There are many stories that I, sadly, do not have time to pursue, or there isn’t enough there there to demand a full article. These ideas start piling up in my inbox, shuffled away to be ignored. Why not, it occurred to me recently, simply share them here?

So, here are three stories that caught my eye this week. And by caught my eye, that usually means it caused me to nearly toss my phone across the screen in annoyance or disgust. You’re welcome to send over suggestions for future stories by emailing me.

On the docket today: states passing social media laws around algorithms, feeling guilt around using screen time, and the catastrophic harm social platforms are causing.

Headline: “Pritzker signs law regulating how social media platforms interact with children” (ABC 7) // “NY’s new social media rules for protecting children are now in place: What you need to know” (NY Daily News)
How Much This Story Upsets Me: 5/10

My Thoughts: What we’re seeing is the natural consequence of social media and technology companies spending the past decade and change extracting and exploiting people in pursuit of profit and without consequences. We’re now seeing a hodge hodge of countries, states, schools, and other institutions toss out good and bad faith measures pitched as attaching “responsibility” to various online platforms in our lives.

There was never a world where these companies, whose business model is built on exploitation, was going to do this on their own. But it’s also true many “protect the children” efforts are likely to accomplish few of their promised goals. It’s about control. It’s saying you’re “doing something.” But…ugh. The desperation is real, and the prospect of doing nothing feels like a trap, too. The best time for change was 10 years ago, the next best time for change is right now, even if it’s messy along the way.

Algorithms can be useful. They can also be annoying. Destructive. Addictive. It does make sense to have limitations. It makes sense to give everyone the opportunity to ditch the algorithm. Please, I follow these people because I’m interested in seeing what they have to say. The “For You” page on X/Twitter is full of the worst stuff imaginable and shouldn’t be the default, but I do like that it’s an algorithmic option.

Algorithms, at their core, are studying you. When put in those terms, why don’t those companies have to ask permission, with kids especially? Why can’t you put limits on it? I like, for example, that I can limit (or turn off) YouTube Shorts for my oldest.

More of that!

Headline: “Born Interactive: For Gen Alpha, Screentime Is a Part of Life” (Lingokids)
How Much This Story Upsets Me: 3/10

My Thoughts: For a long time, when we would drive to Wisconsin—a little more than an hour—we would give the kids the option to use their tablet either driving there or driving back. Not both. Often, they would defer to driving back, and if we were lucky, they were so exhausted by the weekend’s swimming events that they’d just take a nap.

My youngest has developed motion sickness in the car. (Like mother, like daughter.) Wearing wristbands has helped matters, but the iPad is no longer allowed in the car under (almost) any circumstances. The car is also the last place my youngest will make a nap, which means we simply ask our oldest to patiently wait until said nap arrives, at which point they can, if they’ve made the decision to, begin poking away at the tablet.

Look, there’s enough throwing up in the house. We don’t need more of it.

While these findings come from a company who produces children’s apps that, in their words, are “designed by parents and educators to make play purposeful,” it rings true. I might make a better dinner because I’ve given my kids another 15 minutes, I might write on Crossplay that that you should not (generally) feel guilty about screen time, but I can’t hide being proud when my kids make it 24 hours without screen time.

That guilt is silly. But I think most parents, even informed parents, feel it. It’s normal.

Headline: “TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide ” (Bloomberg)
How Much This Story Upsets Me: 10/10

My Thoughts: Do you want to know why all this haphazard legislation is happening? Do you want to know why the internet is about to become worse for everyone? Because of this stories like this. You cannot help but read this and want to go nuclear. It is a parent’s worst nightmare. It makes you want to take a hammer to every single device.

[deep breath]

TikTok is huge. It should improve. It’s the same argument I’ve been making with Roblox: you may not want your children on the platform (understandable), but because of its power and influence, we all benefit from the platforms becoming safer.

One of the big problems is scale. TikTok is treating its audience like guinea pigs, and while real-world information on real-world people is, in theory, the right move, we’re talking about millions used as an experiment. They are not hypothetical people, they are kids like Chase, whose mental health declined alongside TikTok’s algorithm.

