Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi, developed by MarsLit Games, is an upcoming cel-shaded adventure heavily inspired by the Zelda series. I played through a pre-release build on PC via Steam, spending about 15 hours exploring shrines, solving puzzles, and battling Void enemies. In this Aletheia: The Wrath of Aferi review, I’ll dive into how the game’s visuals, puzzle design, combat, and characters stack up—and whether this indie adventure has what it takes to stand alongside the classics it draws inspiration from. Spoiler: its puzzle design and duo mechanics might even outshine some of Zelda’s best moments.

Sights and Sounds: A Beautifully Crafted World

With gorgeous cel-shaded visuals and strong voice acting, Altheia brings its world to life in a way that feels both nostalgic and fresh.

The game’s art direction is striking, with cel shading reminiscent of The Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild. Running in UltraWide Quad HD resolution, the world looks vibrant, colorful, and detailed. Every shrine, temple, and landscape feels carefully crafted, making exploration consistently rewarding.

A big surprise was the voice acting. Core characters like Lili, Sadi, Aferi, and Azal are fully voiced in cutscenes and during key gameplay moments, which adds weight to the storytelling. While I would have loved to hear more of the side characters voiced, it doesn’t detract much from the overall experience.

Sound design is equally polished. Each weapon, enemy, and puzzle mechanic comes with distinct audio cues that make the game feel alive. The soundtrack ties it all together, with emotional tracks during cutscenes and high-energy themes during boss fights. Whether I was solving puzzles or clashing with Void enemies, the music amplified the experience.

Story and Characters: Guardians vs. Corruption

A familiar “reluctant hero” setup is elevated by a strong supporting cast, a memorable villain, and an ending that lingers long after the credits roll.

You play as Lili, a reluctant protagonist who’s thrust into the role of Guardian after Aferi, a corrupted spirit, threatens the world’s existence. Early in her journey, she partners with Sadi, a monk in training whose powers fuel her abilities. While Lili’s resistance to adventure made her harder for me to connect with, her journey is balanced well by Sadi, who consistently grounds the story and feels true to his role.

Aferi is a standout villain. He’s savage, unrelenting, and genuinely surprising in how cruel he can be toward other characters. This darker edge gave the story higher stakes, and saving him from corruption by the end felt earned and impactful.

As the game progresses, I realized there’s far more going on beneath the surface than I expected. Altheia tackles some surprisingly heavy themes without making them obvious at first, and by the time the story reaches its conclusion, it leaves you questioning what you’ve seen. The ending doesn’t spell everything out, leaving room for interpretation, which I found refreshing. It gave me something to think about long after the credits rolled.

That said, I was disappointed to find that you can’t keep playing once the final boss is defeated. The game only supports a single save file, which is overwritten when you start a new run, and there’s no chapter select. If you’re chasing leftover achievements or want to revisit shrines, you’ll need to finish them before completing the story, or be prepared to start all over again.

Puzzle Solving: The Game’s True Strength

Altheia shines brightest when it challenges you to think creatively, using both characters to solve its clever puzzles.

Shrines and temples form the backbone of progression, each packed with puzzles that demand experimentation. They aren’t brutally difficult, but they consistently made me pause, retrace my steps, and try new approaches. They reminded me a lot of Ocarina of Time, blending traditional puzzle logic with action.

One minor frustration came from tooltips sometimes appearing out of order. For example, I didn’t learn how Lili’s multi-target bow worked until after I had already beaten the boss that required it. Since I played across multiple builds, this might be an early-build bug, but if it carried into release it could cause unnecessary confusion.

The real brilliance comes from using Lili and Sadi together. Many puzzles require coordination between them, like having Sadi hold a lever while Lili passes through a gate to move a block. This cooperative system adds depth and variety that Zelda’s solo Link never had, making puzzle-solving feel fresh and dynamic.

Combat, Weapons, and Abilities: Strength in Synergy

Combat isn’t the main attraction, but it blends well with puzzles and offers some clever enemy designs.

The developer recommends playing with a controller, and I strongly agree. While the game does support mouse and keyboard, I found it awkward to manage Lili’s movement, attacks, and overall flow that way. With a controller, everything feels smoother and more natural.

Void enemies come in many variations, each requiring different strategies. One memorable example is an enemy that only dies if you drop a bomb into its open mouth mid-battle. Encounters like this keep fights from feeling like simple hack-and-slash filler.

Lili’s sword and bow form the base of combat, while Sadi empowers them with mana. Empowered sword attacks hit harder but slow Lili down, while his mana also dictates how many arrows you can fire at once with her bow. This reinforces their partnership, but it can also feel restrictive. Switching Sadi’s empowerment mid-battle slows the pace, which becomes frustrating during fast-paced boss fights. It’s a smart design decision on paper, but one that sometimes clashes with the flow of combat.

Final Take – Is Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi Worth Playing?

Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi is shaping up to be one of 2025’s standout indie adventures. Its cel-shaded visuals are stunning, the soundtrack and voice acting bring weight to the story, and its puzzle-solving is some of the best I’ve played in years. The dual-character system with Lili and Sadi adds something genuinely new to the genre, keeping exploration and problem-solving consistently engaging.

Combat isn’t perfect, and a few design quirks held it back, but none of these issues outweighed the fun I had during my 15 hours with the game. If you’re a fan of Zelda-style adventures, clever puzzles, or beautiful cel-shaded worlds, Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi absolutely deserves your attention. This is a game I’ll be recommending all year.