Get Started...
Android
iOS
Mac
Switch
Wii
Wii U
PC
PS4
PS5
Xbox One
Xbox X|S
Please enter a valid email address
Please choose a platform
:
How does your child play this? Alone, with friends, with family? How did they discover it and what kept them coming back for more?
:
To verify your input please enter your email to create an account.
Email:
Play Overview
The Tomorrow Children (2016) is an online strategy game where you collaborate with other players to build, explore and develop communities. Unusually, it uses social economics and a Soviet Union-themed post-apocalyptic dystopia as the setting. You play a clone girl on a mission to rescue Russian Dolls that contain the lost human DNA and rebuild the population.
Play involves exploring the world to find places to mine materials and find people to work with to transport them back to your home base. As you explore you discover the rules of the world and start to make progress in accruing the resources you need to expand your tribe. At the same time, you are provided tools to work by the state. There is also a black market for more powerful tools and special powers. You can craft items by completing mini-games.
From your central social space islands arrive nearby as time passes, a little like the fiction of the Faraway Tree. You visit these islands to get resources and items but only have a limited time before they move on. This provides a steady stream of opportunities to gain materials, but also new spaces to explore and work on with other players.
The game's visuals are striking and emphasise utilitarian technology and brutalist architecture. But it's more than visually unusual. It's unlike other games (apart from Sky Children of Light, perhaps) where you work for your own benefit, or squirrel away loot so you can survive in the future. You soon find yourself not only working with other players but working for the benefit of the online society you are part of.
Other players don't talk to you directly but appear in your game when they can help you (or you can help them) in various ways. Like Journey, the communication is nonverbal, but this serves to highlight the social connection created by the game. This makes it an online game where you aren't pestered or surrounded by other players and ensures a calmer, and actually more connected, experience.
The result is an online game that is unusually about helping other players. Because there aren't individual rewards, players focus on teamwork and altruism. This was true in its original release in 2016 and remains the case in the 2022 updated version of the game.
Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked The Tomorrow Children 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 4 months ago.
Play involves exploring the world to find places to mine materials and find people to work with to transport them back to your home base. As you explore you discover the rules of the world and start to make progress in accruing the resources you need to expand your tribe. At the same time, you are provided tools to work by the state. There is also a black market for more powerful tools and special powers. You can craft items by completing mini-games.
From your central social space islands arrive nearby as time passes, a little like the fiction of the Faraway Tree. You visit these islands to get resources and items but only have a limited time before they move on. This provides a steady stream of opportunities to gain materials, but also new spaces to explore and work on with other players.
The game's visuals are striking and emphasise utilitarian technology and brutalist architecture. But it's more than visually unusual. It's unlike other games (apart from Sky Children of Light, perhaps) where you work for your own benefit, or squirrel away loot so you can survive in the future. You soon find yourself not only working with other players but working for the benefit of the online society you are part of.
Other players don't talk to you directly but appear in your game when they can help you (or you can help them) in various ways. Like Journey, the communication is nonverbal, but this serves to highlight the social connection created by the game. This makes it an online game where you aren't pestered or surrounded by other players and ensures a calmer, and actually more connected, experience.
The result is an online game that is unusually about helping other players. Because there aren't individual rewards, players focus on teamwork and altruism. This was true in its original release in 2016 and remains the case in the 2022 updated version of the game.
Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked The Tomorrow Children 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 4 months ago.
There are lots of games similar to The Tomorrow Children. Here are some we picked for you:
Play Style
This is a Creative and Strategy game with Communication and Traversal elements. You can play this by yourself or as a 10-player online game. There are up to 10 people in each town, although you only see them when they are doing something that affects you or the world.
There are megaphone and tape-deck tools which are used to leave pre-recorded text/voice messages for other players. You cannot mix or record your own words, you have to choose from existing ones which are safe.
There are megaphone and tape-deck tools which are used to leave pre-recorded text/voice messages for other players. You cannot mix or record your own words, you have to choose from existing ones which are safe.
You can play this game in the following styles:
Duration
Play Time: It takes between 45 minutes and 1 hour to play a round of this game. Sessions in the game can last an hour or so, although you could play longer. The online nature of the game means you could play for hundreds of hours in total.
Benefits
Age Ratings
Content Rating
Users Interact: The game enables players to interact and communicate with each other, so may expose players to language usually associated with older rated games.
The Tomorrow Children, when released in 2016 was originally rated PEGI 12 for infrequent mild violence, and in the US it was ESRB TEEN for Use of Alcohol and Violence.
Skill Level
8+ year-olds usually have the required skill to enjoy this game. Still, it’s important for parents and guardians to ensure they understand in-game purchases and have spending limits set-up. Although there are some complex systems in the game, it's a similar set of skills to play as Minecraft.
Account Rating
- You need be 18-years-old to subscribe to PlayStation Plus for online play, but can create sub-accounts for younger players of 7-years or older to play online with PlayStation 4.
Costs
The Tomorrow Children usually costs £32.99.
The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition is a relaunch of the game for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
It's important to set up your accounts and devices appropriately. More information is on our Financial Resources page.
The Tomorrow Children
There are the following additional costs associated with this game:
- In-Game Purchases: Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience.
-
You need a subscription to play online:
- You need to purchase a PlayStation Plus subscription to play online with PlayStation 4.
The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition is a relaunch of the game for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
It's important to set up your accounts and devices appropriately. More information is on our Financial Resources page.
Game Details
Release Date: 06/09/2016, updated in 2022
Out Now: PS4
Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds
Players: 1 (10 online)
Genres: Creative, Strategy (Communication and Traversal)
Accessibility: 15 features
Components: 3D Third-Person, Day and Night, Open World, Persistant World and Weather
Developer: Pixel Junk News (@PixelJunkNews)
 |
Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships. |
© 2025 Family Gaming Database