Close to the Moon was better
Controls and movement very clunky but not too bad. Is a very short game so it's okay.
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
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.
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.
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
Game with beautiful visuals reminiscent of Bioshock and Dishonored, Short simple but interesting story. The negative point for me was the gameplay was a bit stuck and had some bugs. But overall a reasonably satisfactory experience.
Close to the Sun is a game that knows what it wants to look like, but not what it wants to be. The story is serviceable, but never goes quite far enough to really be anything much more than a B-movie spy plot.
The gameplay is a walking simulator with some simple puzzles that - like the story - never quite push the limit to be anything incredibly interesting.
The best parts of this title are the quiet moments where you get to appreciate the aesthetic.
The worst parts are by far any time the game fails to explain something properly. Chapter 3 is a notable downfall where I wandered aimlessly looking for a room that I couldn't draw for you now it was so unremarkable.
The voice cast was good enough and allowed for some of the writing to shine through, but a fair assortment of plot holes, cringe dialogue, and characters offering puzzles instead of helping in dire situations distracted from the immersion.
I wanted to like this game more than I did, and I especially had hoped it could scratch a Bioshock itch that it's so clearly inspired by. Unfortunately, there were simply too many bumps along the road for me.
The gameplay is a walking simulator with some simple puzzles that - like the story - never quite push the limit to be anything incredibly interesting.
The best parts of this title are the quiet moments where you get to appreciate the aesthetic.
The worst parts are by far any time the game fails to explain something properly. Chapter 3 is a notable downfall where I wandered aimlessly looking for a room that I couldn't draw for you now it was so unremarkable.
The voice cast was good enough and allowed for some of the writing to shine through, but a fair assortment of plot holes, cringe dialogue, and characters offering puzzles instead of helping in dire situations distracted from the immersion.
I wanted to like this game more than I did, and I especially had hoped it could scratch a Bioshock itch that it's so clearly inspired by. Unfortunately, there were simply too many bumps along the road for me.
Game only floats by on having a decent first mission. Rest of the game is a stuttering mess that barely functions as a walking simulator, let alone as a compelling horror game as its advertised.
~ Jogo que se vende como terror, mas que não passa de um mero walking simulator ruim. A ambientação é foda, mas a história é chata e desinteressante com o plot sendo extremamente previsível, honestamente esperava mais.
just walking simulator game
Think a puzzle/horror variant of the Bioshock series with a MUCH cooler premise but some issues with less-refined controls. Story is excellent with my only complaint being it was a bit shorter than I was expecting.
Walking simulator que da algo de miedo. Es bonito, sobre todo lo que atañe a su interesante mundo (quitando los 200 millones de cadáveres por doquier). Curiosamente las pantallas de carga te spoilean de cosas del propio juego. El movimiento un poco lento, incluso corriendo. Tiene un buen doblaje, ligeramente repetitivo, al igual que las animaciones, que creo que necesitaban más trabajo.
El juego posee un par de giros que guion que se ven venir, pero el final no creo que esté a la altura. Otro punto negativo con las persecuciones, que se van haciendo más ridículas a más avanza el juego, siendo la única interacción real aparte de algún puzzle.
El juego posee un par de giros que guion que se ven venir, pero el final no creo que esté a la altura. Otro punto negativo con las persecuciones, que se van haciendo más ridículas a más avanza el juego, siendo la única interacción real aparte de algún puzzle.
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.
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.
Why do people do these things to themselves?
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
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
Recentemente, joguei o jogo Close to the Sun através do nosso querido Game Pass. O que me chamou a atenção logo de cara foi o fato de o jogo ser muito similar a Bioshock, pelo menos à primeira vista.
No jogo, assumimos o papel de Rose, uma jornalista que recebe uma mensagem de sua irmã, Ada, pedindo para ela se juntar a ela em Helios. Um gigantesco navio, construído por Nikola Tesla, navega em águas internacionais e reuniu os cientistas mais fodas do planeta para trabalhar nas descobertas do famoso engenheiro. Naturalmente, uma vez no local, você perceberá que o navio parece vazio e, preso a bordo, você terá que explorar o local para entender os acontecimentos que ocorreram lá e encontrar sua irmã.
