As a parent, I have to say, finding family friendly games is hard.
And sometimes, a small content warning or helpful info would go a long way.
Take "Lost Words: Beyond the Page", for example. Despite its E-rating, it's about the death of a loved one. This may be hard to stomach even for adults, and should be something a parent would want to know before suggesting it to a child. After all, with all that sentence-building and reading exercises, it does look educational, right?
That game also bears a striking resemblance to "Letters - a written adventure ", which also looks like a cute game for kids, but handles divorce and depression.
"Rime", got a freakin' E-rating, and starts out cute with you playing as a kid. Except, as you find out, that "kid" is actually a father, traversing the various stages of grief, to accept the death of his son. Namely: You. You are the son that died. That's right, you play as a dead child. You are welcome!
"Forgotton Anne", starts cute, until it takes a sinister turn, and centers on loss, death, and despair.
"Never Alone Arctic Collection", got a bloody E-rating. Except it starts with a timed sequence, featuring a small child being graphically killed by a polar bear in the first minutes of the game. I had a freaked out child on my hand, crying its little eyes out.
"Ori and the hidden forest", rated E for everyone. Except a few screens in, the father figure dies in the opening sequence. And, as parents, we have to deal with a devastated child who asks for hours the same Bambi-esque question: "But, daddy is coming back, right? Right?"
"KAPIA"; seriously WTF. Pixel perfect positioning required. Timed puzzles. Handling issues. It feels like what happens when people develop games for kids, but only ever ask adults to playtest them.
"The Night of the Rabbit", made for kids, but has glaring handling issues, and the logic puzzles are not exactly logical, even to an adult. Somebody should have asked their kid to playtest this before release.
"Alba: A Wildlife Adventure"; has everything a _parent_ wants, and none of what _kids_ like. It has handling issues for small hands, missing explanations for inexperienced players. And who on earth thought young children would absolutely _adore_ the idea of bird photography? They are six, not sixty!
As a dad, I find it necessary to try the games I would allow my son to play, before letting him have them. Not because I want to, but because there is no reliable rating system.
Out of 4 games that are either marketed to children, or are straight up E-rated, 3 turn out to be either entirely unsuitable, or only suitable for older kids. For reasons ranging from microtransactions, DRM, always-online, in-game marketing, unmoderated in-game chats with strangers, unsuitable content, (lack of) parental controls, to oversights in accessibility and handling, like keyboard layouts you can't edit and the need to press two keys simultaneously that are too far apart for small hands.
But, who has that kind of time? I, for once, have given up, and only buy what comes with warm recommendations from other parents, or what is straight up edutainment to begin with. Much to the dismay of my son, who is trying every trick in the book to get his hands on games. And, of course, he does! He is a child. He wants that stuff.
Leaving parents stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I wish we had a reliable system that would tell parents what to expect, without having to purchase and try everything ourselves.
Post edited June 11, 2024 by Nervensaegen
