The year is off to a good start with new survival games, and one of the latest entries is Aska, developed by Sand Sailor Studio, a small indie studio based in Romania, which is gearing up for its upcoming beta test.

Aska is a procedurally generated third-person survival and tribe-building game that can be played with up to three other friends. You play as a Viking tribe attempting to create a thriving settlement in a dangerous world based on Norse mythology.

Sand Sailor Studio has not been sitting on their laurels and has announced that they will no longer have to self-publish as they have made a partnership with Thunderful Games, the publishers behind such games as Lego Brick Tales and Super Meat Boy Forever.

New creatures have been shown, such as what I affectionately call the bramble animals, in which we have seen deer, bears, wolves, and even what I believe is a bramble boar. Some might not take kindly to being hunted and may want to turn the tables.

Besides the natural-looking creatures, we also got a glimpse of some of the enemies we will encounter as well, such as the fierce Dragnar Swordmen and Archers who will periodically raid your settlement, and some of the boss-type creatures like the magically enhanced stone golem and a huge oceanic beast towering menacingly over the waves.

Defending your settlement is key to seeing your people grow, but you will also need to explore the map so you can locate resource-rich locations to build additional settlements to allow your AI townsfolk to harvest the resources while you are out and battling the evil forces plaguing the land.

Sand Sailor Studio has announced its upcoming multiplayer closed beta test coming up from April 15^th to the 21^st. If you’re interested in being chosen to participate, you can join their Discord and sign up.

Are you planning to join the beta test? Let me know in the comments below.