Have you ever heard the story of Icarus and his wings? Despite the brilliance of his wings, flying too close to the sun melted the wax that held them together. You could say that Close To The Sun’s narrative paints a picture of progressive science and catastrophic failure due to arrogance. This title by publisher Wired Productions and leading Italian game studio, Storm in a Teacup, is an atmospheric horror, puzzle-solving, narrative-focused game depicting a steampunk alternative history. Let’s delve into the machine and pick it apart.
As I had mentioned, this is an alternative world that takes place in the late 19th Century and during the current wars between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. In this reimagining, Tesla is a major success and he uses his influence and wealth to create the Helios, a massive (I’m talking 3x the size of the Titanic) vessel on the Ocean waters. Only the best and brightest are admitted to the Helios, including Albert Einstein. However, we quickly learn of Tesla’s hypocrisy, in which his business is not so philanthropic as we are initially led to believe. His agents torture suspected spies and turn blind eyes to suspect experiments.
This brings us to our main character, Rose Archer. She is a journalistic whose sister is among the brilliant minds accepted to study onboard the Helios. She may have worked for Wardenclyffe (Tesla’s version of General Electric), but she is the central figure in the plot. She guides us through the station in order to find her apartment. One of the things that throws me off kilter in this game is how inconsistent the character’s voices are. Not the voice acting – but how the introduction is formal and Victorian, but the sisters speak with contemporary jargon. We encounter other characters who speak in the older English, so this is why it’s a problem. I wouldn’t say its game breaking, but it removes a sense of immersion.
Things are not going very well on the Helios. We pick up on this when we don’t see any people when we first board the ship. But we really pick up on the “something is wrong here” feeling when we start finding bodies and shredded cadavers. I would say that the devs understand how to build tension, but sometimes the horror element will fall flat. This ties into the gameplay as well. I called this an atmospheric horror game because it is like a walking simulator in which you solve puzzles. Don’t misunderstand me, though. There are enemies in the game, and I was excited when stealth was introduced to my experience. Most of my experience contained walking and puzzles, however. The puzzles are also not difficult either. The key or clue can literally be right behind you.
Going off of the atmosphere, the design is well done. The chapters are unique and are distinguished by which area of the Helios you are in. It helps add to the immersion that this IS a facility dedicated to the sciences and Tesla’s uncontainable ego. That said, the game is beautiful and attentive to details. I enjoyed the elements of world building through pictures, newspapers, notes, reports, and audio recordings. All the while, the soundtrack is eerie, subtle, and never too loud. If anything, the music actually helps establish mood, and it changes right where it needs to, like when a chase sequence begins and we’re not still listening to mystery ambiance. It’s not jarring, but you can tell (like with everything else) it’s scripted.
I think at the end of the day, this is a good title to fill a craving for mystery and story. A fair score for this title is an 8 out of 10 from me. The areas that cause the game to feel like a drag are not so overwhelming that it ruins your experience, such as the inconsistent language or jumpscares that leave you unmoved in your chair. I was personally frustrated at some of the classic clichés, like “I can’t tell you what’s going on; it has to be in person” or “Go get my research from my study, but you need to do a puzzle to get inside.” You really have the worst sister of all time. Speaking of – there is a time travel element to the game, and I’m not ordinarily a fan of that, but it adds to some of the mind-warping effects being on the Helios. If you pick up this title sometime, I hope you get a kick out exploring a more tame version of Rapture.
Check Out the Close to the Sun Trailer:
For more information, visit http://www.closetothesungame.com/.
Xbox One Review
I like to think of myself as the average Joe who grew up alongside video games. I have fun playing strategy games, RPGs, shooters, sandboxes, the whole shebang! Every game provides an experience whether it strikes you as profound, mundane, or someplace in between. I'd like to weigh in my two cents before you spend a single penny.
More Stories
REIGNS BEYOND Review for Steam
FINAL FACTORY Review for Steam Early Access
Yu-Gi-Oh! MASTER DUEL Review for Steam