Aphelion

About

Aphelion is a single player platformer game with horror, drama, mystery, thriller and others themes. It was developed by DON'T NOD and was released on April 28, 2026. It received neutral reviews from both critics and players.

Brave the unknown on the edge of our solar system

Skip User Reviews

57%

Audience ScoreBased on 104 reviews

story35 positive mentions

gameplay20 negative mentions

The game features a strong, mature, and engaging sci-fi narrative with well-written characters and emotional moments that pull players in.
Graphically, it is visually stunning with detailed environments, beautiful art style, and AAA-quality facial animations, contributing to an immersive atmosphere.
The soundtrack is outstanding and fits perfectly with the tone, enhancing the mood and emotional impact of the game.

Gameplay is often criticized as clunky, repetitive, and frustrating, especially with climbing mechanics and stealth sections that feel underpolished and sometimes unfair.
Technical issues such as frequent crashes, camera problems, animation glitches, poor checkpoint placement, and lack of polish detract from the overall experience.
The story’s pacing and conclusion leave many players unsatisfied due to a slow start, lack of clear direction, poorly explained plot points, and an abrupt or unresolved ending.

story
117 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
62%
8%
The story of the game is generally engaging and atmospheric, with strong world-building and compelling sci-fi themes that appeal to fans of narrative-driven experiences. However, many reviewers found the pacing slow and the plot occasionally confusing or underdeveloped, with some frustration over inconsistent character development and a lackluster ending. Overall, while the story is a highlight supported by quality writing and immersive atmosphere, it may not fully compensate for gameplay shortcomings for all players.
- “The story, as one would expect from a studio known for their award-winning stories, is well written and interesting, making me want to keep playing the game to find out what was going to happen next.”
- “The story is engaging and keeps me hooked, while the really nice graphics add a lot to the overall atmosphere.”
- “You'll get stunning graphics, great music and art direction, a really cool story well told and outstanding acting.”
- “The story just stops.”
- “It had potential but they messed it up at the end and the story was not good enough to save it.”
- “Unfortunately none of the gameplay aspects are particularly interesting or fun and largely feel half baked while a good narrative could compensate for this, Aphelion doesn't deliver on that aspect either as the entire narrative largely lives on the 'mystery' and once you figure out what is going on all you have left is a bland story with boring one dimensional characters.”
gameplay
92 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
66%
22%
The gameplay is widely criticized for being clunky, repetitive, and unpolished, with frustrating stealth and climbing mechanics that often feel slow or broken. While the dual-character approach offers varied styles, neither is particularly engaging, and frequent glitches and intrusive camera control hamper immersion. Overall, despite decent visual and audio presentation, the gameplay is regarded as a weak, frustrating aspect that fails to support the narrative effectively.
- “The sci-fi thriller plot grabbed me from the start, and the gameplay feels serviceable and varied enough (without needing combat or missing it).”
- “I also appreciated the use of multiple characters to vary the gameplay styles because playing as Ariane focused more on exploration and stealth while Thomas provided a different pace centered on world building, lore, and light puzzles.”
- “There are 2 playable characters with different gameplay elements attached to them.”
- “At times, certain mechanics didn’t work as intended, which led to getting stuck or having to replay sections.”
- “Combine that with some of the most frustrating stealth gameplay I've ever experienced in a game and what's left is a whole bunch of frustration surrounding an interesting story.”
- “Even when the mechanics work properly, the game constantly wrenches control away from the player, creating endless jarring moments where the camera gets pulled back, or pushed in, or fixed to a position, or dialogue plays, or a cutscene starts, or a run-and-dodge minigame begins unexpectedly, or some other little animation interrupts whatever you're doing.”
music
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
76%
16%
8%
The music in the game is widely praised for its beautiful, atmospheric, and emotional qualities, often described as a standout feature that enhances mood and storytelling. Composed by an award-winning composer, the soundtrack is noted for its classical, cinematic style, which complements the visuals and narrative perfectly. Despite some criticisms of gameplay, the music consistently receives strong acclaim and is considered a key highlight of the experience.
- “The music fits great and enhances the mood.”
- “Music was great though and definitely helped the impact of certain scenes.”
- “Great adventure game with good visuals and excellent sound design, plus an amazing soundtrack that really sets the mood.”
- “This game has almost nothing worthwhile outside of the soundtrack, which even then is your typical 'string music intended to evoke something.'”
- “The soundtrack and some of the camera work are very reminiscent of the movie Interstellar, which isn't a bad thing.”
- “But man, that music.”
graphics
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
29%
9%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their beauty, artistic style, and immersive world-building, often described as stunning with a strong visual atmosphere. However, some users note performance issues, occasional stuttering, and rough animations that detract from the overall experience. Despite minor technical drawbacks, the visuals are considered a significant positive aspect of the game.
- “The world-building is incredible, the graphics are beautiful, the storytelling is special and unique.”
- “You'll get stunning graphics, great music and art direction, a really cool story well told and outstanding acting.”
- “The visuals are stunning and have that UE5 feel to them; everything looks fantastic even if it sometimes feels like a tech demo of endless rocks and mountains.”
