When you try a Don’t Nod title, you never know for sure what you’re going to find: first as a developer and then as a publisher, it has been rapidly expanding its portfolio of game styles, which in turn have grown in scale and ambition. What you do know when you play one of its games is that the story and narrative, at the very least, are promising. Aphelion is no different in that respect, but it is different in how it develops that story compared to the studio’s previous works.
Aphelion is a space science-fiction story centred on ESA astronaut Ariane, who, along with her partner Thomas, is sent as an advance party to decide whether the unexplored planet Persephone is habitable or not, and thus establish a first colony there. However, the ship they were travelling in crashes on its descent to the frozen surface, and Ariane wakes up alone and completely lost amid the wreckage. Although the main motivations for the journey are not revealed, the first impression is that this is a more or less “hard” science-fiction story, with scientific explorers coming to check the viability of a planet as a possible future home for humanity. I’m not lying when I say that images of the failed world in which Matt Damon is stranded in Interstellar came to mind, and I don’t think it would be a bad description to say that the general atmosphere of these first moments with Aphelion is aimed at seeking that feeling of loneliness and struggle for survival.
The press preview I was offered to try out the game allowed me to test it at two different points in the adventure, but always with the character of Ariane, although from what we can gather from the previous trailers, Thomas will also have his playable part. The first of the two save files showed the beginning of the game, where we learn the basic movement and platforming controls that Ariane can use to move through the wrecked sections of the ship that brought them to the planet. The first thing that caught my attention was how carefully crafted the artistic presentation is, not only of the ship, but also of the character. Ariane’s facial modelling is very well done, and the setting, being a crashed ship full of debris, fires, and the planet’s snow and ice seeping through the broken fuselage, creates a wonderful atmosphere that you immediately enter. The immersion, even in those early moments, is perfect.
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Then there’s the issue of movement. Aphelion (at least from what I’ve tried) is a narrative game focused on movement and stealth, but in this first section, it’s all about learning how to move and nail your jumps and dodges around debris. It feels like something that could be taken from Tomb Raider or Uncharted, although not at the speed Nathan Drake moves. Ariane is a scientist, not an action hero, so when the handhold breaks or she loses her footing on a ledge, we have to help her or she’ll fall into the void and we’ll reload at the last checkpoint. I like how they’ve solved the movement system, it really feels satisfying, and it follows the pace that the story wants to set.
The second part of the test takes us a little further into the adventure, to the first encounter with the strange creature/entity we know as Nemesis. This second section maintains the platforming of the previous one, but focuses more on the atmosphere of fear and, above all, on stealth. The lighting in a large underground ice cave, which is only partially visible through the torch, is reason enough for your hands to start sweating as you grip the controller tightly (you can play with a keyboard and mouse, but it seems less precise). Then, the encounter with the creature forces us to move slowly, dodging its movement paths. We have no weapons, nor is it clear if anything can affect this thing, so it all depends on not attracting its attention with the noise we make. Nemesis’ AI is not perfect, and on one occasion I forced the situation until I was a few centimetres away from it without being detected, although in the end, you have to take the risk of moving to another area, and that also leads to some pretty tense chase scenes, which is what they were going for here.
First impression of Aphelion? Certainly positive. Except that it’s not a multi-million-dollar blockbuster and you have to take certain liberties with the finish of the version (the launch feels close), that there are still textures that render poorly and perhaps some fine-tuning needed in terms of the jump animations, the truth is that the game shows promise, at least in terms of gameplay. We still know very little about the story. The only “but” I would dare to put in writing based on what I’ve played so far is that the sound and music haven’t quite convinced me, but for now, I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt and eagerly awaiting the announcement of the release of the new Don’t Nod game, this time beyond the stars.
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