Devolver Digital has been on a bit of a roll over the past few years. Games like the thought-provoking Talos Principle 2 and the addictive roguelike Cult of the Lamb have been phenomenal successes that have become some of our favourites. They are also undoubtedly not afraid to release some weird and more experimental games, like The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood. Children of the Sun is a game I randomly found while browsing Devolver’s upcoming games list, and I’m really glad that I found it.

You play as the girl, a mysterious character with a dark past; once a part of the Cult of the Sun. As is tradition with cult stories, the cult does something horrifying and attempts to control something for their dark purposes. In a fit of rage, the girl summons supernatural powers and begins to wage a one-woman war on the cult, murdering them all one by one to get to the leader.

The storytelling here is rather abstract. No dialogue is ever spoken and instead, cutscenes have an incredible amount of style to them. It’s a pretty standard revenge story, but with a supernatural twist. Whilst it’s a pretty standard revenge storyline with no real surprises, what kept me engaged was the hyper-stylised presentation of the cutscenes and use of flashbacks that keep the story moving as fast as the gameplay does.

You may be wondering, “how the hell do you get revenge on the cult with just one bullet?” Well, the girl has supernatural abilities that allow her to control the bullet’s trajectory. After it hits a target time will freeze, allowing you to aim at a new victim. If you miss your target or hit an obstacle, you fail and need to restart. The gameplay loop follows a simple pattern; mark all the enemies on the map and plan a route for your bullet to wipe them all out in just a few seconds.

Whilst this sounds simple, the strong level design requires a level of strategy as cultists scatter the throughout the area, and may need to be taken out in a specific order as some may be hidden away or lead to dead ends. As you progress through the cult ranks, new enemy types and abilities will unlock at a steady pace. Armoured enemies will need you to speed up your bullet, which also requires you to shoot them from a further range, whilst shields can only be hit from behind. There are a few more mechanics and enemies that I won’t spoil here, as they make for some really interesting opportunities.

It’s a fascinating gameplay loop that never gets boring. Each mission is a puzzle that needs to be solved. Every failure uncovers new intel which can be used to improve your next attempt. There are so many ways to complete each mission, and there’s also challenges associated to most of them. It’s never explicitly said what these challenges are except for a vague clue when starting the mission, but it’s another thing to hunt for. 

I do wish it went on for a little bit longer, as the only really challenging levels came to the back end of the game where it requires you to use all of your abilities in unison. Much of the game’s challenge won’t be within completing a mission, but finding the most effective way to do so. Even though there’s quite a lot here with the five to six hour storyline, it’s the immense replay value where Children of the Sun really shines, and I can see people easily dropping a couple dozen hours into this game. It’s not Neon White levels of addiction, but it’s a decent enough distraction.

Children of the Sun has a very unique and distinctive visual design that immediately caught my attention. However, sometimes the environment can get in the way, especially dense foliage where it’s more of an annoyance rather than adding to the gameplay. I’m also not a huge fan of the font style chosen. This is a relatively minor thing as it’s not illegible, just ugly, and you will be seeing it a lot. As for sound there’s not a lot to discuss here, but the soundtrack does fit the game nicely.

Children of the Sun is a truly unique game worth experiencing that had me hooked for its entire runtime. An engaging puzzle-centric design mixed with an addictive gameplay loop and extremely high replay value. If you are looking for something a little bit weird, then this is the game for you.  

Graphics: 7.5 Extremely stylised presentation, but can be a little too basic.	Gameplay: 8.0 Using one bullet to take down an entire cult is a good time.
Sound: 7.0 Solid enough sound design, if not overly remarkable.	Fun Factor: 8.0 A unique and brilliant game with a few minor flaws. The gameplay loop is highly addictive.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Children of the Sun is available now on PC.

Reviewed on PC.

A copy of Children of the Sun was provided by the publisher.