Aphelion Review

Have you ever wanted to explore space, to be the first person ever to set foot on a planet? As a counterpoint, have you ever considered just what kinds of threats could be out there that we just can’t see? Well, DON’T NOD’s latest title, Aphelion, is here to offer players a stark experience in the depths of space. The question is whether this is a journey you should be taking, or if it would be better to keep it as one small step for someone else. 

Aphelion follows the tale of two astronauts, Ariane and Thomas, who have been selected to be the first humans to visit a new planet. However, it all goes wrong when they are separated following a crash landing, and they must now battle the elements and the inhabitants to find each other. 

 Honestly, the strength of the game is the two main characters, who have some fantastic writing, even if they mostly just talk to themselves. Meanwhile, the actual twists in the plot are a bit obvious, but they keep the story moving at a pretty steady pace. There was never a moment when I felt bored, and I constantly wanted to see what was around the corner and what new mysteries would be uncovered. 

While the plot and writing might be solid, the gameplay is a bit more varied. Over the course of Aphelion, you’ll be controlling both Ariane and Thomas, but each offers a different experience. Thomas, due to being wounded in the crash, can’t do a lot of the more physical things. As such, his sections are a bit more mystery-based, with the player looking for clues to unlock doors or keeping his air supply topped up. Ariane, on the other hand, must deal with the strange creature hunting her while also climbing across the harsh landscape of the planet. 

For the most part, Thomas’ sections are all relatively simple. The puzzles themselves aren’t really that complicated, usually just requiring a bit of exploration, and you often have enough air to manage to reach the next point without too much difficulty.

Meanwhile, Ariane’s climbing is, at its core, very similar to the system in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, including a grapple. The issue is that the controls don’t always work quite right, so you can find yourself pressing some of the buttons more than once and rotating the stick to make sure she aims to grab the correct ledge. It’s not the worst I’ve ever come across, but the problem is that it gets a bit dull. 

This alone wouldn’t be much of an issue, but you spend more overall time as Ariane, and the actual interesting plot is happening with Thomas, so the constant climbing sections become a bit of a chore. The sections where you’re hunted are a nice change, but they’re not really an issue, as the alien reacts to sound, so you just creep around it most of the time. What’s annoying is that Ariane figures this out pretty quickly, yet never considers stooping down to pick up a rock to throw to distract the creature.

Now I want to start by stating that the graphics in Aphelion are, generally, pretty fantastic. The environments can be incredibly stunning, and the overall design is stellar. However, the character models seem to have an issue interacting with the world at times, and it really took me out of the experience at times. 

For instance, the character models float around, get stuck on invisible walls, or just refuse to climb up things that are clearly climbable. It gets a bit irritating when you’re stuck in the falling animation for five seconds for no reason, or when Ariane simply refuses to jump to a ledge. This is less of an issue with Thomas, but mostly because he doesn’t actually climb. I also want to say that the enemy design is… fine. It’s a bit dull, honestly, sticking with that same black smoke snake look that we’ve seen in games before.

Aphelion is a bit of a strange game because it’s touted as an action-adventure title, but there’s really no action to speak of, short of some sneaking around and the odd bit of running. However, it does better fit my idea of a walking simulator: there’s an interesting plot and a clear path that you need to follow. So, if you want to experience the wonder of space, but don’t really want to think too hard about things like combat, then it could be perfect for you. With that said, if you expect a bit more, well, action, then it might be one to miss or watch a playthrough of.