Child of Light

 

Child of Light

Type	Platforming RPG
Single or multiplayer	Singleplayer, multiplayer
Developer	Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher	Ubisoft
Fun	3/5
Difficulty	3/5

 

Child of light – the metaphor is to be taken literally, as the titular child that you will be leading in this game is a warrior princess of light, defeating dark monsters with her company of friends. Sounds like a fairytale? Good, because that is the closest to describing this game.

The whole game has a look that may be labeled as cartoon-like, but to me looks more like a fairytale come to life. You control princess Aurora, from Austria of all places, who apparently dies in the first scene, and shows up in the kingdom of Lemuria. There she is greeted by a myriad of weird mythical creatures, and the one that becomes her first and constant companion is Igniculus, a firefly.

The catch that this game relies on is that you control Aurora with the keyboard, and Igniculus with the mouse. That way, he can reach unreachable places and shine a light to solve puzzles. In battles, which are done in a JRPG fashion, Igniculus can be used to blind enemies and have them move slower towards their attack. It’s a nice and novel gimmick, and works really well in practice.

Another thing that separates this game from others is that the dialogue is mostly in written form, and only cutscenes have voiceover. However, the game is completely in rhyme. Surprising and impressive at first, at few points in the game the words that are rhymed are not perfect, and the meter can be a bit off, but it’s not to say it is bad – quite the opposite. It lends itself to the impression that you are really immersed in a fairytale expanding before your eyes.

The music is wonderful. It has a melancholic note, but it is wonderfully fitting with the story. Boss fights have their own epic melodies. However, since this is the only thing you will be hearing throughout the game, apart from the sounds of battle and the flutter of wings, be ready to hear a certain melody over and over.

The gameplay consists of moving around the map, and waging battle against evil creatures of the night. The enemies can be tough even from the beginning, but an abundance of potions and various attacking and defending moves make for challenging fights. If you hit the enemies while they are finalizing their attack, you will interrupt them – but they can do the same to you. Strong attacks usually take more time to cast, during which enemies can try to interrupt you, and you can try to avoid by blinding them with Igniculus, who can also heal your party members. It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t.

Your party consists of around seven companions that you meet throughout the game, and they are all different in terms of background, storyline, motivations and skills. You will meet, among others, an archer mouse, a magic wielding dwarf, and a lugubrious clown – and pretty soon into the game, you will get fairy wings, so that you can explore any part of the map.

There really aren’t any glaring problems with this game. The fights can sometimes get repetitive, and some enemies can seem to be too powerful, but they are interesting, as you can change characters during combat and try to find the right combination for victory. Sometimes they can keep on interrupting you, especially if they slow you down and speed themselves up. In those cases, patience is your best friend.

The story is epic, deserving of a fairytale. It concerns a young princess, a child of light, who is tasked with finding the moon, the sun, and the stars, in order to save the kingdom of Lemuria from the evil queen of the night Umbra. She was the one who stole them, and now it’s up to you and your merry band to find them and make everything right again.

Overall, Child of Light is a quality product. It is obvious that a lot of work went into it. It's sad, and yet fun, melancholic, but inspiring. If you can remember the first time you heard or read stories like this, tap into that part of your childhood, and take the role of the princess, solve quests, help creatures, and turn the land of night into the land of light.