Remember that amazing opening sequence from Bioshock? That simple opening sequence that had you survive a plane crash, descend to Rapture and encounter Splicers for the first time really sold the game to me. It was a tense, horror-laiden experience that sadly devolved into first person shooting action quickly. There are those of us which would’ve liked to see Bioshock really embrace its horror aspects.
If you are one of those people then it’s time to rejoice, as it appears that developer Storm in a Teacup would agree with you — they’ve seemingly made a game just like that.
Close to the Sun sees you board the huge ocean liner, the Helios, in search of your missing sister. Once onboard you’ll quickly find that the Helios is under quarantine, and for as yet ascertained reasons, Nikola Tesla is broadcasting on the public address system.
As you would expect, Close to the Sun looks beautiful, using that art deco style to great effect. My short time with the game saw me exploring the atmospheric liner in search of switches, solving puzzles and picking up clues and story items. There’s no combat at all in this one: it’s most definitely a slow burning, atmospheric horror game.
During my time with Close to the Sun, I got to explore the entry deck to the Helios. Tasked with turning on the power to the elevator, I had to search through offices and maintenance corridors looking for the objective.
A short puzzle that involved spinning to arrow disks into the correct position later and voila, objective achieved. The scares weren’t unique, but were certainly effective, with a shadowy figure appearing outside a frosted window, a classic sudden door slam and a fantastic reference to Bioshock’s ‘Dr Steinman’s shadow’ all featuring in this short section.
I’m not certain when Close to the Sun is available as all sources I can find credited the game with a ‘March 2019’ release, but currently the game is available to pre-purchase on the Epic Store for £24.99/$29.99.
Check out the rest of our Rezzed 2019 coverage here.
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