Close to the Sun

Bioshock is my favorite game of all time, and the Helios drew me into its environment and story very similar to how I was drawn into Rapture 12 years ago. The story telling and voice acting are all top notch and are backed up by an atmosphere that many Bioshock copies have tried to mimic, but I felt never got quite right. Close to the Sun is a joy to play through if you don’t get too frustrated at the chase sequences and as long as you like hunting for collectibles to fill out some backstory.

The exploration elements and the story are of a very high standard and the visuals manage to delicately capture the whole concept of the game in a fantastic way.

While I was disappointed by the horror aspects in Close to the Sun, overall I found my time with it to be quite engaging. The story and characters get their hooks in just enough to keep you playing, and the world building – from the gorgeous visuals to the incidental details and notes left behind – is brilliant. That it keeps its run time brief is to the games credit too, as yet more chase sequences would definitely have harmed the experience.

The feeling of loneliness and the constant tension to which the title submits are two of its strong points that, together with its argument, make Close to the Sun a different and interesting proposal.

Close to the Sun is short, sweet, and a solid yarn. It takes an interesting alt-history setting and is pretty enough to put up with occasionally clunky gameplay. It’s short at only 3 hours for a full playthrough, so it’s worth giving it a try if you have any interest in the premise.

Close to the Sun offers an intriguing plot revolving around Nikola Tesla's theories and interesting steampunk environments, but it could have been more compelling with better puzzles and more variety. All in all, though, it's an interesting first-person adventure.

Close to the Sun is decent, but I can't help but feel that the game could been so much more. The overall atmosphere and especially the sound is fantastic! If you're looking for a game with a decent engaging story, you might like this one, but don't play it expecting the next Outlast or Bioshock.

A very competent, well-made survival horror adventure with clear BioShock inspirations, Close to the Sun is a smart and compelling game marred only by some ill-advised showing of naff monsters.

Despite the strength of his first episodes, where the player immerses himself fully in his modernist and art deco architecture. Close to the Sun is diluted as the adventure progresses. The premise of Helios as a research vessel where the brightest minds of their time could develop their ideas without limits inevitably reminds Rapture, however, any comparison with Bioshock beyond the setting is odious. Little ambitious in its playable mechanics, it misses a good amount of very promising premises that we would have liked to see better exploited.