Sky: Children of the Light Review

A Journey into the Sky

The moment I saw Sky: Children of the Light was developed by Thatgamecompany, I knew that it was going to be a pleasant experience. Naturally, being a fan of their famous title Journey, I was excited to see what they had in store for their players. However, what I wasn’t expecting was the best mobile game experience I’ve ever had. With its stunning visuals, incredible soundtrack, and charming level design, this co-op indie 3D platformer has set an all-time high bar for mobile games.

You are a Child of the Light, and it’s your job to restore the stars to the heavens. The narrative for this title is a simple one, but its execution is genius. Instead of having a plethora of cut scenes and dialogue, the title’s story is told through the exploration of your surroundings. The more you explore, the better chance you have of uncovering the secrets of the world. There is almost no dialogue throughout the game, and the cut scenes are minimal at best. That being said, it works, because Sky: Children of the Light does an excellent job of drawing the player in. There’s no way you wouldn’t want to explore every area in this game.

Simple and Clean

Sky: Children of the Light’s visual and sound design is breathtakingly beautiful. It’s so crisp and clean that I couldn’t believe I was playing a mobile game. The controls are simple and easy to use. The left side moves your character, and the right side adjusts the camera angle.

The gameplay is straightforward. You explore, complete the objectives for each level—finding lost spirits, restoring them, lighting candles—and then explore some more. As you complete these objectives, you acquire new emotes or gestures, abilities such as flying, and accessories for customization purposes. All of these assets become useful at one point or another, whether it’s to you get further in the game, make your character stand out from other players, or enable you to communicate with them.

At first glance, the gameplay doesn’t seem engaging, but what I like about this title is its take on multiplayer and how you communicate with others. As you explore, you see grayed-out characters roaming around the levels alongside you. If you go up to a player and offer your candle to them and they accept, you can explore the world hand in hand and even complete objectives for each other. However, the only way you can communicate with others is through a series of gestures and sounds. There isn’t any mass world group chat where gamers talk to each other and share information on where the lost stars are.

Immersion At Its Finest

Even though the gameplay is simple, Sky: Children of the Light manages to keep its fresh, intense world-building. The game consists of seven levels, each with their own unique atmosphere, music, and design. Some include wide-open spaces, while others are more condensed and closed in. For this reason, the game never felt boring; it was just too alluring and aesthetically pleasing to put down

Thatgamecompany graced the mobile gaming community with a masterpiece free of charge. Most free mobile games are bombarded with ads and other elements that completely disrupt the player’s immersion, but not this one. I would easily drop 10 to 15 dollars for Sky: Children of the Light because it rivals even big PC and console indie titles. There isn’t a single reason why you shouldn’t download this game.