Lightning beam gives selfesteem

Es entstand einst vor langer Zeit
Ein Spiel mit Namen Child of Light.

In this fable made by Ubisoft
A beacon of light is held aloft

Princess Aurora, stricken by malady
Is looking inside her dreams for remedy.

This tale of the girl with crimson hair
Is both beautiful, with its heart laid bare.

Sadly most to noone knows
What beauty this game really shows.

None the matter, here I am
Because I am a hugeass fan.

But it's not for the gameplay, that I cry
No, it's something else, I'll tell you why:

It's in fact the score of the game
That puts it into my hall of fame!

I beg your pardon for this brief excursion into the realm of poetry, but it simply seemed appropriate for this title. After all, the 2014 indie title Child of Light also features a narrative that will leave your brain thinking in rhymes. It can be annoying, but it fits perfectly into the concept of this child-friendly fairy tale turned video game. I don't want to lose too many words, as I've already done so elsewhere - even if they weren't my own. Back in my study dasys, I was allowed to voice the article that a fellow student had written for the 'WohnGameinschaft' format that I was in charge of and which reflects the game concept well.

Nah, I need the space of this review to talk about the orchestral masterpiece that is the Child of Light-soundtrack. The Canadian singer-songwriter Béatrice Martin, also known as Cœur de Pirate, has managed to compose a score that goes straight to the heart and pours optimism, heroism and childlike joy into a captivating and touching musical form. It's not for nothing that the music appears in various Top lists of mine: Final Breath ranks 10th place of my saddest track, Metal Gleamed in the Twilight and Aurora’s Theme enter my top 100 best tracks and the whole album even took first place in my top indie score list. By contrast, the music wasn't able to win a motr prestigious award, losing out to Destiny 2 ... so be it.

One important formality in advance, in which I would like to point out that the OST 'only' comprises 18 tracks. Although this is common practice nowadays and can normally be perfectly adequate, Child of Light unfortunately lacks a few facets and variations of the music. I would therefore recommend scouring the depths of the net for the extended version or the complete score, which has 20 more tracks and offers alternative instrumentation ... or you can simply follow my lead and my ratings below, who has already done so. *wink*

So here we go! With 17 out of 18 tracks in the top range, it will not be possible for me to go into all the tracks of the OST individually and in depth. That's why I'll briefly go into the similarities they share. Each song is fantastic and moving in its own way. For long stretches, Martin relies on a manageable arsenal of instruments: dominant piano, softly accompanying violins and sometimes subliminal, sometimes space-demanding drums create an atmosphere that oscillates between a hop-skip across the spring meadow and a titanic battle.

The score never becomes pathetic or too childish, but hits the sweet spot of touching and inspiring. Personally, I only know of a few scores that manage this. Other examples of this, in my opinion, are Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Life Is Strange or the music for the film Amélie by Yann Tiersen. While some of these other examples shine with extravagance or experimentation, Child of Light is quite basic: simple melodies, frequent repetition of set pieces and the use of leitmotifs make the score accessible and catchy without being annoying. There is never a dull moment; each piece feels like the logical continuation of the protagonist Aurora's journey through the fairytale-like Lemuria.

It is the hero's journey, but that of a girl who becomes a young woman. So it's all the more fitting that the credit theme Off to Sleep is sung by Cœur de Pirate herself and evokes the Life Is Strange-vibes described above. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's move on to the particularly beautiful pieces, almost all of them:

Pilgrims on a Long Journey is the beginning of the score, the start of the journey, and introduces the piece accordingly timidly with a single keystroke on the piano. Carefully, hesitantly, the music unfolds, picking up speed accompanied by strings; a cello lends depth to the ensemble. The tempo changes are also remarkable, something you rarely hear - at least with soundtracks. The journey has begun. Cautiously. Curiously. Alone.
Aurora’s Theme is more powerful. It shows the heroine-to-be who has to find her way in a fairytale land that is completely foreign to her. Optimistic and dreamy, the strings fill our souls, supported by percussion and showing her thirst for discovery. Later, the piano and glockenspiel in harmony with guitar chords remind us of Aurora's childlike innocence. Then the drums kick in, which have something stately and dominant about them - Aurora is a princess, after all.
Magna’s Heart has a similar introduction as Aurora’s Theme, but is more dominant and less playful. It is the world that calls out to us, that wants to be explored. 'I am beautiful' it seems to proclaim, with all its facets. An ode to the fairytale genre.
The 'battle tracks' are served in the OST with Jupiter’s Lightning, Dark Creatures, Metal Gleamed in the Twilight and Hymn of Light , all of which seem like foreign bodies and the essence of this acoustic world. It doesn't fit, this orchestral bombshell, this musical apotheosis of the little girl who stands up to the darkness. The instruments, the melodies, they compete and harmonize at the same time and form a soundscape that conjures up images of divine battles like an opera, both beautiful and terrible.
Final Breath , Aurora’s Theme, only sad and thoughtful. I like to quote from my top 15 list of saddest tracks:

The main theme of Child of Light, which is played thoughtfully and reservedly in this duet of violin and piano, is what we hear for the first time when we part from our friends and companions in the game. Final Breath is a reminder that every pain was preceded by something more beautiful, that everything good comes to an end at some point and that every farewell and every passing can also be the beginning of something new.
Me about Final Breath

Patches of Sky, Bolmus Populi and Down to a Dusty Plain are beautiful and relaxing alternatives to the rest of the open-to-interpretation tracks on the score. They are fairytale music, or at least what you imagine it to be when you glance over the cover of a children's book. That doesn't make them any less valuable; on the contrary, it makes them particularly important. Every childhood should have an inherent lightness in which you can simply be happy. In the OST, this is our save haven.

Leave Your Castle and Path of the Eclipse mark the transition from carefree youth to adulthood. The tones become heavier, more serious. Nevertheless, it is nothing that should tear the listener apart. Rather, they are a bridge, a reminder of the naivety of the past. However, the time has come to leave behind this part, to leave our castle. Not to forget, but to have further experiences that bring variance to our melody.

The pieces from the OST are optionally joined by a few more from the extended version or the complete score, which offer chorales and orchestral variations, for example, or give individual tracks a slightly different touch with solos. The Victory-theme, which is reminiscent of Final Fantasy and Ni no Kuni , has also been included in a longer version. So if, like me, you can't get enough of the original soundtrack, you'll find here a little more Child of Light, but you'll have to be prepared for duplications.

A risk that, in my opinion, is absolutely bearable. However, in order not to miss the jump here and lose myself in this review, I'll just end by quoting ... myself. From the indie top list, where I think I've summed it up quite fittingly:

The Child of Light-score is pure sugar. So sweet that it makes you happy. So beautiful that it's addictive. And so intense that it erodes your teeth and leaves you crying and drooling. It is classical music and drama, like a silent opera whose voice is the orchestra. Grandiose, uplifting, devastating. [...] A bull's eye that puts the fable in 'fabulous' and masterfully balances on the fine line between cheesy and artistic. You don't necessarily have to be a gamer to enjoy this acoustic masterpiece by Cœur de Pirate.
From the Top 10 indie scores

Nostalgia warning

The rating of the individual tracks is purely subjective and clearly colored by my own experience with the game. You can find out more in the article About Nostalgia.

Original Soundtrack (OST)

Child of Light

56 Tracks

Pilgrims on a Long Journey