Close To The Sun

 PC
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 37 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    May 2, 2019
    This makes it all the more disappointing that a bunch of these mysteries are unsolved, left suddenly dangling at the end of the game as if waiting for a sequel or chunky DLC to tie them off. I wish my adventure on the Helios hadn’t ended so abruptly and I feel a wee bit short changed, but I’d still be really pleased if they announced an add-on — like being cheated by a 20s newsie, but he did it with a bit of flair and a cheeky grin, so you let him get away with it.

Awards & Rankings

37
#37 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

User Reviews

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User Score
5.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 137 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 43 out of 137
  2. Mixed: 43 out of 137
  3. Negative: 51 out of 137
  1. oij3209d8
    May 5, 2019
    7
    Overview

    I'll start by saying that I really like the game's concept. It is a single player, heavily story-focused, first-person perspective    Overview

    I'll start by saying that I really like the game's concept. It is a single player, heavily story-focused, first-person perspective adventure/horror/puzzle game set in 1897. The protagonist is the unarmed Rose Archer looking for her sister on a huge ship which is basically a floating, multi-discipline research institute employing the greatest minds of its alternative history setting. I think the best way to look at this is to consider it as a story told in the form of a game, I'd consider the actual gameplay really a secondary aspect of the product whereas it would be the other way around for most video games.

    In Close to the Sun, we are walking through the ship and trying to piece together what has happened to it. We learn about the story by seeing the aftermath of the events (the "crime scenes"), reading various documents (notes, newspaper articles, memos and so on) and communicating with a handful of (most of the time off-screen) survivors. Progressing through the ship requires occasionally solving simple riddles involving codes, finding keys, and pushing buttons, and, in the later stages, surviving short chase scenes.

    The Good
    The visuals and acoustics are great. The levels look really beautiful and I consider the voice acting well-done. There is a good variety of sceneries, they all fit the setting and it never gets boring. Throughout the story, the overall atmosphere changes in a few places and the setting always matches the atmosphere. In the beginning, it is mostly eerie, in some places, it is rather dramatic and there is also a very location. So no complaints in that regard.

    The story is interesting as well. It is filled to the brim with references to science and culture (famous scientists, scientific concepts, Greek mythology, etc.) so that's a lot of fun if the player is interested in some of these topics.

    The Bad
    There must be something if I only give 7 stars, right? There is a lot, sadly. First of all the game is really short. I kind of understand why (more on that in the conclusion) but it is still a problem. The gameplay is not very involved and although I'll mostly gloss over that since the gameplay is really just a device to tell a story, but in some places, there are problems with that:

    The game is somewhat picky on how exactly one has to be located in front of a ladder, a button, etc. in order to use it and the use icon is no indicator for that. That hurts the immersion.

    The visuals are not good at communicating what paths are passable. There are a lot of obstacles that would be no obstacles at all in real life (like crates that even a non-athletic person could easily climb over). This makes the game a little less believable/unrealistic and hurts the immersion. Most of the time Rose can pretty much just walk over level floors with no obstacle but occasionally she can overcome an obstacle by pressing the use key. This inconsistency is somewhat annoying.

    The riddles are way too easy. I think the flow of story-telling could handle riddles that take more time if they were well-interwoven with the story.

    The game is very picky about some of the chase scenes. I'm not so much complaining about the difficulty (and there is not much difficulty in the rest of the game either) but having to repeat the same chase scenes five or more times is not a lot of fun and not good for immersion imho. I think they'd serve there purpose of adding some action to the story better if they were less picky.

    The Missed Opportunities
    As ambitious as the concepts are, the game is not doing much with any of them. A major plot point (without going into spoilery details) is some aspect of time manipulation but there is not a single point in the game were that is worked into the gameplay in any way. What a wasted opportunity.
    Some major problems (story-wise) are resolved by simply having an NPC state: "These problems are solved". We don't see any of it.

    Conclusion
    I think the concept could have spawned a 10/10 game, if there was three times the budget. The abrupt end, the shortness, the off-screen resolution of major plot points, the absence of time-manipulation (a major plot point) in anything gameplay relatet really suggest that the developers just ran out of money. Unfortunately I don't see any way around this problem as long as this genre becomes not more popular.

