Petroleum must flow! Why you should play the demo of the Russian strategy game Anoxia Station

A simulation of war between corporate greed and chthonic beasts already sounds intriguing. And even the mere “framework” of this idea, in the form of a demo, was enough to crash the game's page on Itch.io under an influx of curious players. We also decided to join in and tell you about this strategy game from a Russian developer, which is set to enter Early Access soon. At least—we’d like to believe so!

The demo is light on plot events, but they are there nonetheless

While the demo's plot is straightforward to the point of being banal, it gives the player a goal: an international transatlantic mining corporation wants to extract as many resources as possible. Toward this end, it dispatches a scientific-industrial expedition into a certain interzone. For us, this means we end up underground, where we will carry out our tasks. Many workers will die in the process, but the sacrifices are worth it – as long as the maw of the industrial machine is fed with petroleum and the corporation grows richer. Petroleum must flow!

The gameplay constantly throws crisis situations and potential solutions at you

The game begins by managing a mobile station that must be driven into a suitable position and unpacked. After that, you can get down to work. The initial phase involves clearing the surroundings and drilling into the rock. This stage would be dull if not for discovering various anomalies. Workers might stumble upon a giant clutch of eggs, crystals, or aggressive roots. Each turn, these affect player resources either positively or negatively. If the specialist team includes the right person, they will deal with the anomaly for a certain price. 

The first steps are taken – now it's time to take care of resources. Productive operations require oxygen, water, fuel, energy, and workers. Oxygen and energy are produced by specialized buildings. Water and fuel, however, must be located with radar, extracted, and refined. If life-sustaining resources run out, workers will start dying the very next day. And then all production will grind to a halt.

Subterranean production comes at a cost. Active operations increase temperature and radiation, which also negatively affect worker health. These can be lowered using specialist abilities or in dedicated buildings. But this luxury costs resources. 

Specialists have plenty of useful abilities that can be activated once a day. They can also be assigned to buildings, boosting their efficiency and unlocking new active skills. They only get to work once their associated structures are built. It's hard to tell why they stay idle until then. Apparently sobering up after a binge...

The game's world is not as simple as it seems at first glance

During excavations, you can stumble upon previous expeditions. Or more precisely – what remains of them. Once a day, you get the opportunity to use resources and specialists to investigate them. As a reward, you might receive intel on nearby resources. Other times, you find recordings of workers' desperate screams, metallic clanking, and squelching – clearly a bad omen!

Examining the remains also yields unique resources. These can be spent on lab research. There is nothing extraordinary there, but various bonuses are still nice to have. 

You will also have to deal with periodic earthquakes that inflict severe damage on structures. But the main threat comes from the local fauna. Dig long enough, and you are bound to run into a giant snail, spider, or worm. Just the sight of them can drive workers into hysterics. These creatures are extremely aggressive, and every day they try to damage the base. You can fight them off using the active abilities of certain buildings, but this necessity also expends resources. 

Once the quota is met, it is time to haul ass – preferably as fast as possible. All personnel and equipment are loaded onto the base, which is switched back into mobile mode. All that remains is to steer it to the extraction point. Given that all extraction buildings become inactive at this point – all you can do is hope there are enough resources for the journey. And that another chthonic monstrosity doesn't crawl out along the way. 

Design and sound — the reason why Anoxia Station is worth launching at least once

The game features very simple graphics. In essence, the player watches a virtually static picture where notifications occasionally pop up on the screen. However, gorgeous design and sound make what is happening remarkably grim and atmospheric. 

To put it simply: in many ways, the game's visuals are reminiscent of HighFleet – another atmospheric Russian game about commanding airships. 

Diagnosis

At the time of writing, a free demo was available on the Itch.io website, featuring a single campaign mission. But even completing just that makes you realize it is a solid project, with an interesting premise and a working foundation. The two people developing Anoxia Station have done a fantastic job!

All that's left is to patiently grind away and polish the game, expanding it both outward and inward. During my playthrough, I ran into plenty of inconveniences and rough edges that detracted from the overall impression. Alas, that's what a demo is for. 

Yet if the project is polished up, what remains is a dark and atmospheric subterranean exploration sim that will keep you on edge with every passing in-game day — while urging you to dig even deeper. After all, petroleum must flow! 

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Image rights belong to Yakov Butuzoff and Abylight Studios. The preview image is taken from SteamDB