Através de um dispositivo, Rose conversará com sua irmã e com outro cientista. As conversas estarão lá tanto para orientá-lo sobre como avançar na aventura quanto para revelar algo a mais da trama para você entender tudo o que está ocorrendo à sua volta. Ao longo do jogo, você se perguntará quando chegará o momento do encontro com esses dois personagens com os quais você construiu laços. E, por falar nisso, sem sombra de dúvidas, não tem como a gente não falar do enredo desse jogo, que é certamente de se elogiar, assim como o trabalho dos dubladores.
Além das interações pontuais com os sobreviventes, sua jornada, que é dividida em mais ou menos 10 capítulos curtos, será dividida em várias fases que misturam exploração, pequenos puzzles e perseguições. A exploração, por sua vez, será principalmente recompensada pela oportunidade de encontrar notas ou trechos de jornais, a fim de entender melhor o contexto da história do jogo, assim como as anotações deixadas pelas vítimas do caos do navio. Embora em alguns momentos seja meio chato explorar em Close to the Sun, alguns elementos narrativos são bastante interessantes. Portanto, recomendo que você dedique tempo para vasculhar todos os cantos do navio, o que, de qualquer forma, não deve levar muito tempo, já que os ambientes são bastante limitados e o jogo é relativamente simples e curto.
Quanto aos puzzles, são particularmente fáceis e apelam mais para o seu senso de observação do que para a lógica. Na verdade, eles se resumem a ativar alavancas. Portanto, acredito que ninguém nunca ficará preso no jogo por conta de puzzles ou qualquer coisa do tipo, afinal, tudo é muito tranquilo.
Por fim, minha parte favorita do jogo e o que de fato me chamou a atenção para jogar foi o survival-horror. De maneira geral, Close to the Sun é muito bom como um game de terror. Adicionando um toque gore aqui e ali, o jogo faz uso de uma atmosfera sonora e visual muito bem elaborada e, em geral, evita o uso excessivo de sustos repentinos, os famosos jumpscares, embora tenda a abusar um pouco deles nos primeiros capítulos só para dar aquele impacto inicial de leve. O visual da embarcação e os cadáveres espalhados contribuem significativamente para o desenvolvimento de uma atmosfera muito imersiva.
Quase sempre no jogo, você será perseguido. Esses momentos, altamente roteirizados, simplesmente exigirão que você corra. Há muita semelhança com Outlast, por exemplo. Seu personagem é indefeso diante de seus oponentes, e sua salvação será sempre na fuga. Além de problemas pontuais de otimização nessas partes do jogo, o fato de nossa personagem ser lenta demais acaba completamente com a imersão dessas cenas de perseguição. Os movimentos de Rose, mesmo durante uma corrida, são muito lentos, e algumas interações (como pular sobre uma mesa, por exemplo) sofrem de uma falta de precisão terrível. Parece que Close to the Sun cronometrou o tempo exato necessário para atravessar de um ponto A para um ponto B, e se você encontrar um caminho alternativo digamos assim, é morte certa.
No entanto, embora não seja perfeito, tecnicamente seja meio falho e o enredo talvez pudesse ter sido mais aprofundado, Close to the Sun tem a seu favor uma história muito legal, uma atmosfera muito imersiva e ambientes na maioria das vezes magníficos. O universo do jogo é, de qualquer forma, suficientemente boa para uma jogatina tranquila de 6 a 7 horas de gameplay. Como disse antes, ele é bem curtinho, sendo zerado por mim com 8 a 9 horas e chegando a um total de 14 horas para 100% o game. É um jogo que quem curte um Outlast da vida certamente vai ter um momento de jogatina bem legal e, claro, disponível no nosso querido Game Pass, é mais do que recomendado para testar.
Pontos positivos:
- Personagens bem desenvolvidos
- Uma atmosfera cuidadosamente elaborada
- Excelente direção artística
Pontos negativos:
- A lentidão dos movimentos
- As sequências de perseguição não funcionam bem
- Muito curto
Versão utilizada para análise: Xbox Series.
