Sky: Children of the Light

Overview: I have been playing since March 2021 Days of Bloom event and I can thoroughly say that I despise this game. I HATE it. It's the #1 game I've played, I've grown up on it, I've made a lot of long-term friends on it, and I DESPISEEEE it. I have been playing through steam since it came out on steam. Before that? Through mobile. I'm a complete addict. CONS: - The game is INCREDIBLY grindy and the devs LOVE to keep it that way. The same wax system has been in place since 2021 (as far as I can remember) and is completely unoptimized for the inflation of the game. Cosmetics can range from 5 candles to 200 candles, and you only get 20 candles per day with a 2 hour grind sesh (100 candles per week given you can log in for 2-3 hours a day BESIDES whatever job or school you have). The average free cosmetic can sit between that 10-15 candles range, but a LOOOT tend to go higher, up to almost 200 candles each. There are a BILLION IN APP PERCHASES that are so pretty that if you have intense FOMO like me, you're doomed to drop your clams for it. IAPs range from $2.99 to $25, but most sit within that $10-15 dollar range. - THE MONEY CONVERSION PER COUNTRY IS ATROCIOUS. I had an old friend explain how one Sky IAP was rent for the month in their country. For pixels on a screen? ATROCIOUS. - There is a repetitive play loop. You have 24 hours to complete dailies, get all your wax, and by the next day it resets. The only things that are new tend to be the seasons and cosmetics, they drip feed you the lore which is mainly pieced together by the fandom, and they have the whole Eye of Eden thing, which resets every week and gives you a set amount of ascended candles per week. - There is no in game dialogue, no exchanges between spirits, no storyline to follow, you just go straight and die and repeat, over and over again. - NO SEASONS DON'T COUNT AS STORYLINES IF YOU'RE GIVEN THE CHOICE TO PAY $10 FOR EXTRA COSMETICS. Yes I've only missed Nesting, Blue Bird and Migration. - There are little to no methods to put up a defense against krills or other creatures of darkness. There are the Elder Masks but those are RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE, with 150 ascended candles for SEPARATE left and right Valley Elder masks, along with 250 ASCENDED CANDLES for the Forest Elder mask, AND they only give you one use before you have to recharge them. - They hate it when the players discover new ways to farm wax, and had even instilled a system that activated when you went AFK at geyser or grandmas, where you could not collect wax if your skykid fell asleep. You HAD to be at your device in order to collect 20 measly candles that could be spent THAT DAY. - They instilled a 3 DAY cooldown period after friending someone that prevents you from giving them gifts or sending them hearts, which is INCREDIBLY annoying as someone who loves to send new friends hearts. This is a little more understandable though since it's meant to prevent players from making alt accounts to give themselves hearts. - The hearts system is incredibly slow and agonizing. After completing all the quests in the game as well as getting majority of the traveling spirits, I can only hope that I have friends active enough to send me light to HOPEFULLY get a heart, maybe two, per week. - I hate the collab seasons. Van Gogh not included. They're useless and I don't count them towards the Sky lore. - Socializing is a HUGE aspect of the game, which is great but also annoying for solo players. The 8 player door for example, which requires a lot of deep calls and an unecessary amount of time spent in there depending on how long it takes for 8 players to show up. Not to mention how hearts are required to finish the constellations and to get certain cosmetics from special events. - ONE LAST GRIPE I HAVE WITH THIS GOD FORSAKEN GAME. The Days of Events and the Traveling Spirits all meshing together. In 2021 during the Season of the Little Prince, the Juggler spirit came by, whose cosmetics were 200 candles total for a cape and pants. The little prince exclusive sword suit pants were also 200 candles, and forced a LOOOT of players to choose between getting either, because obviously you cannot grind an extra 200 candles in three days. A lot of traveling spirits tend to show up during days of events and really ruin the enjoyment out of getting cosmetics, and cause needless stress on it because what the hell? You have to choose between two really pretty cosmetics? God. Lord almighty. PROS: - Incredibly interesting lore once you understand what's going on. Not that it isn't something not done before (Hollow Knight lore comes to mind) but it's certainly cool, given the abilities the skykids have and what you can infer from the seasons. - The fandom itself is incredibly kind and sweet and based around helping others considering the game mechanics. Players are expected to guide moths around, and heaven knows I have. Every player lit is guaranteed to be kind, as I've only had three experiences over the course of 5 years that I'd consider negative. - The realms are gorgeous and show the care that was put into the game. The graphics are a huge part of why I kept playing, and are why I continue to play. Each realm is breathtaking, especially Hidden Forest and Valley of Triumph, along with certain seasonal areas. - Very much like Journey, as they are made from the same company, Sky is just capitalism simulator. Sorry I'll stop dogging on the game. But it follows a linear path that is incredibly exciting as a new player, and the visuals aid in that greatly. - The developers do listen to players regarding censorship and keeping other players safe. You're able to block or outright unfriend players, and the game lets you know when you encounter them again, that is IF you ever encounter an ex friend in the lobbies (which I haven't experienced so far). - It has a varied amount of things you can do with other friends, especially within the friendship trees per player. Although the friendship tree emotes are expensive, they're worth it I'd say. You're able to gift friends cosmetics and hearts, teleport to them if you have it unlocked, and carry them around. You're also able to take them into your nest and chat with them practically everywhere (which makes sense as it is a FRIENDSHIP game). You can also grind candles with them, and that alone makes the candleruns so much more bearable. - Meeting people isn't hard. There are five lobbies total, with only Vault not having one. It's easy to go up to players and light them if they wish, and sit down to chat with them using chat benches. - There is a wide array of players on Sky, as the game is global. I've met players from Indonesia, China, Japan, Korea, Paraguay, Germany, Philippines, US, and so many more that I cannot recall. There is a built in translation feature inside of the chat, so you're able to translate messages and text others easily. Before, you had to have a built in translator in your keyboard or go to Google to see what other players were saying, which was kind of annoying so I was really glad about this update. Overall, I love this game. Somehow the cons outweigh the pros in this case, and yet the game is incredibly addicting (might just be my extreme FOMO and need to flex on others HAHA but it's fun enough and repetitive enough for me to keep coming back to. It is a pay to win non-gacha game, so a pay to look cool sort of game. I'm the last one standing among all of my friends, and will continue to be the last one standing for the foreseeable future. Sky is my home, and I despise it. I wish I had been blessed with a normal fixation. I hate tgc, but they will continue to take my money.