Child of Light

 PC
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 567 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 423 out of 567
  2. Mixed: 98 out of 567
  3. Negative: 46 out of 567

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  1. apokalipto
    Aug 22, 2023
    10
    Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.
  2. Lord_Griff
    Jul 2, 2023
    10
    A beautiful art styled turn based fantasy game, in the metaphoric perspective of a child, where a drama plays over in a fantasy world. The music is 10 out of 10. The combat has a certain variety, as you progress you meaningfully get stronger, and get interesting companions. I played it around 2015, but still having a fond memory of it, because its that good in its genre.
  3. Animus_V0x
    Jun 23, 2022
    9
    Loved it, smooth game-play, original story, entertaining game overall that was really worth the price.
  4. Bruninho1997
    Oct 22, 2021
    10
    Gráfico artístico fascinante, uma história contada de um jeito criativo e maravilhoso, Uma obra, um jogo fantástico.
  5. Shocksbr
    Apr 16, 2021
    10
    que brisa mano...esse game a brisa é alta, é winx com a bela adormecida(nome da personagem é aurora), com o palhaço que não rima da musica, nome de uma doença Rubella(Rubéola), que cultua a deusa criança matilde, em um mundo de supernatural, escrito pelo mussum
  6. Dima82561
    Feb 14, 2021
    10
    Это самая лучшая игра для души чтобы пройти за пару вечеров (хотя я 11 месяцев проходил). Сюжет, геймплей, графика и аудио - всё на высоте. До слёз)).
  7. charnameRed
    Dec 11, 2020
    9
    (Writing comments in English is way easier to meet the words number request…)

    A typical fairy tale about a princess beats her evil stepmother and saves her people. Turn-based fighting is pretty interesting with the element of time bar. And the design of the lighting adds to the strategy of the game. The performance of atmosphere is of utmost significance. The hand-drawing style is very    (Writing comments in English is way easier to meet the words number request…)

    A typical fairy tale about a princess beats her evil stepmother and saves her people.
    Turn-based fighting is pretty interesting with the element of time bar. And the design of the lighting adds to the strategy of the game.
    The performance of atmosphere is of utmost significance. The hand-drawing style is very impressive.

    Ubi does be capable to produce these kind of delicate indie style game. What a pity that they don't make this kind of game anymore.    … Expand
  8. Astronomix
    May 11, 2020
    10
    A wonderful fairytale, a wonderful mix of art, music, fantasy and exploring, with elements of RPG, tactics and coop. More an experience than a gaming challenge. This piece of art actually touched me. Just play it and don't be hasty. Headphones or good speakers recommended.
  9. Tomle1202
    May 6, 2020
    8
    Accompanied by some simple but effective gameplay mechanics, Child of Light is a well-made and beautifully-told story of growth and acceptance.
  10. darman55
    Mar 16, 2020
    10
    I love this game, with heart-breaking music, beautiful graphics, and a sad storyline. Nice gameplay and poetic (and hard to understand for foreigner) language.
  11. MarSin1
    Jan 13, 2020
    10
    Absolutely exquisite game. I never write reviews and felt compelled to get a screen name here and write one. Beautiful fun strategic amazing world.
  12. CriticalHit20
    Oct 21, 2019
    8
    I enjoyed the graphics and the gameplay. Like a lot of games, it got repetitive at times but it was mostly fun throughout.
  13. nitorita
    Oct 4, 2019
    9
    This fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland"-like adventure RPG game is surprisingly well done. You wouldn't believe that it was made by Ubisoft, of all possible developers.

    There is a lot to like about Child of Light. It wouldn't be possible to list all of them. CoL is a really well-made 2D adventure game that incorporates features from fantasy RPGs and comes with an amazing story that feels    This fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland"-like adventure RPG game is surprisingly well done. You wouldn't believe that it was made by Ubisoft, of all possible developers.

    There is a lot to like about Child of Light. It wouldn't be possible to list all of them. CoL is a really well-made 2D adventure game that incorporates features from fantasy RPGs and comes with an amazing story that feels like it was based off of Alice in Wonderland. The battle system is very similar to Final Fantasy. The soundtrack is absolutely majestic as well.

