This review contains spoilers
sound mixing hurt my ears, sisters death made me lol, glitched out of the map, only good bit was when it first started on that little boat the atmosphere felt good, then it was just wtf
I'd like to preface this review by acknowledging my score of 5/10. I think numbered reviews are a limited form of expressing one's opinion about a game, but are necessary to bring across a person's general opinion.
I don't believe that Close to the Sun is a bad title in the least, though the score I have given it may indeed make that appear to be the case. I might, by the end of this piece, even end up recommending the game - but that's going to have to come with some big qualifiers. I'll keep it spoiler free, but if you happen to be familiar with Bioshock (2007), I may imply a little too much for you here.
Because yes, Close to the Sun borrows heavily from that title, as do many other titles releasing in this era (Atomic Heart springs to mind). I've seen critique that it is a complete rip-off, which I don' personally believe is a fair assessment. There is a unique identity, tone and world here - it's just the basic set up and late game twist that may seem familiar. I think this game does enough of its own to not be written off as a cheap knockoff.
But now, the game. Playing as an investigative journalist, the gameplay is that what you might describe a "walking simulator". There is light puzzles, and simple action sequences in which you run away from things, but mostly it's a slow paced experience that you'll get a lot more from if you approach it with an investigative eye; the first-person perspective works wonders to this effect.
Visually this game is quite striking, with a distinct uniqueness in its steampunk setting. The entire plot takes place upon an impossibly large boat at sea in which scientists were allowed free rein in their research (which strikes quite closely to a description of Bioshock's Rapture) and this ocean-faring vessel is very well realised. Across the games 10 chapters, I think each level is distinct enough that you could well enough tell them apart from one another, while all managing to adhere to a set theme.
Regarding other aspects of the game's construction, it certainly isn't perfect - you can tell it's an indie production when you look at anything other than the quality of the graphics and world. The animations can be smooth and believable sometimes, but other times they can be distractingly poor. Likewise, the voice acting is a constant point of contention, as is most of the lines in the script. It's a shame to see an interesting plot squandered by dialogue that is this bad. Even if they had top of their game voice actors on this, I don't think they could get a good performance from this script - and these voice actors are anything but. There are moments where it's okay, but overall it's probably the biggest problem with the game.
I'll refrain from close analysis of any story beats, because I want this to be spoiler free and would recommend going in as blind as possible to make the most of the developing mystery. I will, however, say that I think the ending is quite rushed. The final three levels are only about ten minutes each, if that. Maybe it wouldn't have felt weird if it was all condensed into one chapter? It's a strange feeling I have - I believe the game is as long as it needed to be, and would've loathed it to go on much further, but there is something amiss with the climax.
Also, the soundtrack is mostly understated piano pieces, but they do wonders for the game's atmosphere.
So, should you play Close to the Sun? If you've a few short hours to spare and a willingness to lose yourself in a well made (if flawed) world, then yes. If you play games for narrative depth or mechanical challenge, I can heartily say that you'll likely want to give this a miss. It's free on XBOX game pass, at least at time of writing, so at least there'd be no monetary investment - only your ever so precious time.
I don't believe that Close to the Sun is a bad title in the least, though the score I have given it may indeed make that appear to be the case. I might, by the end of this piece, even end up recommending the game - but that's going to have to come with some big qualifiers. I'll keep it spoiler free, but if you happen to be familiar with Bioshock (2007), I may imply a little too much for you here.
Because yes, Close to the Sun borrows heavily from that title, as do many other titles releasing in this era (Atomic Heart springs to mind). I've seen critique that it is a complete rip-off, which I don' personally believe is a fair assessment. There is a unique identity, tone and world here - it's just the basic set up and late game twist that may seem familiar. I think this game does enough of its own to not be written off as a cheap knockoff.
But now, the game. Playing as an investigative journalist, the gameplay is that what you might describe a "walking simulator". There is light puzzles, and simple action sequences in which you run away from things, but mostly it's a slow paced experience that you'll get a lot more from if you approach it with an investigative eye; the first-person perspective works wonders to this effect.
Visually this game is quite striking, with a distinct uniqueness in its steampunk setting. The entire plot takes place upon an impossibly large boat at sea in which scientists were allowed free rein in their research (which strikes quite closely to a description of Bioshock's Rapture) and this ocean-faring vessel is very well realised. Across the games 10 chapters, I think each level is distinct enough that you could well enough tell them apart from one another, while all managing to adhere to a set theme.
