Close to the Sun Reviews
Overall, I have pretty mixed feelings about Close to the Sun. I love the setting and the atmosphere, but the technical problems, chase sequences, and lack of story cohesion ultimately left me wanting.
The mystery unravels at a decent pace in Close to the Sun but limited gameplay, some flat characters and a fairly uncompelling narrative make it passable at best.
While Close to the Sun is a visual treat, it isn't quite matched by the game's substance; it dips a toe in the waters of numerous genres but fails to fully commit to one, and ultimately suffers because of it.
Storm in a Teacup's Close to the Sun has quite a few flaws, but its unique, Nikola Tesla-inspired setting provides lots to love.
While some nicely designed environments, and a scattering of enjoyable puzzles stop this ship from sinking without a trace, Close to the Sun doesn’t manage to reach the lofty heights of ambition it’s clearly aiming for.
Close to the Sun's bland narrative and lack of challenging mechanics, as well as being light on the scares, makes for a rather dull experience.
It's a game that wanted to be Icarus and fly, ahem, too close to the sun, but couldn't even manage to get too far off the ground.
Close to the Sun is a few steps shy of a great narrative-driven horror, but its trite gameplay expels the magic its environments worked to create.
Granted, the chase sequences are frustrating and the story falls a bit flat, but there's some wonderful attention to detail in Close to the Sun's environments, and tension is present even in the game's calmest moments.
Close to the Sun is a masterclass in atmosphere and storytelling, sadly let down by poorly-directed chase scenes that quickly grow repetitive and tedious.
Close to the Sun manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The early parts of the game establish a genuinely interesting narrative and world before the later parts throw most of this away in favour of repetitive and dull chase sequences. The narrative remains interesting enough to keep you playing and there's some strong character development, but the ending comes as a relief rather than a reward. It isn't a disaster but it is a missed opportunity.
For anyone that plays lots of games, Close to the Sun is sadly not going to impress. While the aesthetics, graphical fidelity, sounds, and backstory does have the means to intrigue a lot of people, I feel that the average avid gamer will drop off after the first hour.
Fair trading but short walking simulator on a mysterious ship complex created by Nikola Tesla.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Close to the Sun starts out quite promising, but simmers out the longer you play. Despite its walking simulator gameplay and predictable story, however, I find I would still recommend Close to the Sun to anyone who likes adventure horror games. The well-written characters and excellent ambiance really stands out, which can make the game quite enjoyable regardless of its flaws.
Close to the Sun is a hugely ambitious title from such a small team. It doesn’t quite stick the landing but it’s a (mostly) great experience and one that sci-fi horror fans will enjoy.
With interesting setting and characters, Close to the Sun starts as a piece of art, but it doesn't keep its premises due to hurried pacing and a bit superficial evolution of the story. Non trivial jumpscares and a good direction make this short game really a missed opportunity and only a decent horror adventure.
Review in Italian | Read full review
"The only problem with the experience, is the performance, a problem I can’t look past, and a problem I hope the developers do acknowledge through an upcoming update, or at least give an explanation as to why their game was limited to a single core on a CPU. If they can fix that, then this game has it all, and it’s 10-hour adventure is – regardless – a quite remarkable one that uses Greek mythos as its foundation."
I was intrigued about Close to the Sun from the very first time that I saw the trailer and the original concept art. The comparisons with Bioshock, which can never be a bad thing, are many. The ocean setting, the art deco style, the communication via radio and the scientific element of the story. However, this is where the comparisons stop. Close to the Sun is a game that deserves its own identity and will offer a different experience to Bioshock. Read on to find out about my time aboard the Helios.
Epic store exclusive Close To The Sun offers a solid mix of SOMA-style horror with BIoschock style locations and story.
One look at Close to the Sun and you’ll have a fairly clear picture of whether it’s for you or not.