Looking for adventure(-ish) games to play alongside my 8 years old
I'm looking for games that I can play and enjoy with my 8 years old son. It doesn't need to be a 2-players game, or even a game that he can play (though if he can take the controller and get actively involved, that's better), but just something that he can enjoy as a "backseat player". We have a Switch, a PC, and a PS4.
tl;dr: "backseatable" adventure-ish games with exploration and a clear direction (different sights to see, and a sense of progression), puzzles (so he feels involved when exchanging ideas), ok with light horror. Low stakes, low stress.
Here are some games that we played together and both liked:
- Outer Wilds: loved it so much we did 2 playthroughs in 2 years. He liked the sights, the exploration/treasure hunt aspect, the puzzles, and he asked me questions about our universe and solar system. He was mostly passive as a player both times we played, but we were sharing ideas and he was making suggestions on what to do/where to go next.
- Link's Awakening remake: we played this one when he was 6 years old, with me taking the lead for the bosses or more complicated puzzles. We finished it together.
- Stanley Parable: I intended to play it alone, but unexpectedly he really liked watching me play.
- Strange Horticulture, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle: he liked solving the puzzles with me, and me explaining/narrating what was happening and why.
- Portal 1 & 2: he was able to play on his own with some help, and the coop levels in Portal 2 were great.
- Deep Rock Galactic: he's making his own story and narrating along while I (and sometimes random players) play normally.
- Human Fall Flat: he loves the slapstick humor and finds better (and more creative) solutions than I do
- Mario Odyssey: probably his GOAT game, the accessibility features helped him a lot to play and enjoy it alone.
He's also taking an interest in light horror (specifically mascot horror) games:
- Garten of Banban series: objectively bad games but he really enjoyed the progression, light puzzles, and the liminal level design.
- Indigo Park: much better production value, mostly a walking sim, but very short.
- The Complex: a free "Backrooms" game. He didn't play it since he wasn't yet comfortable with mouse and keyboard controls, but liked watching me explore around
- Crow Country (demo): he backseated and enjoyed it. There's an "exploration mode" that removes enemies. Will probably buy the full game later.
And some "failed" tentatives:
- Tunic: since he liked Link's Awakening, I thought he might like Tunic, but no. Probably because of a lack of NPCs or clear indications, and the game is too difficult for him. Not fun to backseat.
- Zelda BOTW: he tried to play it when he was a bit too young, and had a hard time with it. I'll probably try again soon.
- Minecraft Dungeons: we played 2-3 games but he got bored of it very quickly.
- Diablo 3: he saw me playing and wanted to try it. He liked it much more than Minecraft Dungeons but hated seeing villagers getting turned into zombies, so we stopped here.
- Sandboxes: not his thing (Minecraft, Terraria, No Man's Sky, Animal Crossing)
So in summary, I highlighted the best experiences we had (with Outer Wilds being the best), and I'm looking for something equivalent.
EDIT - I'll try to keep this post up-to-date with the suggestions we liked:
- Superliminal: Excellent, I wasn't expecting such a good game. He's managing most of it alone, and there's even a (harmless) "scary" section
- Untitled Goose Game: Great suggestion. We actually already played it (not to completion), and he loves honking and absolutely not helping me complete the objectives 😅
- Layton series: I think he tried the first one on my DS for an hour or two. I'll suggest it again and be the backseat player myself.
- Luigi's Mansion 3: GOTY
Ahh yes this genre is my jam.
Katamari Damacy - the whole franchise is fantastic starting with the classic. Watch the trailer and if your kid is already confused and laughing, this will be a win. Whacky humour, banging soundtrack, constantly on the go with a million eye catching baubles he can back seat drive you to roll up. Goals are obvious: get big, go places, defeat/roll up things that previously gave you heck, repeat until you're as big as your Royal Father, the King of All Cosmos.
