What for those who might go well with up as an actual European House Company (Esa) astronaut and land on a planet no human has ever seen?
That’s precisely the premise of Aphelion, a brand new science-fiction online game developed by French studio DON’T NOD Leisure in shut partnership with the Esa.
And it’s much more scientifically rigorous than you would possibly count on from a online game.
Launched on April 28, 2026 and accessible on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Collection X/S, Aphelion drops gamers into the boots of two fictional Esa astronauts, Ariane Montclair and Thomas Cross, on a mission referred to as Hope-01.
Their vacation spot: Persephone, a fictional ninth planet sitting on the outer fringe of our Photo voltaic System, billions of kilometres from the Solar.
WHAT MAKES APHELION DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SPACE GAMES?
This isn’t your typical shoot-and-explore area journey. Actual Esa scientists, engineers and astronauts had been instantly concerned in constructing the sport’s world.
Every little thing from measurement items and physics to scientific devices, vocabulary and even sound design was reviewed and formed by actual area professionals.
In area, for example, there is no such thing as a air to hold sound waves, so what you hear in a vacuum sounds very totally different from what you hear on Earth. Particulars like these had been rigorously woven into the sport.
It marks the primary time a science-fiction online game has positioned an Esa mission, with actual astronaut situations, on the centre of its story.
IS THE HOPE-01 MISSION ACTUALLY REAL?
Not precisely, however Esa has given it an actual presence. A devoted mission web page for Hope-01 exists on the ESA web site, and a specifically designed mission patch was created for the event, each hallmarks of precise Esa missions.
The road between fiction and actuality is intentionally blurred, and that’s the level.
WHY DID ESA GET INVOLVED IN A VIDEO GAME?
House companies spend many years attempting to make science really feel accessible. A online game reaches individuals who would possibly by no means decide up a science journal.
Anne-Sophie Bradelle, Head of Esa’s Communication Division, famous that the undertaking helps Esa’s recruitment push, with over 400 positions deliberate for 2026.
DON’T NOD CEO Oskar Guilbert put it plainly: video video games can push the boundaries of fiction to mirror our actuality.
Aphelion is proof that science and storytelling, when completed proper, could make even the chilly vacuum of area really feel splendidly alive.
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