Right when we first laid our eyes on Sky: Children of the Light, we knew immediately that it was something special. For one, it is without the slightest shadow of doubt the most gorgeous mobile game to date. The world designs, the character models, and the animations are all breathtaking. Honestly, if anyone tells you video games are not art, just show them this.
What’s even more impressive, however, is that it’s actually the gameplay that blows us away. Going around and interacting with the environment just feels incredibly immersive. It’s insane to think that this is a mobile game since even PC/console titles rarely manage to deliver such an engaging experience.
Sky: Children of the Light Gameplay
Becoming a “child of light”, you are born into a world where there are multiple realms interconnected by the same starry sky. Your task is to find ancient spirits and return them to their rightful place in the constellations. You’ll do so by adventuring through the game’s 7 realms – each of which has its own visual style and gameplay mechanics – to bring light to dark places with your candle. Naturally, there will be various puzzles and challenges littered throughout your way, but the more spirits you find, the stronger your light will grow, giving off a satisfying sense of progression.
That’s the core idea of Sky: Children of the Light: It encourages you to explore and discover new things, getting lost in the gorgeous world in the process. During our initial playthrough we wandered off of the beaten path and a spirit inside a cave, who then proceeded to give us a new emote to communicate with other players.
Speaking of communicating with other players, that’s another backbone of Sky, and the game provides you with many ways to do so. As mentioned, you can use emotes, or leave messages for others to read, or befriend someone by sharing candles, which is pretty cute and heartwarming.
But the best part of Sky only surfaces when those 2 core elements – exploring and sharing with others – come together. For example, we once came across a secret temple that can only be opened with the assistance of another player. So we called out for help, and someone quickly showed up. Together, we opened the gate and went inside, only to find our path again blocked by a puzzle that can only be completed by having four more people and simultaneously lighting a series of candles.
Both of us then called more people in and explained to them how things work – using absolutely no written nor spoken word throughout the entire process. Thanks to the extensive emote system, we eventually managed to convey our intention.
Passing the puzzle, we got to a secret area that generously rewarded us with candles – the game’s currency. All of us were so happy that we stuck around exchanging emotes for quite a while before finally parting ways and getting on with our own journeys.
Candles can be used to unlock more emotes, spells, and hearts – which you can in turn spend on cosmetic outfits. Also, as expected from a free-to-play game, you can purchase more candles with real money in the premium store, but that practice is far less predatory or immersion-breaking compared to the vast majority of other games on mobile these days, and we have not had any trouble with it at all. You can still experience the game in its fullest without spending a penny.
If anything, it’s even better that way, as Sky richly rewards those who are willing to explore – both with candles and the warm feeling you get from teaming up with complete strangers to assist one another in times of need.
Sky is designed as a living game, and the hauntingly beautiful ending leads to virtually limitless replay potential. And if that’s not appealing enough, the developer has also announced that they have plans to add new seasonal content in the future, such as new spirits and items to find.
We could go on and on forever with our praises of Sky: Children of the Light is, but ultimately, you have to actually play it to see how great it is. All we can say is, it is a game that literally everyone who has an iOS device should check out. It’s gorgeous, it’s rewarding, it’s heartwarming, and it’s free, so what are you waiting for?
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