Aurora, a young girl from 1895 Austria, awakens on the lost fairytale continent of Lemuria. To return home she must fight against the dark creatures of the Queen of the Night, who have stolen the sun, the moon and the stars. At stake is not only Lemuria, but Aurora’s true destiny.
Back in 2015, I discovered the music of Cœur de Pirate while I was doing my “Good Moods” project. Among the great albums Beatrice released until then, there was this gem of instrumental music, called “Child of Light”. I didn’t know much about it, nor had the inspiration to find out more about the album and the soundtrack, so I just kept listening to it over and over, including the entire album on the playlist I usually listen to wind down before sleeping, the song “Pilgrims on a Long Journey” being probably one of the best songs ever written in the history of mankind. You can listen the entire soundtrack on Youtube.
And it wasn’t until 2024, the 10 year anniversary of the album and its accompanying vinyl release when I saw the beautiful graphics on the record’s covers that I thought “hey, this looks actually great, let me find out more about it”. And, my oh my, was I impressed about what I discovered!
Released in 2014 and made by Ubisoft Montreal, Child of Light puts you in the steps of the young girl Aurora as she navigates a dream-like world as she looks to reunite with her father. Enemies and allies guide her way, and you will lead Aurora as she overcomes obstacles to discover the truth of the world. I (of course) set the battles difficulty to Casual, and this game becomes a journey, but not an easy one, being quite challenging here and there.
This side-scrolling game is not your average platformer where you have to mash buttons over and over. Here, the fights are turn-based, but also with a real-time component, but the world is so immersive and well made, it’s impossible to leave your controller down. The music sets the tone perfectly, both in the fights and when exploring (and there’s a lot to explore!) making this an enjoyable title. I also love the slow pacing of the game, far away from the hyperactive kids’ games you see everyday which go “whoop crash badabing badaboom” and make me nauseous after 10 minutes. The story as well seems straightforward, but also mysterious, managing to achieve what Hogwarts Legacy couldn’t, to keep me glued to the game.
Although I finished only the first three chapters when writing this article, I know I’ll definitely play this some more and uncover the secrets of the kingdom of Lemuria.
Read more about the game on their Ubisoft store, get it on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch.
As we speak, the game is on sale for the Xbox for about 5 bucks, so it’s worth adding it to the wishlist on your platform and get it for cheaper than the usual $15-20.