Pikmin, especially 3 deluxe and 4. 1 is too stressful and doesnt have a lot of the modern quality of life things. Start with 3 deluxe or straight to 4. Adventure, make interesting choices, collect dudes and fruit and shiny treasure, fight epic boss monsters in a beautiful miniature world.
West Of Loathing - stick people pun-filled monochrome adventure! Definitely a great one for backseat driving, from where to go, to how to respond to weird questions, to whether or not to reach into a disgusting spittoon for hopefully disease free treasure. Some text/line art based occult and paranormal elements, such as a cursed doll or ichor being used as an ingredient etc.
Kirby / yoshi titles: easy mode available for the more modern titles. He can tell you which guy to beat up and what copy powers/costumes would work and where the little hidden secrets might be.
Beginners Guide - very much like Stanley Parable. I haven't played this with young people but if your dude already enjoys Stanley this will be good.
Makai Kingdom and the Disgaea franchise - Ridiculous silly dialogue galore. The stories are always filled with zany casts on hilarious adventures. It's a tactic turn based JRPG though so there might be some slogging and level grind involved, but he can freely commentate on which of the dozens of classes you should use for each battle, and there are some light puzzling.
Lovers In A Dangerous Space Time - cute fun, difficulty settings are pretty flexible. You guys are in a spaceship together and each player takes a station to arm, defend, steer, and accelerate the ship. I was able to play this cooperatively with a younger child. We liked the cute bunnies.
Baba files taxes is a 5-10 minute adventure by Hempuli, game maker of Baba Is You. I have slight reservations about recommending Baba Is You due to sheer difficulty, unless you already own a copy, then give it a go. It might just inspire him to break a few games and think creatively outside the box. Free mini games aplenty on Hempuli's site though, lots and lots of the Sokoban type games for free he can backseat you as well. Mobile Suit Baba is a super cute turn based tactical inspired by Into The Breach - also hard but also so creative and cute.
Monsters Expedition - serene and chill atmosphere puzzle game with cute humour. Very slow paced. Quite difficult towards the end but game has built in tips now. But might be a bit too slow to share together and gets very difficult to back seat drive exactly how a puzzle should be done -- best if free or very inexpensive, or play through with all hints then let him have a go. Controls aren't time based, no bosses no platforms, easy undo.
Frog Detective - very cute fun humour and light mystery. Extremely suitable for younger crowd
Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid Invasion are fun if he likes run and gun genres or beat 'em up genres. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is a good little action game as well. Note one of the bosses is kinda creepy but no worse than titles you've already mentioned.
Not recommended.
Tunic is way too hard of a game in general. It's at the very upper edge of my playing ability. Things are always ambiguous and there's some very hard puzzles.
Hatoful Boyfriend and DokiDoki Literature Club are not family friendly games.
Endling: extinction is forever. This game deals with death of baby animals, humans, and extinction of animal species in a post apocalyptic world. It's like Bambi on mother-killing steroids.
OddSparks, StardewValley and such might be too open world or too slow based on your post. Excellent games, just might not be your cup of tea for now.
Sadly there isn't anything quite like Outer Wilds that hits almost all of the correct buttons dead-on.
Here's some games my kid (roughly your kid's age) is or has played on their own and really enjoyed:
I can't believe I forgot about Untitled Goose Game!!! Fantastic mayhem. Who doesn't want to be a terrible goose in a lovely village.
My kid also greatly enjoyed Frog Detective.
I would like to second the recommendation for Ibb & Obb as a game to play with your kid as long as he's into platformers (I've been assuming if he can play Portal on his own that it should be fine).
Are you intentionally avoiding the Lego games? They seem like an obvious option to me. I have both played co-op and with my nephew back seating over the years and they have held his attention the best, although he also loves Lego. He's 9 now, we were playing the Jurassic Park Lego game and it was fun trying to explain the original movie to him.
Hah, not intentionally no, but that's a legit idea.
