
Hunted on a frozen planet, astronaut Ariane must brave rugged landscapes and shifting realities to rescue her wounded partner, Thomas. This action-packed sci-fi adventure blends exploration, traversal, and tense stealth gameplay.
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About

By 2060, Earth will be uninhabitable. The discovery of a 9th planet – Persephone – at the edge of the solar system, is humanity's best hope. The European Space Agency is dispatching the Hope-01 scientific mission, consisting of 2 of their accomplished astronauts, Ariane and Thomas. Their mission: to survey the planet and determine whether humanity can prosper anew here.
Your adventure begins in chaos, as the crash landing of their ship scatters them across the planet, launching them on a desperate quest to find one another.
Aphelion is a cinematic third-person action-adventure set on the planet Persephone, an uncharted, frozen world. Stranded and isolated, you must survive the truly unknown, find each other, and complete the mission. Traverse stunning alien landscapes, avoid lurking threats, and discover the haunting secrets buried beneath the ice.

Explore the surreal beauty of Persephone, a vast frozen world shaped by deadly weather and ever-changing terrain.
Armed only with your explorational tools – pathfinder, oxygen tank, grappling hook, and more – you must face the unknown, traverse treacherous terrain, and gather clues about the strange, reality-bending phenomenon threatening your existence.
Ariane must persevere and push forward to save Thomas. Her Pathfinder tool helps her find the way through the shifting expanse. She faces desperate swings over dark chasms and tricky climbs up melting ice – risking her life with every step. Thomas, injured in the crash, must rely on ingenuity and observation, piecing together what surrounds him to survive. As both characters explore and investigate, they will uncover secrets and clues as to the planet’s strange conditions and what caused the crash of their ship.

You are not alone. There is a hostile lifeform stalking you. Avoid detection in tense, thrilling stealth sequences; use the environment to your advantage, and stay one step ahead of whatever hunts you. Explore Persephone and complete the mission, all while trying to survive in the terrifying presence of an unknown enemy.

Helpless on the edge of the solar system, the Hope-01 crew faces a brutal new world and the echoes of a complicated past. Ariane Montclair and Thomas Cross share a deep connection, a relationship left unresolved by the demands of their careers and their mission. Facing overwhelming odds, their fractured bond becomes a lifeline as they grasp in the dark for one another.
Key Features:
Grounded sci-fi exploration: a realistic depiction of near-future space exploration
Dual-perspective survival: experience both Thomas’s resourceful investigation and Ariane’s high stakes parkour gameplay
Cinematic third-person action: gripping traversal mechanics, with grappling, sliding, and momentum-driven movement
Tense stealth encounters: face an alien threat in tense and exciting stealth-based sequences
An emotional core: two astronauts bound by a complicated past, fighting to find each other

Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English*, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Portuguese - Brazil, Simplified Chinese, Polish, Russian*languages with full audio support
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 41 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 41 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
[h3][3/10][/h3] Закинув це непорозуміння. Враховуючи скільки зараз існує цікавих та якісних ігор, витрачати час на це - дуже важко. [u]ГАРНЕ:[/u] - Саундтрек в головному меню. [u]ПОГАНЕ:[/u] - Все. - Гру писали активісти а не девелопери - слухати діалоги неможливо, рівень шкільних фанфіків. (що типово для сучасних DON'T NOD) - Кожна фраза персонажів визиває нудоту. Наратив банальний. - Працездатність на таку прісну картинку дуже погана та типова для UE, 70 фпс на 4090 в 4К з DLSS B. - Керування не зручне та подекуди баговане. - Левел дизайн місцями дуже топорний, а рівні проходити зовсім не цікаво та нудно. Студія вже давно в творчому деклайні, нічого і близько до рівня першого life is strange очікувати від них не приходиться.
As a massive fan of DON'T NOD, Life is Strange 2 and Lost Records are fantastic it honestly hurts to write this review. I wanted to love this game, but Aphelion just isn't it. This reminded me of a really really boring game i played called "The Invincible", it essentially is the same, you spend hours slowly exploring a desolate new planet, wandering around abandoned campsites, and trying to piece together what killed the previous crew. Walking from point A to point B feels like a chore, the pacing drags to a halt, and the sense of mystery quickly gets overshadowed by how genuinely boring the gameplay is. It lacks the emotional hook and narrative tight grip that usually makes DON'T NOD games so special. If you loved their story-driven choice games, be warned that this is a completely different, and unfortunately much duller, experience. A rare miss from a great studio.
I'm really not sure what to say here that hasn't been said before. And it feels so completely weird not recommending a Don't Nod game to other people, when they're in my top 3 studios of all time. But like others have said, this game just isn't fun to play. It's a ledge climbing simulator with repetitive controls and a mediocre stealth mechanic that is neither challenging OR fun to play. It's actually so boring that you'll find yourself trying to rush through these stealth segments which cause you to die in a stupid way and be put back a considerable amount of distance at your previous checkpoint. The story here is actually quite cool, and its refreshing to get a decent sci-fi script in a game. Game plays well, and is really nice to look at. The voice acting is great, as is the music. But they just overshadowed all of these positives it with insanely dull game mechanics. Because there's no real "choices matter" moments in this game, they could have just did it in more of a linear visual novel style that would have cut the playtime in half and condensed the story into something more concise and enjoyable to play. Instead you have to borderline torture yourself to finish this one. Don't Nod, please don't do this again. I want you to make lots of money and make more Lost Records games ,(tape 3 please?) but whatever Aphelion is just ain't the way to get there.
I like Don't Nod, space sci-fi, and walking simulators. That being said, I'm not sure what the point of this game was. Outdated mechanics and an overused narrative just lead to a boring game.
It's pretty, and the storytelling tries, but the gameplay and dialogue suffers from a lack of polish. So many times the player character would jump to their death in a direction I wasn't directing, or I would jump straight at a handhold yet the character would fail to try grabbing it, or several times an enemy attack would appear right beneath my feet with no warning as I ran and would instant-kill me with no possible time to react. The dialogue feels silly sometimes, as it tries to say something meaningful, but it falls flat. Ariane's delivery also feels odd throughout much of the game. The emotional weight left me feeling, "aw, that's sad...", but never brought tears or a torn feeling. It was an okay time, but you're not missing much if you skip it. Lots of unanswered questions with side plots, but the setting was solid though!
Aphelion is a very strong, sometimes beautiful, science fiction narrative adventure. I'm very surprised that there are so many negative reviews. I know some are written in bad faith, but others I think simply don't enjoy this type of sci fi narrative game. I do and DON'T NOD have produced a very strong one. If you enjoy titles such as The Invincible, and Deliver Us Mars, you will probably very much enjoy Aphelion. The acting, both visual and voice acting, is outstanding. The characters of Ariane and Thomas are deeply realized. In Aphelion, earth is dying. Two astronauts have been sent to Persephone, an apparently frozen planet, to see if it can act as a new home for humanity. They discover many mysteries and struggle against the environment and bizarre alien antagonists to survive. They are not nearly as alone as they thought they would be. The game has traversal puzzles to navigate the environment. I enjoyed these overall. I have seen it refered to as a walking simulator, which is so wrong it makes me wonder if the person claiming this is limited to just a few dozen words in their active vocabulary. It is not a walking simulator. Dear Esther is a narrative walking game. Aphelion is a science fiction adventure title. DON'T NOD are masters of narrative and deeply felt characters. This game is somewhat slower, but it's also genuinely more mature than most titles. This isn't for everyone, but it is for many people. If you donate your allowance to Asmongold, you're not going to enjoy it. If you can appreciate strong narrative, beautiful visuals and orchestration and deeply drawn characters, you will likely really enjoy Aphelion.
