Platform(s): PC (version reviewed)
Genre: Action, Shooter, Puzzle

With so many games out there these days, it’s hard for titles to stand out and grab gamers attention. Children of the Sun is definitely one experience that will pique interests, even in the already-unique indie space.

Developed solo by René Rother, this puzzle shooter title will have you banging your head against your table at times. Puzzle games have never really been my strong point, and Children of the Sun reaaaally got me frustrated, in a good way, of course.

ONE-SHOT WONDER

You play as a masked woman with her trusty sniper rifle. In Children of the Sun, you’ve only got one shot to make a difference; physics be damned. 11 targets to kill? Well, you’ve got one bullet to get the job done.

This woman is off to take her revenge on the Children of the Sun cult, in which she’s apparently escaped from. The basic concept is simple: at the start of each stage, you can use your mouse to move the woman left and right to get a good look of the perimeter ahead. You want to look for a good vantage point, before you take your one and only shot. Once you pull the trigger, the fun begins.

Now once you kill your first enemy, everything slows down. It’s almost as if you have become the bullet. You can now redirect the bullet to another cultist. If they’ve seen you kill the first cultist, they can sometimes “flee”. Don’t worry, everything is in slow motion, so it’s REALLY slow. You complete the stage once every cultist is dead. The top right will show you the amount of cultists left on the map to make things easier.

Things really get hard at the later levels, when sometimes you don’t really know where some cultists are at. The game then introduces new techniques to shifting your bullet, or even redirecting it, which is honestly pretty darn cool. If you’ve ever watched the movie Wanted starring Angelina Jolie, where she could curve bullets. Well, not only do you get to shoot that bullet, but you get to BE the bullet and enjoy the ride to your final destination.

One of my favourite stages, was shooting through moving trains. I was stuck on that stage for quite a while but I loved it. Each stage is cleverly crafted. In some stages, you can shoot environmental hazards, or even birds in the air, to get a better view. A combination of strategic planning & precise aim is needed to complete the game, and Children of the Sun tests your mettle in these aspects in the best of ways.

BITING THE BULLET

You know when you just KNOW you can do something, but you fail to do it, and you get hella frustrated and keep at it until you succeed? That’s exactly what playing Children of the Sun is like. It feels even moreso once you know where every cultist is at, and the lay of the land.

You get a tad bit obsessed with just completing the stage in the best and most efficient way possible. And damn does it feel good when you do. Replayability and catering to OCDs in completion ranking is one of this indie title’s other strong points.

The game has a leaderboard for every stage, which honestly made me feel depressed because when I thought I did pretty damn well; apparently I’d only placed at 50? The leaderboard is definitely something a lot of competitive players will love.

Points are given out for how many shots were fired, how long it took you to complete a stage, whether it was a head or body shot, and many other factors. It’s always interesting to see the breakdown of what you did after completing a stage. I also love that they show you an overheard of your pathway after each stage.

DEAD, DEAD, DEAD

If there’s something I wished more, was for a bit more story. Before every stage starts, we get snippets of cutscenes showing what’s happened, or what is happening. The cutscenes are wordless, but what I can tell you is that the woman definitely has a good reason to be taking the cult down. The aesthetic of each scene is beautiful, whether it was the dark grungy forest, or an empty town with farmhouses, they all blended in well together.

The art style is seemingly minimalistic but that’s what makes it shine. Even the music, really sets the mood for your assassination. I’m impressed honestly that all this was done by a solo developer.

Some might think there isn’t much content, but I think it’s just enough. A game like this isn’t meant to be very long. It loses its appeal after a while. You want a game to not be tedious and get overly frustrating; Children of the Sun stops exactly before that happens. And that’s what I appreciate about it: it goes straight to the bullet point and does not deal with excess bloat. Unlike a shot in the dark, Children of the Sun is a banging good time that stimulates your puzzle senses while delivering its premise with precision.

PROS

• Tons of replayability.
• Visually-pleasing.
• Very cleverly crafted puzzles.

CONS

• Only a certain audience may enjoy its odd appeal.

FINAL SCORE: 90/100

Review copy provided by publisher.