    One thing that the game promotes is exploration. There is a lot to find and discover, and you can fly, which means that there's nothing stopping you from checking every nook and cranny. The game offers you a lot of freedom to do whatever you like, whether it be hunting monsters or exploring or just taking in the sights. Take note, you do need to grind a bit every so often, or else you might lag behind when it comes to certain boss fights.

    I must give this game a 9/10 because of its magnificent story and very solid gameplay. I love how the battles give you an active role which requires a lot of thinking and strategy. I can't give it a 10/10, since the game has some simplified mechanics and the exploration isn't that challenging, but CoL really pushes close to a 10 for just being a phenomenally satisfying game to play.    … Expand
  14. kamik
    Sep 8, 2019
    10
    Stunning piece of art and one of the most spectacular soundtracks in history. Simply beautiful.
  15. Panica3643D
    Jun 17, 2018
    8
    Простенький платформер со странненьким сюжетом.
  16. auditbadger
    Oct 29, 2017
    9
    I think that this is truly a unique game and I would recommend that if you are a fan of this type of genre then I think you should give this game a try.
  17. marcelus
    Mar 17, 2017
    8
    Pros:
    - Beautiful game. Better than I expected. Simple but very enjoyable.
    - The art is amazing. Another "UbiArt Framework" engine win. - Your party has various different characters. They are funny to read and watch the interaction with each other after a battle. - The turn-based combat system has a very understandable layout. Another good thing is that after the first half of the game    Pros:
    - Beautiful game. Better than I expected. Simple but very enjoyable.
    - The art is amazing. Another "UbiArt Framework" engine win.
    - Your party has various different characters. They are funny to read and watch the interaction with each other after a battle.
    - The turn-based combat system has a very understandable layout. Another good thing is that after the first half of the game you keep discovering new tricks during the battles. Is simple but is has a few interesting interactions.
    - The score is very good. A bit repetitive during battles but one of those OST you would love to have on your iPod / mp3 player.
    - Puzzles are OK. There're a few repeated ideas but they are not boring and hard.
    - The Oculi crafting system is good. Maybe you'll need to play more after beating the game to achieve all the 600 combinations. I think I'll replay the game on handheld (PSVita). Again, is a beautiful looking game.
    - Is an accessible game even for non-RPG fans.

    Cons:
    - A bit short compared to other games in the genre but I think it was a good experience. BTW the lenght depends on how much you go to little optional areas. The bad thing about exploring too much is that if you grind and level up your party faster than is expected you can feel the game a bit easy.
    - UPlay...of course...    … Expand
  18. Derf3L
    Sep 10, 2016
    9
    CoL is an amazing game.

    Graphics are truly beautiful and unique. Turn based gameplay is fun and actually much deeper than I thought. Characters builds and gem crafting are fun and rewarding. World is 2d but exploration is not lacking. The quests are also very nice and I like the lack of guidelines on how where to find the objectives and such. Played the whole game without any    CoL is an amazing game.

    Graphics are truly beautiful and unique. Turn based gameplay is fun and actually much deeper than I thought.
    Characters builds and gem crafting are fun and rewarding.
    World is 2d but exploration is not lacking. The quests are also very nice and I like the lack of guidelines on how where to find the objectives and such.

    Played the whole game without any hesitation or boredom. Would have been a 10 if only a bit longer/bigger game.
    Great.    … Expand
  19. simesi
    Aug 28, 2016
    9
    The musics are emotionally perfect, some of them make me cry. The speeches are in rhyme and are funny like a fable.
    So in conclusion this is a really good game (strange for Ubisoft xD)
  20. Vandren
    Jan 2, 2016
    9
    A beautiful game, music, characters,the art is just wonderful.
    The combat system is pretty nice, by turns and the story is pretty nice too (not an awesome story, but does not become boring).
    The bad side that I can see is that has no replay value, because when you complete the game, there are no a really good reason to play it again (maybe fight a little more, no other reason) and is a    A beautiful game, music, characters,the art is just wonderful.
    The combat system is pretty nice, by turns and the story is pretty nice too (not an awesome story, but does not become boring).
    The bad side that I can see is that has no replay value, because when you complete the game, there are no a really good reason to play it again (maybe fight a little more, no other reason) and is a little short, but if you see the price, I think that is reasonable.    … Expand
  21. Ulrich5000
    Nov 28, 2015
    10
    "Child, tuck yourself in bed. And let me tell a story, Of Lemuria, a long lost kingdom. And a girl born for glory."

