A powerful standalone single-player experience, Aphelion blends gripping exploration and traversal, environmental storytelling, and tense stealth gameplay.

By 2060, Earth will be uninhabitable. The discovery of a 9th planet – Persephone – at the edge of the solar system, is humanity's best hope. The European Space Agency is dispatching the Hope 01 scientific mission, consisting of 2 of their accomplished astronauts, Ariane and Thomas. Their mission: to survey the planet and determine whether humanity can prosper anew here.

Your adventure begins in chaos, as the crash landing of their ship scatters them across the planet, launching them on a desperate quest to find one another. As astronaut Ariane Montclair, players must brave harsh landscapes, master survival tools, and navigate reality-bending phenomena on a desperate mission to reunite with her wounded partner, Thomas Cross.

Aphelion is a cinematic third-person action/adventure set on the planet Persephone, an uncharted, frozen world. Stranded and isolated, you must survive the truly unknown, find each other, and complete the mission. Traverse stunning alien landscapes, avoid lurking threats, and discover the haunting secrets buried beneath the ice.

The trailer reveals Ariane’s fellow astronaut Thomas Cross as a playable character, and showcases brand-new stealth sequences, the never-before-seen alien antagonist, new environments, and the in-game spacesuit patch designed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).

In the shoes of ESA astronauts Ariane and Thomas, players will explore and survey the uncharted planet Persephone and solve the mystery of the crash, all while trying to survive in the terrifying presence of an unknown enemy. At its heart, the game is an emotional tale about love, resilience, hope, and what we bring with us when everything is lost.

Aphelion’s dual-protagonist structure shapes not only the gameplay but the emotional core of the game. ESA astronauts Ariane Montclair and Thomas Cross have differing playstyles and experiences as they try to find one another after the crash of their ship. Ariane’s gameplay is highly physical; she explores and traverses Persephone. Thomas is injured from the crash but investigates the planet in other, more deductive ways. As players go further into each of their gameplay, secrets and clues will be found to understand more about the planet’s strange conditions and what caused the crash of their ship, the Hope-01.

The trailer showcases for the first time The Nemesis, the planet’s monster and the hostile form taken by the intelligent life that lives in the oceans of Persephone. Its existence introduces tense, thrilling stealth gameplay as players must hide, sneak, and avoid confrontations to survive while understanding where it comes from and why it’s stalking them.

As is tradition in spaceflight, each mission has a symbolic patch representing it. The game’s fictional Hope-01 mission patch – designed by Aphelion’s Artistic Director Arnaud Barbier in collaboration with ESA – bridges the history of space exploration with the speculative future that this story explores. It has two defining elements: Persephone (based on the real Planet Nine) and the shuttle that carries the astronauts there. The Hope-01 patch represents the themes of Aphelion: hope, mystery, and the courage to leave behind what we know and step into uncharted territory.

Aphelion is developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), grounding its depiction of space exploration in real scientific knowledge and humanistic values. Ariane and Thomas are both ESA astronauts, part of the fictional Hope 01 mission. This collaboration weaves authentic elements of space science into the emotional core of the game. 

Explore the surreal beauty of Persephone, a vast frozen world shaped by deadly weather and ever-changing terrain. Armed only with your explorational tools – pathfinder, oxygen tank, grappling hook, and more – you must face the unknown, traverse treacherous terrain, and gather clues about the strange, reality-bending phenomenon threatening your existence. 

Helpless on the edge of the solar system, the Hope 01 crew faces a brutal new world and the echoes of a complicated past. Ariane Montclair and Thomas Cross share a deep connection, a relationship left unresolved by the demands of their careers and their mission. Facing overwhelming odds, their fractured bond becomes a lifeline as they grasp in the dark for one another.

Key Features: 

• A realistic depiction of space exploration
• An emotional drama on an alien world
• Cinematic action-adventure with gripping traversal gameplay
• Tools-based exploration and survival
• Tense and exciting stealth-based sequences

Aphelion is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam) in 2026.