No jogo, assumimos o papel de Rose, uma jornalista que recebe uma mensagem de sua irmã, Ada, pedindo para ela se juntar a ela em Helios. Um gigantesco navio, construído por Nikola Tesla, navega em águas internacionais e reuniu os cientistas mais fodas do planeta para trabalhar nas descobertas do famoso engenheiro. Naturalmente, uma vez no local, você perceberá que o navio parece vazio e, preso a bordo, você terá que explorar o local para entender os acontecimentos que ocorreram lá e encontrar sua irmã.
Através de um dispositivo, Rose conversará com sua irmã e com outro cientista. As conversas estarão lá tanto para orientá-lo sobre como avançar na aventura quanto para revelar algo a mais da trama para você entender tudo o que está ocorrendo à sua volta. Ao longo do jogo, você se perguntará quando chegará o momento do encontro com esses dois personagens com os quais você construiu laços. E, por falar nisso, sem sombra de dúvidas, não tem como a gente não falar do enredo desse jogo, que é certamente de se elogiar, assim como o trabalho dos dubladores.
Além das interações pontuais com os sobreviventes, sua jornada, que é dividida em mais ou menos 10 capítulos curtos, será dividida em várias fases que misturam exploração, pequenos puzzles e perseguições. A exploração, por sua vez, será principalmente recompensada pela oportunidade de encontrar notas ou trechos de jornais, a fim de entender melhor o contexto da história do jogo, assim como as anotações deixadas pelas vítimas do caos do navio. Embora em alguns momentos seja meio chato explorar em Close to the Sun, alguns elementos narrativos são bastante interessantes. Portanto, recomendo que você dedique tempo para vasculhar todos os cantos do navio, o que, de qualquer forma, não deve levar muito tempo, já que os ambientes são bastante limitados e o jogo é relativamente simples e curto.
Quanto aos puzzles, são particularmente fáceis e apelam mais para o seu senso de observação do que para a lógica. Na verdade, eles se resumem a ativar alavancas. Portanto, acredito que ninguém nunca ficará preso no jogo por conta de puzzles ou qualquer coisa do tipo, afinal, tudo é muito tranquilo.
Por fim, minha parte favorita do jogo e o que de fato me chamou a atenção para jogar foi o survival-horror. De maneira geral, Close to the Sun é muito bom como um game de terror. Adicionando um toque gore aqui e ali, o jogo faz uso de uma atmosfera sonora e visual muito bem elaborada e, em geral, evita o uso excessivo de sustos repentinos, os famosos jumpscares, embora tenda a abusar um pouco deles nos primeiros capítulos só para dar aquele impacto inicial de leve. O visual da embarcação e os cadáveres espalhados contribuem significativamente para o desenvolvimento de uma atmosfera muito imersiva.
Quase sempre no jogo, você será perseguido. Esses momentos, altamente roteirizados, simplesmente exigirão que você corra. Há muita semelhança com Outlast, por exemplo. Seu personagem é indefeso diante de seus oponentes, e sua salvação será sempre na fuga. Além de problemas pontuais de otimização nessas partes do jogo, o fato de nossa personagem ser lenta demais acaba completamente com a imersão dessas cenas de perseguição. Os movimentos de Rose, mesmo durante uma corrida, são muito lentos, e algumas interações (como pular sobre uma mesa, por exemplo) sofrem de uma falta de precisão terrível. Parece que Close to the Sun cronometrou o tempo exato necessário para atravessar de um ponto A para um ponto B, e se você encontrar um caminho alternativo digamos assim, é morte certa.
No entanto, embora não seja perfeito, tecnicamente seja meio falho e o enredo talvez pudesse ter sido mais aprofundado, Close to the Sun tem a seu favor uma história muito legal, uma atmosfera muito imersiva e ambientes na maioria das vezes magníficos. O universo do jogo é, de qualquer forma, suficientemente boa para uma jogatina tranquila de 6 a 7 horas de gameplay. Como disse antes, ele é bem curtinho, sendo zerado por mim com 8 a 9 horas e chegando a um total de 14 horas para 100% o game. É um jogo que quem curte um Outlast da vida certamente vai ter um momento de jogatina bem legal e, claro, disponível no nosso querido Game Pass, é mais do que recomendado para testar.
