ASKA is a new survival game that has been released on Steam, in which you create your own Viking tribe and try to please the gods. There is currently a free demo available. MeinMMO editor and survival expert Benedict Grothaus has played it and is impressed, but the five hours offered are not enough.
ASKA is one of my most anticipated games at the moment. The survival game is visually and thematically reminiscent of a prettier Valheim and I now know that it plays in a similar way.
As part of Steam’s Open World Survival Festival, a 5-hour free demo of ASKA is playable until June 3, 2024.
After I failed badly in my last survival attempt and failed in the tutorial, I was a bit more cautious with ASKA. However, I quickly realized that the game is actually quite relaxed.
Although survival in ASKA is demanding and death is supposed to be pretty hard, building, exploring and just the environment are pretty relaxing. At least until you pull the wrong wolf’s tail…
ASKA: Trailer for the Viking survival game on Steam
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Survival between Valheim and Bellwright
At its core, ASKA is a down-to-earth survival game. You start with nothing, have to collect stones and sticks, create your first campfire, a shelter and make tools. There is even a character creation option with the choice between Aska (female) and Ragnar (male), with different strengths and weaknesses in combat and exploration.
From here on, things get special. After the first buildings, the “Eye of Odin” is the most important step in the game. With this building, you can attract villagers and they set ASKA apart from classic survival games.
You can simply use tribe members as construction workers or assign them to buildings – such as a logging or gathering camp, a hunting lodge or even the workshop or kitchen:
This makes ASKA similar to the new Bellwright, which looks a bit like a new Mount & Blade, just without the army aspect. Your villagers collect and craft, they also defend the village, but they are not a military force.
A life to please the gods
There is a certain guide in the game. The first steps are explained by some will-o’-the-wisps with a tutorial. Written tips help with all buildings – and become annoying at some point if you don’t deactivate them.
What I particularly liked was the “favor” of the Nordic gods. Various well-known figures such as Skadi, Odin, Mimir and Thor demand from you what belongs to their areas: survival, combat, wisdom.
There are no rewards for this, but a look at the gods page helps you find new goals when you’re stuck. Over time, you learn new mechanics, such as:
There are always events, such as a plague of rabbits or the blood moon, in which monsters attack the village. This can be pretty tough at the beginning when undead appear, but the real challenges await in the open world.
And suddenly Fenris himself is there
After about two hours, I had figured out who I could best give which tasks to and what I should do in the meantime.
After I have drawn up the floor plan for a building, my people take care of the construction and I go and get the resources that are still missing or farm what we need at the moment – usually material for more villagers. This can be found in special deposits.
When the village was finally running somewhat, I went a little further into the forest. Wolves kept coming out of a den there and pestering my hunter. I wanted to give them a piece of my mind.
Actually a good idea, if it hadn’t been for my curiosity.
Most enemies are perhaps a little dangerous, at least at the beginning, but rarely fatal once you get used to the combat system. Things get really bad when the wolf suddenly appears in front of you, the one who is supposed to seal the end of the world.
After I destroyed two inconspicuous “things” at the wolf’s den, a ghost wolf appeared in the air. Within a few seconds, it turned into Fenris or Fenrir himself, the wolf who in Norse mythology bites off the hand of the god Tyr and ushers in Ragnarök.
Three times I tried to pull his fur off. Three times he showed me that I was not good enough. I never died, but that was really more down to luck than skill:
ASKA: My epic fight against Fenris and why I won’t try it again anytime soon
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5 hours are simply not enough for the demo
Unfortunately, the demo eventually came to an end. As I was peacefully lying in bed recovering from the tough fight against Fenris – and for some reason my villagers were staring at me – the camera zoomed out and showed my village along with my achievements.
I was hoping that I could just keep playing as long as I didn’t log off, because the five hours of the demo are by no means enough for the game.
But not just because it would be so good.
Yes, ASKA is really fun. I would have liked to play longer and see what the game has to offer, get more villagers and build a real little town. However, a lot of the content is not available during the demo anyway, and the game was marked with a red warning. So it wouldn’t have been possible to see everything.
What I don’t know is whether ASKA will have much more depth or not. I didn’t really get very far with the exploration, and I don’t know what the “endgame” and the story will look like either.
Valheim has an end and the epic journey to get there is the goal. I assume ASKA is pursuing something similar, although there won’t be any bosses hiding progress behind them.
Nevertheless, I can recommend at least the demo to everyone. You can play for free until June 3rd, then again for the Steam Next Fest from June 10th to 17th. The early access release of ASKA is scheduled for June 20th. A release on PlayStation or Xbox is not planned yet. I will definitely keep playing when it is released. Let’s see if ASKA makes it onto the list of the best survival games.