I have spent the past few days playing the beauty that is Child of Light - now I was one of the only people who did not let themselves look too much into the game before playing. I saw one trailer and instantly knew I'd fall in love with it, so I stopped myself from peaking to give myself more of a surprise when the release came round.

This game has an art style which was inspired by Studio Ghibli, a turn-based battle system and one of the most beautiful soundtracks I've heard. I literally cannot fault it.

So let's cut to the chase - the story is a beautifully written 'dark' fairytale, it has enough charm to win you over in seconds along with some stunning visuals. It is a 2D turn-based styled game (which is on a timer like games such as Final Fantasy) it instantly feels like a Japanese RPG which isn't really a bad thing, and it is around 10-12 hours in length, however this is the kind of game you'll play over and over. Personally the first game it reminded me of was Bastion; which happens to be one of my favourite games of all time!


You play as Aurora who has an ailment which causes her to fall asleep, when she is asleep she finds herself in a mystical world called Lemuria, which has had the sun and moon stolen by the 'Black Queen'. Aurora's mission is to recover these missing items from the Black Queen and becoming reunited with her Father (he is a Duke). I won't go into to much information about the story, as it's something very special which should not be spoilt!

You play as Aurora when roaming the map, however you recruit more people into your party and they will help you out in battle mode. One of the main things I loved about this game was the use of Igniculus, your sprite companion - I am not sure how it worked on other consoles, but with the PS4 the use of the touchpad as motion for him was perfect. I found it really simple to use and didn't bother trying to control him with the circle pad.

All  picture credit to Ubisoft.

Igniculus is especially good to use when you're in battle as you can hover him over the enemy and make him light-up for him to blind the enemy and slow them down. This is especially effective to attack before your enemy gets a chance too. You can only have two characters activated in battle, so you can pick and choose which two characters you want to play with.

You travel through a beautifully crafted world which can sometimes become hypnotising, I especially love the use of shadows and lighting in this game. There are side quests available, this is a nice touch to the game as it is quite short in comparison to other RPGs.

One of my only problems with this game is that it was missing any form of loot, or equip-able items, you can craft various gem stones (oculi) to add to your sword, this gives you small boosts here and there. But this lacking component made the game feel bland at times, especially as the only thrill you seem to get was from leveling.

Personally I loved this game and could only find one small fault with it, I cannot wait to try it out co-op and play through the game again and again.