“The Children of Clay” Delivers Stone Cold Dread – Game Recommendation

Get it? Stone cold? Clay? …well, anyways.

Have you ever found yourself late at night, analyzing an artifact from an excavation site? No? Me neither, to be honest, but if The Children of Clay is anything to go by, it can be quite a captivating experience.

Our titular game is a small, free point-and-click adventure available on Steam, developed by Balázs Rónyai. It boasts an atmosphere thick with intrigue and fascination, greatly enhanced by the beautiful stop-motion art and haunting soundtrack.

Taking the role of a professor confined at home because of an excavation accident, we are sent a certain little figurine to analyze and get to the bottom of: one of our titular children of clay.

The action is taken through examination of the statue, the use of a few tools, and some clever bits of deduction with the help of our books. It’s a short experience, but it knows how to catch any wanna-be investigator’s attention, as one quick detail can devolve into a rapid succession of queries with valuable info.

The inevitable horror turn is really well executed, and I won’t spoil it here. It’s really effective and makes excellent use of the game mechanics. The same verbs that relayed deliberate decision and thoughtful handling a moment ago become the clumsy gestures of a terrified person in the dark, trying to get ahold of themselves.

Children of Clay manages to create a compelling atmosphere, intrigue, and resolution in less than half an hour. It might not sound like much on paper, but each second has all the effort put into the game in full display.

An easy recommendation, for sure. I’d also encourage you to buy the DLC, which is a ‘Making Of’ for the game. It’s a great way to show support for such an endearingly creepy experience.

By now you have surely made your mind up. Do you feel the game calling? Is its beckoning sound reverberating amidst the primordial stone? No? Just me? Okay, I’ll stop again.

Released on March 7, 2025, you can download The Children of Clay for PC via Steam here.

You can check more of our game coverage here.

Note: This game was played on a Linux system using Proton through Steam without any issues.

Author: Walker M

Aspiring game developer and hobbyist writer. Perpetually doing too much. Chronically burnt out.

Argentinian. Passionate. Unbearable?

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