Mai Child of Ages Review Overview
What is Mai Child of Ages?
Mai: Child of Ages is an indie action-adventure puzzle platformer where you play as Mai and travel through different times to unravel the mysteries of the world as well as to save her grandfather. Set in a fictional world, the story follows Mai’s journey as she searches for the truth about herself, the events that transpired after The Last Great War, and, most importantly, time itself.
It also lets you play as Mai in two different stages of her life, child and adult. The former is more focused on puzzle-solving and platforming, while the latter is more focused on combat. The game clearly takes inspiration from the classic 3D Zelda games, as it features dungeon crawling, puzzle solving, platforming, and hack-and-slash combat.
Mai Child of Ages features:
⚫︎ One Protagonist, Two Versions
⚫︎ Time Travel Gimmicks
⚫︎ Simple Puzzles and Platforming
⚫︎ Hack-and-Slash Combat
⚫︎ Super Mario 64-Like Movement Mechanics
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 GoG |
 Playstation |
 Switch |
| $11.99 | |||
Mai Child of Ages Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Fun Time Altering Mechanics Interesting Story |
Clunky Combat Repetitive Puzzles Crafting is an Afterthought Multiple Bugs and Softlocks |
Mai Child of Ages Story - 6/10
The story is quite decent and surprising, given that the visuals heavily contrast with the themes they explore. The pacing and dialogue, however, are problematic, as they move a little too slowly. While time-traveling to alter the past to reshape the future is common nowadays, the game still does well in using wildly contrasting locales, like lush forests, colorful islands, bleak industrial cities, and more, to keep things fresh and interesting.
Mai Child of Ages Gameplay - 5/10
Gameplay-wise, the highlight is undoubtedly the time alteration mechanics and how you progress forward. The core loop is initially fine with the separation of puzzle platforming and hack-and-slash with the use of Mai’s two ages, but neither side commits to being great. Both of these suffer from their own specific flaws, with puzzles lacking creativity and combat being shallow. In addition, there were also bugs and softlocks that hindered progress from time to time, making the experience slower than it already is.
Mai Child of Ages Visuals - 7/10
Despite the Disney-esque appearance, the overall visuals of the game are pretty good. The use of contrast is eye-catching and is evident in the different islands that you explore throughout the game. Additionally, the game actually has pretty good cloth physics, which are evident in Mai’s clothing as you speed through the islands. However, it does suffer from janky animations and weird enemy designs, where the former affects gameplay a lot.
Mai Child of Ages Audio - 8/10
In terms of the audio, it’s probably the game’s best aspect by far. The music is definitely the main highlight of the game, as it gives life to exploring the different islands. Other than that, the sound effects are well-made, and I don’t have much to complain about. The only gripe I have with it is that the game might’ve been a lot better with voice acting.
Mai Child of Ages Value for Money - 7/10
For $11.99, the amount of content that the game has is great. It boasts over 20 hours of gameplay across both the main story and its side content. However, certain pacing issues and a lack of guidance can be a problem that players run into, especially when the game starts to open up.
Mai Child of Ages Overall - 66/100
Mai: Child of Ages is a decent game that has its flaws. The presentation and story are good enough to keep you interested since they showcase the game’s identity in its contrasting graphics and compelling narrative. While the gameplay loop introduces fun mechanics like time alteration and past-future interactions, the gameplay suffers from repetition and clunkiness that turns the game into a slog.
Mai Child of Ages Review: Doesn't Age Well
With the popularity of the Zelda franchise at an all-time high, it’s no surprise that more and more games are using its games as an inspiration. Sometimes, in more ways than one. Mai: Child of Ages is an adventure game that uses time travel as its unique gimmick to combine both puzzle-platforming and hack-and-slash combat.
Being a fan of many adventure games and time travel plotlines, I simply had to try this game out. The time travel with separate gameplay loops made for an interesting concept that I wanted to experience for myself. However, what I really wanted to know was if it was another hidden gem that people should discover for themselves.
A Future to Rewrite, A Past to Explore
The setting of the game is probably what would hook players first. Set in a fantasy world where everything seems bright and cheery, you play as a little girl by the name of Mai who lives with her grandfather on an island.
For the first few hours, the game plays like a simple puzzle platformer, where your first few objectives are simple fetch quests and solving puzzles by pushing blocks and stepping on pressure plates. Then, it takes a sudden turn when you encounter the Time Plant and get transported a thousand years into the future.
