May 30

May 30 Inter/review | Children Of The Sun - The Kids Might Not Be Alright...

It's no secret that shooters have become the dominant genre in the games industry as staples like Call of Duty and Fortnite are now considered some of the biggest media franchises of all time. Many publishers are trying to make a killing by replicating every success story under the sun, but this often results in poor imitations bound by creative limitations.

Big-budget FPS games feel like they are stagnating thanks to a live-service model that keeps old titles relevant through larger-than-life updates and capitalistic collabs. Bucking this trend is a slew of sophisticated shooters made by smaller studios finding success by shaping new paths in the industry. Children of the Sun is a striking example that harkens back to an age of mid-budget auteur-driven passion projects when games were less afraid of being unapologetically artful.

Children of the Sun places players in the shoes of THE GIRL, a psychic marksman hellbent on taking down THE CULT with just a single bullet. Levels take the form of dioramas that purposefully perplex problem solvers with precise placements and abilities that obscure the perfect line of attack. Once a shot has been fired, the perspective shifts to the point of view of the lone projectile that requires psychic manipulation to take out all your targets in one go.

However, this description fails to mention the many stylistic qualities that lie at the forefront of the experience. In the spirit of the game, I have incorporated multiple perspectives to uncover the story surrounding one of the most unique shooters in recent memory as I recently interviewed solo developer Rene Rother at WASD 2024 to pinpoint the underlying decisions that shaped the uncompromised vision of Devolver's latest cult classic.

Underpinning the experience are a ton of tightly executed high-concept ideas made possible thanks to Rother ’s unparalleled passion for development and Devolver’s hands-off approach to publishing.

The first thing that drew me to Children of the Sun was its distinct art style consisting of saturated hues to depict the seedy underbelly of a cult. This beautifully garish style is the result of pure expression and an accessible visual language to help find targets. From Children of the Sun’s humble beginnings as a game jam-esque project, Rother envisioned a low-fi look that captures “the feeling I get from music… melancholic but also slightly aggressive”.

Creating a unique atmosphere has become the focal point of Rother ’s design philosophy and it has certainly helped Children of the Sun stand out with audio-visual feedback that contrasts a grimy, aggressive soundscape with neon, dreamlike colours to visualise THE GIRL’s messy view of the world. But Rother revealed to me that “The game is kind of noisy… it’s very easy to get lost in the environment, so I wanted to make the enemies stand out for accessibility reasons”. This stand-out design solution contributed to the game’s iconic, harsh colour scheme.

Outside of the signature look, the most unique element of Children of the Sun is its strangely satisfying one-handed control scheme. On PC, every action is carried out with the mouse including traversal that uses drag distance to determine speed. The accuracy required to spot hidden enemies helped this casual FPS fan to snipe targets in a precise framework.

This particular control scheme was implemented at the start of development for accessibility reasons, but Rother quickly realised that there were more benefits to this layout that bolstered Children of the Sun’s distinct feel. “Coming up with a unique control scheme was interesting because people act with the game differently”, said Rother, “different kinds of thoughts with how you play… a different kind of connection”.

Unfortunately, the intended experience is mitigated for Steam Deck users who have to settle for traditional controls. Rother explained to me that, “people like to play with Steam Deck which is cool, but when I play it I’m like, that's not the right way to do it”. He told me that he reworked tutorials and UIs to fit the new layout but couldn’t overhaul levels as the decision to port the game to Steam Deck was made late into development.

One thing that may come as a surprise is Children of the Sun is secretly a puzzle game that progressively introduces lateral thinking problems with the introduction of certain enemies and mechanics. This realisation initially caught Rother off guard as well, as he told me, “If somebody asked me if I wanted to make a puzzle game, I would have [said] - ‘ehh, that sounds lame’”.

Funnily enough, my enjoyment of the game increased once more puzzle elements were introduced as the added mechanics give an extra sense of cohesion to the gameplay loop that was missing at the start of the game. Personally, I think Children of the Sun is at its best once all the enemy types and mechanics have been introduced, but mastering the gunplay is rewarding in its own right.

A lot of the puzzle pieces naturally start to slot together through a trial-and-error process that allows players to deconstruct the game’s design to find their own path. Some of the best challenges require tweaking the position of a shot to attain a satisfying outcome which, interestingly, mimics Rother’s approach to asset placement. “I played the game a few times and tried different paths and realised, from here, it's really boring to play. Moving something slightly differently can have a huge impact,” said Rother.

Now that Children of The Sun has been released, Rother has become a lot more open to the idea of exploring new genres as long as it's presented in a way that appeals to his sensibilities as a designer. As a reviewer, I can confidently recommend Children of the Sun to fans of stealth and sniper simulators as these mind-bending situations require similar skill sets to overcome.

THE GIRL’s psychic powers are a large departure from traditional FPS design that allows players to change the trajectory and direction of the bullet mid-flight. Children of the Sun’s elaborate level structures take advantage of the mechanic to create electrifying split-second decisions on the path to eliminate enemies. But Rother revealed another reason why he settled on this central idea. “It's not just planning and executing,” he explained,“if your plan goes wrong you can adjust things, which makes the game more engaging”.

It’s clear that a lot of careful consideration has been put into every element of Children of the Sun’s development, but one thing that really caught me off guard was the level of polish on display in Rother’s first major release. These two elements come from a passionate developer who has honed their craft from an early age.

At the age of 13 Rene started his game development journey by messing around with counter-strike maps and textures in paint, this started a lifelong obsession where he learnt the multiple disciplines required to create his own games from the ground up. One of these short experiences /vertical slices, for a more expansive mecha-kaiju action game, showed his potential as a developer, but Children of the Sun wouldn’t be possible without the help of Devolver Digital.

The symbiotic relationship between the two parties allowed Rother to make the fully-fleshed out release of his dreams without compromise. In regards to Devolver’s involvement, Rene stated, “They were very hands-off… I was talking with my producer and they said, ‘If you think it's a good idea, let’s do it’”. Devolver’s deep resources saw Rother paired up with character designer Alba Marín, and musician Aiden Baker alongside a handful of veteran developers.

Basically, every unique idea was left intact in the final game including; enemies that die due to their own carelessness, faraway signs reminiscent of They Live and a cutscene of a cult member peeing on the floor. That being said, Rother decided to cut a lot of content of his own volition to keep Children of the Sun concise, “I wanted to make a shit ton of levels because I wanted to make different paths, like in Star Fox, but it blew up everything”.

Children of the Sun is a short blast that lasts around five to six hours, which may sound short on paper, but it fills that playtime with an overwhelming amount of artistic ideas that forced me to savour the experience through sensory overload. There’s a surprising amount of levels crammed into the package that fully explore each ability with tons of replay value due to the neverending amount of routes a single bullet can take.

If you can’t tell, I highly recommend that you check out Children of the Sun for yourself, it's one of the most smartly designed and stylish shooters on the market, it’s an undeniably singular artistic experience that’s sure to leave a hell of a lasting impression on FPS fans. Huge thanks to Devolver Digital, WASD and Rene Rother for giving me the opportunity to openly discuss the game in great detail.