On Friday the 19th of July 2019, thatgamecompany launched their next inspiring mobile title: Sky: Children of the Light. At the moment, it’s only available on the iOS stores (as Apple got the exclusive), but it will definitely be released on Android soon (you can pre-register for it here).

So, what is this new game that everyone has been talking about? In all honesty, there aren’t many words that can do it justice, but we’ll try. It’s a remarkable discovery game, where you (along with other players across the globe) are a child of the light. And throughout the game, you’ll find yourself exploring caves, fields, and temples.

The game is free (apart from in-app purchases). So you have nothing to lose by trying it out! But if you want to learn a bit more about the title, or you’ve played a bit of it and want some helpful advice before digging further, then here are five tips that should come in handy.

Psst… There’s a whole bunch of stuff we could tell you. But for this post, we’ll stick to the most useful hints. We don’t want to spoil the surprise, after all.

1. You’ll need to just… explore

This game is immensely similar to their previous title, Journey. You’ll constantly be exploring new places and things, and the objective of the game (from what we can see) is to find spirits, relive their memories, and help them get back to the stars as constellations.

So just explore. Tap and poke things. Fly around. Be as creative and curious as you like. From what we can tell, you can’t really die, and there’s no way to fight anything. There will be a crab or two that you can tip over, and a big weird centipede monster, but so far, no actual fighting.

We’re constantly discovering new things as we’re going along. And although the game is relatively intuitive, you’ll find yourself saying ‘ooooooohhhhh’ as you come to realise what it is you actually need to do. So yeah, you’ll want to put on your exploring cap and grab your handy flashlight for this one.

2. Make some friends

You guessed it, there are other real-life players in this game. But unlike Journey, the number of players on your server is huge. We’ve lost count of the amount of people we’ve flown into (and have ended up calling these new friends ‘friend 1’, ‘friend 2’, ‘friend 3’ so on so on).

However, thatgamecompany have done a brilliant job in making this a very social, but safe, game. The main interactions you have with other players are through ‘gestures’ or ‘expressions’ (so you can dance, wave, and even play the maracas with other players). You can talk to other players, but it’s not as simple as just going up and saying hello. If you do want to chat over text, then you’ll need to:

First, light a candle with other players so you can see them (they’ll be greyed out until you do).

Second, you can ask to become their friend. They have the option to say no at this point.

Third, you need to find a bench, sit together, and then start a conversation.

As for the reason why you’ll want to make friends, well here are a few benefits we’ve found (you know, other than being social).

Some doors and places can only be accessed by two or more people.

So you’ll need to find a buddy to pair up with to move on.

You can reap benefits and awards from friends.

One of the types of in-game currency is hearts, which let you unlock different skins and appearances. Friends can gift these to you (or you can get these by finding candles, but this can take a looooong time).

They can help you figure stuff out.

As mentioned above, some of the tasks aren’t that obvious. Following and interacting with other players can help you explore the world around you.

It’s fun!

This game has incredible sound and music, but no spoken words, so it can quickly feel lonely. Having other players there is just… comforting.

3. Expect some bugs

This game, simply put, is a massive interactive masterpiece. The graphics alone are something to be in awe about. But with such a large (and new) online mobile game, you can expect to see some bugs here and there.

While playing, we’ve come across a couple of small bugs. The majority of the time they’ll fix themselves immediately. But there might be a couple where you need to redo a section, or even close and open the game again.

Annoying as it is, it’s not a huge issue, as you can get back to where you were fairly quickly. Just make sure you have the latest version of the game installed, as we’re sure thatgamecompany will be keeping a close eye on bug reports.

4. Try not to google stuff

Like we said, we’re still coming across new and exciting things every time we go back to the game. But this can sometimes get a bit slow and tedious, to the point where you can find yourself thinking ‘I have no idea how to do this, and I don’t think anyone else does either.’

Don’t worry. You won’t get it the first time.

We recently discovered daily tasks. One of them was to ‘Meditate next to the frozen lake.’ Okay, cool. Easy peasy. Head to the frozen lake, kneel down and… nothing. We then spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how to meditate, only to give up and head to Google. And as the game is new, Google didn’t have the answer either. So we were left scratching our heads.

But when we went back and explored, we saw other players. So we followed them. And that’s how we found the place we needed to go.

We actually ended up helping someone else as well. We could see they were struggling to find something, so we showed them the way. Our point is, this game won’t hold your hand and spoon feed you. It wants you to explore and interact with other players. So, be patient and look around. That being said, if you really are stuck, and no one is there to help you, the internet could be your only option. But try figuring it out on your own first.

5. Know your currency

This was a bit of an annoyance of ours, because again, we had no idea what these different forms of currency do, and spent a while trying to figure it out. So, here’s an idea of what the different types of currency are, and what you can do with them.

Candles are the standard currency

You earn candles by collecting the light from the red candles lying about. Once you have enough light, you can claim one candle. You use candles to unlock new emotes, access new areas, and level up skills. These can be bought through an in-app purchase.

But there is also seasonal candles

These are a more valuable form of currency. Seasonal candles are candles you earn through completing daily quests from the home spirits. You might need to get the adventure pass for this though, which costs around £9 for the season.

When you’ve collected enough seasonal candles, you can buy special items from the home spirits (like new capes, hairstyles, or shoes). These can also be bought through in-app purchases.

And don’t forget hearts

Hearts are something you can get from other players. You can in fact get hearts with ‘candles’, but they are pricey, so they will take a long time to get if you don’t want to spend any real money.

And if you get enough hearts, you can buy some pretty cool wearables. Choose wisely though, because from experience, this currency is probably the hardest to find. From what we can tell, you can’t buy hearts with real money.

So that’s it for now. We’re still exploring and learning new things from this game, so make sure to check back when we have some more advice to share. Let us know if you think we’ve missed anything major by emailing us.