My 6 year old Nephew stays with us at least one day a week. We need a game. He is exceedingly observant and intelligent such that he works stuff out that ought be beyond his years. Is this a good game for a bright young mind? Does its content tend towards light or dark? The game looks incredible. Just the sort of thing i been thinking of. But, i don't want to put him in the shoes of a morally deficient character, nor expose him to dark humor. He is good hearted and bright minded. i seek to foster this, yet not do his thinking for him with "educational" type games. Would you say this game qualifies, or not?

i'd not expose him or any to The Simpsons. The whole "doing one over on another" and "me mine" themes, as well more, just ain't the kind of thoughts which gell well with the unadulterated human nature. The young mammal is all about mutual cooperation, acceptance, compassion and such. Yet must also learn the ropes of a cruel world. So i favor sharing the young, stories of making good choices and doing good things. i don't want to show them all that adult baggage from a self-centered mutually destructive society. Even just the commercials are poison to the young mind. It is counter to their(our) nature. They are more self-aware than most adult folk. Unadulterated mind and soul. Open. Not biased and jaded, nor conformed or reformed.

For this kid, with Paladin mind and heart.. i think a story game of Hero meeting world. Solving puzzles and doing things. Encountering interesting inhabitants and seeing Very cool things! Making choices, following purpose. ...but i am uncle. He has a different upbringing than i'd choose. He's into batman and scoobydoo anime and such. Lots of movie length movies there are! And seen silly saturday mornin cartoon violence and stuff. So yeah, if it better and more purposeful than Daffy Duck, then is good :)

Just don't want an asshat character, doing funked up things, in a mucked up world.

And i will be there. It will be him before the monitor and driving the mouse. Making choices, deciding the way. i'll be enjoying the ride. There for questions, assistance and advice as requested. Also there to pause and "talk about what we just saw" if needed. Though i reserve those "talk about" moments to rare event. Otherwise they lose significance, +. Shared time. Computer games for rainy weather. Sports and work, play and adventure under sun. The generational share :)

I agree with you, commercials (along with many other products of modern society) can be pretty bad for young people growing up.
I don't really share your views on some of the other things, but that's up to you I guess :)

Book of Unwritten Tales fits your description of a hero meeting the world, at least for the first half or more. There is a third playable character that enters the game at something like halfway through, I guess, and he's their version of Guybrush Threepwood. He's a nice guy, but he isn't the most respectful person around.

Watch some youtube videos of gameplay and decide for yourself, I say!

There is some black humour in the game which I don't necessarily find appropriate for younger kids. But I think 10+ years would be ok.

A little late, but wanted to add something in case it helps. [minor spoilers included]

First, its virtually impossible to make an accurate suggestion as you may find one thing objectionable and an equally objectionable thing (to someone else) just fine. We are all different.

That said:

There is a quest in the game where a cute little character decides he wants to die. He's very noble about it, its to help save others, but he wanders around trying to bring about his own death. (not really suicide, trying not to be too spoilery, but some folks might not consider this appropriate for, say, an 6-8 year old).

Most of the humor that I have seen is found in pop culture. They would need knowledge of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, RPG mechanics, and MMO stick points to really get most of the humor.

There isn't anything that you won't find on day time TV.

As for difficulty, the puzzles are very sensible (save a mistake the devs made on one). Its quite refreshing to play a game with logic behind the puzzles. I think its 12+ rating is pretty accurate. On one hand, there isn't anything overly offensive, but on the other hand, most people won't be nearly as protective of a teen on the issues you might run into when playing this game.