Pontos positivos:
- Personagens bem desenvolvidos
- Uma atmosfera cuidadosamente elaborada
- Excelente direção artística
Pontos negativos:
- A lentidão dos movimentos
- As sequências de perseguição não funcionam bem
- Muito curto
Versão utilizada para análise: Xbox Series.
Close to the Sun (2019): Cuándo copias sin entender lo que estás referenciando pasan cosas como este juego. Se notan sus buenas intenciones, pero no puedes ser Bioshock si no entiendes Bioshock. Replicar escenarios, tramas y premisas sin comprender el conjunto genera esta amalgama sin sentido (5,00)
O jogo com um level design bem bonito e de início parece ser um jogo bem charmoso. Sua trilha e arte são bem bonitas mas apesar de curto o jogo começa a ficar bem repetitivo apartir de um ponto e sua história fica desinteressante e previsível e seus puzzles e inimigos são entediante.
A serviceable walking simulator adding a bit more interaction. The horror aspect is a welcome change in the genre. A few good jumpscares for a weakling such as myself but overall not that scary due to slow pacing, average graphics and god awful voice acting. The most enjoyable aspect was finding all the collectibles with the extra star given just for the Bioshock inspirations.
This review contains spoilers
- I followed this game quite a bit pre-launch as it gave a very Bioshock kind of vibe
- While it clearly takes inspiration from that, it never quite goes the whole way
- Allusions to horror just end up as nothing or cheap jump scares
- Some of the plot points and themes feel a bit forced and not as clever as they try to be
- The lack of NPCs (except for Tesla and that guy who follows you in the game) makes it feel pretty empty - like it was never lived-in in the first place
- But all in all, since it took such inspiration from Bioshock, still a fun game
- While it clearly takes inspiration from that, it never quite goes the whole way
- Allusions to horror just end up as nothing or cheap jump scares
- Some of the plot points and themes feel a bit forced and not as clever as they try to be
- The lack of NPCs (except for Tesla and that guy who follows you in the game) makes it feel pretty empty - like it was never lived-in in the first place
- But all in all, since it took such inspiration from Bioshock, still a fun game
The setting is beautiful, the graphics are insanely good, and the story is serviceable. I did about 6 runs to get the speedrun and no dying achievements and wasn't bored or frustrated having to replay it at any time.
It does have a lot of stutter issues at times, however. Heavy ones as well.
It does have a lot of stutter issues at times, however. Heavy ones as well.
Close to the Sun is a very atmospheric and eerie journey for the first half, but its need to have a clear villain and monster take away from its scare factor and my interest in it. The last few chapters also suffer from some bugs and/or visibility issues that further impacted my (lessening) enjoyment. I would have much preferred the narative to be about regular people who turned insane after coming into contact with their future/past selves, or something along those lines. The "anomaly" just feels like a random addition because someone thought a horror game needed a mascot creature of some kind.
I'd say the first half is around a 7/10, but from the second half on (really starting from the introduction to the monster) it honestly feels more like a 6 or 5 out of ten. It is hard to be afraid of something as silly as a time-travel particle monster, especially when it looks as unconvincing as it does.
Also capitalist Nikola Tesla feels weird. Like I get this is an alternate universe earth, but really? The man who wanted to make electricity free actually became the richest man in the world and started creating superweapons! It just doesn't exactly work for me. Felt like this game was some kind of Edison propaganda for much of the first half lmao.
I'd say the first half is around a 7/10, but from the second half on (really starting from the introduction to the monster) it honestly feels more like a 6 or 5 out of ten. It is hard to be afraid of something as silly as a time-travel particle monster, especially when it looks as unconvincing as it does.
Also capitalist Nikola Tesla feels weird. Like I get this is an alternate universe earth, but really? The man who wanted to make electricity free actually became the richest man in the world and started creating superweapons! It just doesn't exactly work for me. Felt like this game was some kind of Edison propaganda for much of the first half lmao.
first horror game i played >:OO