Mai: Child of Ages

Mai: Child of Ages is a PC third-person action-adventure that combines precision platforming, environmental puzzles, time manipulation, and hack-and-slash combat. The current PC storefront name remains Mai: Child of Ages, with no verified rebrand or replacement edition. Its central hook is a journey through past and future eras, where Mai's changing age affects both exploration and combat.

Developed and published by Chubby Pixel, the game is aimed at players who want a compact, story-driven adventure rather than an open-ended role-playing sandbox. It borrows the structure of classic 3D dungeon adventures while adding a distinctive two-age protagonist and a time-based puzzle system.

Two ages, two ways to play

The main adventure follows Mai through different stages of her life. Her childhood abilities emphasize precision platforming, environmental interaction, and puzzle solving, while her older form places more focus on melee combat, ranged attacks, dodging, and defensive timing.

This is not simply a cosmetic age change. The two versions of Mai are tied to different movement options and gameplay roles, so progression alternates between traversal challenges and more direct encounters with hostile creatures. The shift gives the campaign a changing rhythm instead of placing every system on the player at once.

Exploration takes place from a third-person perspective across ancient caves, abandoned industrial locations, submerged areas, and post-war landscapes. The world is structured around connected areas, hidden paths, dungeon-style objectives, collectibles, and optional challenges rather than a traditional open-world activity map.

Time manipulation and dungeon puzzles

Mai's main tool is the Uroboro Stone, a shapeshifting relic that gives her control over aspects of time. Its powers can freeze objects in motion, alter how environmental elements behave, and help rewrite events within puzzle spaces.

The time system is designed for direct environmental problem solving. Players may need to change the state of an object, use a time-linked mechanism, or combine actions across different eras before a route becomes accessible. The game also introduces Sacred Plants and Seeds of Time as part of its age-based puzzle design.

That structure should appeal to players who enjoy dungeon navigation where the reward is understanding how a room works. The puzzles are not based on a large crafting tree or randomized generation. They are authored encounters built around observation, timing, platforming, and the relationship between Mai's abilities.

For a different take on compact adventure design, players who enjoy isometric action adventures with puzzle-heavy exploration like Tunic may recognize the same preference for secrets, environmental clues, and deliberate dungeon progression, although Mai uses a fully 3D camera and a stronger time-travel focus.

Combat, crafting, and progression

Combat becomes more prominent as Mai grows older. Encounters use hack-and-slash attacks, ranged options, defensive actions, and evasive movement. The store description also identifies the combat as technical and skill-focused, with shapeshifting creatures requiring players to learn attack patterns and choose suitable responses.

Progression follows a Metroidvania-style structure. New abilities expand where Mai can go and how she can approach previous areas, creating reasons to revisit locations after gaining new tools. This is ability-gated exploration rather than a loot-driven game built around constantly replacing equipment.

Resources gathered during exploration feed into a crafting system connected to Mai's journal. Crafting is used to create weapons, tools, and artifacts that support traversal and combat. The system adds some customization without turning the game into a statistics-heavy action RPG.

Optional collectibles, hidden relics, side puzzles, and trials provide additional goals beyond the main route. These activities are particularly relevant for completion-focused players who want to investigate the game's lore and uncover details about the vanished civilization and the creatures threatening the world.

Story setting and content model

The narrative moves between ancient eras and dystopian futures after the Last Great War. Mai travels with the goal of understanding her identity, helping her grandfather, and uncovering the origin of the creatures that have disrupted the balance of the universe.

The campaign is presented as a structured story adventure with exploration, dungeons, combat encounters, and optional discoveries. It is not a live-service game, an endless roguelike, or a procedural survival experience. Its replay value comes mainly from finding missed secrets, completing optional challenges, and revisiting locations with newly unlocked abilities.

The base game is sold as a premium PC title. The current Steam catalog also lists a separate soundtrack and the Storms of Time expansion as additional content. The expansion adds a new story chapter centered on a floating factory, with new dungeons, enemies, hazards, puzzles, vertical exploration, and craftable items.

Players considering a purchase should distinguish the standalone game from the optional soundtrack and expansion content. The main adventure contains the core time-travel campaign, while Storms of Time is an add-on rather than a renamed definitive edition of the base game.

Who Mai: Child of Ages suits

Mai: Child of Ages is a good fit for players who want a focused third-person adventure with platforming and dungeon puzzles at its center. It is especially suited to people who enjoy classic Zelda-like structure, ability-gated exploration, authored environmental challenges, and a narrative built around family, memory, identity, and time.

The game is less suitable for players seeking deep character builds, randomized loot, a large open world, competitive multiplayer, or a long-term progression treadmill. Its combat and puzzles support the adventure structure rather than replacing it with an elaborate endgame.

Players who prefer combat-heavy dungeon adventures may also find useful genre overlap with third-person hack-and-slash games with ability-based dungeons like Darksiders Warmastered Edition. Darksiders is more combat-forward and dark-fantasy focused, while Mai places greater emphasis on time mechanics, platforming, and the contrast between childhood and adulthood.

PC features and multiplayer options

The PC version supports full controller play, and the storefront specifically recommends a gamepad for the intended experience. Keyboard and mouse availability is listed through the PC platform, but the game's movement, dodging, platforming, and melee timing are naturally suited to a controller.

Steam features include Steam Cloud, achievements, trading cards, Remote Play Together, Remote Play on TV, Family Sharing, and shared or split-screen co-op support. The game is built with the Unity engine and is available across Windows, macOS, and Linux storefront configurations.

Co-op is not a separate competitive mode. The second player can assist in the main adventure by controlling enemies through the primordial spirit, creating an unusual support role during battles. The result is closer to cooperative intervention within the campaign than to a conventional two-character action RPG.

Localization is broad. The PC listing provides interface, subtitles, and full-audio support across 22 listed languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, and several Nordic and European languages.

Mai: Child of Ages FAQ

Has Mai: Child of Ages been renamed on PC?

No verified PC rebrand is currently indicated. The active storefront identity remains Mai: Child of Ages, while Storms of Time is listed as separate additional content rather than a replacement title.

What type of game is Mai: Child of Ages?

It is a third-person action-adventure with puzzle-platforming, dungeon exploration, time manipulation, hack-and-slash combat, crafting, and Metroidvania-style ability progression.

Does the game support co-op?

Yes. The PC listing includes shared or split-screen co-op and Remote Play Together. In the main adventure, the second player can take control of enemies to assist the primary player in combat.

What is the Uroboro Stone used for?

The Uroboro Stone is Mai's time-manipulation relic. It can freeze objects, alter environmental states, and help solve puzzles that depend on changing the relationship between past and future events.

Is Storms of Time included with the base game?

Storms of Time is listed as separate paid additional content. It expands the adventure with a floating-factory chapter, new dungeons, enemies, puzzles, hazards, exploration spaces, lore, and craftable items.

Does the PC version support controllers?

Yes. Full controller support is available, and the PC listing recommends playing with a gamepad. This suits the game's platforming, dodge-focused combat, and third-person movement.

Does Mai: Child of Ages have an endless or procedural mode?

No such structure is identified in the verified PC listing. The game is organized as a handcrafted story campaign with dungeons, optional puzzles, collectibles, crafting, and ability-based exploration.