Hey! We’re Kati and Florent, Lead Narrative Designer and Artistic Director, from the Aphelion staff at Don’t Nod. Now that you simply’ve seen our sport’s world premiere throughout Xbox Video games Showcase, we needed to speak extra about it – together with its conception, story, and what you’ll be able to count on when it comes to gameplay earlier than it launches in 2026.
Aphelion is a linear action-adventure sport set in house, mixing exploration, traversal, stealth, and thriller. However greater than something, it’s a story-rich human journey with a grounded method to sci-fi, and features a dual-protagonist construction that shapes each the gameplay and the emotional core of the story.
Aphelion is ready in the near-future – Earth is dying and humanity is desperately looking for one other residence in Persephone, the uncharted icy planet that Ariane and Thomas discover themselves on. Considered one of our early inspirations was the real-world speculation of Planet 9 – the concept that there’s a beforehand undetectable planet in the outer edges of our Photo voltaic System: what if it existed? What if we discovered it? In growing this imaginative and prescient, we’re proud to be collaborating with the European House Company (ESA) on Aphelion to floor our sport’s science in actuality.
You’ll play as each Ariane and Thomas, alternating between their views as they attempt to discover each other and reunite after a crash touchdown. Their separation is central – not simply to the story, however to the sport design too. Every character provides a special expertise, and their distinctive conditions replicate their private journeys.
Ariane is bodily succesful and geared up for traversal. By means of her, gamers will discover harmful terrain by climbing, rappelling, navigating environmental hazards, and extra. Thomas was injured in the crash, however can examine and uncover the thriller of the planet in numerous methods. This distinction creates a rhythm and duality that means that you can really feel the weight of every character’s journey, individually and collectively.
Exploration is the heartbeat of Aphelion. What begins out as a mission compromised from the starting turns into a deeper journey into the unknown. As you discover the atmosphere and collect info, you’ll uncover clues as to the planet’s unusual situations, and what induced the crash of Ariane and Thomas’s ship, the Hope 01.
However at its core, this isn’t a sport a few planet. It’s a story about what we carry with us when every thing else is misplaced. The sport’s conception started with Ariane and Thomas, not the wider story round them. Their relationship, strained by obligation and sacrifice, is the emotional coronary heart of Aphelion. As they navigate this new world and the unknown, they’re confronting one thing deeply private: how we face the prospect of loss, and whether or not hope can survive in the aftermath.
It’s an emotional story about love, resilience, and hope, and we are able to’t wait to indicate you extra. Aphelion might be launched in 2026 for Xbox Sequence X|S, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud. It will likely be an Xbox Play Wherever title, and out there day one with Recreation Cross. To remain updated, observe Don’t Nod on X, Instagram, and TikTok.
Aphelion
DON’T NOD
A SCI-FI ACTION-ADVENTURE ON THE EDGE OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
By 2060, Earth might be uninhabitable. The invention of a ninth planet – Persephone – at the fringe of the photo voltaic system, is humanity’s greatest hope. The European House Company is dispatching the Hope 01 scientific mission, consisting of two of their achieved astronauts, Ariane and Thomas. Their mission: to survey the planet and decide whether or not humanity can prosper anew right here.
Your journey begins in chaos, as the crash touchdown of their ship scatters them throughout the planet, launching them on a determined quest to search out each other.
Aphelion is a cinematic third-person action-adventure set on the planet Persephone, an uncharted, frozen world. Stranded and remoted, it’s essential to survive the actually unknown, discover one another, and full the mission. Traverse gorgeous alien landscapes, keep away from lurking threats, and uncover the haunting secrets and techniques buried beneath the ice.
EXPLORE AN UNCHARTED PLANET
Discover the surreal great thing about Persephone, an enormous frozen world formed by lethal climate and ever-changing terrain.
Armed solely along with your explorational instruments – pathfinder, oxygen tank, grappling hook, and extra – it’s essential to face the unknown, traverse treacherous terrain, and collect clues about the unusual, reality-bending phenomenon threatening your existence.
FIND EACH OTHER
Helpless on the fringe of the photo voltaic system, the Hope 01 crew faces a brutal new world and the echoes of an advanced previous. Ariane Montclair and Thomas Cross share a deep connection, a relationship left unresolved by the calls for of their careers and their mission. Going through overwhelming odds, their fractured bond turns into a lifeline as they grasp in the darkish for each other.
HIDE TO SURVIVE
You’re not alone. One thing lurks beneath the ice.
Key Options:
– A practical depiction of house exploration
– An emotional drama on an alien world
– Cinematic action-adventure with gripping traversal gameplay
– Instruments-based exploration and survival
– Tense and thrilling stealth-based sequences
A sport in collaboration with: European House Company (ESA)