- “Unfortunately, the visuals are not matched by the animations, which look really bad.”
- “The first is that I've found the biggest problem I ran into is the graphics.”
- “Right now, I had to turn all of my graphics down to medium, and it's still a bit stuttery at times, especially during the sliding/avoidance sections.”
atmosphere
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
25%
17%
The game's atmosphere is consistently praised for its immersive, visually stunning environments and strong worldbuilding, complemented by fitting music and emotional storytelling. While the pacing is slower and linear, the sci-fi setting and character-driven narrative create a captivating and tense ambiance, especially in early encounters and stealth sections. Some criticism exists regarding limited exploration and voice acting, but overall, the atmosphere is a standout element that deeply engages players.
- “Overall, Aphelion is a visually breathtaking and atmospheric stealth adventure that shines during its early encounters and character-driven storytelling.”
- “The atmosphere and storytelling are spot-on; I was completely immersed in the story the whole time.”
- “The music is awesome, the story and worldbuilding are interesting, very atmospheric.”
- “The game is linear to the point of feeling on-rails with zero sense of exploration, and the atmosphere is ruined by a yappy, poorly voice-acted main character.”
- “Stealth sections have tense atmosphere, but stealth arena designs are mediocre at best.”
stability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from frequent bugs and stability issues, including crashes, movement and animation glitches, unresponsive controls, and collision problems that disrupt gameplay and immersion. Stability problems particularly affect climbing and stealth mechanics, making the experience frustrating and occasionally causing unintended character actions. Overall, the lack of polish and persistent technical issues significantly detract from the game's smoothness and enjoyment.
- “A bit buggy, game crashes when I stay on the pause menu longer than 5 minutes.”
- “Another aspect that particularly annoyed me was how much the game lacks polish for such a shallow experience as it was impossible to be immersed in the world due to constant minor animation glitches, invisible walls, and numerous collision issues.”
- “What I experienced was a buggy and clunky mess of inputs either not registering or performing actions that didn't make much sense when compared with similar actions in other climbing games.”
emotional
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
92%
8%
Emotional responses to the game are mixed, with some players feeling deeply moved and invested, even experiencing moments of tears, while others find the story dull and protagonists uninteresting. The emotional core, particularly the relationship between key characters, is praised for its authenticity and impact, supported by strong visuals and music. Overall, the game offers a poignant and atmospheric emotional experience despite some pacing and connection issues.
- “I had a couple moments where I was crying because I was so emotionally invested.”
- “Despite a very jarring start to the game where they interact for 30 seconds before the shuttle crashes, the relationship between Ariane and Thomas still becomes the emotional heart of the game.”
- “Emotional, atmospheric, touching themes, and made with real care, regardless of its AA production budget.”
- “It cannot even be called a 'game.' It's a walking simulator with little action, a dull and boring story, and hideous, uninteresting protagonists.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game suffers from inconsistent optimization, with frequent severe frame rate drops and stuttering, especially in later chapters, leading to a frustrating experience even on high-end PCs. While visuals and audio are praised, the gameplay feels clunky and unfinished due to poor performance and technical issues.
- “The game ran fine for the most part on the default settings recommended (around 60fps on 1440p with 75% TSR enabled), though fps would randomly drop below 30fps in the final chapters.”
- “While my PC is on the higher end for the game's graphics, the performance didn't seem to be where it should be.”
- “Gameplay feels somewhat unoptimized and unfinished.”
- “As of now, the game is an unoptimized, unplayable mess.”
- “While this game ran fine for the most part on the default settings it recommended for me (mostly getting around 60fps on 1440p with the recommended TSR of 75% enabled), the FPS would randomly tank to sub-30fps in the final two chapters of the game.”
- “Performance, while my PC is on the higher end for what the graphics of the game are, didn't seem to be where it should be.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is generally described as tedious and dull, particularly in later chapters, which diminishes the overall experience despite a strong narrative climax. Players find the gameplay repetitive and slow, making progression feel like a chore rather than engaging.
- “They're understandable, in principle, but they are tedious.”
- “The narrative climax in chapter 9 was great, but chapters 10 and 11 were just tedious to play, and undercut the climax of chapter 9.”
- “In summary, despite a few bright spots, I found finishing Aphelion to be a tedious experience, and it made me wish I was playing a more narratively-focused game instead.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game offers limited replayability due to its linear structure, lack of meaningful choices, and short length (6-10 hours). While there are hidden collectibles that encourage some exploration on a second playthrough, overall it lacks engaging mechanics or incentives to replay beyond achievement hunting.
- “The game also doesn't have choices, so the replayability is lower than some previous Don't Nod productions. The game has hidden things to discover, though, and I missed most of them in my first playthrough.”
- “Furthermore, the game is quite short with a total length of only about six hours, and there is very little replayability unless you are a player who specifically wants to farm for achievements.”
- “The game is 10 hours long and practically has no replay value unless you are hunting for collectibles.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is generally praised, with the two main characters being well written, though some users found aspects of the character design, such as Ariane's appearance, less appealing.