Coming on the back of its critically acclaimed predecessors Flow, Flower, and Journey, Sky: Children of The Light – or simply Sky is a title that gives true meaning to the saying that goes: less is more.
What is Sky: Children of the Light?
Developed and published by an indie game studio, Thatgamecompany, Sky: Children of The Light is categorized as an indie adventure game. Though not a sequel to Journey or any of the titles that preceded it, it is built on the exact same principles. However, Sky adds a more social element to the gameplay. The visuals are charming yet simplistic and though there are objectives, exploration and discovery are central to what makes Sky a unique game.
Sky: Children of the Light plays out in a vast open world that stretches across seven explorable areas. Each landscape presents its own uniqueness. Players use their cape to move around the rolling hills, picturesque grasslands, cloudy landscape with floating islands, and rain-soaked forests. Sky offers players the most unrestricted world.
The objective of Sky: Children of the Light
After taking in the glorious scenery, one notices that the developer’s simplistic approach is carried throughout every aspect of the game. The players are given a simple objective, explore the entire kingdom in search of lingering spirits that are spread across the seven areas of Sky’s world.
However, meeting and interacting with the spirits isn’t part of the buildup to the heroic finale. Instead, one’s meetings with the spirits and the “children of the light” are solely to acquire items that help players do even more exploring. That makes discovery the main objective.
Interactions within the game
With Sky: Children of The Light, socializing is an important part of the game, and interactions with other players are not at all uncommon. In fact, social interactions with other players are very near to mandatory. Becoming in-game friends with someone is part of the experience.
However, Sky takes a simple and noninvasive approach to this aspect of the gameplay. There is no typing out full messages as most interaction between players happens in the form of simple gestures. More importantly, if one chooses the option to befriend another player, they are also given a nickname of their own choosing. This is significant because it deliberately eliminates the unintended exchange of more personal information between players.
That simplicity is part of what makes Sky such a great experience, furthermore, it conceals the depth of the game’s social elements in the same way as its predecessor – if not better. The bonds that one can build with total strangers in an undisclosed fantasy world are surprising, to say the least.
Closing
Sky: Children of The Light is a free-to-play game that puts all the responsibility of making it a worthwhile experience solely on the player. It’s also great that the developers keep adding new content to keep the gameplay interesting and players immersed in the Sky experience.
