Do you like Age of Wonders? How about The Settlers of Catan? And Civilization? If you just ticked off all three boxes then Thea: The Awakening is just the game for you. After a successful release on Steam (and Xbox One/PS4 a little later), this Dungeons & Dragons-esque hybrid is ported to the Nintendo Switch reeling in a whole new fanbase (hopefully). Let’s get the initiative rolling!
Thea: The Awakening is a turn-based strategic survival game steeped in Slavic myth and monstrosity set after an apocalyptic force is known only as The Darkness has engulfed the world. Anyone familiar with the games I mentioned in the introduction will feel right at home. The hexagon tiles are there, the in-depth crafting and building system is represented and all the weird encounters that are randomly generated – also there. There are Strigas (Cursed women) and Baba Yagas (Slavic witches) aplenty, but there are no heroes, no monster slayers, and no great armies capable of banishing them. You have only a few hopeless and starving survivors who are desperately trying to stay alive. You are their last and only true hope!
God-time!
Pick a God/Deity as your starting point. I personally choose the God of Death and Rebirth, because she looked cool and I usually go with the ‘Death and Destruction’ types. When I read into the rules handed to me by the game, they explained that you are given two gods at random when starting the game. Thea features over eight gods, which you will unlock by leveling up in the game. So, pick a God (soft-reset if you don’t like yours, Pokemon style) and jump into the game. You are greeted by the tutorial companion and get to pick if you want to skip the tutorial or gain some more lessons from something that looks like a combination between a dog and a monkey.
Gameplay:
Gameplay-wise you will need to invest a lot of time. I died the first few times in the tutorial-esque levels since I did not fully grasp certain aspects of the game. Your teammates get hurt, will bleed out if not treated for example – and thus die. Thea combines turn-based strategic gameplay with the tension and grit of a rogue-like and creating a combination between Age of Wonders and Darkest Dungeon. Add a captivating story in which you can uncover a series of in-game events, and a unique combat system based on a complex card battle game and you get a complex, but good game!
The wide range of gameplay features allows you to proceed through the world of Thea the way you prefer. You can choose to stay in your village and build up defenses (recommend after finishing the tutorial) or you can go out and explore the world. Conflicts can be resolved through assassination, stealth, diplomacy, hunting, and various other ways depending on the skills your people possess. You pick at least one of those at the beginning of the game, so be sure to read up on the rules. Fighting is not your only solution to a conflict, although it might hold the ‘ best’ benefits sometimes.
Thea – What is it?
So to summarize, Thea: The Awakening is a survival game in a dark fantasy setting with hexagonal turn-based strategic gameplay. A new world is created for each new adventure. A large part of the game is village management, with a variety of structures to build, upgrades and technologies to discover, and items to craft. For most of these things, you will have to venture out and search through dungeons, encounters and other vile places. This will lead to the exploration of over 4400 items that you can craft in your village or gather in the game’s world. While going on expeditions, each member carries his or her gear and gains experience in battle, improving abilities like collecting resources, diplomacy, healing, black magic, etc. So, when one dies in the world of Thea, you could just lose a valuable aspect of your team. Chose wisely, since there are over 200 non-linear story events that can grant you riches or deprive you of all your goods including life!
What makes Thea: The Awakening different from the mainstream turn-based RPGs, is the amount of historical and mythological basis this game features. Almost every character, except of course the standard skeletons, are from Slavic Mythology. So if you have any interest in the history of Russia, Poland or the Baltic states, or you need some fresh inspiration for your D&D campaign, hit Thea up, and write down some creatures for your own historical benefit. Another thing I really liked but had to get used to, was the implementation of the day & night system, and it’s weather effects. I had a game where the whole map became foggy, so I couldn’t see any monster approaching, nor move my team very far. While during the day, I saw the monsters coming from miles afar and could adjust my expedition accordingly.
Conclusion:
So, if you are into deep tabletop-like rogueish exploration games, and don’t have the people to muster up a complete D&D campaign? Try your hand at Thea: The Awakening. I do recommend you’ll play this on a larger screen than in Handheld mode. It’s really a lot of text to work through the first few times. Aside from the high difficulty rating the game works fine looks good and does what it promises. Thea: The Awakening is out now for Nintendo Switch.
