Life is Strange developer Don't Nod adds a dash of Alien: Isolation anxiety to its usual cinematic formula, and I think it works

Life is Strange developer Don’t Nod adds a dash of Alien: Isolation anxiety to its usual cinematic formula, and I think it works | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these RPG ‘We lost things such as physics in games:’ The dev behind my most anticipated RPG thinks players are craving more interactive games, not just ‘moving around in a static 3D environment’ FPS High on Life 2 review RPG The new game from Disco Elysium’s studio feels like the first Christmas after your parents’ divorce Horror Reanimal review: Astonishingly bleak and oblique survival horror RPG Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy might just have everything I want from a CRPG Action Control: Resonant serves up our first good look at its weird new outdoors world at Sony’s State of Play showcase Horror Silent Hill: Townfall ditches tradition and goes full first-person survival horror Sim The demo of Sucker for Love: Crush Landing is the gentle reminder I needed that dating an eldritch god wouldn’t be straightforward, actually Strategy Terra Invicta review Adventure Pathologic 3 review: One of the most compelling mystery adventures since Disco Elysium Action Cairn review: A gripping ‘strand-game’ about the limits of the body Action The studio behind the best metroidvania of 2021 has a new game coming out next month—and I’m dropping everything to play it Action Hell is Us review: a gorgeous adventure that gets in its own way a little too often Adventure Earth Must Die review: An inventive adventure game that’s just a bit too obsessed with orgies RPG We’re hitting peak saturation for first person dungeon crawlers, but Queen’s Domain stands apart from the crowd PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Arc RaidersBest PC gearFalloutGame Quizzes Games Adventure Life is Strange developer Don’t Nod adds a dash of Alien: Isolation anxiety to its usual cinematic formula, and I think it works News By Andrea Shearon published 20 February 2026 Ariane is a scientist through and through. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Don’t Nod) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Signup + Every Thursday GTA 6 O’clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O’clock experts. Signup + Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what’s on the horizon. Signup + Every Thursday The Setup Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more. Signup + Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo’s new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play. Signup + Every Saturday The Watchlist Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Life is Strange developer Don’t Nod announced its next third-person cinematic adventure, Aphelion, during last year’s Summer Game Fest with an Uncharted-like reveal set in space. And if the sci-fi excursion carries on as planned, Aphelion will launch sometime around or before this summer’s next big event.Aphelion’s latest gameplay trailer is a better look at how the studio’s new journey takes a few cues from its rock-climbing platformer, Jusant, and marries them with the more story-rich, exposition-heavy games it’s known for. In Aphelion, you’ll control a pair of European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts on a mission bound for Persephone—a planet at the edge of our solar system—that goes spectacularly wrong.I’m talking ship-exploding, partner gets tossed out of the ship into the hostile, icy wilderness kind of wrong. Being separated won’t do, so you’ll have to help reunite the pair by using all manner of high-tech gizmos and playing to their respective strengths. You can see a little more of both scientists, Ariane and Thomas, for yourself in the new footage. Related articles Lunar Strike is a thoughtful, combat-free, speculative sci-fi survival game that’s heavily grounded in real science SOMA studio says its next game is not ‘stressful or scary’ in the traditional sense, but it’ll still mess you up real good: ‘The goal is to evoke this deep existential terror that stays long after you finish playing’ A weird sci-fi thriller starring Stellan Skarsgård? That takes place in a hotel on the moon? From the makers of SOMA? Yeah, I’m in Aphelion | Gameplay Deep Dive – YouTube Watch On I played a bit of Ariane’s journey in a recent preview build of Aphelion, sampling chapters one and four. It’s a close cousin to Don’t Nod’s more cinematic experiences, with a dash of Alien: Isolation at the demo’s peak. Jusant’s climbing is there, too, though toned down through tools that don’t impose limited use or frequent opportunities for mismanagement.And with all that climbing, I also did a lot of plunging to my death. A later encounter with Aphelion’s big alien threat was far less daunting when compared to the numerous occasions I sent Ariane careening into the abyss. It felt grating after a while, but Don’t Nod’s fina