TikTok and Roblox could have valued safety higher as they scaled. At a certain point, the scale at which these platforms operate means there will always be victims, but there don’t have to be this many. It doesn’t have to be this catastrophic. If they won’t care on their own—and we have years of hard evidence to suggest they won’t—then the platforms have to be forced to care, through relentless lawsuits and legislation.

But sadly, we’re all going to get dragged into the mud along the way.

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Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

Also:

• School starts next week! Is there a month that goes by faster than August?

• My nine-year-old convinced me to let her install the app Locket. It’s just a messaging app, but there’s a fancy widget that works on your home screen.

  • There are no parental controls, but she’s been told that I’m allowed to review who she’s added. If she adds someone without permission, it gets deleted.

• Add another game to the pile of co-op games I thought I might play with my children, only to find they lost interest in playing almost immediately: Big Walk.

A month ago, Roblox quietly launched a new feature called “Quick Words.” It’s a way for Roblox users to “chat” with other players using pre-written phrases, a smart middle ground between parents (like me) who don’t allow their children to text or voice chat, while recognizing legitimate reasons a child might want to start yapping.

Here’s how Roblox describes the feature:

Quick Words is also optional. You can disable Quick Words by heading to Settings within Roblox, then navigating from “Parental Controls” to “Settings You Manage,” then, Communication,” and finally, “Gameplay Coordination.” Voila, they’re gone!

Quick Words are, at the moment, entirely authored by Roblox itself. Individual games are not determining what games show up as a “Quick Word,” which means the phrases are generic. When asked, Roblox shared a list of the available Quick Words:

In the “coming months,” however, creators will have influence over Quick Words.

“Creators will be able to edit the ‘Coordination’ and ‘Play’ categories and customize Quick Words for their own games in the Roblox Creator Hub,” said the company in a statement. “Quick Words customized by creators will go through our policy system to check if presets are appropriate for all ages and comply with our game coordination policy.”

Here’s how it looks when you’re actually in a Roblox game:

I…like this?

Though Roblox use is down in the house, I expect that to shift when the temperatures start dipping and we’re spending more time indoors. But last fall, my oldest kid, who knows Roblox chat is banned in the house, asked if there could be a single exception for the time she was spending in the popular survival game 99 Nights in the Forest.

It was, all told, a very reasonable request. As I recounted at the time:

Nine-Year-Old: Dad, why can’t I chat with anyone in 99 Nights?
Me: You’re not supposed to talk to strangers in real-life, and you’re not supposed to talk to strangers in Roblox, either. You can only chat with your friends.
Nine-Year-Old: I know, but when I’m not playing with [FRIEND NAME], I can’t chat with anyone. All I can do is jump up and down and hope someone does what I’m asking them to do.
Me: Do they usually do what you ask them to do?
Nine-Year-Old: No, and then we die.
Me: I’m sorry, kiddo. That’s the rule for now and we can revisit it when you’re older.
Nine-Year-Old: [frustrated sigh]

Quick Words could, in theory, help solve this issue for me, especially once there are context-sensitive Quick Words. “Follow me” and “let’s go” and “trade” are all useful, though, and can help send vague signals to one another while you’re playing a game.

So, time will tell. I’ll report back after I try these out with my oldest.

Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

Leave a comment

Also:

• The height of my interest in multiplayer games was always in-person. Despite growing up alongside online multiplayer, I was rarely ever using a microphone.

• Some of that, I’m sure, is because I talk in to a microphone a lot for work. The last thing I want to do when I’m not working is sit down and feel like I’m working.

• While I might not have been in voice chat, I was spending a lot of time in largely unmoderated chat rooms with people older than me. I turned out okay?

A summer of pools, pools, and more pools is headed towards the end. I know that “summer” is often categorized as June, July, and August, but as my kids have gotten older, it becomes clearer and clearer that summer is really just “July." You spend June waiting for the weather to warm up, July doing as much as you can, and August begins the anxious walk towards the start of school, even if the weather remains very hot.

As a summer person, I’m already sad it feels nearly over.

If you represent these games and have a potentially interesting story to share about how these games consider kids as part of their audience, do get in touch with me!

