bed to recover from the tough battle against Fenris – and for some reason being stared at by my villagers – the camera zoomed out and showed my village along with my achievements.
I had hoped that I could simply continue playing as long as I didn’t log out. Because the five demo hours are by no means enough for the game.
Not only because it is so good.
Yes, ASKA is really fun. I would have liked to play longer and see what the game has to offer, recruit more villagers, and build a real little town. However, many contents were not available during the demo; the game was marked with a red warning. So seeing everything would not even be possible.
What I therefore don’t know is whether ASKA will gain much more depth or not. I didn’t get far in my exploration, and I also don’t know what the “endgame” and the story look like.
Valheim has an end, and the epic journey to it is the goal. I assume that ASKA is pursuing something similar, although there are not supposed to be bosses hidden behind which progress is hidden.
Still, I can recommend the demo to everyone at least. You can still play for free until June 3, and again at the Steam Next Fest from June 10 to 17. The early access release of ASKA is scheduled for June 20. A release on PlayStation or Xbox is not currently planned. I will definitely continue playing at release. Let’s see if ASKA makes it onto the list of the best survival games.
