"Somewhere between the last star and the next mistake...
The 82 cuts through the silence like it owes the universe nothing."
This is the line that opens up Asana, a science fiction visual novel on Steam created by Testudo, and sets out how much of the game will feel. The novel places the players in the role of Captain Asana, leader of an interstellar spaceship. Her companion is N.E.K.O, an AI in the form of a cat who believes - possibly rightly so - that it knows everything.
As planets explode from the first moment in the game, players are immediately met with the game's key gameplay mechanics - processing of natural language. In the game, players will be able to act as Asana using their sentences, questions, reasoning, and emotional intelligence. This is visible from the initial moment when you can determine what the ship's or Asana's mission is, which the AI treats delicately. Instead of providing clear and definite answers, each of these further explores the mystery of not just Asana, but also her sister and an entity determined to kill hundreds of millions. Oh, and possibly, all of them are ancient Egyptian gods now in the form of AI super-minds.
Another reason why this approach works is the fact that the characters are immediately likable. I kind of expected that from N.E.K.O, but this applied quickly to the rest of the individuals Asana meets, including the horrible Federation hero who seems oddly similar to Zapp Brannigan from Futurama. Its use of humor is also another point where the game shines. From visual references to the narrative and dialogue options, Asana feels like something made by sci-fi fans for other space opera and other science fiction classics fans. That notion that the game is a work of art produced through sheer passion keeps consistently shining through continuously as the chapters progress.
Gameplay-wise, there are some moments for improvement. There are sparse mini-games throughout the game's available six chapters, but these feel a tad forced, especially as they take place in weird and nearly disjointed moments. The space battle in chapter six, for example, does appear in the most adequate of manners, but it still ends up something players will likely force through instead of focusing on it in any meaningful manner. However, this is balanced out by the RPG system in the game that beckons players to try different approaches, as different options might be locked-out by their character build decisions.
Asana is still a work in progress with the release date set for December 17, 2026. It might feel odd and unknowable to players who are not into sci-fi and authors like Iain Banks and his Culture series. But for anyone who enjoys a bit of space opera, to either laugh at it or join its characters on space-bending adventures, Asana is a visual novel that has to be at least tried out, especially due to its ability to process natural language. So, if you're one of them, try it out on Steam and see where this adventure takes you.