Child of Light
| Child of Light | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Director(s) |
Patrick Plourde Thomas Rollus |
| Producer(s) | Jean-François Poirier |
| Designer(s) |
Mélissa Cazzaro Aurélie Débant |
| Writer(s) | Jeffrey Yohalem |
| Composer(s) | Cœur de pirate |
| Engine | UbiArt Framework |
| Platform(s) |
Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Wii U Xbox 360 Xbox One |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Platformer, role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Child of Light is a platforming role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in April 2014, and was released on PlayStation Vita in July 2014. It is powered by UbiArt Framework.
Child of Light takes place in the mythical land Lemuria. Aurora, a child who mysteriously finds herself in Lemuria after being spirited away from her home, must bring back the sun, the moon and the stars held captive by the Queen of the Night in order to return.
Gameplay
Child of Light's gameplay is described as having attributes of a side-scroller with role-playing elements such as leveling up to increase stats over time.[2] Battles with enemies use a system similar to the active-time battle system found in games like the Final Fantasy series and the Grandia series.[3] The player can control up to two characters during battle, while the other characters don't level up the same way. Up to three enemies can appear during battle. If the player approaches an enemy from behind the battle becomes a "Surprise Strike", giving the player an advantage. If the enemy approaches the player from behind, it becomes an "Ambush", giving the enemy an advantage. The character Igniculus is used as an in-game mechanic during battle. The player can freely move Igniculus and shine his light on an enemy to slow it down or on an ally to heal them.[3]
Plot
The game begins in 1895 Austria, with a Duke and his daughter Aurora. On Easter Eve, Aurora falls mysteriously ill, and seemingly dies in her sleep. As a result the Duke becomes bedridden, overcome with despair.
The player first takes control of Aurora when she awakens on an altar in the land of Lemuria. She meets and befriends a firefly named Igniculus, who leads her to a chamber where an enigmatic being, the Lady of the Forest, is imprisoned. Upon freeing the Lady, Aurora is told of the history of Lemuria. Once, the land was ruled by the Queen of Light until one night when she mysteriously vanished. With the queen gone, darkness came and from it, rose the Dark Queen Umbra. Umbra sent her daughters to steal Lemuria's light — the sun, the stars, and the moon, as well as the mirror that links Lemuria to Aurora's world, before unleashing her dark creatures upon the land. The Lady also reveals that she created Igniculus to aid her in her journey. In return for a way home, Aurora agrees to recover the light, which the Lady states are found in the "highest and lowest rooms" — the moon in the highest of the high, and the sun in the lowest of the low. Aurora is then given the ability to fly from the stars, and a flute.
Along their quest, they are joined by Rubella, an Aerostati who is searching for her brother Tristis; Finn, a young Capilli whose village is beset by a curse; Norah, Aurora's stepsister, who was pulled through the mirror to Lemuria; Robert, a Populi trader; and Rubella's brother Tristis.
The party locates the mirror back to Aurora's world, and Aurora follows Norah through it, finding her stepmother and stepsister Cordelia on the other side. However, Norah then reveals that she was leading her into a trap; Aurora's stepmother is in fact Umbra, the Queen of the Night, and Norah and Cordelia are Nox and Crepusculum—the ones who stole Lemuria's light. Aurora further learns that Umbra was banished from Lemuria by her arch-enemy, the Queen of Light herself, who is revealed to be Aurora's mother. Umbra tries to kill Aurora, but her false crown—a gift from her father before her arrival in Lemuria—shields her against the spell. Weakened from the attack, Aurora is imprisoned in the tower and left to die.
Aurora dreams of when her mother was still alive, where it is revealed that her mother was the one who sent her to Lemuria in order to protect her. Upon waking up in a cage in the tower, Aurora plays the flute. Hearing the melody, a guard arrives and says that his lady, the Queen of Light, plays that melody. He instantly knows that Aurora is her child who fights the dark. The guard encourages her to leave her castle, face the world for what it truly is, and find her real home. He will only aid her if she swears to fight the darkness and save the land and its people. She agrees, and the guard, Óengus, joins her.
