A child made of light fell from the sky with the mission of bringing the fallen stars back home. We are that child, and now we’ll travel for seven different realms on wide plains, mysterious forests and starry deserts to collect them.
This is how Sky, Children of The Light, begins to us. We have been introduced to an adventure with an amazing soundtrack (the game suggests us to play it with headphones for a better experience) and astonishing landscape visuals.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3r1KbzSiT8&t=7s
Sky is not your typical adventure game
It has some kind of zen aura in every aspect. This is the kind of game you could look for relaxing, as well; it’s incredibly photogenic, and the soundtrack has this cinematographic quality with an emotional and calm mood. But it isn’t finished there.
Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GmL_DKR4fo
We land on the home island and the entrance to the first kingdom opens up. Here, the tutorial awaits and we collect our first star (also called winged light). Collecting stars will give us wings, which gives us the power of flying. This is the principal movement game mechanic; the more stars collected, the more wings; but with every wing earned, the number of stars to generate one will increase bit by bit.
The wings allow exploration, although the worlds are linear, they’re still pretty big and full of surprises. While we explore, we awake spirits who need our light to come back to the stars. In this process, they show us their lives in that specific realm, and with it, some clues about the lore.
Though collecting stars is the main objective, there’s not actually one in my opinion. Once you collect all the stars, what else is left to do? What is the point of collecting stars and awakening spirits?
The spirits unlock constellations only visible in the home world. Every realm has a constellation with all the spirits available. When you enter it and select a spirit, you’ll see their cosmetics (their clothes and hairstyles) on sale. Also, traveling spirits will come and go for a limited time with thematic things to buy.
You can buy them in exchange for common candles, the currency of free content in the game, and hearts. You get candles by collecting pieces of light (also called “wax” by the sky community). Every realm has candles and you light them up until forging a common candle. As for the hearts, you get them by receiving light for your friends or buying them in exchange of common candles from some spirits or events.
However, defining this game as only for collecting things is just the surface
The cosmetics are great and there are plenty of them, but in the other part, the relaxing atmosphere comes along with reflections about life and civilization; about us and everything we do.
Each realm in this game symbolizes a stage in life. I can’t talk too much because I would ruin some surprises. Nevertheless, I can say you’ll get more than beautiful bright stories and perfect landscapes… It’s something I’ll leave for you to discover, especially what happens when you visit the last realm.
The Sky lore is full of stories about connection
The spirits want to tell us about what they used to do and who their loved ones were, and the events have a variety of activities and guests who don’t also bring cosmetics but also enrich the lore. Even the game encourages you to share with friends by putting secret passages where only two or more players can open or special events with the same conditions.
On our trip we’ll find other players from all over the world. Some will stay with us for a short time, joining in on events, opening secret doors, or collecting wax. Still, others will remain to be our friends and join our constellation to share lights for hearts, as well as helping to explore the unknown and reaching difficult places that would be impossible to get alone.
If I’m honest…
When I got to know about this game a few years ago, there wasn’t too much to do and that’s why I stopped playing it for a long time. By the time of writing this article, the game is 3 years old and is constantly expanding its universe, with places and activities to do. So, there are still adventures to live and stories to discover.
I like games that allow me to be totally independent, but somehow this one catches me. Although it’s true that it’s better to play with friends, it’s not exactly like you’re dependent on this to enjoy it. In spite of that, you can play this game alone and get help from strangers to explore or do the tasks for the events. That’s how I made most of my friends there.
When I play Sky, I let myself go about all the things available to do. Some days I’ll collect wax or winged lights; others I complete events from past seasons, and, along the way, I make friends or help new players to get by the challenges. Learning to fly properly takes time for noobs, and in recent updates, a swim/dive mechanic in water has been added.
I enjoy the zen mood of every adventure, the scenarios, music and meanings behind every realm, more than the objective per se. It’s the perfect game to go AFK and just be sitting on the top of a mountain or a beach while watching the horizon. If you are looking for a different kind of adventure, I totally recommend it.
And for the end…
Thatgamecompany, the creators of the game, announced in August of 2022 that they are working on the Playstation version. For now, Sky, Children of the Light is available for IOS, Android and Nintendo Switch.
