I like a good first person exploration game. Often reduced down to ‘walking simulators’, it’s nice to be able to just soak in the atmosphere and experience a story. Close to the Sun is a game within this genre also leaning towards a horror game, or at least one filled with tension and suspense. With a look that is reminiscent of games like Bioshock, then that’s even more enticing. What can I say, I like some Art Deco. Hopefully I’ll also like Close to the Sun.

You play as Rose Archer, an investigative journalist in the year 1897. Your sister Ada, a researcher on board the Helios, has reached out to you out of the blue needing help. The Helios is a gigantic city-sized ship that houses the world's greatest minds and is a haven for intellectuals, most importantly Nikola Tesla. Who apparently is the more successful one between Thomas Edison and himself. Upon arriving at this majestic ocean liner, Rose is greeted by quarantine trapping her on the boat. Tesla’s presence is felt all over the ship, whether it’s statues of him, his inventions, even his voice. A lot of information about an intense rivalry between Tesla and Thomas Edison is found through newspapers and other scraps laying around the boat detailing life on the Helios. Most importantly though is that something seems to have gone horribly wrong, which may be messing up the fabric of time and space. Over 6-7 hours Rose will try to escape with her life, trying to help Ada save the Helios and whoever is left on board.

Close to the Sun is entirely in the first person perspective. There’s no weapons to wield, and no combat at all. There is some light puzzle solving, light stealth and even a light amount of chase sequences. There is a tense atmosphere within every step on the Helios. Jump scares and gory scenes appear regularly, keeping you feeling uneasy as you push on. In time you also face sequences that have you fleeing from an attacker, turning the tension right up as you run and dodge whilst navigating a deadly maze. I enjoyed the idea of walking around and discovering slowly the living conditions before and during the quarantine. However this doesn’t work as well in the execution. Movement is sluggish and always feels awkward. Combined with some bad lighting on the Switch and uneven and struggling frame rate, even moving around feels like a chore unless you know exactly where to go. This is especially noticeable in the chase sequences. You not only need to run but also must hit button prompts, hoping you’ve picked the right path otherwise you have to do it all over again. Not that these moments are difficult, the tension comes from minor issues like button prompts having sluggish input, which can result in having to do it all over again.

Puzzles are often simplistic, some just involve looking for a code nearby or follow a simple logic puzzle. Some areas are more involved and have you travelling around more, which should be a nice change of pace. But with the movement speed and dim lighting, it’s more difficult than it needs to be. It isn’t helped by the fact that none of the puzzles make you feel like you’ve solved anything, just that you’re good at finding lock combinations these geniuses left lying around. Honestly I didn’t mind the puzzles not being too tricky, it means the sooner you can keep moving to the next part of the story.

The Helios evokes the designs from the Bioshock series and is well designed. As previously mentioned Art Deco aesthetics are appealing to me, it felt like this game was right up my alley. If only the Art Deco/Bioshock aesthetic was enough to carry the game the whole way through. The main problem is that the visuals in the Switch version really let the designs down. Between the game being overly too dark with no option to change the brightness, and the general out of focus smudgeness, shimmer and jaggies, the game suffers as a whole for it. My time on the Helios involved a lot of stumbling around areas too dark to make out any details. None of this is helped by a poor frame rate that is really noticeable. Playing this game feels like a drudge.

The music helps keep the tension up and the silences are palpable, although there’s not much more to say about it. The jump scares are of course accompanied by a loud sudden musical sting to wring the maximum effect out of you. Besides that, there’s the voice of Rose who will talk about what’s happening. She also talks to her sister by an earpiece, guiding her through the treacherous and mysterious Helios. There’s a few other voices that Rose will encounter over an earpiece given to her at the beginning, most notably Eva. A man called Aubrey is also trapped somewhere on the Helios and will help you throughout, offering some mood-lightening dark comedy. You’ll even hear from Tesla as you make your way through the larger than life ship. The voice work is all pretty solid. It can feel exposition heavy at times, but there isn’t the breathing space in this game for a lot of conversations between people in pretty dire circumstances.

As mentioned earlier, the Switch version of Close to the Sun maybe flies a little too close despite its lofty ambitions. While the Switch version can often be the best way to play a game with the added portability, I believe too much has been lost compared to the PC or other consoles. It sucks that it is that way. While Close to the Sun isn’t a great game, it’s good while it lasts for the most part.

Close to the Sun sounds like a great premise. An alternative history where Nikola Tesla is the successful one on an impossibly large ocean liner. If you love your first person horror games with no combat, there is an interesting world and enjoyable moments here. I have to recommend against playing it on the Switch, the performance issues are too much to ignore. It is possible that patches could fix the most noticeable issues, it would then be worth checking in on later.

Review code provided by Wired Productions