InChildren of the Sun ’s pitch - black world , obsession is an all - squander vortex that baptise its victims in lineage . It swallows normal hoi polloi and sprinkle out religious fanatics who think they need to kill for their god . It transforms a girl into a gun - toting murderer who wo n’t stop shoot until she ’s put a bullet train in every undivided one of those cultists in the name of revenge . There are no righteous crusades here , only bodies .
That ’s the tension at play in the tardy game from newspaper publisher Devolver Digital and developer René Rother . Children of the Sunis a hyper - grainy tone firearm with a under the weather satisfying sniping mechanic at its heart . Though it search ideas about TV game violence that are well - trodden in 2024 , the short puzzle - shooter crossbreed is effectively redoubtable . The wildness is uncomfortable , the abrasive soundscape is consuming , the visuals are creepy-crawly . And yet , I ’m draw to the induction level after level , do-or-die to regain nirvana in a pile of corpses .
Symphony of blood
When the story begin , I take on the role of a occult sniper only love as The Girl . Some warm motion comical cutscenes rally out a mysterious story about a nefarious religious cult dub theChildren of the Sun , which The Girl has very good ground to detest . She sets out on a path of revenge , vow to wipe out derelict coordination compound filled with zealot en route to the group ’s leader . That journey hap over around 26 origin - soaked shooting galleries that climb up in complexity .
ButChildren of the Sunis far from a traditional taw . At the get-go of each level , I posture at the outskirts of a cultist gathering . Sometimes , I ’m watch four partisan camped out by a fire . Other time , I sit outside an outstation as a dozen of them keep vigil . Before I fire a shot , I can take the air in a circle around the scene by pressing left over and right . I can stop to look through my scope and mark a target to track their movement permanently . It almost plays like a distorted hidden aim game as I scope out well - shroud cultists .
Every shooting leave me shake .
provision is central because The Girl only has one shot to get it right — literally . The destination of each horizontal surface is to take out every individual target with one metaphysical bullet . The moment the bullet leave my barrel , my perspective geological fault , and I embody that hunk of lead story . Each time I stumble a prey , straight off drink down them no matter where I shine , I can re - aim from that point and ping - pong over to another target . Time slows during the entire physical process , so two minutes of careful apparent motion translate to a few second in real time . It ’s an cunning hook in the same vein asSuperhot ’s fourth dimension - frivol away tress , one that makes me feel like an undefeatable bravo when I enter a level and go away behind a stack of bodies .
The Girl is meticulous in her retaliation , and additional twists reinforce that compulsion . As my bullet zips through the air , I can take for down a button to slow time and make some slight adaption to its flight . That does n’t just help guarantee that I wo n’t hit frustrations when I pretermit a far - away enemy ; it allow me enact my vengeance with sick preciseness . If I desire to put a bullet in everyone ’s head , I can secure you , that happens . Later , I can place frail points on my enemy to fulfill a cadence that lets me become my bullet around in mid - air . Those twists countenance for some secure spatial reasoning puzzles that have me diagram out a perfect route between targets and directing my bullet like a conductor . It ’s a philharmonic of blood .
While I appreciateChildren of the Sun ’s focused runtime ( it only contract a few hours to beat ) , it does experience like it comes to a halt just as it ’s picking up impulse . It only features a few other mechanical twist – like being able-bodied to inject a shuttle overhead to gain a top - down view of the storey — and there are only a few puzzle - like enemy type that take to be despatch in specific ways . There ’s just enough here to keep each level feeling different enough through the end , like a highway Salmon Portland Chase picture that has me bouncing between gas tank , but I ’m left wanting a bit more by the clip I finish up its final challenge .
Perhaps it ’s for the best that the story is so short . child of the Sun want players to delight in their bloodlust but still find the enormity of that violence . There is n’t a surfeit of “ content ” here that pass on me find desensitized to what I ’m doing by level 100 . Every shot provide me shaken ; what have I just done ?
Tale as old as time
What ’s less engrossing isChildren of the Sun ’s literal story , which plays into tired video recording biz figure of speech . As I begin it up , I realize just how many games I ’ve played this year revolve around fighting furore of some kind . Like a Dragon : Infinite Wealth , The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered , andAlone in the Darkare all at the top of that list . It ’s well - trodden dominion andChildren of the Suncan’t really do much with it within its minimalist motion comic cutscenes that experience like they were force out ofa Garth Ennis comedian . I see myself rolling my eyes at a blade of television biz inquietude that ’s grown dull .
Self - reflective meditations on wildness - fueled revenge are a dime a XII …
minor of the Sunis more compelling when but taken as a hyper - violent tone piece . It has the same formidable vigour present in the plastic film of Jeremy Saulnier , a director known for visceral meditations on fury likeBlue RuinandGreen Room . minor of the Sun adopts some tyrannous aesthetic choices not unlike those found in Saulnier ’s films . It ’s a claustrophobic plot , the right way down to the fact that I ’m always trapped within a minuscule traffic circle that I can only navigate in two inflexible focal point .
Haunting visuals deal the irritation . Children of the Sunfeatures a sorry and fractured artistry style . It ’s like I ’m looking at the domain through a thermal scope , keep down real people to blips of heat to be easily aim at . level are bath in deep grey and purple , while enemies have a bright golden sheen . They seem less like humans than trophies — a reward to be exact upon successful killing .
The heavy speech sound design make me feel even gruesome . It ’s not so much the wisecrack of a slug colliding with a skull that makes me jar each time ; it ’s the droning electronics that ooze into my eardrums . There is n’t so much medicine here as a chaotic onslaught of distorted synthesizers . They swallow the world in a wall of rough noise ; my Steam Deck speaker sound like they ’re on the verge of short-change out as top out audio sputters from them . It ’s properly grotesque ; the speech sound is as thick as the blood I ’m spilling .
Self - reflective meditation on wildness - fueled retaliation are a dime bag a dozen in apost - Last of Us landscape painting . minor of the Sundoesn’t move that conversation forward in a meaningful way , but it still makes an impingement . It ’ll leave behind player obsess over every bantam detail of their murder spree until they press out Quit and sit in jarring silence .
Children of the Sunwas examine on PC and Steam Deck .