Regarding other aspects of the game's construction, it certainly isn't perfect - you can tell it's an indie production when you look at anything other than the quality of the graphics and world. The animations can be smooth and believable sometimes, but other times they can be distractingly poor. Likewise, the voice acting is a constant point of contention, as is most of the lines in the script. It's a shame to see an interesting plot squandered by dialogue that is this bad. Even if they had top of their game voice actors on this, I don't think they could get a good performance from this script - and these voice actors are anything but. There are moments where it's okay, but overall it's probably the biggest problem with the game.
I'll refrain from close analysis of any story beats, because I want this to be spoiler free and would recommend going in as blind as possible to make the most of the developing mystery. I will, however, say that I think the ending is quite rushed. The final three levels are only about ten minutes each, if that. Maybe it wouldn't have felt weird if it was all condensed into one chapter? It's a strange feeling I have - I believe the game is as long as it needed to be, and would've loathed it to go on much further, but there is something amiss with the climax.
Also, the soundtrack is mostly understated piano pieces, but they do wonders for the game's atmosphere.
So, should you play Close to the Sun? If you've a few short hours to spare and a willingness to lose yourself in a well made (if flawed) world, then yes. If you play games for narrative depth or mechanical challenge, I can heartily say that you'll likely want to give this a miss. It's free on XBOX game pass, at least at time of writing, so at least there'd be no monetary investment - only your ever so precious time.
Un indie horror in prima persona come tanti, privo di originalità, sorretto esclusivamente dal reparto grafico-artistico e dal contesto simil-Bioshock, con Tesla al posto di Ryan e così via.
Sarò breve, come lo è il gioco in questione.
Trama inconcludente, gameplay minimalista e privo di attrattiva (ci sono walking simulator più originali) e personaggi scialbi e prevedibili. Sembra quasi che sia stata tutta una tech-demo, piuttosto che un videogioco vero e proprio.
Pessima, antiquata - e un po' furbetta - la scelta di non includere i salvataggi automatici nei livelli, costringendo di fatto il giocatore a finire TUTTO il capitolo prima di poter salvare e chiudere il gioco. Piccoli espedienti per allungare il tempo di gioco, uniti al fatto che non si possano skippare le cutscene.
Magari alla sufficienza ci arriverebbe anche, ma ho deciso di non arrivare alle 3 stelle per spronare un team di sviluppo, italiano tra l'altro, che avrebbe le potenzialità per far di più, a puntare più in alto.
Sarò breve, come lo è il gioco in questione.
Trama inconcludente, gameplay minimalista e privo di attrattiva (ci sono walking simulator più originali) e personaggi scialbi e prevedibili. Sembra quasi che sia stata tutta una tech-demo, piuttosto che un videogioco vero e proprio.
Pessima, antiquata - e un po' furbetta - la scelta di non includere i salvataggi automatici nei livelli, costringendo di fatto il giocatore a finire TUTTO il capitolo prima di poter salvare e chiudere il gioco. Piccoli espedienti per allungare il tempo di gioco, uniti al fatto che non si possano skippare le cutscene.
Magari alla sufficienza ci arriverebbe anche, ma ho deciso di non arrivare alle 3 stelle per spronare un team di sviluppo, italiano tra l'altro, che avrebbe le potenzialità per far di più, a puntare più in alto.
Close to the Sun was clearly inspired by two games, Bioshock and Outlast. It has the visual aesthetics and environment of Bioshock, with the chase sequences and horror elements from Outlast. Despite mixing some of the art and gameplay together from these two series with the intent to create something new, Close to the Sun comes off as nothing more than a cheap Dollar General knockoff.
Well to be fair, the art design wasn’t too bad at times because there were some really cool locations like the opera house and the garden section towards the end of the game. Actually, it was the only marginally good thing about this game. Everything else is pretty terrible.
Like I mentioned before, Close to the sun tries to come off as a horror game by having enemies such as these stupid looking electrical monsters, and some poorly written stab happy lunatic. Every time you encounter either of them, your only option is to run. These sequences may seem like you have options by giving you different places or routes to go, but you don’t. These sections of gameplay are very scripted and if you make one wrong mistake you instantly die because unlike Jack in Bioshock, Rose in Close to the Sun isn’t provide with any weapons.
So that’s a good segue to dig into the fact that there is no combat at all in this game. It’s actually a walking sim, which in and of itself doesn’t bother me. The lack of exploration and any actual creative gameplay is what bothers me. The game gives you some interesting locations to look at, but exploration is boring because as large as the Helios is made to be in the story, the areas are actually kind of small and there isn’t really anything to discover. The game does toss a few puzzles at you, but they’re really easy to solve which honestly makes it feel like the developers put in the puzzles just to pad out the game.