Okay, seems like an obvious choice once you have burned through the better games listed here.
Happy gaming!
The Lego Skywalker Saga one is tons of fun. Goes on sale pretty frequently, too. Marvel Super Heroes 2 is STRAIGHT TRASH. I had that one and almost swore off Lego games because of it, but Skywalker Saga really did everything right.
I would recommend Ori and the Blind Forest as something to try.
The game is a platformer with some very light puzzles and a slightly eerie atmosphere. It isn't a terribly long game, so it might keep their interest for longer than some of the bigger titles suggested here. A lot of the game could be attempted by them and have the controller handed off in the case that a particular section is too hard.
Ooh absolutely seconding this, Ori sounds like a perfect fit for his tastes and the first game has features that make it a lot more forgiving than something like Hollow Knight (which would also be fun for him to backseat game but is definitely FAR harder than at least the first Ori game). It's also beautiful af.
I really enjoyed the Professor Layton series when I was just a bit older than he is now, but I'm not sure how easy those are to find on modern systems (I played on DS). If he likes straight-up puzzle games, I think he'd like them though.
If he likes point-and-click adventures, I think the Deponia trilogy is a real gem, but he might be a little young (there's some PG-13 level sexual innuendo and a bit of swearing). Monkey Island has been recommended and it's definitely a good idea.
The first three Layton games are on mobile! They were released in HD versions for Android/iOS (with shortened titles). The first six Layton games came out in two loose trilogies, with the latter three being a prequel trilogy, so there should be no loose ends if one plays the first three. The first three are basically standalone games anyway, it's only the second trilogy that has a loose connecting plot. Great recommendation in my opinion!
Oh yeah the first three are the best in my opinion anyhow! I might buy them on mobile knowing that, even though I've still got my old DS and cartridges. The Layton series suffered from the transition to the 3DS imo because the character art in the 2D games is so good.
I think your son would love The Unfinished Swan. It's a charming 1st person puzzle game in a similar vein to the Portal series. It has some really clever mechanics, good puzzles, and is very approachable for kids. Another game in that category I recommend is Quantum Conundrum, it's quite a bit more "wacky" but is also a great puzzler.
Journey and Shadow of the Colossus could be some other good choices, both are light on explaining anything but present compelling worlds to explore and obstacles to overcome. SotC might be a bit too thematically dark or intense for an 8yo, depending on your kid.
Have you tried Super Mario Odyssey? Really just about anything with Mario is probably worth your time, but I thought this one was particularly good. Also in the Nintendoverse, my kid is particularly into the Kirby games, which may or may not resonate with yours in the same way. Kirby and the Forgotten Land might be a good place to start.
Yes! I can't believe I forgot it, since we both loved it and played it for hours last year.
We tried but surprisingly he didn't stick to it.
Great suggestions, especially Quantum Conundrum. Thanks!
Wow, that's a shame! That was my #1 recommendation as well, alongside the Return to Dreamland remake. Do you know why he didn't like it? I'm assuming you tried playing in local co-op too?
He was ok playing with me in coop (with him taking the lead) when I suggested it, but not really enthusiastic and he never asked to play it, so we kinda both forgot it 🤷♂️
Here are some less well known recommendations with uncanny nonsense, absurd funny words and discovery, it has been a while since I played them so I sure hope none of this is unsuitable for children:
If he liked Portal:
If he liked Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle, I would strongly recommend going through the other LucasArts greats plus newer games by Telltale, Double Fine and Ron Gilbert. You have the whole Monkey Island series, for instance. He should be able to play Costume Quest 1 and 2 on his own but based on what you wrote I'm not sure it would be his thing. I'm fairly certain Psychonauts will be, if he retains the same tastes within a few years.
Curse of Monkey Island. Any of the Monkey Islands would be great, but CMI is, to me, the definitive instalment. It's adorable, it's funny, it encourages lateral thinking, it's kid-friendly, and it should be pretty cheap on Steam because it's almost 30 years old. Your kid should get a kick out of it!
