Having to restart a game from the beginning is always a pain in the arse – more so if you’re writing a review for a game that’s due out today (yesterday) because Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi on my Steam Deck was not on speaking terms with my laptop. Sure, there was probably a way to do it, but since it wasn’t automated, and I wanted to check out the game on a system with better specs, i.e., one that looked prettier and was smoother, I didn’t mind starting again. And for the record, Altheia: The Wrath of AferiLT did play well on the Steam Deck without any hiccups.
The elevator pitch: Zelda: Breath of the Wild meets The Gunk meets Tomb Raider (without the same type of combat). And, for me, Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi is better than all three, albeit short disclaimer: I don’t really like BOTW. Scandalous. As Lili, you’re roped into helping out a magi-type named Sadi, who asks you to escort them to the monastery. He’s not your typical monk, more like an Avatar sort of fellow who can shapeshift into a shadow wolf, become absorbed into your sword, among many other magical triggers. Regardless, he’s a bit soft and wants you to protect him.
As with all ‘simple quests’, to fulfil Sadi’s objective, you first have to find Dave the butcher for some information sharing, who in turn asks you to seek out Terry the fishmonger, who asks you to return his library books for him on his behalf (they’re overdue), and he’ll give you the golden fleece you seek. Always in hindsight, the main questline is right under your nose, though you have to complete each element of back scratching to unlock the next. This could spell monotony, and in some respects, it’s a little lazy; however, the puzzles, in my opinion, are much more fun and engaging than those in BOTW, so I was happy with this narrative detour.
Without giving it away, though, in fairness, Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi kind of gives a wink and a nudge to allude to how ‘important’ Lili is, it’s far from a chance encounter with Sadi, and her tragic intro cutscene might make you rethink who the baddies are in the story. They’re quite obvious to begin with: they’re the ones who are attacking you and corrupting the land. Yes, the colour purple does indeed signify corruption (unlike Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, which is red. Great game by the way, and I’ve just completed another playthrough as I love it so much. Just sayin’). Thematically, there are some comparisons to The Gunk, as said at the start of this review, but for me, the game is more like Tomb Raider, only with boring combat. The platforming sections and ledge leaping are decent, though it can take some getting used to chasms without a double jump.
Lili wields a sword, then not long after that, a bow. The sword is easy to swing about and will sound like hitting a cabbage on impact. It’s mostly button mashing, though there are some additional moves and boosts you can apply with the assistance of Sadi, or even setting his wolf-like fangs into their juicy… whatevers. They’re corrupted. Are they necks? Anyway, I didn’t like the combat, not the sluggish bow options, but it was a little better for puzzle solving. Through progression, Lili can unlock boosts such as health and Sadi’s mana abilities, plus a few more buffs to moves, though it isn’t anything to right home about and perhaps the weakest part in Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi.
The visuals were quite impressive, having started this on the Steam Deck, though the subsequent switch to the gaming laptop was only a slight improvement. Further moving the laptop onto a larger monitor and fiddling with the settings revealed some really sharp graphics that looked the part alongside the somewhat soft colour palettes (with the exception of the purples – that signifies evil, don’t you know?). Surprisingly, Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi revealed more issues on a better system, as some quest items would soft lock, meaning I’d have to exit the game and return to a checkpoint and repeat. Additionally, a handful of enemies on the screen in a combat screen would prompt screen pauses. All mildly annoying, but nothing horrific, aside from reloading the game. My biggest niggle was actually the way the music shifted in combat. It’d be serene, as expected in the land of Atarassia (it is known), then jump to attack music, then abruptly end. Sounds natural, but it’s very jilted and would reel me back into the moment where I’d have to jump off the table and stop swinging my arms about at the nasties. In other words, it broke the immersive element a tad.
There’s nothing about Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi that’ll make you drop your pants and jaw and immediately set out to purchase it, but I rather liked it. It only takes a few minutes to get into it, and even with the slight reservations of thinking Lili is a brat and Sadi sounds like Sonic the Hedgehog (the crap TV ones, not Ben Schwartz), they grew on me quickly. I’m sure MarsLit Games would love to slap this quote on the box, but to me, Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi is better than Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Then the Nintendo stans unleashed the hounds…