    This game was amazing! The art style is absolutely beautiful and the gameplay is turn-based RPG goodness at it's best. From the opening, I knew this was gonna be a great game, but the game actually turned out better than I was even expecting and packed some amazing boss    "Child, tuck yourself in bed. And let me tell a story, Of Lemuria, a long lost kingdom. And a girl born for glory."

    This game was amazing! The art style is absolutely beautiful and the gameplay is turn-based RPG goodness at it's best. From the opening, I knew this was gonna be a great game, but the game actually turned out better than I was even expecting and packed some amazing boss battles. The game is pretty long for a $15 and is very well done. I didn't get bored or tired of playing this game at all, in fact I wanted to scour the world for collectibles, level up my characters, unlock more skills and complete every side mission. Though I was so focused on the story itself, I was trying to get to the next area.

    The gameplay itself is more inspired by games like Metroid and Castlevania (Metroidvania) with stat buffs and items spread out around the world, there's a lot of hidden goodies as well. I did a few side missions here and there, collected some confession letters, but I definitely want to go back and complete every mission, get every collectible and max out the skill tree. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes old school RPGs mixed in with some great gameplay and a beautifully written story.

    If you have $15 to spare, definitely consider getting Child Of Light, it's great fun from start to finish!

    I give it a 10/10    … Expand
  22. the_Slugman
    Aug 24, 2015
    8
    Make no mistake – this is a game intended from two players from start to finish! The term turnbased can be used loosely here as this is really a strategic, time-based combat system that allows you to take your time and make your actions count rather than pressuring your to act quickly. Child of light is strategic, impactful, and satisfying.

    For those of you looking for a first game to    Make no mistake – this is a game intended from two players from start to finish! The term turnbased can be used loosely here as this is really a strategic, time-based combat system that allows you to take your time and make your actions count rather than pressuring your to act quickly. Child of light is strategic, impactful, and satisfying.

    For those of you looking for a first game to get your significant other into gaming, you've found it. Let your partner control the girl while you take control of the wisp to help turn the tides of battle while allowing him/her more time to decide how to orchestrate what attacks/spells/items to use. The inventory system is possibly a little tedious for the simple nature of the game, and the skill paths are perhaps a little long considering the length of the game, but overall the game comes together in a way that emphasizes playability over skill/inventory management (a common issue for RPGs) or repetition. The bosses are epic, the battles are engaging, and the characters are, for the most part, diverse and useful.

    While the game is visually pleasing, the art direction isn't incredibly inspired. Despite this, the animation is nonetheless unquestionably unique and memorable. The worst thing about this game hands down is the dialogue... a man can only read through so many nursery rhymes before being forced to blow his own brains out.

    Pick this game up if you have someone you're close with who is open-minded towards video games – Child of Light may manage to captivate them and teach them the value of gaming.    … Expand
  23. Ixnatifual
    Apr 13, 2015
    8
    It's like crime how Child of Light can rob you of your time.

    The combination of side-scrolling exploration, challenging turn-based tactical gameplay, amusing rhyming dialogues and a wonderful art style makes Child of Light an unusual but enjoyable gem. You'll quickly fall in love with the beatifully drawn landscapes of Lemuria as you travel through its dark forests, mountains and    It's like crime how Child of Light can rob you of your time.

    The combination of side-scrolling exploration, challenging turn-based tactical gameplay, amusing rhyming dialogues and a wonderful art style makes Child of Light an unusual but enjoyable gem.

