Crash landing anywhere is never a good time, let alone when it's on a thawing alien ice planet on the edge of the solar system. But that's exactly what happens in my introduction to Aphelion, the upcoming third-person action adventure from Life is Strange developer, Don't Nod. As protagonist Ariane, I'm sliding down my wrecked ship after exiting the cockpit, swerving her this way and that to avoid obstacles; like a fiery blaze and pieces of wrenched metal. Separated from my fellow astronaut crewmate Thomas, I'm now on a mission to find him, but as I'll soon come to learn, we're not the only life residing on this cold world.
I didn't know what to expect going into Aphelion if I'm completely honest. After all, Don't Nod as a studio keeps trying to do new things with its narrative chops. From the climbing adventure Jusant that spins a moving tale without using dialogue, to the highly underrated atmospheric action-RPG Vampyr, or the dark fantasy of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, the developer continually surprises me, and I mean that in the best sense. Even the latest episodic fare in Lost Records: Bloom and Rage experimented with a past and present timeline that hooked me in.