Sadly, the story in Close to the Sun doesn’t balance out the awful gameplay either because the narrative is just as bad, if not worse. It’s a complete mess. The game is written to be a mystery where nothing is explained and it’s clear that you’re meant to get all the answers in a direct sequel. Questions like; who is Ludwig and what made him so psychotic? Who sent Rose the letter to go to the Helios if it wasn’t Ada? Well, you never get those answers because there is currently no sequel or DLC to answer those questions and to make matters worse the game ends on a cliff hanger.
In all honesty though, I don’t know if I’d care enough to get those answers if there was a sequel. I didn’t really like or care about any of the characters after playing Close to the Sun. None of them were that interesting. I found the main character, Rose to be more grating than compelling if anything. Her motivation wasn’t bad, but her dialogue, just like the rest of the characters, was written really poorly and just made me cringe. I might as well say it now, the voice acting is some of the worst I’ve ever heard in a video game.
Rose’s sister, Ada, is a complete Mary Sue in the fact that she’s the smartest and the best at everything. Almost all the dialogue referring to or involving her pretty much boils down to “Ada is the greatest, Ada is the best. No other scientist on Helios is smarted than her.” Other than that Ada has no other defining traits just like Rose, or any other character in this god awful story.
I don’t know much about Tesla as a person because I’ve never read up on his history, but with the way he’s written I almost feel like he was written with the a clear attempt at character assassination. From what little I know of Telsa, I don’t think he was really that big into capitalism so for the writers to make him the richest and greediest person in the world just felt that they didn’t really understand him and felt more like a pro-Edison campaign. Or maybe they took out their feelings on Elon Musk onto their fictional Nikola Tesla. Either way, it just felt very strange to take Tesla and turn him into this character… who also still isn’t as smart as Ada.
Now let’s talk about some of the main antagonists, Aubrey and Ludwig. Honestly there’s not much to say about either. Aubrey is just your poor man’s version of Frank Fontaine whose only sole motive is to impress Tesla, I guess so that’s why he does bad stuff? Ludwig comes off as a lame Outlast killer who got rejected from the final version of the game and then went over to Close to the Sun because no one wanted him. His motive for killing people is never explained and is one of those mysteries that I talk about earlier that was never answered.
Overall:
Close to the Sun is an awful game and an awful horror game to boot. This game fails at almost everything it tries to do and little good can be said about it. If it was on sale for a dollar, I would tell you to skip it, because it’s really that bad.
Pros:
+Decent art design at times
*Cons:
-bad and frustrating gameplay
-no combat
-awful story
-bad voice acting
-poorly written characters
-pointless narrative that goes nowhere due to no sequel, making the whole experience a waste of time
Well to be fair, the art design wasn’t too bad at times because there were some really cool locations like the opera house and the garden section towards the end of the game. Actually, it was the only marginally good thing about this game. Everything else is pretty terrible.
Like I mentioned before, Close to the sun tries to come off as a horror game by having enemies such as these stupid looking electrical monsters, and some poorly written stab happy lunatic. Every time you encounter either of them, your only option is to run. These sequences may seem like you have options by giving you different places or routes to go, but you don’t. These sections of gameplay are very scripted and if you make one wrong mistake you instantly die because unlike Jack in Bioshock, Rose in Close to the Sun isn’t provide with any weapons.
So that’s a good segue to dig into the fact that there is no combat at all in this game. It’s actually a walking sim, which in and of itself doesn’t bother me. The lack of exploration and any actual creative gameplay is what bothers me. The game gives you some interesting locations to look at, but exploration is boring because as large as the Helios is made to be in the story, the areas are actually kind of small and there isn’t really anything to discover. The game does toss a few puzzles at you, but they’re really easy to solve which honestly makes it feel like the developers put in the puzzles just to pad out the game.
Sadly, the story in Close to the Sun doesn’t balance out the awful gameplay either because the narrative is just as bad, if not worse. It’s a complete mess. The game is written to be a mystery where nothing is explained and it’s clear that you’re meant to get all the answers in a direct sequel. Questions like; who is Ludwig and what made him so psychotic? Who sent Rose the letter to go to the Helios if it wasn’t Ada? Well, you never get those answers because there is currently no sequel or DLC to answer those questions and to make matters worse the game ends on a cliff hanger.
