Throughout the last decade, Don’t Nod has masterfully navigated a diverse array of worlds, from the haunting landscapes of colonial America and the grim streets of post-WWI London to the neon-soaked alleys of a dystopian Paris and the emotional corridors of a Pacific Northwest high school. For its latest venture, however, the acclaimed studio is venturing into the unknown: the mysterious ninth planet at the very edge of our solar system.
Set in the 2060s, Aphelion is a third-person science-fiction odyssey. In this vision of the future, Earth has reached a breaking point, becoming increasingly hostile to human life. In a desperate pursuit of salvation, the European Space Agency dispatches a crew to the farthest reaches of the cosmos to investigate Persephone—a newly discovered, ice-shrouded celestial body. And before you ask: no, we aren’t talking about Pluto. We’ve moved far beyond 2006.
The parallels to Christopher Nolan’s 2014 masterpiece Interstellar are impossible to ignore—a dying Earth, an ambitious space agency, and a journey to a frozen world. Yet, after spending several hours with an early build of Aphelion, I found the game’s heart beats with the rhythm of another sci-fi icon: Alien.
Aphelion chronicles the journey of Ariane and Thomas, two elite ESA astronauts. Developed in collaboration with the real-world space agency, the game will be structured across 11 chapters. My preview session provided a glimpse into two pivotal moments: the opening chapter and the fourth, each offering about an hour of gameplay.
The narrative begins in the heat of a crisis. Ariane awakens strapped into the pilot’s seat of a downed vessel on the surface of Persephone, with Thomas nowhere to be found. As the ship disintegrates around her in a cacophony of fire and failing steel, she must navigate a desperate escape. While it serves as a high-octane cinematic introduction, it also showcases a subtle but impactful mechanical innovation.
In the majority of third-person titles, traversal is somewhat automated; you jump toward a ledge, and the character magically adheres to it. Aphelion requires more deliberate input. While you still press a button to leap, you must press it again to actually secure your handhold. It’s a tactile layer that makes even routine climbing feel precarious and engaging, echoing the verticality of Don’t Nod’s 2023 title Jusant, albeit with a more survival-focused edge.
By the time the fourth chapter begins, the tone shifts. Ariane is still isolated and visibly traumatized, implying that the unseen chapters were filled with harrowing trials. As she navigates toward a deep fissure in a frozen precipice, the game evolves from a survival story into something far more predatory.
Hidden within the shadows of the cave is a nightmare: a mass of obsidian tentacles that glides through the air with the unnatural grace of an eel. It chitters with an insectoid resonance and moves with the frantic, jerky spasms reminiscent of the aliens from Edge of Tomorrow. Blind but hyper-sensitive to sound, this creature transforms Aphelion into a tense game of acoustic stealth.
Survival demands absolute silence. By entering stealth mode, Ariane moves with agonizing slowness. Every action carries a risk; a misplaced jump, a sudden sprint, or a slip during a climb generates enough noise to alert the beast. Detection is swift and fatal, punctuated by the game’s clinical death screens: “An alien life form killed Ariane” or “A fatal plunge killed Ariane.”
Don’t Nod identifies this creature as the “Nemesis,” the singular, unkillable threat stalking Ariane throughout her journey. In my time with the game, there was no way to fight back—only the option to hide. It mirrors the relentless dread of Alien: Isolation, where the player is hunted by a superior predator in a cold, indifferent vacuum.
There is a significant appetite for this intersection of hard science fiction and survival horror. As audiences flock back to the dread of the Alien franchise and the cosmic scale of Mass Effect, Aphelion finds itself in good company. Whether it can fully realize its potential depends on its ability to marry its core mechanics with its evocative narrative, but the atmosphere alone suggests a journey worth taking.
Aphelion is slated for a spring 2026 release on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, and will be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one.
Source: Polygon