    You'll quickly fall in love with the beatifully drawn landscapes of Lemuria as you travel through its dark forests, mountains and even under the sea. They are typically riddled with secret areas you can sniff out for treasure, puzzles or hidden bosses. Often there'll be more than one path to your destination, making exploration more interesting.

    During your travels, you'll meet many fun characters who'll give your quests, join you in your adventure, or both. My favourite was a female jester who couldn't do the dialogues in a proper rhyming fashion, allowing the other characters to jump in and correct her. Her healing abilities were also very welcome in a fight, making her one of my most used characters during combat.

    The combat is turn-based but has a real-time element that lets you delay enemies' turn or slightly heal your party out of turn. Timing this ability is important to winning encounters, as it lets you better use or avoid being the victim of the interrupt mechanic. Interrupting means hitting a character trying to perform an action, resulting in his turn being delayed. If you don't go for the easy difficulty, combat offers good and rewarding challenge that makes you invest time into considering how to specialise your characters.

    Each character has a network of specialisation trees, offering abilities unique to him while giving you a choice between the different paths. For example, there's a wizard who can specialise in lightning, water or fire, allowing him to excel against certain creature types vulnerable to his focused element. Another character can choose between improving his defense, his offense or his ability to direct enemy attacks against him.

    A problem that grows as the size of your party increases, is the frequency of level ups. Very quickly you'll be looking at one or multiple level ups after pretty much every battle as your characters gain levels and extra skill points to spend. It becomes tedious looking at the skill tree menu this often.

    Another part of character customisation is the Oculi system. Oculi are gems you gather and can use kind of like equipment items such as swords and armor in other games. They offer different bonuses depending on color and slot used, and can be combined to form more powerful gems. Oculi juggling gets a little cumbersome, but is nonetheless an important strategic element as you want to equip the right damage and resistance types depending on the opposition of your current area.

    Apart from having trouble with Steam starting the game through Uplay for some reason initially, the only bug I noticed in the actual game was that sometimes when entering combat, Aurora's (the main character) usually flowing hair wasn't drawn.

    If you're not playing on Easy difficulty and like to explore and look for secrets, you should expect around 20 hours of gameplay from Child of Light.

    TIP: While Child of Light offers controller support, I really must recommend using mouse and keyboard. You will need the precision to properly manage the real-time element of the otherwise turn-based combat.

    TIP: If, like me, you have trouble starting the game through Steam, try launching Uplay directly and start the game from there. After doing that, it's been working for me no problem.    … Expand
  24. dyspeptic
    Mar 21, 2015
    9
    Best Ubisoft game to come out in years, including their big-budget stuff. Pop-up book art is beautiful and animations also look like a pop-up book, so they work well together. Story is okay for a game its length, as is depth of combat (I played on "hard" so there was at least a little challenge).

    Only complaints are the forced use of rhyming couplets (you eventually get used to it    Best Ubisoft game to come out in years, including their big-budget stuff. Pop-up book art is beautiful and animations also look like a pop-up book, so they work well together. Story is okay for a game its length, as is depth of combat (I played on "hard" so there was at least a little challenge).

    Only complaints are the forced use of rhyming couplets (you eventually get used to it except for some weird moments when you realize that it is definitely a forced rhyme from a translation of a forced-french rhyme) and use of Ubisoft's extra layer of DRM (Ubi do I really need to run your DRM on top of steam? Please be reasonable)    … Expand
  25. Mr_karim
    Feb 14, 2015
    10
    best of the bestt i loooveee it soooooooo sooooo mutch thn u ubisoft ♥♥♥♥♥ :/ The best gaming investment I've made this year . antastic game for all ages. Well balanced game play, interesting graphics, and a sturdy plot.
  26. Rolgudiel
    Feb 13, 2015
    8
    Por fin un juego diferente, el apartado audiovisual de este juego es magnífico, realmente te hace sentir en un cuento para niños, se nota el esfuerzo y la dedicacion en cada detalle, desde la musica hasta los gráficos, todo está excelentemente mezclado, me llevé una grata sorpresa jugándolo. La única falla sin embargo yace en su simple sistema de combate que te hace pensar que necesitabaPor fin un juego diferente, el apartado audiovisual de este juego es magnífico, realmente te hace sentir en un cuento para niños, se nota el esfuerzo y la dedicacion en cada detalle, desde la musica hasta los gráficos, todo está excelentemente mezclado, me llevé una grata sorpresa jugándolo. La única falla sin embargo yace en su simple sistema de combate que te hace pensar que necesitaba más pulido, ese detalle fue lo que me hizo darle un 8 de calificación, por lo demás es un juego que no decepciona, realmente es un juego único, de esos juegos de los que ya las compañias no se atreven a hacer.… Expand
  27. DDilettante
    Jan 17, 2015
    10
    Art.

