Child of Light is a 2D platformer role-playing game with turn-based fights. The game takes place in the imaginary realm of Lemuria. The player takes control of Aurora, the daughter of an Austrian duke who dies on the night he marries a new wife. Despite being dead in the actual world, she awakens in Lemuria and discovers she is being held captive by the Queen of the Night. To return to her father, she must return the sun, moon, and stars the Queen stole.
The scenery is created in soft watercolors using the UbiArt framework, previously utilized in Rayman games. Aurora is free to explore, and when she learns to fly, she can travel in both horizontal and vertical directions. Levels are loaded with environment-based puzzles, which involve removing obstacles and avoiding hazards. There are four multiple places to explore in all. The game does not have to be completed in a specific order, and it includes side objectives in addition to the main tasks and the opportunity to return to previously explored regions to find additional goods. Aurora encounters the firefly Igniculus early in the plot, who is her partner throughout the game. He is employed to solve puzzles by lighting up dark locations, triggering switches that react to light, staggering adversaries to allow Aurora to pass, and picking up stuff Aurora cannot reach because walls do not confine him. Many more characters appear throughout the game and frequently join Aurora’s team for assistance depending on specific actions and tasks. Aurora, as well as all other characters in the game, speak in verse.
Monster and opponent encounters take place on a separate screen and are turn-based. Battles are fought using an Active Time Battle system similar to that found in several Final Fantasy games, as well as a turn order in which character images move along a bar. When these portraits reach the red part at the start of the final quarter, an action can be chosen, such as attacking, defending, or casting a spell. The activity then influences the speed of the remaining bar portion before it is executed. For a strategic approach, it is possible to stop those awaiting actions of the characters in that part. Only two characters can be utilized simultaneously, although you can freely switch between them. Igniculus also contributes by hovering over characters and activating skills that slow them down or provide light healing to the group. Characters collect experience, level up, and can advance via skill trees to learn new skills. Later in the game, the fighting becomes more sophisticated, with (de)buffs, counters, specific weaknesses, and Oculi stones that can be assigned to change the character’s state. Numerous goods can aid in a battle kept in a separate inventory.
Aurora’s primary stats are her HP (health) and MP (mana). These can be enhanced by collecting wishes, which appear as glowing globules on a ribbon from vegetation. These also replenish Igniculus’s health and mana between battles, restore Igniculus’s powers, and can be picked up by Igniculus. After finishing the game, you can play a new game plus. The difficulty level can be increased by increasing the speed of combat.
