It’s been a busy year for big video games. Keeping track of what parents need to know about the likes of Starfield, The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a full time job. However, there are also some lesser know games this year that the families I work with are getting a huge amount of value from.
Here are the games that have stood out for me this year, including some games from 2022 that are now getting a wider release on more platforms after previous success.
Lil Gator Game (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch) ESRB EVERYONE
Lil Gator Game is an adventure set on an island playground where a young brother invents exciting fantasy adventures to try and get his older sister to play like they used to. It sounds like an overly simple premise but actually works really well. You explore the island and bop cardboard baddies, climb mountain peaks and even glide from platform to platform like Link.
Tchia (PC, PS4, PS5) ESRB TEEN
Tchia is an adventure where you play a young girl who can climb, glide, swim, and sail around a beautiful archipelago. It’s a great combination of sandbox quests and storytelling. Most interesting is the ability to become any animal or object you can find in the game to gain new powers and ways of getting around.
Season: A Letter to the Future (PC, PS4, PS5) ESRB EVERYONE
Season: A Letter to the Future is a narrative adventure about a young women sent on a road trip to document life in a valley before it’s flooded as the season changes. Your task is to collect artefacts, record sounds and take pictures to preserve memories before the mysterious cataclysm washes everything away. It works really well for families with older teenagers because of the unusual characters, sense of culture and task of choosing what to preserve.
Goodbye Volcano High (PC, PS4, PS5) ESRB TEEN
Goodbye Volcano High is a high school coming-of-age adventure where you play anthropomorphic dinosaur characters. It sounds a little silly, but is actually an endearing game about the challenges of growing up in a world that feels foreboding. It combines the familiar branching narrative choices with rhythm action moments of playing music with your band. For older teenagers this is a great game to play together.
Planet of Lana (PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) ESRB EVERYONE 10+
You play a young girl and her small friend who take on a rescue mission in a world full of strange machines and foreboding creatures. It combines interactive storytelling with platforming puzzles to create an epic adventure that spans the centuries. It works really well in families not only because of the companionship between the characters but for the real challenge it presents.
Storyteller (PC, Mac, Switch) ESRB TEEN
Storyteller is an unusual puzzle game where you construct classic stories from separate elements. Play involves working with a collection of icons and motifs to create a tale that matches the instruction at the start of the level. It starts as a simple but soon becomes complex as you need to think outside the box to use the elements you have to meet the target story. It works really well for families both because of the fairytale aspect, but also how you can work together to achieve the narrative goal.
There are accessibility reports available for these games if you need more information about potential barriers or requirements your children have:
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