Critical Play — Sky: Children of Light
My first walking/flying sim game
As I have mentioned, I don’t play video games that much, however in doing a critical play of Apple’s iPhone Game of the Year 2019, I may have discovered my new favorite type of game.
From very anecdotal experience, I understand the reason the Salon article we were asked to read referred to this as “gaming’s most detested genre.” On one level, Sky: Children of Light is pretty much completely pointless. You wander around a (stunningly beautiful) variety of landscapes and don’t do much. The most interaction you can really engage in (at least in the parts of the game that I reached) is following around “spirits” to see their “stories” (a few different poses, culminating in a short animation of an evocative gesture which your avatar then becomes capable of repeating), lighting candles, and sending out chimes which I believe are audible to other players exploring your immediate environment.
The real joy of the game for me was exploring the landscapes. There is a loose framing narrative regarding fallen stars and “rescuing” the spirits whose stories you observe, but to my mind the most fun part of Sky is that the underlying narrative is vague enough that you can layer your own story over it, using the beautiful graphics to augment your personal, imagined narrative.
The addition of a flight mechanic, as well as walking, adds to this sense of freedom and mitigates the monotony of constant walking which might otherwise dominate the game.
While it might not be for everyone, the very lack of explicit narrative and interaction which might make Sky frustrating for another gamer is what made it sincerely enjoyable for me, and why it will be staying on my phone for a little while longer.
