Children of the Sun is a grimy puzzle shooter about a psychic sniper and one magic bullet

Children of the Sun
(Image credit: Devolver Digital)

A point-thirty eight caliber round leaves the barrel with a sound like a thunderbolt being torn in half, and stings the air with a monetary curl of chemical flame. An inch of lead whistles through the open sky and through the open door of an old barn, clearing a thousand feet in half an instant. Inside, there is a wet, crunching sound, something heavy hitting wooden boards - and the bullet continues, now at a completely different angle but with no loss of momentum, flying out of a side entrance. It curls unnaturally between two hay bales, twists of dead straw sent spiraling in its wake like maple seeds, singing a single, humming note into the night air before it flits over a dirt road and slams into the chassis of an old truck, rumbling in the opposite direction. In less than a millisecond it has burrowed into the gas tank, trailing sparks along the way.

The explosion will be heard for nearly four miles, and pieces of both truck and driver will be found for nearly half that. On a hilltop overlooking the destruction, a stringy-haired figure smiles tersely beneath her white mask, slings a smoking rifle over her back, and trudges into the undergrowth, the bushes parting ahead of her before she even reaches them, pushed aside by invisible hands.

Believe it or not, you're not missing much context for all that. Devolver's most recent slaughter-fest, Children of the Sun, has the same lean, threadbare storytelling a lot of their fanbase might've come to expect - static-riddled images and coarse, neon visuals give it a rough framing and most of the narrative is little more than raw snippets of context-light info: a superficially friendly religious movement with dark intentions, a loved one mysteriously driven to suicide… and an abused victim of the cult's machinations gifted with psychic powers and an old bolt action rifle.

Psychic killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?

Children of the Sun

(Image credit: Devolver Digital)

The light story and murky context are clearly an intentional choice that speak to a very damaged perspective. Like the protagonists of Hotline Miami and Katana Zero, the main character of Children of the Sun (known only as THE GIRL) has the kind of brain that could be charitably described as "an A for effort". I guess if half your consciousness is riding the astral plane while the other half is experiencing Rambo: First Blood, coherence was always going to be an ambitious goal. Still, the immortal line "I just killed a man, now I'm horny" is some of the best character work you'll get in gaming right now.

But while we're referencing movies, the flick that's more illustrative for gameplay purposes is the timeless MacAvoy classic Wanted. The goal for each mission is to snipe every cultist in an area, but this is a revenge story on a serious budget, and you're only given a single bullet for each level. THE GIRL therefore has to use her telekinetic abilities to control said bullet after it leaves the barrel, bouncing it off enemies' cerebellums and threading the needle between obstacles to rack up a massive killstreak.

Cult following 

Children of the Sun

(Image credit: Devolver Digital)

What results is a surreal and splattery puzzle game that feels a little like Hitman: Sniper Challenge via Superhot. You start with the ability to pause time and redirect the bullet after it hits a target, causing a chain reaction of skull-splattering ricochets, and before long you're firing a round that realigns its trajectory within an enemy's neck, zooms off into an explosive barrel, bounces off an unsuspecting bird before gleefully soars away to cause more chaos. Later on you get even more control over the bullet, curving it around barriers and accelerating it to break through armor, and the result is pure geometry. It's not uncommon to spend your time squatting on a hilltop with chin on fist, considering distant targets and trying to calculate angles like the most morbid game of snooker imaginable.

Children of the Sun isn't perfect - it's very short and almost certainly could've gone further in exploring its core gameplay concept - but I had a good time with it, especially when it stretches itself and thinks outside the box. A mission where you fire your gun out the window of a moving car to wipe out an entire motorcade is probably the highlight, and I like that you can use wildlife as optional ricochet points, bouncing a bullet off an oblivious wood pigeon mid-flight so you can angle it down through a skylight to cause further havoc.

And on a broader level, when taking a step back, I love that Devolver are still completely happy to bankroll whatever the exact opposite of a "cozy game" is. After years doing this, they're still taking risks on weird, creative and important projects like Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, Inscryption, Card Shark - and now Children of the Sun. If that's not worth celebrating, I don't know what is.


Children of the Sun is out now on PC. To see what else we've been enjoying check out our Indie Spotlight series. 

CATEGORIES
Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.

Read more
Atomfall screenshot
Playing Atomfall for 90 minutes booted me out of my comfort zone more than any other survival action game, and that's a very good thing
The clip selection screen in Immortality, highlighting a clip of Marrisa Marcel with the director of Ambrosio
"Part of the genesis of Immortality was the three years I spent making a Legacy Of Kain game that got cancelled": Sam Barlow on the making of his "interactive movie"
Lining up a headshot through a sniper rifle scope in Sniper Elite: Resistance
Sniper Elite: Resistance review: "Balances action and stealth with a level of success that very few games manage"
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has a survival horror surprise that echoes Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty's – and I loved every second
The Stone of Madness screenshot of Alfredo and Eduardo facing a large moveable crate, with an enemy standing guard outside the room.
Escaping an asylum hidden in an 18th century Spanish monastery is a curious concept for a stealth game, but I couldn't put this one down
Sniper Elite: Resistance
I'm sure Sniper Elite Resistance is great for stealth stars, but I turned it into a Nazi-blasting horde shooter and have zero regrets
Latest in Third Person Shooter
Helldivers 2 screenshot showing a fully geared/armored diver standing with gun in hand as three jets soar the skies behind him
Arrowhead reveals the Helldivers 2 ideas left on its cutting room floor, from 5-player squads to low-gravity planets and a whole new armor system
Helldivers 2 Ultimatum
Helldivers 2 has a Major Order problem, but the solution isn't simple because "having 100% participation means the MOs will always be won and that introduces other issues"
Marvel Rivals Clone Rumble
Marvel Rivals' new Clone Rumble mode sounds like the kind of absolute chaos multiplayer games need more of
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 has an endgame problem, but a developer assures us "things are coming," they just can't say what yet because otherwise our expectations will be too high
Jeff the Land Shark as he appears in Marvel Rivals
"Sounds like a skills issue": Jeff the Shark co-creator says Marvel Rivals players "should get better at the game" if "my boy is beating your ass every night"
Helldivers 2 intro cutscene helldiver thumbs up
Helldivers 2's Galactic War resumes as Arrowhead fixes its broken liberation rates, and High Command insists anyone who saw anything weird "may be suffering from Illuminate mind-influence"
Latest in Features
Monster Hunter Wilds characters share a meal
Oh no, Monster Hunter Wilds is so good that I'm already counting the days until its inevitable Master Rank expansion
Kai and Giatta battle Xaurip in Avowed
I get why Obsidian doesn't like The Elder Scrolls comparisons, but Avowed is the first RPG to have its hooks in me this deep since Skyrim took over my life 14 years ago
Photo taken by writer Rosalie Newcombe of the Tears of the Kingdom OLED Nintendo Switch handheld, with the Super Mario Nendoroid figure standing in front of it.
My PC is screaming for an update, but the Switch 2 will be taking all my money this year
GoDice in their RPG case beside Pixels dice
I put two electronic d20s head-to-head and the bad news for your wallet is the discount D&D dice failed its saving throw
Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread in play
This board game TRPG hybrid delivers something D&D hasn't quite managed to capture for me
Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again killing off a fan-favorite character is controversial, but it might prove to be the right choice for the new Marvel show