The Herem Saga (Anathema)
Release date: Feb 27, 2025
Developers: Davide Sassoli
Publishers: Davide Sassoli
Genres: Action, Adventure, Indie, RPG
Categories: Single-player, Steam Achievements, Partial Controller Support, Steam Cloud, Stats, Family Sharing
Supported languages: English, Italian

Anathema is a 2D top-down shooter set in the world of The Herem Saga, based on the homonymous book series. As the Federal Interstellar Army is attempting to retake control of Planet Vidalo, your platoon is deployed along with an entire FIA regiment to the Alien-infested surface. Your instructions are to clear out the area and secure all major dig sites, allowing for the mining ventures installed at the North Pole to resume operations. As a simple soldier, you're required to follow the orders of your commanding officer to the letter, but you'll soon realize that this mission is a lot more than a simple training exercise and that, if you really wanna leave this frosty Hell alive, you'll need a good deal of improvisation. In Anathema, you will never be asked to make any kind of explicit choices regarding the storyline, but the way you play the game and complete each level will have a strong impact on your progress: for example, the characters you meet during your playthrough may or may not decide to interact with you at a later time, depending on whether or not you decided to help them (assuming they're still alive). Goes without saying... helping or cooperating with these side characters will generally prevent you from completing your main assignments just as efficiently. This game doesn't let you choose a difficulty setting: it's simply hard. You start off as a basic private, equipped only with your standard-issue assault rifle and mildly useful body armor, and it'll be up to you to find or acquire new gear, either by scouring the game levels or by collecting enough credits to purchase more powerful items from the Nex Intergalactica servers, which are located throughout the game world. Keep in mind, however, that quickly completing your mission's main objectives will make you shine in the eyes of your superiors and may sometimes yield unexpected rewards. The choice on how to proceed is entirely up to you...