Battle for Asciion began its life in 2012 as a small experiment. We weren’t trying to chase trends or build something flashy - we were simply curious: what if a shoot ’em up could be made entirely out of text, not as an aesthetic, but as the actual game world?
That question shaped everything.
Every ship, enemy, bullet, explosion and boss you see in Battle for Asciion is made of real ASCII characters. There are no sprites pretending to look like text - the text is the game. It moves, collides, animates and fights back.
Over the years, we decided to revisit that original experiment and give it a proper modern release, without betraying its spirit. The result is a small but very deliberate game, designed around the idea that text can be expressive, dynamic and playable.
One example of this philosophy is Textshot. At any moment during gameplay, you can capture what’s happening on screen and save it as a plain .txt file. Not an image - an actual text file you can open, edit, share or archive. It’s a tiny feature, but it perfectly represents what Battle for Asciion is about: treating text as something tangible, not decorative.
In terms of controls, the game supports keyboard and controller input. A controller configuration is available via Steam Input, and the game is fully compatible with Steam Deck. That said, keyboard controls are strongly recommended for precision and for that old-school “terminal” feeling that inspired the project in the first place.
Battle for Asciion is not a big game, and it doesn’t try to be. It’s a focused, slightly weird, text-driven shoot ’em up made with a lot of care, revisiting an idea we still find exciting after all these years.
Thanks for taking a look - and see you in Asciion.