DON'T NOD announces Aphelion, a new adventure in a cinematic sci-fi universe

The game was developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency.

 

Paris, France - June 8, 2025 | French developer and publisher DON'T NOD today reveals Aphelion, an all-new cinematic third-person action-adventure game. The game is developed in-house and is scheduled for release in 2026 on

Xbox Series X|S and Game Pass, Steam and PlayStation 5. A trailer was unveiled today at the Xbox Games Showcase.

You can watch the trailer here.

Set in a near future where the Earth is on the verge of collapse, Aphelion is an emotional journey to the far reaches of the solar system to study a planet that could be humanity's last hope. As astronaut Ariane Montclair, who crash-landed on the new planet Persephone, players will have to brave hostile landscapes, master survival tools and face phenomena that shuffle reality, all in the middle of a desperate mission to find his injured partner, Thomas Cross.

Aphelion is a powerful single-player experience, blending captivating exploration and traversal, environmental storytelling, and the tension of stealth gameplay.

"Aphelion is a game that we're passionate about and work hard to make creatively. We are impatient.es to share the first human story of DON'T NOD in space, and to be able to do so in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) is incredibly exciting and special for us," says Florent Guillaume, Creative Director for Aphelion.




 

Aphelion is developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), which helps to anchor the representation of space exploration in real scientific knowledge and humanistic values. Ariane and Thomas are ESA astronauts and are part of the fictional Hope 01 mission. This collaboration brings authentic elements of space science into the emotional core of the game.

"For fifty years, ESA has combined the rigour of space science with the overflowing imagination of science fiction to find solutions to our planet's greatest challenges. Aphelion represents this spirit – where research meets imaginative vision – to inspire the next generation to carry Europe's space ambition into the future," says Nadia Lüders, Partnership & Brand Licensing Officer at ESA.

Aphelion will be released on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 in 2026. More information will be revealed soon. In the meantime, DON'T NOD fans can stay informé.es via the official website, Instagram, Tik tok, Facebook, and X.

 

About DON'T NOD
DON'T NOD is an independent French publisher and developer with studios in Paris and Montreal, author of original narrative games in the adventure (Life is Strange™, Tell Me Why™, Twin Mirror™), RPG (Vampyr™, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden™), and action (Remember Me™) genres. The studio is internationally recognized for its unique storytelling experiences with endearing stories and characters and has worked with industry-leading publishers: Square Enix, Microsoft, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Focus Entertainment, and Capcom.

DON'T NOD creates and publishes its own internally developed IPs such as Harmony: The Fall of ReverieTM, JusantTM and Lost Records: Bloom & RageTM and uses its knowledge and experience to collaborate with third-party developers whose editorial visions are similar to those of DON'T NOD. Enter the immersive and innovative universe of the studio on dont-nod.com.

DON'T NOD (ISIN code: FR0013331212 - ALDNE) is listed on Euronext Growth Paris.

About the European
Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe's gateway to space.

Established in 1975, ESA is an intergovernmental organisation whose mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capabilities and to ensure that investments in space benefit the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are associate members.

ESA has established formal cooperation with four EU Member States. Canada participates in some ESA programs under a cooperation agreement.

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities that go far beyond the scope of a single European country. In particular, it works with the EU on the implementation of the Galileo and Copernicus programmes, as well as with Eumetsat on the development of meteorological missions.

To learn more about ESA, visit www.esa.int