Life is Strange developer Don’t Nod adds a dash of Alien: Isolation anxiety to its usual cinematic formula, and I think it works
Life is Strange developer Don’t Nod announced its next third-person cinematic adventure, Aphelion, during last year’s Summer Game Fest with an Uncharted-like reveal set in space. And if the sci-fi excursion carries on as planned, Aphelion will launch sometime around or before this summer’s next big event.
Aphelion’s latest gameplay trailer is a better look at how the studio’s new journey takes a few cues from its rock-climbing platformer, Jusant, and marries them with the more story-rich, exposition-heavy games it’s known for. In Aphelion, you’ll control a pair of European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts on a mission bound for Persephone—a planet at the edge of our solar system—that goes spectacularly wrong.
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I played a bit of Ariane’s journey in a recent preview build of Aphelion, sampling chapters one and four. It’s a close cousin to Don’t Nod’s more cinematic experiences, with a dash of Alien: Isolation at the demo’s peak. Jusant’s climbing is there, too, though toned down through tools that don’t impose limited use or frequent opportunities for mismanagement.
And with all that climbing, I also did a lot of plunging to my death. A later encounter with Aphelion’s big alien threat was far less daunting when compared to the numerous occasions I sent Ariane careening into the abyss. It felt grating after a while, but Don’t Nod’s final build should make this less of an issue. I just hope the clean up includes more distinct ledges and obvious no-go zones because man, after a while, the one-sentence game-over eulogies rub my nerves raw: A fatal plunge killed Ariane.
So Aphelion’s moment-to-moment grappling and parkour mechanics need some shaping up, true enough, but I’m not here for the Uncharted-inspired action. I crave more of the thoughtful, earnest storytelling I’ve come to know the studio for, and maybe a few metaphysical mysteries along the way. The preview build was too short and sparse to sell me on a grand sci-fi adventure nailing either, though Ariane’s later characterization flashed a promise of that personal, emotional core I look for in the studio’s narratives.
Ariane, both horrified and excited by the encounter, rattles off a few scientific notes about the “multicellular organism” that just tried to rip her apart.
After briefly trudging through Persephone’s rugged, snowy terrain, Ariane stumbles on a cave and the source of an ominous thunk-thunk-thunk stalking her from underneath the ice. It’s inside that dark tunnel, armed with only a flashlight, where her journey feels a bit more like Alien: Isolation. The Xenomorph is far more terrifying, but Aphelion’s hostile, snake-like extraterrestrial leviathan is still a nasty threat that while it can’t see for a damn, can most definitely hear her.
Surviving the serpent sees the rattled ESA explorer safely make it back outside, where I found a tease of Don’t Nod charm. Ariane, both horrified and excited by the encounter, rattles off a few scientific notes about the “multicellular organism” that just tried to rip her apart. It’s the type of enthusiasm you only see from a real scientist. Or how I imagine sound when fawning over a growling dog that’s twice my size.
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It’s just that moment, really, but it’s the part of Aphelion I long to see most. Give me an absolute dweeb of a scientist written in Don’t Nod’s cheeky style while facing life or death scenarios on a messy journey to reunite with her colleague.
By the time my preview wrapped up, I’d seen just enough of Ariane’s more endearing quirks to get her and the sci-fi adventure on my radar. I can’t say the action is always elegant, but Don’t Nod’s storytelling and the mystery around Persephone’s alien behemoth have me curious enough to endure any experimental turbulence when Aphelion lands this spring.