    If given one word to describe this game, that is what I would use. Loading up this game is like stepping into a watercolour painting, in a room filled with poets. The question you'd most likely be asking at this point is; "would that really be my kind of thing?" It's not really a major selling feature for most people. But, even though this game at it's core is an artpiece, it is    Art.

    If given one word to describe this game, that is what I would use. Loading up this game is like stepping into a watercolour painting, in a room filled with poets.

    The question you'd most likely be asking at this point is; "would that really be my kind of thing?" It's not really a major selling feature for most people. But, even though this game at it's core is an artpiece, it is wrapped in extremely good gameplay.

    You play a young Austrian girl called Aurora, who awakens in a strange world touched by darkness, in 1895. You'll explore the vivid landscapes, interact with the colourful characters, and slowly transform from a naive young girl into a bold warrior. This is aided by soon finding a sword.

    And you'll need that sword, because there are always enemies lurking. These encounters is where this game really shines. It's a pseudo-real-time-turn-based-strategy combat, where each thing is represented on a time bar. When you near the end, you're in a "Cast" zone, where you choose your attack/defense. These have different speeds; higher powered attacks will take longer to complete. If you hit something that's in this zone before they hit you (or vice versa), then they will be interrupted and sent back along the timeline. I cannot express how deeply satisfying it is to overtake an enemy by the smallest margin and send it back. There is an edge-of-your-seat level to this that I was immensely addicted to.

    Enemies can be tough, and attack in packs, so you know you shouldn't be alone. You'll find controllable companions along the way, who will join your party. Each of them are experts in certain types of combat; you'll find a jester which helps with healing/reviving, and a wizard that deals great elemental damage, to name just two. However, you can only battle using two at a time, but switching mid-battle is possible.

    You'll also have a small luminous droplet following you, which when controlled by the mouse, can aid in many ways, such as blinding enemies to slow them, or heal your party members.

    My best advice is to play this on expert initially, unless you want to easily win each battle. I did have to dial it bask to casual after a while, though.

    Aurora also soon gets the ability to fly, which greatly helps with the exploring aspect. And explore you will; there are chests and goodies everywhere for you to pick up, most importantly the Oculi. These gems, when assigned to your party members, give certain attack and defense buffs which can be critical for particular enemy types. They are also craftable, opening even more types of buffs. The sheer amount of combinations means you'll spend a lot of time here.

    The story is charming, with lots of humour sprinkled throughout. And although the dialogue is spoken entirely in verse, I find it refreshing.    … Expand
  28. vixvix
    Dec 29, 2014
    9
    Wonderful experience that I've shared with my 5 years old daughter. This game has been the first game she had ever played ( and finished ) playing the role of Aurora, while I played as the Ignitus ( the little light ). In my long experience of gaming Child of Light is unique, also for wonderful atmosphere, graphics, soundtrack, characters.
  29. Ronin_Media
    Dec 5, 2014
    9
    A beautiful, immersive RPG/Puzzle game from Ubisoft. Trine meets Final Fantasy, with a few added mechanics tossed in.

    PROS: -Solid graphic & sound design
    -Fun combat & puzzle mechanics
    -A blast to play for all ages

    CONS: -Not a deep RPG
    -Requires internet connection
    -Can get repetitive

    Check out my full review here: http://youtu.be/MCPoBmctIsI
  30. GabEzek
    Nov 14, 2014
    10
    "This was a triumph; I'm making a note here: Huge Success. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction."

