April 2014’s Child of Light certainly doesn’t look like it’s almost a decade old. Lovingly and painstakingly produced 2D visuals have a timeless quality to them, and the UbiArt framework is an excellent example of that.
From the very first reveal trailer, it was abundantly clear that this was a stunning title, and the storybook world of Lemuria is rich with fantastical details and delightful throughout. It's a beautiful, child-friendly adventure.
The storyline itself isn’t especially innovative, packing every fairytale trope – from evil stepmothers and kindly queens to giants, mysterious locales in the sky, and dwarves – into its 15-hour runtime. The point of the whole thing is to embrace all of this, though, as young Aurora, transported to this beautiful fairytale world, sets out to defeat the evil stepmother and return home through a magical mirror.
A lot of the uniqueness of this title comes from its wonderful artistic style, and the fact that it’s rarely a direction that a big developer and publisher like Ubisoft would take. Or really have since. It looks for all the world like an ambitious, beautiful indie title. There's not a moment of wasted time throughout, either.
It’s not all...
