Ubisoft Montreal has finally released its JRPG that is powered by the UbiArt Framework and is called Child of Light, and below you can read our first impressions of it. Child of Light is described as an RPG inspired by fairy tales complemented with a story carefully crafted in verse and rhyme. And this JRPG – coming from a West company – is undoubtedly one of the best games of 2014 thus far.
In Child of Light, players take the role of Aurora, a young girl from 1895 Austria that awakens on the lost fairytale continent of Lemuria. To return home, Aurora must fight against the dark creatures of the Queen of the Night, who have stolen the sun, the moon and the stars.
The first thing you’ll notice when you fire up Child of Light is how beautiful it looks. Ubisoft has made an incredible work, and the game packs some of the most mesmerizing visuals we’ve seen this year. Its art style is exceptional, proving that Ubisoft can achieve great things under certain circumstances. Moreover, all characters have polished and smooth animations, something we certainly did not expect for a game inspired by old Japanese RPGs. And what can I say about the soundtrack? You will immediately fall in love with what Coeur De Pirate has composed. Top quality stuff all around, and I don’t believe it’s a stretch to say that Child of Light is a piece of art.
Child of Light hooked me immediately. As already said, the game is based on old Japanese RPGs. It features turn-based combats similar to those of Final Fantasy. Furthermore, there is an active time bar that aims to bring “real-time planning” to the table. When a battle commences, each and every character awaits its turn. Players, however, can use Igniculus to either surprise their enemies (before encountering them) or slow them down during battles. When players hit the ‘Ready/Cast’ zone, they can select an action. Do note that actions take more or less time depending on their power. Attacks can interrupt your opponents and give you the upper hand, while Defends are crucial if you want to avoid being interrupted by your enemies (do note that while defending, players’ next action is sped up so make sure to use it cleverly).
Child of Light also features a character skill tree and a crafting system. Via each character’s skill tree, players can upgrade and learn new skills that will – obviously – help them in battles. The crafting system, on the other hand, will let you create new gems to enhance your weapons and armors.
I really enjoyed Child of Light as it’s something unique – at least nowadays. Child of Light is a piece of art, a game that needs to be played by everyone, a game that shows there is still hope in this over-saturated industry for something a bit different than the norm. Similarly to Far Cry: Blood Dragon, Child of Light shows that Ubisoft can create stunning games that aren’t parts of its triple-A series, reassuring everyone that the French company CAN deliver great experiences. Let’s hope that Ubisoft will keep surprising us with such titles.
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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