    Never thought I would get to use those lines from Portal 1's ending theme, but that's just the case with this game. I am thoroughly impressed with this game on so many levels. From the gameplay, to the music, to the art direction. Hell, to even the text in-game - iambic pentameter for    "This was a triumph; I'm making a note here: Huge Success. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction."

    Never thought I would get to use those lines from Portal 1's ending theme, but that's just the case with this game. I am thoroughly impressed with this game on so many levels. From the gameplay, to the music, to the art direction. Hell, to even the text in-game - iambic pentameter for most of the game? I see that as an exemplary amount of effort all around.

    It's a really long review though... So. TL;DR : Buy this game, it's cheap, and well worth the money. Unless, of course, you dislike the JRPG system, turn-based battle system, and the like.

    If you're willing to read, here goes:

    Gameplay -

    As far as game play goes, it's a typical RPG with turn-based battles. Pretty much like a traditional JRPG, I would say. In this game, your party comprises a multitude of characters, but you can only bring two (including your main character, the titular Child of Light). I generally enjoy the system, though, particularly the demand for quick thinking on higher difficulties, what with the time-bar thing that forces you to make snap decisions.

    I liked the rudimentary crafting system as well. Making tons of gems to boost my stats was relatively fun, but I am mildly disappointed by the lack of expansion. It wasn't a major concern however, given the fact there was so much goodness in other aspects to compensate for it.

    Music -

    I had always been a fan of Final Fantasy for a few reasons, one of them is the music. So when I started on this game, just in the title screen alone. Goodness gracious, I cannot believe I actually sat there just staring at the title screen because the main theme was so mesmerizing. Main theme aside, the rest of the pieces do not disappoint. The battle theme was sufficiently dramatic and engaging. The boss battles? Hell, it's epic.

    The musical themes for specific locations in the game world was also highly relevant. It did an excellent job of setting the right atmosphere as well. Uplifting themes for cheerful situations; depressing themes for situations gone awry. Makes it hard to leave certain locations at times.

    Story and Art Direction -

    Story-wise, this game's story-telling is definitely reminiscent of a classic fairy tale. It should be obvious from the very beginning, and even through the main character's name. I don't even have to say it.

    In any case, I had thought it would be a story that follows that fairy tale. I thought it was going to be something of the same as that fairy tale... And HA. I cannot express how happy I am to say it isn't. That said, I also greatly appreciate the faithful adherence to iambic pentameter throughout the entire game, from its narration to its character dialogues. Makes me feel like a sir, I would have you know.

    That said, I think the story is more nostalgic than it is stellar. Don't get me wrong, the story isn't bad. I just find that it doesn't exactly innovate enough to really appeal from that direction. Instead, it goes for feelings of nostalgia - something I really felt was very well enmeshed into the story-telling. Playing the game feels like reading a bedtime story - or having it read to you. Made even more amusing by the fact I mostly played it at night.

    Speaking of the story, I think it's important to also link it to the art direction. I really loved the art in this game. I'm no art critic, but I find it highly reminiscent of children's picture books. It further ties in with the element of nostalgia as well as the story telling style. So. Bonus compatibility points!

    --

    And that's why I didn't spare the full marks. While there was room for improvements here and there, I do not consider them to be striking negatives. They're negatives, no doubt, but not to the extent that warrants a drop in the score.

    So. BUY IT.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

100
#100 Best PC Game of 2014
55
#55 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
71
#71 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. IGN
    Aug 29, 2014
    93
    Every aspect of Child of Light has an unmistakably artisinal, organic feel to it.
    Read full review
  2. Hyper Magazine
    Jun 7, 2014
    80
    Gorgeous and captivating with a great combat system. [Issue#249, p.57]
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Jun 6, 2014
    80
    Gorgeous graphics combine with a fantastic combat system to deliver a pretty unique experience. [June 2014, p.60]
See all critic reviews »