Parent's Guide: NightSky - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

NightSky is a physics puzzle game that plays out somewhat similarly to a platform game. You take control of a black sphere, and have to navigate obstacles such as loop-de-loop and spinning windmills to avoid falling into gaps and pits, and make it to the end of the level.

Younger players won't have much difficulty grasping the simple controls in the game. You move the control stick left and right to determine where you want the sphere to move. Some levels allow you to use powers such as speeding up the ball with the Y button, while other levels the Y button will instead make you fly into the air and float around. The B button nearly always slows you down and makes the sphere become like a rock. The pace at which new things to learn are brought in is done very well, and your child will never feel overwhelmed. However, there is some basic reading required to understand the instructions, but these are very short and brief, so a fairly confident reader should have no problems.

Many of the puzzles often require thinking outside of the box, with a heavy emphasis on trial and error, while precision timing is a must, whether you're triggering a chain reaction, or simply timing your jumps. As such, while some of the earlier puzzles are fairly straightforward, some of the later ones may be a little bit tricky for younger children.

As a puzzle game, NightSky doesn't really contain anything that parents may object to. The game outright tells you that there are no enemies, and there is no violence of any sort. While there are lots of creatures in the game, such as owls and lizards, they merely watch in the background and never try to harm the player. Potentially, some children may find the pure black settings and landscapes to be slightly creepy, but this is rather unlikely due to how artistic and picturesque the environment actually is, especially combined with the serene, peaceful music.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS