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.

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.

“Our strategy is to maximize revenue while maintaining our creative goals and reaching a wide audience. Aphelion, an action-adventure game, fits this approach perfectly. We are passionate about this original title in a popular genre and aim to elevate our creative standards. We're thrilled to share this new experience, which embodies DON'T NOD's essence. Collaborating with the European Space Agency for our first space-based story is an honor, and we are proud that Aphelion was featured at the Xbox Games Showcase” says DON'T NOD Chairman and CEO Oskar Guilbert.

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. 

"For fifty years, ESA has combined rigorous space science with the boundless imagination of science fiction to explore solutions to our planet's greatest challenges. Aphelion captures that spirit – where research meets imaginative vision – to inspire the next generation to carry Europe's space ambition into the future,” says Nadia Lüders, ESA Partnership & Brand Licensing Officer.

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.