Aurora learns that more prisoners from the Moon Temple are being kept in the nearby cells. She sees that the prisoners are her companions. She pulls the lever beneath the cells, freeing her companions. They reunite and the party is whole again, with the exception of Nox.
Óengus said that he was from the Kategida clan, who are best at being soldiers. When darkness came, they flew to the sky. Then Umbra came and used her magic to prevent the Kategida from flying. The clan is now stuck on the top of the tower, destined to die. Then Umbra took over the tower. Condemned, Óengus promised to watch over the tower, while the other Kategida were imprisoned.
When they arrive, the camp is empty except for the dark creatures. They find out that the Kategida are trapped in Erin’s magical labyrinth cell. After exploring and/or fighting their way through the labyrinth, they came upon the Kategida’s cell. They free the Kategida, but Óengus is banished from the clan. After healing Óengus's heart with a flute, they meet up with Crepusculum, who has the moon. After defeating the transformed Crepusculum, she dies in a puff of smoke and out from the smoke comes the moon. After receiving the moon, Aurora grows older and taller. She now wears a yellow dress and a purple necklace around her neck.
Leaving the tower, Aurora heads to the sea. If the highest of the high was in the sky, then the lowest of the low is in the Cynbel Sea.
Crossing the Cynbel Sea, Aurora arrives in the Piscean Village, where she finds Genovefa (or Gen for short) and Drust living there. She learns of an ogre who guards the caves under the sea. He captured Gen’s mother and father. Other than her parents, Gen and Drust are the only sorcerers left. After solving the puzzle to the ogre’s lair, Aurora meets face to face with the ogre. He tells Aurora that he ate them all. She defeats him and goes back to the village to bring the bad news. While Drust is out to bring Gen’s parents, Aurora plays her flute. After playing her flute, Aurora asks Gen to join and she does.
Returning to the place where they fought the ogre, Aurora takes the elevator down to the lowest of the low to get the sun.
After making her way through the Sun Palace, Aurora faces Nox. She escapes up the palace while Aurora suffers from the poisonous gas in the room. Slowly solving the puzzle, she escapes the room. Making her way up the palace, she again faces Nox. When Aurora defeats the transformed Nox, the sun appears and Umbra arrives. Angry at the death of the second daughter, she offers Aurora the chance to reunite with her father if she gives Umbra the moon and the stars. Through a mirror Umbra conjures, she shows Aurora the state her father is in. Aurora ultimately refuses to go back, as she cannot abandon the Lemurians to their fate. As she and the Duke share their final farewell, the fake crown disappears from her head, leaving her vulnerable to Umbra’s attacks. Injured from the attack, Aurora absorbs the sun and crawls her way to the sea as it carries her up to the surface.
Igniculus, with the help of his firefly friends, carries Aurora to the altar where she first woke in Lemuria. Beside the altar is the Lady of the Forest, who reveals herself to be the Queen of Light—Aurora's mother. She plays the flute, whose music travels all across Lemuria, bringing the people Aurora met to the altar. The wishes from their hearts merge into one, which transforms into the stars, the moon, and the sun. Aurora absorbs them and awakens, now wearing a white dress with a glass crown.
Aurora reunites and converses with her mother. While that goes on, Óengus reconciles with his brother; Finn reconciles with his grandfather, Avo; and Robert reconciles with the love of his life, Margaret. Now Aurora finishes bringing everything up to date to her mother and must face and defeat Umbra. With Aurora’s newfound powers, she quickly flies the crew up into the sky to Umbra’s castle.
Umbra tells Aurora that Umbra is a descendant of Cynbel the Wise, while Aurora is from Erin the Conqueror, and that the land belongs to them and not to common tribes. With their high morale, Aurora and the group fights Umbra. After their victorious win over the transformed Umbra, the mortally wounded Umbra laments that all she wanted was a place she could call home.
