It’s a busy time for sci-fi, but don’t miss Aphelion

The last few weeks have bordered on overwhelming for science fiction fans. While Project Hail Mary is dominating the box office, For All Mankind is currently in the midst of its penultimate season , with a spinoff streaming next month . When it comes to games, Capcom kicked off a new sci-fi franchise with Pragmata , and Housemarque is about to launch the haunting shooter Saros . With all of that going on, it’d be easy to miss Aphelion . It’s a comparatively small and quiet adventure game, one focused more on storytelling than gameplay. But that also makes it a perfect complement to all of the current blockbusters, offering something much more intimate and approachable. Aphelion is developed by Don’t Nod, a studio best known for the original Life is Strange and more recently the climbing game Jusant . The new game is sort of a mashup of Life is Strange ’s storytelling and Jusant ’s gameplay. In Aphelion ’s near-future, the Earth is very close to becoming uninhabitable, but a recently discovered planet called Persephone has the potential to be humanity’s next home. Two astronauts, Ariane and Thomas, are sent to investigate just how viable the planet is. Naturally, things go wrong almost immediately. The two crash-land on Persephone and are separated. So in addition to trying to complete the mission for the good of humanity, the pair are also desperately trying to find each other on a cold, seemingly barren wasteland. …