Children of the Sun, a new shooter-puzzler from publisher Devolver Digital, has just been announced and I had the opportunity to pour some time… Maybe a little too much time… into this game’s deranged destruction spree.
Because I Got High… Scores
It’s been two hours, and I still haven’t progressed past the opening level of this preview build.
Am I stuck? Am I struggling to find the motivation to continue playing on? No, it’s not that.
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It’s just that I know that if I move an inch to the right before I fire my sniper rifle, hit this one guy in the corner of his head before drifting the bullet into this other dirtbag’s skull, and do it all half a second faster than I did it last time, I might earn five extra points and move one place higher on the online leaderboards!
…Okay, I may already be hooked on this game’s brand of score chasing.
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
Children of the Sun is a hyper-violent, super-stylish third-person shooter from solo developer René Rother. Players take on the role of The Girl, exacting revenge against a twisted cult which destroyed her life.
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One by one, you’ll gun down its members as they carry out their heinous acts. To your advantage, you have a special ability that helps you mow down hordes of enemies in a single move.
You travel in a circle around a level, each one a sprawling environment filled with adversaries and obstacles. Once you select a starting position, you’ll look down the barrel of your rifle and choose your first target.
The Girl only gets one bullet to use in the stage, but if you kill a cult member, your bullet stays active as it emerges from a shower of blood, allowing you to re-direct it and fire it towards your next target. You repeat this process over and over until all enemies are eliminated with your solitary shot. It all feels very reminiscent of the movie Wanted (people still remember that movie, right?).
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
This novel bullet-bending feature in Children of the Sun transforms the gameplay into feeling more like a series of puzzles as opposed to a standard shooter.
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The slow and thoughtful approach to your chaotic murder spree, and the way enemies are presented as highlighted silhouettes, immediately reminded me of Superhot, one of my favourite games of the 2010s.
Players are judged on many factors, including distance between each slaughtered enemy, the speed at which you complete a level and successfully hitting headshots on your foes.
The bite-sized levels feed a ‘just one more try’ compulsion to improve your score that clearly took a hold of me as I tried to top the leaderboards.
Each level introduces new special challenges and different obstacles like moving trains or enemies with shields. Sometimes you’ll be provided with additional skills, forcing you to experiment in order to progress.
There were fifteen levels packed in to this preview build and while I was told it would take about two hours to complete, here I am, six hours deep still trying to uncover new approaches to maximise my scores.
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I am curious to see how these concepts will be fleshed out into a full length game and what new gimmicks might be introduced to keep the cycle from becoming too repetitive, but this build has already shown there is a lot of creative potential to Children of the Sun’s open-ended design.
Murder on the Dancefloor
The harsh, dynamic music and overbearingly lurid visuals aren’t gonna be everybody’s cup of tea, but this unique style immediately captured my attention.
Levels are punctuated with 2D animated cut-scenes that play out hyperactively as moments of carnage flash across the screen.
Children of the Sun‘s gameplay is presented in a dark, simplistic manner, focusing on simple sketched-out models and uncluttered environments that make sure your targets pop on screen.
Further contributing to the tense atmosphere is how the music responds to your actions. Moving around the area causes the throbbing bass to perk up. Firing your bullet sends out an overwhelming drone and each successful hit rings out with a crashing drum sound. Completing the level sends out a screeching distortion that stylistically feeds into the game’s vibe, but all these elements work as helpful audio cues to inform how you’re progressing through the level.
The lurid blood-soaked visuals and abrasive soundtrack recalled the style of one of the all-time greats Hotline Miami, but René Rother is clearly considerate of not letting style interfere with gameplay. Your enemies are clearly defined and the UI remains clean and effective.
It all amounts to an oppressive, but exhilarating atmosphere that aligns well with it’s gritty story.
Shoot To Thrill
I found Children of the Sun‘s controls unusual at first, but they quickly became second nature.
The game is controlled entirely by mouse, including not just shooting, but movement around the level. You drift your mouse left or right to move the character in a circular rotation around the level, picking the best vantage point.
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From there, you click to aim down the sights, marking all your targets while you do so. Then it’s just firing and re-aiming after each hit, as you would in any shooting game.
The game is also playable using a controller and worked well on my Steam Deck. While these were valid options, neither felt as precise as the mouse control and would definitely add a layer of difficulty that would make setting reasonable scores borderline impossible.
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
If you like climbing leaderboards with a dose of precisely executed bloodshed, you’ll have a lot to look forward to when Children of the Sun drops on PC later this year.
Quest Daily was granted access to this preview with thanks to Devolver Digital.