Wow, this game really surprised me! First off, it’s a stunning sci-fi walking sim. The game is just freakin gorgeous. The environments, character models (especially the faces), and world assets are brilliantly done. Bravo to DON'T NOD on making what's easily the best-looking game I’ve seen them develop. It’s a huge step up for them and absolutely incredible overall. The walking sim elements are fun as well. They can feel a little wonky at times, but overall the climbing, platforming, and stealth segments throughout are engaging and enjoyable. The real star of the show, however, is the story. The premise starts out seemingly cliché, but as you progress, the two main characters and their relationship develop in some incredibly introspective and meaningful ways. It’s so well written, the dialogue is masterfully done, and the emotional moments hit hard. I was literally in tears at one point. I was totally blown away by the performances and writing here. DON'T NOD’s games can have a strong emotional effect...they’re particularly good at that...but this one really grabbed me by the heartstrings. Although the game gets particularly dark and heavy at times, it never feels maliciously depressing. They balance the emotions on a tightrope, and I came out on the other side deeply appreciating the experience. Coming from someone who typically prefers happy endings, they created something here that explores difficult topics without punishing you for caring. What you get instead is something genuinely beautiful, and I loved it. If you’re a fan of walking sims like I am, you absolutely cannot miss this one.
There's a mysterious structure in the valley down below, wrapped in streams of some kind of magnetic energy. The Steam overlay shows an achievement notification: "First Contact. 70% of players have unlocked this achievement." Does it mean that 30% of players dropped the game even before this point? Sounds about right and totally expected. I certainly won't go any further. First of all, the game is boring. I spent about 2 hours with Ariane and never got to Thomas's part, so maybe I missed the real fun. But Ariane's mechanics are extremely exhausting. All she does is jump and climb through a gorgeous but boring landscape, and a lot of moments feel like a strange kind of soulslike experience. Hesitate to press the button at the right moment, and Ariane falls to her death. The game has no manual save, so each death means reloading from the last checkpoint. Sometimes the game is generous, and she's revived just seconds before the tricky part. But sometimes the checkpoint is far behind, so you have to redo 5 minutes of intensive climbing to get to that moment - only to press at the wrong time again. Die. Repeat. Sometimes the checkpoint reload freezes, so the only way to retry is to quit and relaunch the game. Very fun, much immersive. The level design is pretty linear, so eventually you'll find the exit to the next part of your journey - but not before bumbling around like a headless chicken, hitting a few dead ends. Because everything around you is just ice and snow. Everything is white, everything looks the same. And there's not enough stimulus to push you forward through this inconvenience. The Big Mystery? We don't know much about the mission or the planet at this point. To find Thomas? We hardly know him. We spend a couple of minutes with him in the game's prologue - a scene that would look good in a mumblecore indie movie, but isn't enough to build a connection between the player and the character. It's always been the biggest strength of Don't Nod games - characters that you care about, that you love. Aphelion fails at it from the first moment. Wonky controls and unlovable characters can't motivate me to finish the game even just to tick the box. So do yourself a favor: skip the game and watch a walkthrough, or find a story recap on YouTube. I watched a 40-minute one, but I wish I'd watched a 20-minute version instead. Turns out there's not much of a good story after all.
The only thing good about this game is the music. I was really excited to try a new DON'T NOD game, but this is a huge disappointment. There is no passion or interesting mechanic, just a walking simulator with a zombie of a protagonist. I could only play for an hour and a half before I lost interest entirely. Too bad I can't refund. The movement is choppy and rigid and the dialogue is uninspired. There is a mechanic where the protagonist will lose her grip and you have to press a button to catch yourself. This seems to happen at every long jump. SO REPETITIVE. I'm not sure why this game wasn't shelved. Maybe someday I'll come back to this, but not anytime soon.
Очень слабая игра. Сюжет простой и банальный. Персонажи плоские и невыразительные, никак не раскрываются. Вместо сай-фая по факту получаешь романтическую историю, совершенно унылую и неуместную. Большую часть времени играешь за героиню, а она максимально бесячая. Вот и слушаешь ее нытье и истерики час за часом. Мир игры однообразен - сплошные скалы и пещеры изо льда и камня от начала и до конца . Больше тут ничего не увидишь. Геймплея тут почти совсем нет. Его не больше, чем в играх-интерактивном кино, разве что тут ходить самому надо, но нет остального, присущего им. Местный стелс это вообще что-то с чем-то - реализован максимально криво и непонятно, да и совершенно этой игре не нужен, а под конец его становится слишком много. Было тяжело не дропнуть, но затерпел. Багов в игре полно: то персонажи застревают на ровном месте, то персонаж убежит ,а камера останется на месте, то разные действия не прожимаются с первого раза и много чего еще. В общем очередная игра Донт Нод фиг пойми для кого, зачем и почему. И опять без маркетинга и, соответственно, базы игроков. А потом опять будут говорить, что не оправдала ожиданий. Чудо, что они еще не обанкротились, но, судя по новостям, дела и них все хуже и хуже, чему совсем не удивлен.
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Trends
Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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