App of the Week: Sky: Children of the Light review

Reach for the sky

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There’s little hand-holding. A tutorial of sorts leads you through the basics, but then you’re on your own. Well, not quite on your own, but I’ll get to that in a bit. What I mean is Sky is in no hurry to tell you what’s going on.

You’ll grasp the basics – the importance of lighting candles; your ability to fly being limited by stored winged light. You’ll recognise that in the blazing sun of the first area’s grassy hillsides, light storage isn’t an issue, but it is a problem in – for example – the pouring rain of the dank, gloomy Hidden Forest. Any backstory is mostly inferred rather than explained.

Controls-wise, the game does as well as can be expected: left thumb to move; right to shift viewpoint; tap to interact. On the ground, you’ll be a smug surfer; in the air, a klutz. You get used to it.

Friends forever

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The social element, though, sets Sky apart from broadly comparable mobile adventures. As you dodder about, figuring out how the world works, others do the same. Frequently, you happen upon roadblocks you cannot cross alone.

There’s little direct communication beyond the odd chat area where you type like a human. Mostly, you use minimal gestures triggered by a prod, or tap your character to call others to your aid. You get a decent range of gestures, but most people leap and run about, parping until everyone in the vicinity gets the message.

Now and again, Sky’s social elements also deliver a sucker punch to the feels: that moment when you make a first in-game friend, and the children light up in delight; or when someone grabs your hand and sweeps you into the sky. It’s like watching magical children play.

Sky’s the limit

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There are echoes of thatgamecompany’s Journey here – but on mobile there’s nothing else like Sky. However, I did get regular whiffs of Flower, too – and not always sweet ones.

Alongside many moments of free-flowing joy, there are clunky reminders you’re playing a game. The illusion of an open world is hit by abrupt area boundaries like treelines you can’t move past. And that traditionalist need to collect a requisite number of items to progress seems at odds with Sky’s desire to be something different.

This came to a head when I left the game running while my iPhone charged. The blissful audio continued to play, while my in-game character had a nap in the grass. But later that day, launching the game after doing something else, everything resumed from a home zone. It took time to figure out where I was – and where I’d previously got to. Even when deep into levels, unless you’ve a cartographer’s brain it’s easy to get frustrated.

In all then, Sky is a mobile game you can easily lose yourself in – but in more ways than one.

Sky: Children of the Light is available for iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play). The game is also planned for release on macOS, tvOS, PC and consoles