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Family-Friendly PC Games

Overview

Like any other form of entertainment, video games are made with specific audiences in mind. This sometimes means that a game is designed to be played by mature or adult audience, complete with content that is very inappropriate for children. To help make it a little easier to find games that the entire family can enjoy, I've put together this list of family-friendly titles.

Simply click on a game's title to view the full review.

Games in this List

0 - B   C   D - F   G - J   K - M   N - R   S   T - Z  


10,000,000

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Ages 6 and up
Genre:Match 3
Platforms:LinuxMacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
In this frantic Match 3 game, you're trying to break yourself out of a dungeon by scoring one million points in a single run. While that might sound easy, you'll need to match your tiles carefully in order to defeat the many different fantasy monsters and traps that block your way.

Brief thoughts: Even with the fantasy elements, this game is pretty clean.

4 Elements

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Match 3 / Hidden Object
Platforms:Windows
Fun-O-Meter:
The world is in grave danger as the four magical altars that control the natural elements have been neglected and lost their power. With the help of a friendly faerie, it's up to you to repair the altars, restore their power, and bring order to the world once again in this fantasy-themed Match 3 game.

Brief thoughts: Overall, this is a clean title. The main issue is the use of magic altars, though there are treated as the level's goal rather than something religious.

5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Board game
Platforms:LinuxMacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
Ready for a game of Chess with a unique twist? This version of the iconic board game allows you to send pieces back in time, creating new timelines and alternate universes.

Brief thoughts: This video game is essentially an upgraded version of a very well known board game, so there's nothing remotely offensive to be found here.

ABZU

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Adventure
Platforms:Windows
Fun-O-Meter:
In this beautiful and meditative game, you control the actions of a humanoid robot who brings life to a large undersea world. But this robot is not entirely alone; a dark presence waits in the deep, bringing suffering and even death into paradise!

Brief thoughts: While there is some violence, none of it is without reason, nor does the player inflict any of it. The majority of the "violent" content is nothing more than sharks eating smaller fish anyway.

American Truck Simulator

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Driving Simulation
Platforms:LinuxMacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
Ever wanted to drive a big truck? Now you can - enjoy driving through the United States in this surprisingly fun and relaxing simulation. Once you've made enough money hauling freight, you can even hire help and build a proper delivery company!

Brief thoughts: Every so often, there's a new DLC or in game billboard that exists to raise awareness of some real life issue, but this is hardly a problem.

Among the Sleep

ESRB Rating:T - Teenagers
My Rating:Ages 13 and up
Genre:First Person Puzzler / Horror
Platforms:LinuxMacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
In this unique horror game, you take on the role of a toddler who's trying to find his mother. You're not alone, however, as your faithful teddy bear has accompanied you on your adventure.

Brief thoughts: While this game may seem like a strange supernatural horror story, it's actually telling a pointed story about a common problem many families face - everything just seems supernatural and weird because the protagonist isn't old enough to understand what's really going on around them.

And Yet it Moves

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Ages 6 and up
Genre:Puzzle Platformer
Platforms:LinuxWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
And Yet It Moves is a game about a little paper man in a larger paper world. All the player's character wants to do is reunite with the piece of paper he was originally sketched on, but there are a lot of things in his way. So it falls to you to guide him through the surreal (and dangerous) world he lives in.

Brief thoughts: This is a very relaxing and non-violent game, even when you take into account how easily your character falls apart.

Antichamber

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:First Person Puzzler
Platforms:Windows
Fun-O-Meter:
Your goal is simple: find your way to the exit. Your environment is a non-euclidean geometrical nightmare from a place where logic has no meaning. Hallways turn in on themselves, walls and floors disappear when approached, and sometimes when you turn around, whatever was behind you isn't there anymore. Hope you enjoy confusion!

Brief thoughts: The primary thing to worry about in Antichamber is the possibility of a headache, though I'm not entirely sure if they are caused by eye strain or the very unique gameplay.

Arcade Game Series: Galaga

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Shoot 'em up
Platforms:ArcadeWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
It's time to fight against a never ending armada of aliens in this classic arcade game by NAMCO. Just be sure to keep your starship from getting captured while you're aiming for that elusive high score!

Brief thoughts: As this is one of the earliest arcade games, there's not much to worry about - just some very mild violence as players and aliens shoot each other.

Arcade Game Series: PAC-MAN

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Arcade
Platforms:ArcadeWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
This is a Steam rerelease of the classic Pac Man game. Everybody knows the drill by now: you spend the game guiding Pac Man around the maze while eating dots, munching fruits, while avoiding Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde!

Brief thoughts: This is a rerelease of the classic Pac Man game; there's really nothing to worry about here.

Audiosurf

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Rhythm / Racing
Platforms:Windows
Fun-O-Meter:
Audiosurf takes its name extremely literally, as it's a game about riding (or "surfing") along roads that were created from your music. The colors and contours of the road follow the beats, and with fourteen ways to play, there'll be at least one mode you'll enjoy.

Brief thoughts: The only thing that might be offensive about this game is the music used to create the levels. Since you provide the music from your own collection, you also have total control over this game's contents.

