Sky: Children of the Light takes you straight into its colorful world with very little explanation.
The game just released for Nintendo Switch on July 29, giving the rest of us another chance to experience this unique follow-up to Voyage. Like this open world exploration game, you are sent with almost no tutorial. You will need to use light to recharge your wing's energy and fly, and use candles to start fires. There are side quests like spirits to find for more customization, and you'll earn more wing flaps as you progress. And everything is free!
If you're not sure if this game is for you, we've got some tips to help true beginners get started. As we said before, this is an F2P game, but it does not require any purchase. In-game purchases are for cosmetic items only. You will be able to reach the end of the game with a little help from friends or solo.
You can download Sky: Children of Light free on Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices.
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# 1. The basics | How to progress
At the start of the game, it's not exactly clear what you should do. You are thrust into a strange and beautiful world without any instruction. Here are the basics.
- you must luminous statues – each map has a temple in the distance with a statue inside. hurry[[A]to be pointed in the right direction.
- progress, you need to find spirits et Light. Interacting with a spirit launches a small mini-game where you have to follow it. Find 3/4 of the memories and the Spirit can be released from the stone by pressing [[Yes].
- Candles are your main tool and currency. You spend candles to unlock new spirit emotes and make friends. You will always have a candle that can burn objects, light other candles for light, or interact with other players.
- To move, you have to jump[[B]and get started steal. You can fly by press[[R]to change flight mode — glide or hover.
These are the extreme basics. By pressing[[A]you will create a beacon to your next goal. To reload your wing flaps, you must stand close to creatures, or stand near light sources – it took me way too long to figure that out. Carefully search each environment for hidden Spirits that energize you. If you collect enough wing energy, you can upgrade and get another flap added to your total. The more Cape Flaps you have, the longer you can fly.
At first, you'll explore areas in the clouds - touching the clouds recharges your Cape Flaps, as do flocks of birds and other players. Later you will explore more dangerous areas. The rain will drain your energy and eventually drain your light too! You must stay out of the rain or stay warm near fires or spirit springs. That's why it helps to have a friend.
#2. Make friends to find spirits and recharge
You can play solo while having lots of friends. In Sky: Children of Light, the more friends you have, the easier your quest will be. You can watch random players running in the same area as you, but only moths (other players) you've encountered can work together. To "meet" another player, simply hold out your candle[[Yes]near them. If both players are warmed by the light, they will "meet" - you can now interact with the player and the friend.
And now that you have met them, they become fully visible. You will be able to recharge your energy next to each other and they can call to report hidden locations. They can also complete tasks together – if someone you've met (or friend!) finds a spirit, they can complete all spirit memories with you. You can unlock free spirits without doing any work!
Interacting with other players also allows you to become full friends. You have to spend a candle to become friends – if you're lucky, someone will want to spend a candle on you instead. Once you become friends, you can unlock bonus privileges like full chat. You can also send hearts to your friends daily to earn special currency used to get costumes, emotes, and other cool spirit stuff. It's not mandatory, but it's fun!
- NOTE: The Guidance system can also really help players. By activating a button for new players, you will be able to indicate that you want a guide. A guide player can then easily find you and help you progress in a spiritual quest. Very handy if you are looking for extra help!
#3. Learn how to get the most out of your wings
In the air, you have two types of flight movements; hover and fly. Each type of move changes your controls, and you can freely switch between them in the air by pressing [[R]. The modes both have different benefits and reasons while you will want to trade.
- Hovering: In Hover mode, you jump higher but move slower. If you want to gain more height, you need to stay in Hover Mode when battling. You'll also want to use Hover mode for careful jumps on floating platforms.
- Flying: In Flight Mode, you are always moving forward. Pushing down tilts you down and pushing up slides you up. Flapping your wings gives you a boost of forward speed.
To fly longer in flight mode, tilt down then up to gain glide speed. Flapping just as you gain speed from gliding will give you an extra boost.
#4. Remember to switch to 60 FPS
On Nintendo Switch, you may lose some graphical fidelity for improved performance. Open the pause menu and select the bottom left option to instantly skip to 60 FPS fashion. This is a game that benefits from smoother play – the little details aren't that important!
This one is a personal preference, but it's exciting to know that Ciel: Children of Light can run at 60 FPS on Nintendo Switch. Few games bother to add a performance mode to Nintendo's scrappy handheld. We greatly appreciate it!
#5. You can only earn high candles in the endgame
After you "complete" the story, you will be able to earn a special end-game currency called Rising Candles. They're like your normal candles, but you'll notice a different icon on the spirits that give you emotes - you need to spend ascended candles to keep upgrading their constellations and getting more cool stuff.
You can earn a maximum of 16 Ascended Candles per week, and the weekly counter resets every Saturday at midnight. Light up the statues on the Eye of Eden. You'll get more Wing Light depending on how many Ascended Spirits (Spirit Emotes) you've unlocked - so head over to the early maps and raise those spirits. At first, you won't be able to complete lighting the Eye of Eden statue in one go. This will likely take several runs - but as you build up your Wing Light, you'll have more energy to complete this quest, and you'll be able to get the max 16 Ascended Candles faster.
That's just the basics! There's so much more to discover - there are hidden areas, special doors that require two players to unlock, and plenty of hidden spirits to discover on your return journeys to each realm. Work together and you can accomplish anything in this beautiful world.