One note: for some reason, many games did not have their prices or ratings available this month. This is common on Steam, where video games often do not announce their pricing information until the last second, but it was more widespread this month.

• Fields of Mistria (PC) — August 3

Description: Start your new life! Build the farm of your dreams as you discover a world brimming with possibilities. Magic, romance, and adventure all await you in this nostalgic farming / life sim RPG!
Rating: N/A
Price: $13.99

One of many games that’s been kicking along in early access for a few years, and while there is no shortage of life sim games set on a farm, this one does appear to be one of the better ones. When PC Gamer played an earlier version in 2024, they argued “Fields of Mistria has a shot at becoming the face of a new generation of farming games.”

• Big Walk (PS5, Switch 2, PC) — August 4

Description: Set out with your friends through a wide-open world full of challenges, puzzles, and discoveries. You’ll need to work together to find your way around, stay in contact using an assortment of tools and toys, and figure out new ways to communicate when you suddenly find yourself speechless.
Rating: E
Price: $19.99

I’m excited. I have this on a Switch 2 and Steam Machine so my nine-year-old can give it a whirl with me, but she came back from our vacation with strep throat. In the meantime, Game Informer was impressed, saying “It’s not just about the shared achievements and challenges, but about the virtual third space you can share together.”

• Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls (PS5, PC) — August 6

Description: Dive into fast-paced, skill-driven battles where team synergy and strategy shape every fight. Build your team of four from a diverse lineup of legendary Marvel heroes and villains, each with unique abilities, playstyles and rich backstories.
Rating: T
Price: $59.99

Never been a fighting game person. The one exception: I poured hundreds of hours into the Mortal Kombat games in my youth, but that had more to do with seeing the finishing moves more than anything else. (Plus, I was charmed by the mythology of the world. It might have been the first game world that really captured my attention?) Anyway, while Marvel Tokon is not a new Marvel vs. Capcom (sadly), it does appear to be a fighting game that almost anyone can dive into and have fun. According to Kotaku, “shaping up to be one of the most approachable fighting games out there.”

• Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition (Apple Arcade) — August 6

Description: Jump into fast, fun, and uninterrupted football action with no ads, no in-app purchases, no currencies, and no paywalls. Lead & coach your team through every stage of the season in an authentic NFL football experience built for mobile arcade. Take control of every game, make strategic decisions, and guide your team from kickoff to championship glory. Whether you’re a longtime football fan or new to the sport, Madden Arcade makes it easy to jump in and play.
Rating: 4+
Price: $6.99/month

This is not the first time Madden is on mobile devices—2009, if you can believe it. But it’s first for Apple Arcade. The descriptions for these versions of the game always crack me up. “No ads!” “No in-app purchases!” “No currencies!” It’s plainly admitting the economies of these mobiles games purposely hostile. In any case, there aren’t really critic reviews of previous installments, and the vibe from people who played last year’s version echo are familiar: it’s pretty fun—but the economics are annoying.

• Retro Bowl College+ (Apple Arcade) — August 6

Description: Enhance your experience as the new coach on campus with an expanded 12-man roster and Kick Return gameplay, use the detailed editor to tailor conferences, Bowl games and over 250 college teams to your liking, or dive into Exhibition Mode to create crazy matchups and see if your alma mater could hold their own against the best teams in the Pro league. With the brand new “League Style” feature you can change your conference alignments and Bowls to match schemes from 2022 though to 2026, or start your career in any year and roll through the changes as they happen!
Rating: 13+
Price: $6.99/month

I haven’t touched Retro Bowl College because my Illinois football team was awful while I was in school, but hey, why is the rating so different on this one? NFL Retro Bowl is 4+, while Retro Bowl College is 13+. Do they simulate keg stands in this one? These games rule and I’m very excited to dig back into Retro Bowl after a great Bears season.

