Aphelion absolutely leans into and promptly tumbles over into Parisian developer Don’t Nod’s specialty, in that it is a focused, narratively rich experience with production values which straddle the AA and AAA divide. Resolutely linear with an emphasis on experience over recurring gameplay loops which would keep you returning to the game, Aphelion is unashamed in its genre leanings – this is a linear, narrative driven adventure that veers into walking sim territory at times and doesn’t care what you or your best buds think about it.
Aphelion PS5 Review
Now, if you happen to count yourself as part of the audience that absolutely slurps up these sort of linear, narrative focused experiences regardless of their failings (as I have also been known to do from time to time), then Aphelion, with its surprisingly high production values and entertaining, sci-fi narrative will satisfy, though it is not without flaws which make it feel a touch more dated than it should be.
In Aphelion, the year is 2060 and the Earth is, you guessed it, pretty much uninhabitable because we’ve managed to balls it up. In true Project Hail Mary style, a possible solution of sorts is discovered far beyond the bounds of our solar system, Persephone, a planet which it is believed can be terraformed fairly quickly and thus allow the human race to survive elsewhere. Keen to quickly make the most of this discovery, the ESA (European Space Agency) formally kicks off the Hope-01 mission and dispatches two of its most decorated astronauts, Thomas and Ariane, to provide a scientific baseline on the life-supporting prospects of Persephone as they currently stand.
There are two wrinkles to this tale, however. The first is that we learn right at the beginning of Aphelion that Thomas and Ariane are former lovers, with Ariane essentially breaking off their relationship to focus on the important, world-saving mission at hand, introducing a level of angst to their interactions as a result. The other wrinkle to the proceedings meanwhile, is that the mission to Persephone starts off horrendously, with the Hope-01 spacecraft spectacularly crash landing on Persephone and splitting up Ariane and Thomas into the bargain, and it’s here that Aphelion begins to unfurl its tale.
Like Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden before it, Aphelion continues Dont Nod’s focus on a couple dynamic against a wider fantastical backdrop, and as such Aphelion‘s narrative plays out as equal parts romantic drama and science fiction thriller. Brought to life by the game engine of the moment, Unreal Engine 5, Aphelion absolutely looks the part, with desolate, alien landscapes that are vividly rendered with the sort of micro-terrain detail that Unreal Engine 5 was designed for. From vast cracking glaciers, to frost-hewn mountains and cliff-faces that must be scaled, all the while Persephone’s harsh weather bites around you, Aphelion‘s depiction of Persephone is striking. The character models are given a similar level of care too, with hyper-detailed facial details that bring out minute physical inflections in line with the decent performances given by the voice actors. Aphelion is by any measure then, something of a looker.
Though Aphelion is certainly a treat for the eyes, there are some aspects to its visual presentation that not everybody will perhaps be quite so ready to forgive. For a start, Aphelion is locked to 30 frames per second – and that’s a fact which applies to the PS5 Pro version of the game as well. Now, if Aphelion was any other type of game that required responsive player input, or had frantic combat woven into is gameplay design, then the rugged insistence on 30 FPS would be something of a dealbreaker. As it is, Aphelion is an extraordinarily slow paced and cinematic affair which does not need the sort of responsiveness or smooth screen update that 60 FPS would provide.
Though the absence of a higher frame rate mode still stings, as does the seeming lack of any obvious PS5 Pro features, it’s worth noting that Don’t Nod have employed a decent motion blur solution here which helps to mask the inherent choppiness that a 30 FPS screen update would normally bring – especially on OLED displays.
The audio side of Aphelion meanwhile is pleasingly accomplished. In addition to the compelling voice actor performances, Aphelion is adroitly backed by a swelling orchestral score which expertly oscillates between the hopeful and the melancholy with its strings and Hans Zimmer style bombast during the more epic scenes. Aphelion is also very much worth playing with a 3D capable headset too, not least because the world of Persephone comes alive all around you, as distant lightning strikes spring into your far-off hearing space, while the subtle (yet terrifying) cracking of thin-ice beneath your feet is also palpably piped into your earholes with precision care.
As mentioned at the beginning of this review, Aphelion is an unapologetically rigid and linear affair. Split into ten chapters, Aphelion has players alternating between controlling Ariane and Thomas as they make their way across Persephone, seeking to unite with one another, as well as uncovering the myriad mysteries which lay behind the planet itself.
Though there are various lore-infused notes, recordings and glyphs that can be picked up along the way, Aphelion really doesn’t stray very far from its linear, walking sim style mechanical trappings. This means that you can expect to be doing a whole lot of inspecting key points in the environments, traversing along linear paths and occasionally, taking part in the odd chase sequence.
Where Aphelion did surprise me somewhat in the traversal stakes was in how it prizes verticality above all else. Chiefly in the domain of the portions of the game where you’re controlling Ariana, Aphelion‘s linear paths through Persephone has our heroic duo doing all manner of climbing, leaping, shimmying, mantling and using a trusty grappling hook to wall run and climb across and up sheer surfaces. An issue with this however, is that sometimes it can feel like that some of your control inputs don’t quite work when they should. When you’re leaping across a gorge and need to grip onto a cracked shelf in the rock on the other side, sometimes Ariana fails to make the grip, either resulting in an untimely death, or a fall to a lower platform which can be gripped (assuming it kicks in even then). This wasn’t something that I would deem to be common at all, but I can’t deny the hot frustration I felt whenever it did.
As well as climbing and maintaining your grip you also need to worry about collapsing ice floors, falling boulders and a myriad of other environmental hazards too. This is because the planet of Persephone itself presents itself as an antagonist of sorts – a frosted over, frigid, craggy ball of rock that is coming apart at the seams and slowly breaking apart, revealing something of an altered form beneath.
So Aphelion then is a simple narrative adventure with simple gameplay elements. This is fine for the most part and if you can accept it, that’s great. What’s not so great though, are the stealth sections. Without delving into potential spoilers, Aphelion has a number of sections where you need to sneak around and make as little noise as possible, all the while using a certain device to distract a nearby danger in the environment. The problem is that not only is the fail-state instant death with no recourse or opportunity to recover, but sometimes the solutions to these sections can feel a touch haphazard. In one example, I was climbing up a wall and Ariana didn’t immediately snap into sneaking mode after the whole climbing animation, which meant that, yep, I got spotted and killed on the spot. To be clear these sorts of super aggravating, old school insta-fail stealth sections that have no business being in the game. It’s 2026. I thought we were past this.
Though the pacing is a bit off in Aphelion thanks to the fact that some earlier chapters feel unnecessarily strung out, the story itself is somewhat predictable for the most part but still compelling overall. Again, it bears remembering that outside of a handful of collectibles and the usual trophy chasing, Aphelion is largely a one-and-done kind of affair, so ensure that your expectations are appropriately checked going in.
Aphelion is very much a compelling, though mechanically nuts and bolts narrative adventure that embraces linearity and spectacle above all else. Though its embedded dynamic of interpersonal relationships is engaging, the technical flaws, occasional clunkiness and aged-like-milk stealth sections sadly do much to undercut its otherwise impressive qualities.
Aphelion releases for PS5 on April 28, 2026.
Review code kindly provided by PR.