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Close to the Sunhas plenty of rough patches, but its interesting world and charming main characters help it keep its metaphorical wings attached.
When choosing a name likeClose to the Sun , developer tempest in a Teacup was practically asking for any number whipping review quote about hold a little too much ambitiousness . While it definitely has some significant fault , closemouthed to the Sunmostly fend off the Icarus comparisons its claim invites . Its four - or - so - minute story supply a decent , bite - sized horror experience . At times , it feels like a fairly shallow exploration of a potentially fascinating scene , but what glimpse it does furnish into this unique world and its characters are some ofClose to the Sun ’s good moments .
Atmosphere , then , isClose to the Sun ’s strongest feature . Each of its 10 chapter take protagonist Rose to a different section of the Helios , a monumental vas floating in the midriff of the ocean . Despite take piazza alone on one ship , each area has a singular aspect that keeps things feeling fresh . One minute , you ’re stepping into an elevator in the ship ’s conflagrate Physics Department , and the next , you ’re egress into the lavish , gilded lobby of a giant theater . closely to the Sun ’s environmental invention continually impresses , and this does curiosity for establishing humor during the spooky sections and the downtime in between .
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tight to the Sun ’s characters similarly aid keep the secret plan ’s tempo and modality , but they ’re less consistently great across the board . Rose is a mostly well - written , relatable protagonist , but Aubrey , a scientist who speaks with Rose remotely throughout most of the tale , is the stand up - out personality . His ever - present receiving set yak provides aFirewatch - alike companion for Rose , with excellent voice acting and writing that add both levity and tension to the experience . Rose ’s baby , Ada , and Nikola Tesla ( yes , that Nikola Tesla ) are more one - short letter , making it a piffling hard to worry about them alfresco of their relationships to Rose and Aubrey . The most dissatisfactory character , though , is Ludwig , a tongue - handle , murderous madman . While he cater the best revulsion sequences in the entire game , by far , his need are n’t really explained . He fault Rose for the things happening aboard the Helios , but you never really find out why . Instead , he ’s essentially just a crazy beau who wanders around , killing masses and restate a vague mantra about “ smash the circle . ”
Sadly , the imperfectness ofClose to the Sun ’s support cast carries over into its main write up . The game carry place in an alternate 1800 ’s , where Tesla ’s invention have actuate man into a “ second age of scientific enlightenment . ” Of naturally , Tesla ’s experiment go terribly wrong , the laws of the universe get mixed up , and people start out die . More lightning - punk thansteampunk , this scene bring home the bacon some challenging patch point ( particularly the sea wolf creatures that the game describes as antibodies for a wound in clock time ) , but there ’s a lot of “ you would n’t understand ” and “ I do n’t have meter to explain . ” remaining , interesting happening take place , leave you enquire how they hap , but you ’re lead to shrug off many of them as some kind of time - bending physical science anomaly . It ’s possible that some of it is explained in one of the plot ’s traditional knowledge - filled collectable items - of which there are many - but most of these seemed to be casual target ( letters , inspection billet , a sheepskin , etc . ) meant to add realism to the Helios
In spite of all this vagueness , Close to the Sun ’s major plot gimmick is telegraphed so obviously that it ’s not really a surprise . This in reality works to the biz ’s advantage until it happens , providing constant tension since you hump you could be walk into a forged state of affairs at any moment . But once it pass , there ’s not much intrigue left to carry the game to its end . thing just sort of bechance and keep happening , and then it ’s over . Still , only about an minute of the game diminish within this sub - par bit of the story . The payoff might not have got up , but the majority of the experience is interesting enough .
closely to the Sunhas problems outside of its story , too . There are one or two too many “ matter slamming into the window ” leap scares , sometimes for seemingly no rationality . role animations are potent , which can sometimes kill the tension . At one point , I examine two giant perform the precise same animation , in - time with each other . After that - and after seeing the crease in their pelt texture up - nigh - it was hard to feel frightened of them . sure sections of the game had quite a bit of slowdown on abase PS4 model- though violent storm in a Teacup say further performance optimisation was n’t included in the review human body - in particular in chapter eight , where thing stutter significantly . The television camera is also a bite wonky , stuttering a little as it turns and showing a short too much head bob while walk , which could make it nauseating for some players . to boot , while the game ’s generous checkpoint system was usually appreciated , there was one degree where I was killed while trying to head off a giant electric plosion , respawned in a positioning I had n’t been too , and killed again immediately after respawning . This continued to go on , making it frustratingly difficult to find the veracious path forward .
All of these flaws are enough to makeClose to the Sunfeel like a game with a wad of potential that does n’t quite adhere the landing place . Still , it ’s exculpated that a lot of making love and care went into creating the secret plan ’s beautiful environments and main characters , and there are a few really swell scares , such as a particularly terrifying and unexpected chase through a spooky maze . These thing carryClose to the Sunthrough its harsh patch , hit it a worthwhile experience , despite its defect , if the setting sound at all interesting to you .
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close-fitting to the Sunis freeing on PlayStation 4 , Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on October 29 , 2019 , and is also available on PC . A PS4 computer code was provide to Screen Rant by Storm in a Teacup for brushup .
