Close to the Sun is a first person horror adventure that begs the question; ‘exactly how far can a game coast on player nostalgia?’ If Storm in a Teacup’s steampunk mystery has appeared anywhere on your radar, you’ll know that it’s a game squarely targeted at the BioShock crowd. Stop me if you’ve heard this premise before…
In an alternate historical time line, a lone protagonist on the ocean comes across a place bristling with steampunk technology and art-deco trappings. This location has been founded by a genius who has brought the best and the brightest from around the world to help him in his scientific and societal endeavours. However, once entering the city, the protagonist finds that something has gone horribly wrong as many of the corridors are littered with cadavers. In short order, the protagonist is contacted via radio by a couple of survivors and they set about trying to piece together exactly what happened before their arrival. Hilarity ensues.
So yes, Close to the Sun doesn’t just owe debt of inspiration to Ken Levine’s 2007 masterpiece, as much as it owes a debt of direct influence. And while it might sound unfair to draw stark comparisons between these two games, the fact that Close to the Sun wears its influences so garishly on its sleeve means that it’s hard not to see it consistently standing in BioShock’s gigantic shadow.
Players take on the role of a journalist named Rose Archer whose sister Ada is one of the aforementioned geniuses recruited by Nikola Tesla (yes, that Nikiola Tesla) for work aboard his gigantic passenger ship-cum-laboratory, The Helios. Once aboard the ship, Rose sets about tracking down her sister while trying to figure out what went sideways – alongside the bodies strewn about The Helios, there are lot of missives scrawled in blood on the walls. It’s impossible to mention much more about the plot without heading into spoiler territory as the story clocks in at a rather brief six hours.
The Helios is arguably one of the best, most creepy and visually stunning game environments in any game in recent memory. The ship blends art-deco with ornate designs and it goes a long way towards drawing the player in. At times, the atmosphere of the place is so thick you could choke on it –which makes some of the horror set pieces all the more affecting. Unfortunately, because the game’s plot is pretty linear, players won’t be able to explore The Helios to the depth they’d probably want. This is a pity, as is the game’s central loop, which becomes repetitive and boring quite quickly.
For the most part, as Rose explores the ship, players spend an awful lot of time wandering around, picking up notes and newspapers that fill out the game’s back story. Occasionally they’ll have to solve the odd puzzle, which mostly involves flipping switches and pulling levers. The difficulty level of these puzzles isn’t exactly taxing and so solving them isn’t very rewarding.
There’s no combat in the game, but Rose does come across a rather lethal individual who wants to explore her innards with a knife. During these encounters, Close to the Sun lifts its playbook completely from the OutLast series; Rose’s only way of surviving is to run and hide. It’s here where a second issue raises its head; as Rose flees from her pursuer, players are tasked with using a ‘vaulting’ mechanic to avoid tripping over obstacles. If they don’t hit the ‘use button’ (which triggers vault) at precisely the right moment, Rose ends up dead. The problem here is that the mechanic is incredibly clunky and nowhere nearly as smoothly implemented as it should be, so players will likely lose count of the number of times they watch as Rose is stabbed to death.
There are aspects to admire about Close to the Sun. As has been mentioned, its presentation is swoon-worthy, its score is suitably creepy and the voice acting in it is top notch. It also opens effectively with some genuinely disturbing set pieces and a couple of jump scares. However, by the midway mark, players are likely to find the central loop very tedious, and to be frank, its plot starts falling apart about two hours in. It’s likely that not even one’s love for BioShock would inspire repeat visits to The Helios.