    Nevertheless it is still a fun game and I'd recommend playing it.    … Full Review »
  2. DaemonXHUN
    May 2, 2019
    5
    I wrote an in-depth review about this game to TheGeek.games (online gaming website), but because I have limited space available here, I keepI wrote an in-depth review about this game to TheGeek.games (online gaming website), but because I have limited space available here, I keep this short. But if you are interested in the full version, be sure to check it out.

    The only two redeeming qualities of this game are the sometimes good dialogues and the standout art style (including the world design) that together can create some fun and enjoyable moments that are able to elevate the product from the absolute mediocrity.

    However, the striking visuals can’t negate the obvious shortcomings and problems of the title. Problems that run far and deep in terms of gameplay, storytelling and also in terms of technical aspects.

    [STORY]

    While there are some good moments that come from the strong line delivery from the voice actors and from the sometimes good dialogues, in the end, ultimately the story simply crumbles under it’s own weight. There are a lot of cool concepts and themes that the game throws up carelessly, such as time-travel or paralell dimensions (sort-of), only to never bother enough to actually delve deep into any of these. Basically, the title is full of unexplored concepts and ideas in terms of storytelling and world building.

    [GAMEPLAY]

    Close to the Sun is the perfect example of why games in this genre are commonly get labaled as “walking simulators”, even if some are much more than that. Firewatch, Soma and Observer are definitely act as the golden standards in the genre of first person immersive story-driven titles, because aside from telling a strong and effective story, they managed to include some level of player choice, along with a higher level of player interaction and with some meaningful and satisfying exploration.

    Which game has none of those? Well, a couple of games, such as Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Virginia, and yeah, you’ve guessed it, Close to the Sun. The game's level of interactivity is pretty meaningless. It’s not as bad as in the case of Virginia but that doesn’t say a lot considering the player was basically a passive inspector of the events in that game. In Close to the Sun, there are certain things you can do. You can open some doors using wall panels, pick up items at certain points of the game and sometimes solve puzzles (although saying those are puzzles requires a ton of goodwill from me). Oh, and you can jump too. But the reality is that all of these are nothing more than artificial obstacles that are just there to extend gameplay length and give you, the player a false sense of interaction and choice.

    [TECHNICAL ASPECTS]

    Oh, boy. If you thought the gameplay and story was bad, just be prepared for an even bigger disappointment. From a technical standpoint, Close to the Sun is a massive trainwreck. FPS drops and stutters were quite frequent during regular play, but there were areas (usually bigger, more open areas, such as the one before the entrance of Helios in Chapter I) where the FPS simply hanged around 40-50 FPS, regardless of the settings. Even on the lowest graphical settings with 20-30% GPU and 10-15% CPU utilization, I wasn’t able to achieve more than that. Scripted running sections were even worse. There were times when my FPS simply tanked and went way below 30.

    [CONCLUSION]

    I really wanted to like this game, but I stood up after finishing it severely unimpressed. The more I thought about it after that, the more it became obvious how disappointing it was. It has some stronger moments in its narrative thanks to some good dialogues and voiceworks before the story completely falls apart, while the world design from a visual and artistic standpoint is remarkable and it makes you want to keep going forward to see new stuff, despite the lackluster gameplay. But really, that’s all the good things I can say about it. Close to the Sun was a cool game in theory and it had good ideas, but it didn’t do anything with them and it turned out to be a massive disappointment from a story, from a gameplay, and from a technical standpoint as well. I do not recommend playing it.

    Pros:

    - Standout artistic direction and world design

    - There are some better moments in the story (only in the earlier parts)

    - Sometimes quite good atmosphere

    Cons:

    - The story is predictable, feels pointless at the end, and crumbles under it’s own weight

    - Minimal gameplay elements are present that only give you the illusion of choice and interaction

    - It’s an absolute trainwreck from a technical standpoint    … Full Review »
  3. cfreedisco
    Jun 19, 2019
    10
    This is a great game!
    A solid first person experience, GREAT story, astonishing graphics, awesome gameplay.
    I don´t know how this game is    This is a great game!
    A solid first person experience, GREAT story, astonishing graphics, awesome gameplay.

    I don´t know how this game is so badly reviewed... maybe they expect shooting or ghosts, i don´t know.

    If you like a good story, this game is for you (think about Firewatch with sci-fi).    … Full Review »
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