{"id":8792,"date":"2026-04-30T21:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T18:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/?p=8792"},"modified":"2026-04-30T22:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:17:17","slug":"aphelion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/aphelion\/","title":{"rendered":"Aphelion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Platforms:<\/strong> PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC<\/p>\n

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2062: humanity is on the brink of extinction. Having let the climate crisis run rampant, leaving the planet almost uninhabitable, the only chance for our species might<\/em> be self-imposed exile from Earth, attempting to colonise a new world. The known candidates in the neighbourhood are ruled out \u2013 Mars too arid, Venus too toxic, Jupiter or Saturn\u2019s moons too volatile. Hope, if it exists, lies with Persephone, a new ninth planet (sorry, Pluto) detected at the edge of the solar system: an ice world that might be viable for terraforming and capable of supporting life.<\/p>\n

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\"Aphelion\"<\/div>\n

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As Aphelion<\/em> opens, two astronauts \u2013 Dr Ariane Montclair and Officer Thomas Cross \u2013 are rocketing toward Persephone as part of a European Space Agency mission to evaluate the planet. Strange electro-magnetic conditions force a crash landing, separating the pair and setting the stage for a beautifully bizarre slice of science fiction that blends its high concepts with an emotional, resonant, deeply human core\u2026 and a video game experience from about two console generations ago.<\/p>\n

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Aphelion<\/em> developer Don\u2019t Nod is best known for its narrative adventures, originating the Life is Strange<\/em> series and continuing the trend with the likes of Twin Mirror<\/em> and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage<\/em>. While it\u2019s dabbled in action \u2013 2013\u2019s Remember Me<\/em> and 2018\u2019s Vampyr<\/em>, most notably \u2013 the studio has never truly felt at home in that space. It\u2019s a pattern that continues here \u2013 Ariane\u2019s sections are more physical, Thomas\u2019 more cerebral, but both feel like awkward fits.<\/p>\n

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Thomas, near-fatally wounded in the crash and left with depleting oxygen reserves, is restricted to what are effectively environmental puzzles, darting between oxygen canisters as he investigates the remains of another human-led mission on Persephone, one that shouldn\u2019t be there. There\u2019s little consistency here, though \u2013 air tubes from the fixed-point canisters are meant to force desperate runs between them as Thomas risks asphyxiation, but these tethers vary wildly in length, removing most of this tension. Thomas\u2019 injuries barely hold him back either, unless the plot mandates it \u2013 he\u2019s fully capable of crawling through tight gaps or using a grappling hook to yank down obstacles, despite having been skewered.<\/p>\n

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\"Aphelion\"<\/div>\n

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Having escaped the crash unscathed, Ariane is instead cast as the action hero. She\u2019s who you\u2019ll spend the majority of the game with, exploring the vast wilderness of Persephone and trying to reunite with Thomas. She\u2019s sort of a latter day Nathan Drake \u2013 but mainly because these sections feel like they\u2019re pulled from an early Uncharted<\/em> game. Ariane\u2019s sections reduce the mesmerising landscape to almost entirely linear runs through gorgeously decorated corridors, clambering between clearly marked ledges and using her own grapple to swing over chasms. It\u2019s all incredibly basic stuff \u2013 if you want a climbing game in 2026, Cairn is right there. There are a few attempts to mix things up, such as navigating clumsy stealth sections avoiding the Nemesis, a ferocious creature hunting the planet\u2019s invaders, and the use of an EM scanner to follow hidden trails or manipulate anomalies in the planet\u2019s energy fields, but both mechanics are paper thin.<\/p>\n

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The story is brilliantly penned, with Don\u2019t Nod leaning into its narrative roots to deliver a mind-bending sci-fi tale […] that actually has something to say about the importance of life here on Earth<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Yet despite these inherently dated systems, Aphelion<\/em> proves oddly compelling. It\u2019s breathtakingly beautiful, Persephone presented as a strange new world pulling at the edges of human imagination, all contrasted by the grounded, realistic, intricately detailed tech the protagonists use (courtesy of a development partnership with the actual ESA). Even though you\u2019re given precious little chance to explore, this world feels<\/em> suitably vast and awe-inspiring, with smart direction framing it as an untamed and truly alien landscape. It powerfully captures the imagination, and the mysteries at its core pull you through the trite gameplay.<\/p>\n

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The story is also brilliantly penned, with Don\u2019t Nod leaning into its narrative roots to deliver a mind-bending sci-fi tale (with an edge of hard science thanks to that ESA collab) that actually has something to say about the importance of life here on Earth, yet remains rooted in the relationship between its dual protagonists. The voice acting is also superb, with Vanessa Dolmen and Eric Geynes injecting Ariane and Thomas with equal parts hope and desperation throughout, while composer Amine Bouhafa\u2019s wonderful score masterfully plays with your emotions at every turn.<\/p>\n

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As a movie, Aphelion<\/em> would be almost unassailable. Its scale, imagination, and presentation would utterly delight cinemagoers on the big screen. Unfortunately, it exists as a game, and it\u2019s one lumbered with repetitive mechanics that felt dated back on the PS3, let alone the PS5. It\u2019s still more than worth a look for fans of the genre \u2013 particularly those who love the likes of Interstellar,<\/em> Gravity,<\/em> or Project Hail Mary \u2013 but players hoping for an unknown world to explore on their own terms are likely to be disappointed.<\/p>\n

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Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC 2062: humanity is on the brink of extinction. Having let the climate crisis run rampant, leaving the planet almost uninhabitable, the only chance for our species might be self-imposed exile from Earth, attempting to colonise a new world. The known candidates in the neighbourhood are ruled out \u2013 Mars too arid, Venus too […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8794,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8792\/revisions\/8794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}