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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

Taptiles

ESRB Rating:	E - Everyone
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Puzzle
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This game is free, but contains advertisements
You could say that Taptiles is a 3D Mahjong game, but that would be a little misleading. While you do eliminate the tiles in pairs, this is far from a slow or meditative game. If you want to get anywhere in this game, you're going to need to be fast and precise.

Brief thoughts: Like Microsoft's other casual games, the only objectionable things here are some in game advertisements and the option to spend real money to have them removed.

Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Other
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The basic concept behind this game isn't a new one: you control a small grey blob of nanomachines, and proceed to eat things until you grow big enough to eat bigger things. And as you grow bigger and consume more things, the out of control eating binge eventually leads you to consume the entire universe!

Brief thoughts: Your ball of goo will consume literally everything over the course of the game, though this is never depicted graphically. Nor is it ever taken seriously.

Tetzle

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Puzzle
Platforms:
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This game is completely free!
This is an open source jigsaw puzzle game with a slight twist. Instead of your typical jigsaw puzzle pieces, your image is broken up into tetrominoes. Also, there are no puzzles supplied with the game; you'll need to supply those yourself.

Brief thoughts: The only way this game will feature something objectionable is if you deliberately make a puzzle out of an offensive image.

Toaster Jam

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Arcade / Other
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In this fast-paced games, you'll need to move quickly to dodge forks and other sharp obstacles as you fling your toaster toward the ultimate prize - the perfect slice of toast!

Brief thoughts: The most offensive thing you'll find in this game is the disappointed look your toaster will give you when it collides with an obstacle.

The Treasures of Montezuma 4

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Match 3
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In this Match 3 game, the Emperor Montezuma was separated from his beloved Anakaona by the arrival of Cortez and his army. Now that she has been reborn as an archeologist, the player must help her use ancient Aztec magic to reopen a magic portal and reunite the two lovers across time!

Brief thoughts: Perhaps the gravest concern about this game is that it's story revolves around the concept of ancient magic and the ability of souls to be reborn after death.

Beyond that, this is a pretty standard puzzle game with no real issues.

Trijinx

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Puzzle
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In TriJinx, you work to clear groups of triangles in a Tetris-like "well". However, instead of switching neighboring tiles or controlling where they fall, you rotate the entire board and gravity moves the pieces into their new positions. Once you're arranged them in groups of three or more, you can clear them just by clicking on the group.

Brief thoughts: Since this game is about exploring a pyramid, it's filled with references to Egyptian mythology.

Trine

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Platform Puzzler
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In a world that has been taken over by an undead army, three adventurers ended up being magically bonded by an ancient artifact. Now they journey across the world in hopes of breaking this bond.

Brief thoughts: Although magic and an undead army takes center stage in this fantasy adventure, players won't find anything worse than what they'd see in a traditional fairy tale.

Triple Town

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Match 3
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In this game, you build thriving colonies by placing similar objects together. For example, three clumps of grass becomes a bush, three bushes form a tree, and three trees form a house. The catch is that there is limited space available, and bears often show up to waste more of your valuable real estate.

Brief thoughts: There's not much to worry about here, as the biggest issue is that you can create churches by trapping multiple enemies.

Turbo Pug

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Endless Runner
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As this is a fairly typical endless runner, all you're trying to do is guide a pug (a popular breed of frumpy dog) as it runs through an obstacle filled landscape. The farther you get, the higher your score.

Brief thoughts: Some of the obstacles appear to be bloody, which is at odds with the way your pooch just pops into colorful fireworks when they collide with something.

Ultimate Chicken Horse

ESRB Rating:	E10 - Everyone (Ages 10 and up)
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Party Game / Platformer
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Sometimes, people just want to have some fun together. And sometimes, having fun means screwing with them. Ultimate Chicken Horse is a silly little game about trying to reach the finish line while also preventing your friends from doing the same. Thus, those who survive will be the Ultimate Chicken -- or Horse, or Raccoon, or Cyborg Bunny. Whatever floats your boat.

Brief thoughts: The rule of the game is to be the only one who can survive the obstacle course you've built, but since failing only amounts to your character's eyes getting crossed out, there's nothing to really worry about.

