Child of Light is a role-playing game played as a 2D platformer with turn-based battles. The game is set in the fantasy kingdom Lemuria. The player controls the little girl Aurora, daughter of an Austrian duke, who dies on the night he marries a new wife. Although dead in the real world, she awakens in Lemuria and finds out she is being kept there by the Queen of the Night. To return to her father she must bring back the sun, the moon and the stars the queen stole.
Using the UbiArt framework previously used in the contemporary Rayman games, the scenery is painted in soft watercolours. Aurora can explore freely and as she learns to fly both horizontal and vertical directions can be travelled. Levels are filled with environment based puzzles usually centered around clearing obstacles and avoiding hazards. There are four large areas in total to explore. The game does not need to be completed in a linear order and it offers side missions next to the story missions as well as the ability to return to previously explored areas to discover new items. Early on in the story Aurora meets the firefly Igniculus who acts as her sidekick throughout the game. Controlled separately or cooperatively by another player, he is used to help solve puzzles by lighting up dark areas, trigger switches that react to light, stagger enemies to allow Aurora to pass, and he can pick up objects Aurora cannot reach as he is not bound by walls. Many other characters are encountered throughout the game and these will often join Aurora’s party for support based on certain decisions and quests. Aurora and all characters in the game talk in verse.
Encounters with monsters and opponents take place in a separate screen and these are turn-based. Battles are fought through an Active Time Battle system similar to the one in some Final Fantasy games combined with a turn order where character portraits move along a bar. When these portraits reach the red section at the start of the final quarter an action can be selected, such as attacking, defending or using a spell. The type of action then determines the speed for the remaining part on the bar before it is performed and it is possible to interrupt those pending actions of the characters in that part for a strategic approach. Generally only two characters can be used, but it is possible to swap freely between the available ones. Igniculus also plays his part as he can hover over characters and activate abilities to slow them down or provide light healing to the party. Characters gain experience, level up and can progress through skill trees to gain new abilities. Fights later in the game feature more complex combat with (de)buffs, counters, specific weaknesses and Oculi stones that can be assigned to alter the character status. There are also various items that can help during battles, stored in a separate inventory.
Aurora’s main statistics are HP (health) and MP (mana). These can be upgraded by collecting wishes, glowing globules on a ribbon that appear from flora. These also restore health and mana between battles, restore Igniculus abilities and can be picked up by Igniculus. After completing the game a new game plus can be played. The difficulty level can be heightened by speeding up the pace of battles.
Valiant Hearts:
Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28th, 1914 Germany declared the war on Russia and the whole Europe was dragged into a global conflict. Families were separated, fathers and sons killed in battles by enemy or in trenches by diseases. The game, inspired by the letters written during the Great War follows the stories of several people whose tragic destinies become intertwined as the war drags on.
The game has four playable characters. One of the many Germans deported from France, Karl is separated from his wife Marie and son Victor and forced to join the German army, while Marie’s father Emile is drafted into the French army. Freddie is an American volunteer who seems to have nothing to loose, and Anna is a Belgian student looking for her father. There’s also Walt the dog that will aid the characters on multiple occasions.
Gameplay-wise it is essentially a mix of side-scrolling adventure with a lot of puzzles and a straightforward action game. During “adventure” segments the player guides one of the characters though a series of obstacles using their unique abilities. The puzzles include manipulation with objects, helping out people, sneaking past guards or enemies etc. Action sequences vary from dodging enemy bombs to driving a tank amidst a heated battle.
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