A Reminder Why Cults Are Rarely Good
By Eric Getty Gettinger
Cults are not good but Children of the Sun, CotS, is an amazing game which constantly builds upon itself. You play as a masked gunner who is hunting down and killing members of the Children of the Sun cult, without so much as a word spoken. The story is told through flashes of bits from the past while weaving in increasingly difficult sniper challenges featuring fantastic abilities. Each stage has you firing off one round from your rifle, controlling it in a first person view, and then upon killing a cultist you propel the bullet to the next target. All leading to an epic showdown against the cult leader who took everything away from the main character.
The opening sequence of Children of the Sun is wild and sets the tone immediately. The protagonist licks the barrel of your rifle, pulls the trigger, then its time to go hunting. The art style is dark, gritty, and while most of the story happens at night or low light areas the cultists wear bright yellow uniforms making them easy to spot. The protagonist has the chance to line up a shot but your movement is limited to having them run left or right at the start of a stage. From there you need to use keen sight, arching your bullets, and geometry to map the most effective paths to kill cultists. Very quickly CotS adds more skills playing into the fact that your character has telekinetic abilities allowing them to maneuver objects in mid air. One of the most handy abilities is the mid-shot redirect that allows you to completely reroute a bullet after firing. Thus makes it easier to hit enemies otherwise impossible to reach according to the laws of physics. It is followed by a power shot which accelerates a bullet to pierce armor. Just another tool in the kit of this revenge game.
The real addiction of CotS comes from all the things it does so well. Music is minimal and most sounds are the bullet hitting people or explosions. It feels right that there wouldn’t be songs or much happening in the background. Levels are big and small at the same time. While you shoot something across the map it never feels too far from other targets especially if you are keen on finding tricks. The levels are also fairly quick for dedicated players. I burned through in under three hours having to restart levels frequently to try again or perfect my techniques. The kill shot map at the end of each stage allows you to see the path your shot took, at times it looks comical to see that the bullet traveled through twelve different objects but ultimately satisfying.
There is hardly anything to critique in CotS. This is being published through Devolver so the violence is no surprise but understandably it might be too much for some players. A kill will result in blood flying everywhere and while not a graphic intense game the intent is there. The story is not explicitly told to you and the player needs to put the parts together and grasp what is going on. Having said this much as you progress it becomes much more clear. This can be a challenging or difficult game so be prepared to restart a level. There was nothing too obtuse and you have skills and abilities that allow for some variation in play but CotS still requires you to poke different pieces to see how they move. The best approach is to go in with an open mind.
Children of the Sun is a must play game of 2024 especially for fans of first person shooters. Being set on a path of revenge with nothing but a rifle makes the journey all the more satisfying. While there is some difficulty and getting accustomed to what you can manipulate by the end there is a feeling of mastery. You may also find yourself taking the time to ricochet a bullet through a bird to target a gas tank that will take out three cultists. That’s just some of the magic you can experience in Children of the Sun but also keep in mind, cults are generally not great so maybe just play this instead.
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