Plus one with the Monkey Island games, they are just really great. Even the weird 3d game that was on the PS2 holds a special place in my heart. Even that one you can get on the cheap on Steam.
I got the new one and started playing it too - it's cute! I haven't been able to finish it because of "being an adult" and "having responsibilities", but I'm looking forward to playing it again for sure!
I just recently played Lil Gator Game and think y'all would like it. You play as a lil gator assembling an adventure game with your friends to entice big sis to play while visiting from college. Simple exploration, chat with characters, mild platforming. Very cute all in all and it ended on a very touching note.
My son enjoyed backseat playing Subnautica with me (the original game) - it has some similar elements to Outer Wilds (space archeology, exploration/immersion) but also has survival/resource gathering/tech tree traversing/base building.
Thimbleweed Park is a spiritual successor to those classic adventure games, includes a hint system in game in case you get stuck and also has a similarly bonkers storyline.
That said, there's an endgame puzzle that gets pretty meta so he'll certainly need some help there.
My friend plays lots of adventure games with her three young girls, and their favorite has been Luigi's Mansion 3. Great puzzles and exploration, new themes with every set of floors, and a fun variety of characters and encounters. It also features multiplayer and co-op too, so if he does want to take the controls, he can do so! I thought it'd also be a great fit because of the light horror elements - it sounds like your kid enjoys some scares, so maybe they'd enjoy the cute-Halloween feel of Luigi's Mansion 3.
Excellent suggestion!
Slime Rancher
You catch slimes, maintain enclosures and crops/animals to feed to them, and explore a rather large open world. It's on PC but is single-player.
Just a couple quick suggestions since my 7 year-old son and I seem to share your gaming taste. Both Zelda games, actually. We've been playing Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer for the past week or so and have been having a blast with it. I actually bought it when it first came out and enjoyed it briefly, but it's only recently that it 'clicked' with me. My son saw me playing it and has gotten into it, too. It's super fun to move your character with the rhythm of the music, but the game also has a setting where you don't have to that's perfect for kids (or adults) who don't have great rhythm. The Zelda-ey stuff is pretty simplistic, but because of this it's synthesized very well with the NecroDancer gameplay.
And one more: if you're not already aware, a new Zelda game, Echoes of Wisdom comes out in about a month. You play as Zelda and use magic to duplicate various things to solve puzzles and duplicate enemies to fight other enemies. I'm actually not super excited about it because it seems like it diverges a bit too much from the standard Zelda format, but I'll give it a chance, since my son's pretty excited about it.
Just as an aside: I'm getting all the feels from the concept of this post. I used to do this with my kids, and I didn't realize just how much I miss those days when they were content to be my copilot. They really do grow up fast.
Back on topic: I would recommend Broken Age. It's got a similar feel to the Monkey Island games already mentioned. Just swap the pirate theme for scifi. You also alternate play from the perspective of 2 different characters throughout the story, which adds an interesting layer to some of the mysteries. Plus for some reason it has an insanely stacked voice cast, which can be pretty fun.
Thought of some new suggestions! Chants of Senaar was a reasonably fun indie standout, and it's got clear enough puzzles and defined enough goals that I think it'd work for him, especially with some help from you.
Another (very different) suggestion is Ghost Trick -- they recently released a remaster for the Switch and it's got interesting puzzles and a really wacky plot. Some cartoon death but iirc nothing inappropriate for his age.
I will always upvote Ghost Trick. It's a great little puzzle/mystery game. It's one of those games that I wish I could erase from my memory so I can experience again for the first time.
The closest I got was playing along with my wife. It's very fun to watch someone else experience that story!
Puzzle games:
Action/RPG:
If I think of more, I'll edit and add them.
Baba is You gets hard fast fwiw, so I recommend using Baba is Hint to get escalating spoiler-free hints for it. I need that site and I'm in my 20s, so a little kid should definitely have hints available to avoid frustration if he gets stuck.