Through the fountain water, the vision shows a servant saying that the Duke is dead and the water is rising. All her friends volunteer to follow Aurora to the other side, to Aurora's world, to rescue her people from the flood.
In the ending cutscene, it is Easter Sunday when they arrive. While the people cower on the five hilltops, Aurora is unexpectedly resurrected with a group of strange creatures. The group splits up and lets the people up the castle tower. They think they are doomed when they are led into an empty room with the water at their feet. To their surprise, Aurora leads them to a mirror that leads to Lemuria. One by one, the people step through the mirror. When the flood subsides, only a small island remains — the people safe in Lemuria. Now Lemuria is growing again.
In a post-credits scene, the Queen of Light converses with Igniculus one last time, tasking him to watch over Aurora and Lemuria before fading from sight.
Development
Initially revealed at GDC Europe 2013 by Patrick Plourde, Child of Light is said to be inspired by Studio Ghibli and Yoshitaka Amano in its art style, and in presentation similar to games like Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy VIII and Limbo.[2] During development, the lead programmer was Brie Code.[4]
The original soundtrack has 18 tracks and was composed by Béatrice Martin, better known as Cœur de pirate, a Canadian singer and songwriter from the province of Québec.
Reception
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Child of Light received positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 90% and 89/100,[5][11] the Wii U version 84.29% and 83/100,[6][12] the PlayStation 4 version 83.33% and 81/100,[7][14] the Xbox One version 82% and 82/100,[8][13] the Xbox 360 version 80% and 74/100[9][16] and the PC version 76.29% and 76/100.[10][15]
Vince Ingenito of IGN gave it a 9.3/10, praising the combat system and visual style, although he also said that the rhyming felt forced.[22] Chris Carter of Destructoid gave it an 8.5/10, calling the combat system "straightforward, yet fun" and praised the story.[17] GameZone's Matt Liebl gave the PC version a 9.5/10, stating "Child of Light isn’t the type of game we’re used to from Ubisoft, but it’s the type of game this industry needs. It’s hard not to look at the game and admire its beauty, but underneath the gorgeous visuals is a thought-provoking story that’ll draw you in."[20]
Related media
On April 30, 2015, Ubisoft released a digital book titled Child of Light: Reginald the Great to celebrate the game's first anniversary. Written by the game's writer Jeffrey Yohalem, the story of the book revolves around Reginald the Great and his journey in a place called Lemuria.[23]
References
- ↑ Karmali, Luke (2014-05-20). "Child of Light Officially Headed to PS Vita". IGN. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
- 1 2 Brown, Peter (2013-08-19). "Ubisoft unveils Final Fantasy and Limbo inspired Child of Light". GameSpot. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
- 1 2 Sliva, Marty & Goldfarb, Andrew (2013-09-10). "Why We Love Ubisoft's Child of Light". IGN. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
- ↑ "Lead Programmer Brie Code". Child of Light. Ubisoft. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for PlayStation 3". GameRankings. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for Wii U". GameRankings. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for PlayStation 4". GameRankings. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for Xbox One". GameRankings. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for Xbox 360". GameRankings. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for Wii U Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Child of Light for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- 1 2 Carter, Chris (28 April 2014). "Review: Child of Light". Destructoid. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- ↑ "Child of Light Review from Game Informer". Retrieved 15 February 2016.
- ↑ MC Shea, Tom (April 28, 2014). "Child of Light review". GameSpot. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
- 1 2 Liebl, Matt (28 April 2014). "Child of Light Review: A mesmerizing fairytale". GameZone. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- ↑ Navarro, Alex (May 7, 2014). "Child of Light Review". Giant Bomb. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
- 1 2 Ingenito, Vince (28 April 2014). "Child of Light Review". IGN. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- ↑ Futter, Mike (April 30, 2015). "Ubisoft Releases Free Child Of Light Art Book To Celebrate First Anniversary". Game Informer. Retrieved May 1, 2015.