Axel & Pixel

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Point and Click adventure
Platforms:Windows
Fun-O-Meter:
This point and click adventure started when Axel decided to take a long winter's nap with his faithful dog, Pixel. When he awoke, a giant red rat caused a huge icicle to fall and crush his home before scurrying away with a magical key. Now Axel and Pixel must track down the monster rat and retrieve the magic key before the Ice Giant causes the dream world to become frozen over in a permanent winter!

Brief thoughts: This is a very clean game, as the worst it has to offer is some slapstick.

Baba is You

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:puzzle
Platforms:LinuxMacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
In this unique game, players are tasked with manipulating the game's mechanics in order to solve puzzles in unorthodox ways!

Brief thoughts: Everything in this game, even the skulls and ghosts, are just a token or game piece to be manipulated.

BallisticNG

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Racing
Platforms:LinuxMacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
BallisticNG is a love letter to classic antigravity racing games. While there's no proper campaign mode, you're free to create and race however you want!

Brief thoughts: This game is about as violent as any other run of the mill kart racer - which is to say it's extremely tame.

Beat Hazard

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Ages 6 and up
Genre:Bullet Hell / Rhythm
Platforms:LinuxMacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
This outer space shoot 'em up is powered by your music library. Faster beats mean more intense battles, while quieter segments slow the action down -- and lower the strength of your weapons!

Brief thoughts: While this game is full of bloodless carnage, it's not any more violent than classic arcade games. The only real issue is that the player can choose to play with inappropriate music, and that's pretty much your own fault.

Bejeweled Deluxe

ESRB Rating:eC - Early Childhood
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Match 3
Platforms:Windows
Fun-O-Meter:
This is easily the most recognizable Match 3 game out there, as it was a colossal hit. Unfortunately, it's eclipsed by most Match 3 games today, as this sort of gameplay has become more refined and incorporated into new contexts over time.

Brief thoughts: There's no room for offensive content in a game this simple.

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Match 3
Platforms:MacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
Bejeweled 2 brought the Bejeweled series back with new features, such as powerups, a puzzle mode, and more modern graphics. It's still a good Match 3 game, however, it feels like this was a rushed stop-gap between the original and Bejeweled 3.

Brief thoughts: Even though the original formula has been expanded upon, there's still nothing offensive in this game.

Bejeweled 3

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Match 3
Platforms:MacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
Of the original three Bejeweled games, this is easily the best version. With eight different game modes, there's going to be something here for every Match 3 fan.

Brief thoughts: Not only is there no offensive content to worry about, this is clearly the best iteration of the series so far.

Blocks that Matter

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Puzzle Platformer
Platforms:LinuxWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
A pair of indie game developers have been kidnapped, and now it's up to their current project, a little robot called Tetrobot, to come and rescue them. The twist is that Tetrobot can collect matter and, using Tetris-style physics, manipulate it to their own advantage.

Brief thoughts: This game is very family friendly - at its worst, the player may squish mindless slimes by dropping a block on them, or the player's robot can be destroyed if it comes into contact with a hazard (slimes, lava, TNT etc).

Blueberry Garden

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Platform
Platforms:LinuxMacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
In this surreal world filled with odd trees, birds, snails and blue moose that wear sunglasses, something has gone wrong. A giant faucet located far up in the sky has sprung a leak! Now there is a never ending stream of water pouring into the world, slowly flooding it. You control a little bird person who must find enough objects to create a makeshift tower that will let you reach the faucet and turn it off.

Brief thoughts: The only issue with this game is that there's a hidden link to an old website that displayed comments posted by players. If the link still works, there's a chance that something inappropriate may be posted there.

Bookworm Deluxe

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Everyone
Genre:Word Puzzle
Platforms:Windows
Fun-O-Meter:
This game is fairly simple; you just score points by creating words using the tiles in the game's letter grid. The only catch is that the letters you're using need to be next to each other, forming a chain.

Brief thoughts: As this game is more of an edutainment title than a puzzle game, things are kept very clean and wholesome. There's nothing to worry about here.

Bookworm Adventures

ESRB Rating:NR - Not Rated
My Rating:Ages 6 and up
Genre:Puzzle / RPG
Platforms:Windows
Fun-O-Meter:
The Bookworm franchise goes through a genre shift, becoming a puzzle based RPG in which Lex must save the world and rescue a damsel by spelling words. Surprisingly, this worked out really well and makes for a fun, semi-educational adventure.

Brief thoughts: The biggest issue found in this game is that many of the enemies Lex encounters are monsters from various mythologies. This includes a trip through the Underworld (ie, Hell).

Additionally, at one point Lex gets lost in the desert, which causes him to battle a hallucination.

Braid

ESRB Rating:E - Everyone
My Rating:Ages 6 and up
Genre:Puzzle Platformer
Platforms:MacOSWindows
Fun-O-Meter:
Like many other video game heroes, Tim wants to rescue his princess. But, he's not perfect, and has made a number of mistakes in his life. Thus, as he searches for the princess, he reflects on the nature of time and how choices in the past can affect the future.

Brief thoughts: The central theme of this game is learning from your mistakes and in turn, learning to forgive yourself. Even considering the dark nature of the ending, this is still a very healthy concept to focus on.