Also, Life is Strange has some sexual themes and gets dark in ways that aren't age appropriate for him. I wouldn't recommend it just because of that (otherwise I think the gameplay would be a good fit, but its content is definitely for someone who's at LEAST pre-teen and probably more for teens).
I would also say that The Witness gets hard fast as well. They're both simple in theory, but the puzzles get really hard.
If he likes Zelda, maybe he's also into rythm games? You can try Cadence of Hyrule. That's pretty fun. I also liked Minit. It's an adventure Rogue-like.
Thank you, all great suggestions. Life is Strange is probably a bit too much and "too real" for an 8 years old though 😅
Maybe Return to Monkey Island if he likes point and clicks? It’s a little spooky, and has a bit of violence, alcohol and innuendo if any of those are hard passes, but has variable difficulty on puzzles and a really good system for keeping track of where you are and what you are doing right now.
They are certainly more simplistic, but have you explored any Humongous Entertainment games? So many great classics in there... multiple Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, and Putt Putt games. Spy Fox is another of my favorites from ye olden days. These would be games where you could absolutely let your kid take over the mouse and go for it. But with the types of games you've brought up, these might already be too "kiddie" for them.
And they all were semi-recently released on Steam, so no need to worry about compatibility issues or anything like that.
Lots of great suggestions. I'll throw in two:
I played both on Switch, but they're multi-platform.
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is a cute game where you take photos of animals and defeat an evil land developer. He could take front seat on this one.
West of Loathing could work, if the gross/mild horror themes are OK for your family, and reading is a pleasure. It's a point and click problem solving adventure.
If you have an old Xbox (or can emulate) , my sister and I loved watching my brother play through the Fable games growing up. They've got a great sense of humor.
And I'll always recommend Pico Park as a fun co-op game to play with loved ones.
I think a few Playstation games (on PC) may be good candidates? Ratchett & Clank, Sackboy, maybe Spider-Man Remastered or Horizon Zero Dawn if that's not too serious.
Also Kena - Bridge of Spirits is allegedly pretty good and could be a good fit.
And It takes two for a good co-op game, but check the story trailer, maybe it's too serious.
What about Skyrim? If he bounced off Breath of the Wild, he might not like Skyrim, and eight might be too young to wrap the ol' noggin around the game. I would still let him try though. I think a lot of us grew up trying Oblivion or Morrowind, or gods forbid, Daggerfall, before we were old enough to understand them. Walking around dazed and confused in a Bethesda game is almost a rite of passage.
Of course, if he does click with Skyrim, later on you could introduce him to Fallout 3 and go from there.
Halo was peak couch coop gaming back in the day. The Master Chief Collection doesn't support splitscreen on PC though, and Halo Infinite only supports it for multiplayer. There are apparently dark arts one can use to get MCC splitscreen coop working on PC, if you're willing. Or, the Xbox version of the MCC seems to support it, and honestly it's an experience I would consider buying a (used?) Xbox for. Not sure if you would just need to get an Xbox One, or something newer.
Finally, I'm gonna throw a curveball, not necessarily for immediate action, but to consider later on: Factorio.
I'm sorry for being obvious and not really answering your question. But have you considered taking the retro path? Just setup Retroarch with a gamepad and work your way through multiple generations of consoles. You may use the Tiny Core or some other romset (look it up on archive.org). That will give you a good selection with way more games than you will ever need.
I'm not really into retro games myself (except some nostalgia-inducing games), and I already have too many modern games... We tried a few on the Switch's virtual console, but it was more out of curiosity than anything else.
The recent Assassin’s Creed games have Discovery Tour modes that are nonviolent open world historical/museum tours. They’re pretty cool for learning about history!
