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In Don’t Nod’s action-adventure Aphelion, two ESA astronauts explore the ice planet Persephone – a final straw for humanity’s survival.
The year is 2062. Earth is uninhabitable. The European Space Agency (ESA) sends astrobiologist Ariane Saintclair (43) and engineer Thomas Cross (45) on the aptly named mission HOPE-01 to the distant planet Persephone at the edge of the solar system to investigate whether humanity can find refuge there. Unsurprisingly everything turns out quite differently than planned: Their space shuttle crashes during landing due to mysterious interference.
Executive Producer Dimitri Weideli and Creative Director Florent Guillaume walked us through Aphelion, and we had the opportunity to play the first chapter, “The Wreck,” and the fourth chapter, “The Onyx Forest,” with Ariane. In the roughly 20-minute introduction, we have to escape the massive wreckage of the space shuttle and find her partner, Thomas. This is where Ariane’s climbing skills come into play. In true Uncharted fashion, she clambers from one ledge—fortunately marked in the signal color yellow—to the next. However, unlike in the Naughty Dog series, some seemingly secure ledges simply crumble away before our eyes, requiring quick reflexes. Dimitri Weideli quickly clarifies that this signal color is primarily used in the game’s man-made structures and not on the more prevalent natural ledges, unless this is enabled in the accessibility options.
Some of Aphelion’s developers worked on the climbing game Jusant. However, this sci-fi adventure doesn’t share Jusant’s complexity in climbing. For larger gaps, we have to press an additional button at the right moment to grab hold to the ledge. Even if we miss this window, the game gives us the chance to save ourselves by using the jump button once again.
Using our Pathfinder—a kind of Pip-Boy on Ariane’s arm—we find a way out of the wreck. We really get a sense of the space shuttle’s dimensions, as we dodge falling debris on sliding sections and use the grappling hook to climb steep ledges, while swinging to new platforms with its rope. The controls are all quite intuitive, and the individual areas of the shuttle around the rover are impressively presented.
Only the occasionally rough or flawed animations repeatedly pull us out of the immersive atmosphere of this tense space thriller. While the facial animations look fantastic and manage to convey the strong performances of the two actors, some effects look like they’re from a bygone era, especially the depiction of fire. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved before the game’s release.
In the later chapter, Ariane approaches the Source, the true destination of the scientific expedition. She searches for a way out beneath a thin layer of ice, climbing icy mountains and squeezing through narrow caves. Here, Ariane encounters an alien life form, also known as Nemesis, which seems to have been following her for some time. Nemesis can’t see her, only hear her. In a nerve-wracking sequence, which is surprisingly short, we sneak past the patrolling monster. With her electromagnetic scanner, Ariane can detect radio waves and repurpose them to manipulate the environment, thus opening up new areas for the grappling hook.
Thomas is also preoccupied with radio waves. Severely injured, he has discovered a seemingly abandoned space base and is able to explore this sprawling area. We haven’t been able to play this chapter ourselves yet. Apparently, the two aren’t the first to explore Persephone; instead, he stumbles upon the eponymous Project Aphelion. In audio logs we learn more of the fate of the former crew stationed here. The voice acting in Aphelion is impeccable. Thomas ends up also being threatened by an alien life form, though this one manifests in the form of ice crystals.
Scientists are currently searching for a ninth planet in our solar system, and Aphelion is set in the near future. It’s neither fantasy nor hard science fiction, as Florent Guillaume explains. ESA is supporting Don’t Nod in creating a realistic depiction of space flight in the near future. Ariane, who originates from Guyane, is inspired by ESA’s space program of the same name. On Christmas Eve 1979, the Ariane 1 rocket launched from the Kourou spaceport in Guyane, marking the first successful launch of an European rocket.
Instead of fixed difficulty levels, Don’t Nod plans to offer a range of accessibility options to remove potential obstacles in the game’s climbing and stealth sections. The events in Aphelion unfold over approximately 24 hours, and the action-adventure consists of eleven different chapters, each expected to last about an hour. Throughout the game, the player perspective alternates between Ariane, with her climbing and stealth sections, and Thomas, with his more traditional, narrative-driven Don’t Nod-style gameplay. Dimitri Weideli clarifies that there will be no branching storylines influenced by your gameplay choices, unlike the landmark titles from the French studio such as Life is Strange or Lost Records. Also unlike those titles, Aphelion will be released in its entirety. While the exact release date is still to be determined, Aphelion is expected to launch sometime this spring for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Conclusion
Aphelion is an ambitious project: Combining the expertise of ESA with the narrative strength of Don’t Nod sounds like a no-brainer. The atmosphere in the scenes we played is already as dense as a sheet of thin ice – from the superb acting and fantastic camerawork to the electrifying musical score. However, there are still a few doubts regarding gameplay. The climbing sections and stealth sequences aren’t really challenging, at least in the first few chapters. While the use of various gadgets works well, it still feels heavily dictated by the game. In the preview version, we didn’t experience any performance issues – unlike in many other games – but faulty animations repeatedly pulled us out. Based on past experience, such problems should be resolved by the time the game launches. Finding the right balance between the two playable characters will also be a challenge. We’ll probably only be able to form a better opinion of Aphelion after playing more of it. We have already bonded with Ariane and Thomas and look forward to uncovering the secrets of Persephone and the mysterious Project Aphelion.
Don’t Nod provided us with access to a preview version of Aphelion, which we used to capture the screenshots.
