One bullet. That’s all you get.
It sounds like a gimmick, honestly. In a world of shooters where you're usually spraying lead like a broken garden hose, Children of the Sun asks you to be surgical. But not in a boring, "hold your breath and click" simulator kind of way. This game is a psychedelic, jagged, lo-fi fever dream where you play as "The Girl," a vengeful cult escapee who has apparently mastered the art of telekinetic ballistics.
You pull the trigger once. The bullet leaves the chamber. From there, the laws of physics basically take a hike.
Published by Devolver Digital and developed by René Rother, this isn't just a "sniper game." It’s a spatial puzzle wrapped in a thick layer of cult-horror grime. If you’ve ever played Superhot or maybe even Killer7, you’ll recognize the DNA here. It’s twitchy. It’s mean. It feels like something you’d find on a dusty unmarked VHS tape in a basement.
The Weird, Bleak World of The Girl
The story is told through these jittery, hand-drawn cutscenes that feel incredibly uncomfortable to watch. There's no dialogue. No long-winded monologues about why we're here. You just know that The Cult—the titular Children of the Sun—did something horrific to The Girl. Now, she’s hunting them down, one hilltop at a time, until she reaches The Leader.
It’s personal. You can feel the rage in the way the camera shakes and the way the colors bleed into each other.
René Rother, the solo dev behind this, has a background in art, and it shows. Everything is bathed in neon yellows and deep purples. The enemies look like glowing husks. It doesn’t look "realistic," and that’s the point. It looks like a nightmare. Most games try to make you feel like a hero. Children of the Sun makes you feel like a monster. An efficient, terrifying monster.
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How One Bullet Actually Works
The central mechanic is where the "puzzle" part of Children of the Sun kicks in. Normally, in a game, once a bullet hits a target, that’s it. It’s done. Here, hitting a target allows you to re-orient.
When your bullet pierces a cultist's skull, time slows down. You can then rotate the camera, pick a new direction, and fire that same bullet again from the victim's position. It’s a deadly game of connect-the-dots. You’re bouncing a single projectile through a level like a lethal pinball.
It gets deeper than just aiming, though:
- Curving the bullet: You can actually bend the trajectory in mid-air to reach enemies hiding behind crates or around corners.
- Hitting weak points: Aim for certain spots or specific enemy types to recharge your "special" abilities.
- Speeding up: If you build up enough momentum, your bullet can punch through armor or even blow up gas tanks.
You spend most of your time before the shot just... circling. You move The Girl left and right along a fixed perimeter, tagging enemies with your scope. You’re looking for the line. If you kill four guys but the fifth is behind a brick wall with no line of sight from the fourth guy’s head? You failed. Back to the start.
The High-Score Trap and Why It’s Addictive
Once you finish a level, the game shows you a top-down map of your bullet’s path. It’s messy. It’s beautiful. But then it shows you the leaderboard.
This is where the game stops being a dark indie story and starts being a competitive obsession. You see someone did the level in 1.2 seconds with half the distance traveled, and suddenly your "perfect" run feels like garbage. You start looking for ways to optimize. Can I hit that bird in mid-air to get a better angle on the guy in the tower? If I blow up that car, does the explosion count as a kill, or do I need to hit them directly?
It’s a game about efficiency. It’s about finding the "true" path through the chaos.
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Honestly, the scoring system is what keeps people coming back. It’s not just about winning; it’s about the elegance of the kill. The game tracks things like "distance traveled," "body parts hit," and "time." It’s cold. It’s calculating. It fits the vibe perfectly.
Is It Too Short?
That’s the big critique you see online. You can probably "beat" the game in about three or four hours if you’re just trying to see the end of the story.
But that’s like saying a Rubik’s cube is "short" because you solved it once. The longevity of Children of the Sun comes from the mastery. Each level is a localized sandbox of murder. There are multiple ways to clear almost every stage.
Sometimes you’ll find a hidden interaction—like shooting a specific object in the environment—that opens up a whole new path. The game doesn't hold your hand. It expects you to experiment. It expects you to fail. A lot.
The Learning Curve
The first few levels are a breeze. They teach you the basics: point, click, re-aim. But by the time you reach the middle of the game, things get weird. You’ve got enemies in moving vehicles. You’ve got guys with shields. You’ve got "psychic" enemies who can mess with your bullet's flight path.
It becomes a game of extreme patience. You’ll sit there for five minutes just staring at a level, trying to visualize the geometry of the shot before you ever pull the trigger.
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Technical Performance and Aesthetic
The game runs like a dream on most hardware, mostly because it isn't trying to push millions of polygons. It relies on style over raw power. On the Steam Deck, it’s a perfect fit. The short, bursty nature of the levels makes it ideal for handheld play.
The sound design deserves a shout-out too. The "thwip" of the bullet and the distorted, industrial drone of the soundtrack keep your teeth on edge. It’s not a relaxing game. It’s a high-tension experience that only lets you breathe once the last body hits the floor and the screen fades to black.
Misconceptions About Children of the Sun
People see the trailer and think it’s a fast-paced shooter. It isn't. If you go in expecting Call of Duty or even Sniper Elite, you’re going to be frustrated. This is a thinking person’s game. It’s closer to Hitman than it is to Halo.
Another thing: some players think the "one bullet" rule is a restriction. It’s actually your greatest weapon. It’s what allows you to be in ten places at once. Once you stop thinking about the bullet as a projectile and start thinking of it as an extension of your own movement, the game clicks.
Final Actionable Steps for New Players
If you're going to dive into this dark little gem, keep these things in mind to avoid slamming your keyboard in frustration:
- Tag Everyone First: Don't fire until you've scouted the entire perimeter. Missing one guy who is tucked away in a basement will ruin your entire run.
- Look Up: The game has a lot of verticality. Sometimes the best way to hit a target inside a building is to bounce the bullet off a high-altitude target (like a bird or a rooftop guard) first.
- Watch the Momentum: If you need to break armor, you need distance. Don't try to hit a heavy-armored unit from two feet away; loop the bullet around the map to build up speed first.
- Embrace the Leaderboards: Even if you aren't a competitive person, looking at the paths other players took can give you "Aha!" moments that change how you approach the next level.
The cult is waiting. You have the bullet. Make it count.