I’d also recommend Heaven’s Vault: https://store.steampowered.com/app/774201/Heavens_Vault/
My daughter and I enjoyed playing Curse of the Golden Idol, Valheim, and Shadows of Doubt together, too! The Portal games also would be fun.
I have this one in my wishlist, I'm just waiting for it to get out of early access. Actually I think my son might really like immersive sims when he's older, but the ones I've played (Deus Ex, Prey, Dishonored) are too mature and/or scary yet.
I think it's coming out of Early Access in September!
My 7 year old and I have enjoyed all of the games in the Nibb Cooperative Collection. They do look like old NES games, but they all have a fun element of teamwork because the characters have different powers and you have to use them together.
i usually play with my 12 years old kid after dinner and here are the games we have played and he really enjoyed:
1 . point and click games (monkey island 1, 3, the last one and the one from tale tale - darkside detective - really funny and not scary at all - all the sam and max games, the original one from lucasart and the tale tales/skunkape remastered)
2 . the long dark - it's very slow but he likes the challenge. usually i move the character while he gives me assistance using maps we have printed of the different region... then we decide where to go, what to do, etc.. sadly on the switch is a bit hard because the transition between outside and inside the different houses takes time.
3 . road 96 - he really like the story, it was like an interactive movie, there aren't scary moment but there a moment with a lot of tension.
4 . kingdom two crowns. it's beautifully crafted, nice tunes and you can both play
--- from nintendo
6 . mario party (i don't play this with my son but he deeply likes it)
7 . paper mario (both of them)
Myst and Riven sound perfect, I played them with my parents when I was 3-8 and enjoyed the hell out of it. (Also never got anywhere...) Weird sights, puzzles, liminal space since it sounds like he likes that, low stress.
Try Toki Tori and Toki Tori 2, they are both puzzle games and both plays differently. There is the feel of progression and you hae to remember the mchaics as they become more involved and pulled further apart. They exist on Switch (and very likely other consoles and on PC as well) and when you buy in a sale, I don't see any reason to buy for different than portable console.
Stardew Valley is one of the games where you clearly see your progress and you can play very differently to suit your style - be it fighting in he mines, fishing, plants or animals. It lacks story in any way, though.
You have PS4, maybe have a look on LittleBigPlanet. I have played first two and they are rather platformers, yet you also progress in difficulty. Read review on PS4 LBP titles before buying, I think I have heard not so good about them as I had on first two.
You may want to try FTL: Faster than light which is in my opinion best played on mobile (phone or tablet). It is rogue-like space exploration/hopping fighting game with upgrades new ships, a few races all with different skills. Very good game. It is worth the money! And you should try I Into the breach from the same guys as FTL. It is more like a chess style gameplay. You play on small square battlefields with various units each having their various skills. It is chess/puzzle game. You can buy upgrades and steer your way a bit through the game. Ultimately you unlock more units and find different playstyles just like in FTL. These two are very very good games!
If there's a chance that a 2D platforms might land between the two of you, I'd recommend Rayman Legends. The art and music is amazing, and it's pretty loose and offbeat on story, so it's a fun romp through some great platforming mechanics... in a way each level has a kind of groove that you get into like riding a rollercoaster.
There's an added bonus in that when you play multi-player, you only restart from the last checkpoint if everyone playing dies. Just one survivor can resurrect others who are floating around as a sort of ghost.
What about Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons?
Luigi's Mansion 3
I would call this the pinnacle of "old person and young person" gaming. There's an immortal side character that plays a pivotal role in many, many of the puzzles. My 8 year old blows me away with his Odyssey skills and I think some of that type of gaming experience can really help power their skills in these slightly top down puzzle games.
I still kept a guide handy though, there's some obscure crap in that game for an old guy.
We've been playing Super Smash Bros for the Switch lately as well because I have to have him be competitive with his friends someday! Also, slightly different, but he played through both of the Mario + Rabbids games without much of my help except on the biggest of big bosses. Still working on that deep strategy brain...