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. 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 unofficial clones, 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. It's actually a web application, and many of the features feel 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.

A pretty good game. The cross platform playability is amazing considering you get access to the web version with the steam purchase. I've played more on my phone than here due to that, but it's pretty great of an option which I greatly appreciate since I get busy a lot.