In all honesty though, I don’t know if I’d care enough to get those answers if there was a sequel. I didn’t really like or care about any of the characters after playing Close to the Sun. None of them were that interesting. I found the main character, Rose to be more grating than compelling if anything. Her motivation wasn’t bad, but her dialogue, just like the rest of the characters, was written really poorly and just made me cringe. I might as well say it now, the voice acting is some of the worst I’ve ever heard in a video game.
Rose’s sister, Ada, is a complete Mary Sue in the fact that she’s the smartest and the best at everything. Almost all the dialogue referring to or involving her pretty much boils down to “Ada is the greatest, Ada is the best. No other scientist on Helios is smarted than her.” Other than that Ada has no other defining traits just like Rose, or any other character in this god awful story.
I don’t know much about Tesla as a person because I’ve never read up on his history, but with the way he’s written I almost feel like he was written with the a clear attempt at character assassination. From what little I know of Telsa, I don’t think he was really that big into capitalism so for the writers to make him the richest and greediest person in the world just felt that they didn’t really understand him and felt more like a pro-Edison campaign. Or maybe they took out their feelings on Elon Musk onto their fictional Nikola Tesla. Either way, it just felt very strange to take Tesla and turn him into this character… who also still isn’t as smart as Ada.
Now let’s talk about some of the main antagonists, Aubrey and Ludwig. Honestly there’s not much to say about either. Aubrey is just your poor man’s version of Frank Fontaine whose only sole motive is to impress Tesla, I guess so that’s why he does bad stuff? Ludwig comes off as a lame Outlast killer who got rejected from the final version of the game and then went over to Close to the Sun because no one wanted him. His motive for killing people is never explained and is one of those mysteries that I talk about earlier that was never answered.
Overall:
Close to the Sun is an awful game and an awful horror game to boot. This game fails at almost everything it tries to do and little good can be said about it. If it was on sale for a dollar, I would tell you to skip it, because it’s really that bad.
Pros:
+Decent art design at times
*Cons:
-bad and frustrating gameplay
-no combat
-awful story
-bad voice acting
-poorly written characters
-pointless narrative that goes nowhere due to no sequel, making the whole experience a waste of time
Controls and movement very clunky but not too bad. Is a very short game so it's okay.
Close to the Moon was better
I'm not usually a horror game player but I figured I'd give this a whirl. I finished it in just under four hours. It was.... Okay. Flip some switches, read some notes and OH SHIT ITS TIME TO RUN. Then repeat but maybe in a different order. Story was okay, not terribly interesting but did make sense given your character is thrown into a scientific environment but isn't a scientist.
El guion fue bastante mucho inspirado en BioShock.
It succeeds in its goal to "kind of look like a Bioshock game, a little bit" but it doesn't really have aspirations beyond that. The writing and voice acting are weak, the horror elements do not work at all, and the puzzles (the only real gameplay that brings it out of walking-simulator territory) are so basic and generic that they could be lifted from any number of games
Dreadful checkpointing, nonsense plot. Ripping of the style of Bioshock is good for a star and a half, wish it brought anything else compelling to the table
Why do people do these things to themselves?
Solid walking simulator with some genuinely good scares. Story is eh. Chases are bad. The best part is the environment which looks seriously good most time.
beautiful, if not uninspired settings but that was almost all this had going for it. the puzzles might as well have not existed and any other attempts at gameplay are extremely rough. the chase sequences and other set pieces are choppy in performance which makes repeating them due to the unclear directions an even more severe annoyance.
i thought the horror elements were going to help set this apart more than they did but it ended up just being jump scares (and not the occasionally fun, well executed kind) and random splashes of gore. it all felt a bit surface level.
i have loved me some walking sims and adjacent titles over time but this might be a bit of a low of what i've played, unfortunately.
i thought the horror elements were going to help set this apart more than they did but it ended up just being jump scares (and not the occasionally fun, well executed kind) and random splashes of gore. it all felt a bit surface level.
i have loved me some walking sims and adjacent titles over time but this might be a bit of a low of what i've played, unfortunately.
Il grosso problema non è rappresentato tanto dal game design derivativo (come perdonare un plot-twist così pigro?) o dalle dozzinali sequenze trial & error contornate da puzzle risolti in meccaniche a dir poco elementari. Il problema è che nel breve viaggio di Rose Archer non c'è nulla di rilevante, nessun sussulto o embrionale vagito di idee inespresse. Solo una sequela di situazioni già viste/vissute che finiscono laddove dovrebbe sussistere un nuovo inizio. Di cosa, non è però dato sapere.
This review contains spoilers
I’m a sucker for these kinds of games so I was an easy mark for the atmosphere of this, plus the pretty compelling premise. However, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with the whole time travel thing and it just kinda didn’t?