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Child of Light Review: Vibrant and beautiful

My expectations for Child of Light were very high after seeing some gameplay not too long ago. This has been nothing but a problem for me in the past. Child of Light has not only met my expectations, but exceeded them and impressed me more than any game in recent memory.

The world looks like a living watercolour painting. Child of Light uses the same engine as the recent Rayman games and it looks just as spectacular. Each new section is a contrast to the last, creating a sense of exploration that adds to Aurora’s inquisitive nature. Aurora’s long red hair flows as she glides around the ever changing scenery. Windy villages, fiery spider dens and underwater caves; it’s just gorgeous.

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The game plays like a fairytale brought to life, although slightly twisted. The game’s main character may be a little girl, but Child of Light‘s narrative is quite mature and deals with mortality and loss. After falling ill Aurora awakens in the strange world of Lemuria trying to make her way back to her father. While exploring what appears to be some state of purgatory she meets Igniculus the firefly and her adventurer begins.

I’ve never played a game quite like Child of Light. It’s a sidscolling RPG but has elements of a puzzle platformer. None of these things are new to gaming, but it’s so refreshing to see such a well-executed mash up of them all in one title. Igniculus can be controlled independently from Aurora on the right stick and L2 makes him/her shine. This creates an opportunity for some fun puzzles as Igniculus can access areas Aurora cant. The puzzles never get too tricky and are easily solved, helping the game continue without interrupting the flow.

The battle system is genius. Think of a cross between Final Fantasy VII and Paper Mario. Its all about timing. If you land an attack while you enemy is casting their own, they’ll be interrupted and have to wait to attempt another attack. The same happens to you if a character gets hit while they’re casting. It’s a simple idea and is easy to grasp, but is always challenging at every point of the game. You can’t just mash through battles and always have to pay attention.

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Igniculus is still controllable with the right stick during battle. If he shines his light on an enemy they will slow down, allowing some control over when enemies attack. The difficulty lies in trying to govern when three different enemies attack, while at the same time casting spells and attacking. Boss fights will put all your skills to the test and the type matchups present throughout the game become even more important.

There are plenty of other characters to meet along the way that join your party, each with varying skills and personalities. They all have their own quests or goals they are trying to complete and much like Aurora, their stories can be serious and devastating tales of loss. Short interactions between these other characters are frequent and they help to develop them and lighten the tone a little.

The music is never out of place. During battles its frantic and on the verge of being upbeat but while exploring the world its very somber. Orchestral strings make up most of the soundtrack and even though it’s so moody and serious it’s still catchy. I found myself humming the tune long after putting the game down.

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The combination of the lush visuals, beautiful music and brooding narrative crate such a rich, vivid world. The events of the game are by no means believable but using all these elements together so flawlessly creates something that feels real even though it’s clearly fantasy.

Hidden throughout the game are treasure chests full of potions and Oculi crystals. The crystals can be customized and crafted into different or more powerful crystals. There isn’t much of a tutorial so you’ll have to figure out the crafting by yourself but that’s half the fun. Along with the optional quests there is a surprising amount for you to do if you want to try and complete the game 100%.

If you’re up for a challenge give the multiplayer a go. The second character controls Igniculus while the first plays on as normal. It’s a lot of fun but you’ll have to make sure your in sync with each other or you will find yourself loosing a lot of battles.

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There are only a few things that hold Child of Light back from being a perfect game. It’s a little short, but thankfully this is reflected in the price of the game. Adding to value, there is also a New Game+ that resets the story to the beginning with harder foes, but lets you keep current character upgrades. Voice acting wouldn’t have gone amiss as well. These nitpicks are all fairly minor.

The gaming industry as a whole (with the exception of some indie developers) seems content to rehash established games and ideas at the moment without any real push for innovation. Child of Light manages to capture a child’s sense of beauty and wonder and delivers it to gamers like a playable popup book. I can’t think of a current-gen game that I can recommend more highly, nor one that deserves more praise than this one.

 

9.5 out of 10

The good

  • Gorgeous visuals
  • Amazing soundtrack
  • Creative battle system

The bad

  • Leaves you wanting more
  • Would be better with voice acting

 

Child of Light was reviewed using a promotional code on PS4, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.


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About the author

Shane Wall

I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe. A game geek turned audio engineer/musician. Shane's life is a delicate balance of video games, music and science fiction.