Preview conditions: We were able to attend a presentation lasting around 1 hour in the company of certain Aphelion developers, before having access to a trial version on PC via Steam allowing us to preview part of two chapters of the game, for a total game time of around 45 minutes.
A cinematic adventure that starts strong
Our introduction started with the very first chapter of the science fiction adventure, removed from its introductory cinematic deemed too spoilery. At the helm of Ariane Montclair, a scientist and astronaut in his forties, we are disoriented following the crash of our spaceship. Opening a door will take us straight to the first action sequence of the adventure, in which we avoid objects on our way and catch up in extremis will constitute the first challenges for our survival. An introduction of a few minutes which already sets the tone of an epic which will give pride of place to the phases of surprises, which we hope are not too telephonic, nor too scripted to keep the naturalness which emerges from this opening sequence.
This first chapter, entitled The Wreckwill, as you might expect, serve as a giant tutorial. Moving along ledges, running, jumping, grappling hooks and other electronic devices supposed to help us locate ourselves, all this remains quite classic, but the atmosphere that emerges from this first handling is extremely pleasant with an ATH purged of any embellishment, graphics close to realistic (even if we wonder why a ship of such scale for two poor astronauts, but so be it) and a narration which once again seems to be brilliantly orchestrated by the teams of Don’t Nod. Note that unlike other games of the same style, receiving jumps will not necessarily be automatic, you will have to press a key at the right time to grab a hook or risk a fatal fall. Nice, even if we could see that a QTE is activated to give you an extra chance.
In terms of gameplay, the rest of this first chapter once again proved to be quite classic, with essentially platform phases, QTEs, but also cutscenes which take the time to set the scene with a ratio which will expand over the course of the game to leave more room for gameplay compared to the cutscenes. A setting that is intended to be refined, very directive and scripted, but that is what gives the salt of this kind of experience, which could, for some, be close to a walking-simulator, which is not Exactly the case here all the same for what we have seen (we are thinking of the case Fort Solis here). The experience will make us think more of the games in the KeokeN Interactive series, Deliver Us The Moon And Deliver Us Mars.
After new phases of action, Ariane is released from part of her space shuttle Horizon IV in search of her traveling companion, Thomas Cross, who is missing. Ariane’s main objective will therefore be for the moment in the search for her lost colleague, whether dead or alive, on this frozen planet, at the edge of our solar system. Produced in partnership with ESA (the European Space Agency) to make everything as credible as possible, Aphelion takes the side of imagining a 9th planet to our existing solar system (since Pluto has officially not been one for a long time), and makes it a potential cradle for humanity in the 2060s, the Earth having become uninhabitable. Persephone therefore sees herself as a hope of survival for the human species, who decides to entrust the scientific mission Hope-01 with the task of studying the planet in order to determine its chances of prospering.
But for this, Ariane must find her colleague who does not respond to any radio calls, just like the rest of the land bases. By managing to penetrate the heart of the wreckage of the space shuttle, Ariane will conclude that her colleague managed to escape via an individual capsule, just before she herself has to flee a gigantic fire which breaks out, once again calling on your reflexes and your speed of analysis of the situation. As a reminder, in Don’t Nod games, a mistake can cause you to lose your life, but it has proven to be quite easy to get out of it for now. The opportunity to add that accessibility options will be available in the final game, with simpler oxygen management (for Thomas), automatically successful QTEs, or crossing phases with balance management on narrow ledges, simpler to manage. Mention was also made during our presentation of the possibility of attenuating the visual presence of the cornices available for our characters, in place of the large yellow paintings very familiar to this type of game. The developers also told us that there will be no narrative branches in this production and that the ending experienced will be unique.
Holy crack
Now convinced that Thomas is alive, Ariane will try to find him by exploring the frozen planet, which is very calm. Too calm? Indeed, after a narrative jump that we were not able to see, we found ourselves catapulted into chapter 4 out of the 11 that the final adventure should include (for a total of 8 to 10 hours of play), immediately after Ariane fell into a large crevasse, finding herself trapped in distressing underground spaces. The opportunity to congratulate the work done on immersion, the artistic direction but also the work on the interpretation of Ariane Montclair (played by the French host and actress Vanessa Dolmen, rather convincing). Thomas Cross will be played by Eric Geynes. We will simply be concerned about some textures that are still below par, or even some very jerky animations, or even certain camera angles, which we will have to re-evaluate when the game is released, but which could block the readability of the action at times. We remind you that the game, as it was previewed, is still in the development phase.
The young woman will then have to progress using ledges and her grappling hook until she realizes that she had not dreamed: there is indeed something following her, and which seems really hostile. We will spare you the details, which you can discover in the new gameplay trailer released on the occasion of the publication of this preview (and can be found above), but this form of extraterrestrial life will take the form of a Nemesis during your adventure. A hostile creature that will not see you, but will hear you at the slightest sound emitted (whether loud like jumping or sprinting) or repeated (like walking without taking care to crouch). The creature, animated in a sort of convincing stop-motion, will follow precise patterns but will be able to modify its path if you disturb it, so you will have to show ingenuity to move it away from the desired areas to progress.
Coming out of this first infiltration phase, we were able to try out a new tool made available to us, an electromagnetic scanner allowing us to visualize frequencies. By aligning with the perceived frequencies, it is possible to follow a path to an anomaly to be destroyed to free up new passages. In gameplay previews that we were able to see in addition to this presentation, we will also be able to repair corrupted magnetic anomalies using this scanner to renew the gameplay loop a little. Our handling stopped here, but we were able to see in advance the gameplay of Thomas, whom we were not able to embody here, and who will bring another vision of the adventure and what is going on on this not so unoccupied planet.
In these sequences showing us Thomas for the first time in movement, we were able to learn that he will have other abilities such as carrying out investigations, searching areas and finding clues, but also using his grappling hook as a lifeline or to pull objects or barricades blocking his passage. The man was thus able to enter a sort of already existing base (even though it should be an unexplored planet) noticing that nothing happened as planned for the crew previously in place. We will happily spare you the details that we were able to see, but we will once again have to rely on rhythmic and well-staged escape sequences, while playing on oxygen management by finding bottles or refueling stations everywhere.
An extremely reassuring first start for the next Don’t Nod game, which still needs to refine its experience to offer an adventure that is as innovative as it is realistic. We hope that the narration will keep all its promises and that the infiltration phases, for the moment in the background, will give us real cold sweats. We are also looking forward to discovering in more detail the original soundtrack created by Amine Bouhafa and which should punctuate the epic of Ariane and Thomas in the most beautiful way. Latest information: Aphelion should be available this spring 2026 on PC (Steam and Xbox PC), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (and Xbox Cloud) and also from its launch in Xbox Game Pass (probably Ultimate and PC).