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.

Don't Nod is pleased to announce Amine Bouhafa is the composer behind the soundtrack of Aphelion.

Amine Bouhafa is a César award-winning French-Tunisian composer known for his scores on Timbuktu (2015), The Summit of the Gods (2021), and The Little Sister (2025). 

“This is my first time working on a video game, and I loved the way that [the Aphelion team] thought about the music and about the game. I’m enjoying the experience.”

Players will be able to experience Bouhafa's unique blend of epic and intimate as it gives life to planet Persephone and supports Ariane and Thomas’s journeys in the game. His work easily and beautifully conveys the atmosphere and mood of the planet, the tension of the Nemesis, and the emotions between the characters. The video explores the ways in which Amine uses instruments such as the pipe organ and the unique cristal baschet in order to reflect the sacred feeling of the adventure, and to bring to life the frozen identity of Persephone

“It has been a real pleasure to collaborate with Amine on Aphelion. We discovered his work through his composition for The Summit of the Gods and were immediately captivated by his talent for portraying the intimacy of characters caught up in a grand, epic adventure.” says Florent Guillaume, Creative Director. “Amine is a person with great emotional intelligence and sincere humanity. I hope that players will feel that connection and will be moved by their experience.”

Additionally, Don't Nod have partnered with Maximum Entertainment to produce a PS5 physical retail edition of Aphelion, with pre-orders now open at participating retailers across North America, Europe and Australia.

Participating retailers can be found here.

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.