Sky: Children of the Light vs Honkai: Star Rail
Which is better in 2026? Five scores, side by side.
Sky: Children of the Light is the better app overall, scoring 8.7 to 8.3. Sky: Children of the Light wins on 4 of the 5 scores, Honkai: Star Rail on 1.
Players who want a calm, beautiful adventure to share with friends
RPG fans who like turn-based strategy and a story with jokes
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Sky: Children of the Light | Honkai: Star Rail |
|---|---|---|
| Category | RPG & Adventure Games | RPG & Adventure Games |
| Category rank | #1 of 8 | #5 of 8 |
| Developer | thatgamecompany | HoYoverse |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Sky: Children of the Light better than Honkai: Star Rail?
Sky: Children of the Light is the better app overall, scoring 8.7 to 8.3. Sky: Children of the Light wins on 4 of the 5 scores, Honkai: Star Rail on 1.
Which is cheaper, Sky: Children of the Light or Honkai: Star Rail?
Sky: Children of the Light: Free to play with no ads; candles and season passes are cosmetic, from $4.99. Honkai: Star Rail: Free to play; Oneiric Shards from $0.99 and a $4.99 Express Supply Pass. On value for money, Sky: Children of the Light scores higher.
Do Sky: Children of the Light and Honkai: Star Rail work on the same devices?
Yes, both run on iPhone & iPad, Android, Windows.
Which is more private, Sky: Children of the Light or Honkai: Star Rail?
Sky: Children of the Light scores higher on privacy (7.6/10). App Store label: purchases and identifiers may be used to track you. Purchases, user content, identifiers, usage and diagnostics may be collected but are not linked to you.
Strengths and weaknesses
Sky: Children of the Light
- No ads and nothing pay-to-win
- Gorgeous art and music
- Cross-platform play with friends
- Little challenge and no combat
- Needs an internet connection
- Candles and season passes can add up
Sky is the rare online game built around kindness. You fly through seven hand-crafted realms, solve gentle puzzles and meet strangers who might take your hand and lead you somewhere new, often without a word. It's free, has no ads, and everything for sale is cosmetic. Seasons keep adding new stories, like 2026's walk-through Van Gogh paintings. If you want combat or loot, there's very little here.
Full Sky: Children of the Light review
Honkai: Star Rail
- Strategic fights you can play one-handed
- Strong writing, voice acting and cutscenes
- Auto-battle cuts down the daily grind
- Gacha for characters and Light Cones
- Daily energy limits progress
- Large download and frequent patches
Honkai: Star Rail is the HoYoverse RPG to pick if you'd rather plan than dodge. You ride the Astral Express between strange worlds, and battles are turn-based puzzles about weaknesses, buffs and timing, with auto-battle for the daily grind. The writing is funnier than you'd expect, and the voiced cutscenes look great. Like its siblings, though, the characters you really want come from gacha pulls.
Full Honkai: Star Rail review