It shows a grim outcome where the lush forests of the island have turned into a wasteland of dead trees and are populated with weird, hostile entities. In addition to the bleak island, Mai herself has also gotten older. This is where the story truly begins, where it pulls a Chrono Trigger-style revelation, where the future is essentially doomed unless you change the past.
In my opinion, it’s a good plotline and a great way to showcase the contrast between the childlike visuals and the heavy themes of war. Without spoiling too much of the story, the game’s narrative is compelling in the sense that you want answers for what’s happening and how it all leads up to this kind of outcome.
Time Alteration is the Highlight
The main appeal of the game is its time-travel gimmick. For context, past Mai’s gameplay loop consists mostly of puzzles and platforming, pretty similar to Super Mario 64 even down to its movement mechanics. In contrast, future Mai’s gameplay loop is more combat-focused with some light traversal here and there.
Both of these phases work hand in hand to contribute to its overall gameplay, and it would be accurate to say that the game is at its best when it uses the contrast to progress through areas. For instance, you can use adult Mai’s special stone to lock a certain object in time so that you can use it when you go back to the past.
Neither Timeline is Perfect
However, each phase of gameplay starts to wear down as you progress through the game. To the point where I would say it ages like milk. At first, you’d be interested and engaged by solving the different puzzles in the game, but as time goes on, puzzles start to become more and more similar to each other, just packaged in a different way.
You start to see pressure plate puzzles again and again, and most of the time, they’re solved in the same way. The stale puzzles wear down the novelty of what it should’ve been one of its main appeals. There are also times when puzzles end up a little too out of the way,
where the way to progress forward is way too small to identify.
Combat in the future is also pretty clunky, where attacking and defending don’t feel great in a gameplay sense. Sure, you get different weapons as you progress through the game, but some of these weapons don’t change the combat as much as they should. A specific example is the number of projectiles that enemies love to throw at you in the latter half of the game, as defending against a swarm of enemies with projectiles raining down is a bad time.
Exploration and navigation can also prove to be a problem since the only map that exists is a world map. The lack of guidance from the absence of a minimap and having no quest directions means it’s very easy to get lost and just stall in advancing the story.
In addition to the flaws of the gameplay loops, the game also has a couple of bugs that made me restart the game a couple of times. For instance, there was a time when I soft-locked myself from progressing because the item for the pressure plate fell through the world. Another time, I found myself trapped in a different part of the island because I didn’t have enough stamina to swim back to where I came from.
Great Contrast in Visuals, Even Better Music
That being said, the overall presentation of the game remains great and can be considered as its redeeming quality. I’m not a big fan of the cartoony designs most of the time, but this game in particular uses them to subvert your expectations of it being a kids' game. The contrast of the past and the future makes for a great wow factor, enough for me to say that it looks great despite the childish art direction.
But the music is what really carries the whole game’s presentation. The game has multiple different areas and different versions of said locations, and the range of the music score is vast and commendable. So much so that I feel like it was the one aspect that kept me going throughout my playthrough.
Is Mai Child of Ages Worth It?
Wait for Another Time
Mai: Child of Ages has a great concept, but it has some key flaws that affect the gameplay loop. For $11.99, you’re getting a well-presented game with a compelling storyline. However, the enjoyment hinges on how long the novelty of its puzzle, platforming, and combat lasts for you. The flaws of the gameplay are small, but they very much add up. They’re not game-breaking, or at least some of them are, but they do have a big effect on the full experience.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
GoG |
Playstation |
Switch |
| $11.99 | |||
Mai Child of Ages FAQ
What are the System Requirements for PC to play Mai: Child of Ages?
The System Requirements as listed on Steam are as follows:
| Specifications | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 7/8.1/10 | Windows 10 or newer |
| Processor | Intel Dual-Core 2.6 GHz / AMD Dual-Core Athlon 3.0 GHz | Quad-Core Processor |
| Memory | 2GB RAM | 4GB RAM |
| Graphics | SM 3.0 con 512MB VRAM; NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT / AMD Radeon HD 4650 or higher | SM 3.0 with 1GB VRAM; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 / AMD Radeon HD 4830 or greater |
| Storage | 5GB | |
| Additional Specs | Direct X9 or X10 | |
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Mai Child of Ages Product Information
 |
|
| Title | MAI: CHILD OF AGES |
|---|---|
| Release Date | September 19, 2025 |
| Developer | Chubby Pixel |
| Publisher | Chubby Pixel |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, GoG), PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Indie, Platformer, Puzzle |
| Number of Players | 1-2 |
| ESRB Rating | RP |
| Official Website | Mai Child of Ages Official Website |
