Children of the Sun Review

Considering the heyday that shooters had in the 90’s, it’s pretty impressive that in 2024, we can get a sniper game that feels unique as Children of the Sun does. The other connection to the 90’s is that Children of the Sun is the epitome of grunge. The visuals are grimy, the soundtrack is loud and distorted and it’s tonally disturbing at times.

However, it’s fusing all of these elements together that creates something unique. Children of the Sun is a dark experience of one person with one bullet trying to escape a cult with a gameplay mechanic that is more puzzle than sniper that kept me coming back for more.

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Children of The Super Hot Sun

There is a common denominator when it comes to brutally killing people with a sniper rifle from a distance that makes it ok. That element is the target on the other end. We’ve seen terrorists, we’ve seen Nazi’s and now with Children of the Sun there are cultists to rid the world of.

The elevator pitch is that you only have one sniper bullet and to kill everyone on the level. You need to either kill someone or find some type of destructible element that will allow you to continue on from that point of impact. Upon firing, time slows to a crawl, akin to Super Hot and upon completing each level you are scored based on objective, speed and accuracy, which then goes onto a scoreboard that constantly demands more from you. Children of the Sun does a good job of incentivizing multiple attempts as you quickly learn that you might not have used to most optimal solution for the puzzle.

The beginning is simple shoot one cultist and then proceed to the next. New skills are slowly introduced to you such as slighty bending bullets, changing their speed, and changing directions. At the same time Children of the Sun also introduces plenty of new challenges along the way to overcome, such as riot shield enemies, body armor enemies, and psychics who are protected by a dome shield. Then there are also environmental items that are slowly introduced including explosive items, wildlife that can gives you a drastically different point of view and driving enemies, which making timing more critical. By the end of the game, there are a lot more factors to account for and fully require you to utilize the recon section at the start of each level.

Backfires

The introduction of these variables leads to a lot of different combinations throughout the game, which does keep it from getting stale over its 24 levels that will take you about 5 hours, but it would have been great if there was a bit more variety in the level design. I understand that a cult is mostly going to reside in a dilapidated countryside, but even weather changes could have been more than enough or more set pieces. Imagine waiting for thunder to shroud you shot or find a target in the brightness of lightning to mark at the recon stage.

In between some of the standard sniper levels, there were a few levels that deviated from the formula, which ruined the momentum of the game, as they were frustrating, and drastically shifted the tone. The story is mostly told through stills and 2D animations between levels, which served as a supporting part to the heart of Children of the Sun, which was the gameplay, but ultimately, the story was very unsatisfying.

Moving from one level to the next was extremely minimalist, but could have been a map or a cult pamphlet of the property that could have given you a better idea of the big picture, instead of just aimlessly moving from one x to the next.

There are some enemies that require you to be far enough away to use the speeding bullet and when you are that far away, it’s impossible to distinguish the difference between enemy types if you haven’t marked them during reconnaissance or a previous attempt. If it’s your first attempt this could lead to some frustrating outcomes.

Verdict

In keeping with the grunge analogy, the genre is not for everyone, but Children of the Sun has a lot of really great songs on the album including gameplay, audio, and visuals, but there were a few skippable tracks including mini games, variety and ultimately a story that left me very unsatisfied. While it might not be a greatest hits collection, there are enough tracks that make the album worth a listen and costing less than an actual grunge album cost in the 90’s

7.5

Children of The Sun FAQ

Is Children of the Sun Steam Deck Verified?

At the time of review, Children of the Sun was not verified, but it worked perfectly on Steam Deck. Although, the optimal setup is likely using a mouse as moving your aim from one target to the next as quick as you need to for maximum score requires precision and speed.

How long is Children of the Sun?

Children of the Sun has 24 sniper levels and a few mini game levels in between that can be completed in about 5-6 hours. If you want to make sure you get all the objectives and chase the top of the leaderboards, you will need probably double that.

Is Children of the Sun on Xbox?

At release, Children of the Sun is only available on PC.

Is Children of the Sun on PS5?

At release, Children of the Sun is only available on PC.