Undertale

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 13 and up
Genre:	JRPG / Bullet Hell
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In this indie classic, your choices matter. Trapped underground in the world of Monsters, it's up to you to determine their fate. Do you befriend them and save their world, or slaughter them and destroy it? Expect an emotional journey either way.

Brief thoughts: An important thing to remember about this game is that its story changes based on your actions. If the you are cruel, then things become very dark and depressing, and it's even possible to permanently stain your game with your evil actions.

But, if you treat the monsters kindly, the game's world becomes increasingly colorful and comedic. In fact, to reach the best ending, you must show kindness to everyone, even those who aren't deserving of it, which many people find to be a very Christian message.

Untitled Goose Game

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Stealth / Open World
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It's a beautiful day outside, and people are out enjoying the weather. Unfortunately for everybody else, you are a mischievous goose looking to have fun at their expense.

Brief thoughts: The biggest issue with this game is that the player is encouraged to pull practical jokes on people. While most of these are fairly harmless, there are a few that shouldn't be imitated in real life.

Viridi

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Simulator
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This game is free, but paid features exist
There is something innately calming about growing a pot of cacti, and Viridi brings this atmosphere to your computer's desktop. This isn't exactly a game in the normal sense; it's more of an interactive decoration.

Brief thoughts: This "game" is little more than a cute desktop toy that you need to water occasionally. It's a good source of relaxing white noise too.

VVVVVV

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Platformer
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Designed to look and feel like a game from the Commodore 64, VVVVVV is about exploring an unknown world in an attempt to free a shipwrecked crew from the anomaly they've stumbled into. Although this game looks like a platformer, you can't actually jump - instead, Capt. Viridian can invert his own gravity, allowing him to fall up and walk on ceilings in order to bypass obstacles.

Brief thoughts: Old style games don't have much to object to - at most, your character will look sad when they touch an obstacle and then restart the area from the last checkpoint.

Waking Mars

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Platform Puzzler
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While exploring Mars, a pair of astronauts discover bizarre alien plant life. This "zoa", as they call it, becomes the basis of a botanical puzzle game; by carefully cultivating the alien species, you'll explore deeper into Lethe Cavern and eventually uncover a mystery held deep below the martian soil.

Brief thoughts: Some Christians have issues with the concept of alien life. If you're not one of those Christians, then you're not really going to find anything objectionable here.

Webbed

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Platformer
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When a bowerbird kidnaps your boyfriend, the local insects decide they've had enough and, with the help of your webbing skills, band together to drive away the foul feathered fiend!

Brief thoughts: This is a completely family friendly game with no objectionable content.

Where is my Heart?

ESRB Rating:	E - Everyone
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Platform Puzzler
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Originally, three spirits lived in an old happy tree. They went about their days feeding it love, and things were good. One day though a mistake was made, and they fed it a dull, dead heart instead of the happy pink hearts. This single mistake was enough to cause their world to shatter, and their tree drifted away. Now that the world is in pieces, you need to find a way to navigate it and bring the spirits to a new home.

Brief thoughts: While this game has a sad and melancholy ton to it, there really isn't anything too objectionable here.

Windowframe

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Platformer
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In this platformer, you're tasked with killing several vampires. But, in order to reach them, you need to manipulate the game's window to block hazards or create new paths.

Brief thoughts: When something in this game takes damage, it just pops out of existence. This includes the "vampires" you're tasked with slaying.

Wurroom

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Everyone
Genre:	Other
Platforms:
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This game is completely free!
This game is perhaps best described as an interactive art piece, as there aren't any real puzzles to solve. Instead, you'll interact with one scene to find your way to the next, as if you were experiencing a series of vignettes.

Brief thoughts: Even though the player is sometimes directed to interact with some of the clay objects in destructive ways, it'd be a stretch to call this violent. Otherwise, there isn't anything to really be concerned about here.

Zen and the Art of Transhumanism

ESRB Rating:	NR - Not Rated
My Rating:	Ages 6 and up
Genre:	Other / Puzzle
Platforms:
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This game is completely free!
How do you make a pottery simulator interesting enough to gather the attention of the average casual gamer? Apparently you theme it around a cyberpunk future and insert some social commentary. That's this game in a nutshell.

Brief thoughts: Since you're running an operating theater, the clients are nude (but they are not sexualized). More importantly, this game's theme centers around what we gain by patterning our lives after vice or virtue.