• NFL Retro Bowl ’27 (Apple Arcade) — August 6

Description: NFL Retro Bowl ‘26 features all the real teams and players from the NFL faithfully reproduced in glorious retro pixel-art style! Start your NFL coaching career by assembling your roster from a choice of over 2,000 real-life NFL & NFLPA players. Take on the real teams from the AFC and NFC, manage your roster, handle the press, and play the key moments on the field to take your team to the Super Bowl and write your name into the Hall of Fame!
Rating: 4+
Price: $6.99/month

I watch football games with my neighbor. Our families get together, the kids play, and we slowly sip beers as football games play on. We don’t watch evening games together because it’s usually when the kids are getting ready for the next day, but, uh, the Bears were apparently good last year and they’re playing a ton of evening game this year? Which means I’ll probably be playing a lot of Retro Bowl to try and calm my nerves.

• Water Sort Puzzle: Get Color+ (Apple Arcade) — August 6

Description: Need personal coloring therapy? Get Color - Water Sort Puzzle+ is a great stress and anxiety relief. Thousands of colorful and inspiring color puzzle, designed to relax, expel negative thoughts and take away all the worries. Download Get Color - Water Sort Puzzle+ and get a personal relaxing colores puzzle with a broad range of levels. Find the most interesting rainbow puzzles and sort them any time, whenever you feel down. Get Color - Water Sort Puzzle+ is always here to help!
Rating: 16+
Price: $6.99/month

I haven’t thought about one of these games since my oldest was briefly obsessed with one during a flight. She asked for my help with a puzzle, prompting me to hand the tablet to my wife. I’m sorry, but these puzzles make absolutely no sense for my brain.

• Everyday Puzzles: Mini Games+ (Apple Arcade) — August 6

Description: A hub of word puzzles and brain teasers to keep you entertained daily! Daily puzzles plus unlimited access to our entire calendar archive-your puzzle fun never ends!
Rating: 4+
Price: $6.99/month

By all accounts, a well-made series of daily puzzle games. When I looked up the one-star reviews, every single one was complaining about the litany of advertisements.

• Royalty Free-For-All (PC) — August 11

Description: This hilarious party brawler features iconic characters, stages, and music reimagined for a modern generation—and simplifies combat, including an all new PARTY MODE, perfect for friends new to the genre.
Rating: N/A
Price: N/A

There are courtliness Smash Bros.-like games, but I’ll admit one where you’re jumping and punching as the Big Bad Wolf, Dorothy, and other literary classics got a chuckle out of me. Plus, I’m convinced this screen shot shows one stage is the, uh, backrooms?

• Grounded 2: Into The Abyss (Xbox Series X/S, PC, PS5) — August 11

Description: For the first time, players will be able to explore both above and below the water’s surface, uncovering new locations, new challenges, and new mysteries hidden beneath the pond. The deeper you go, the more there is to discover.
Rating: T
Price: Free

Beyond updates, this is the launch of the sequel on PlayStation 5. Given the ongoing tumult at Microsoft, it’s fair to have concerns about the future of Grounded, but it would shock me if this didn’t continue to receive resources. In my recent interview with the developers, we chatted about the game’s playful approach to “friction.”

• Pro Jank Footy (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, Switch, PC) — August 12

Description: Pro Jank Footy is an over-the-top arcade comedy-sports game. Score goals to unleash game-changing power-ups, build a deck of absurd abilities, and tackle a season where no two matches are ever the same—solo or with your mates.
Rating: N/A
Price: N/A

You might not know anything about the Australian Football League—I am among you—but don’t let that stop you from trying Pro Jank Footy. I tried the demo months back and was hooked. Quest Daily was charmed, saying “Pro Jank Footy is a gloriously unlicensed, proudly ridiculous arcade love letter to Aussie Rules footy. If it keeps kicking on like this, we might finally have the footy game we’ve been crying out for.”

• Madden NFL 27 (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, PC) — August 13

Description: Run the league one decision at a time in EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL 27, powered by the all-new Persona Engine.
Rating: E
Price: $69.99

Earlier this year, I accidentally archived an email that would have allowed me the opportunity to interview Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Alas. Tragedy.

• Wild Blue Skies (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X) — August 13

Description: Wild Blue Skies reimagines the classic on-rails adventures of the ‘90s. Join Bowie Stray and the Blue Bombers as they soar through breathtaking skies on a mission to save the world, battling Grimclaw’s forces in this action-packed arcade shooter built for newcomers and genre veterans alike!
Rating: N/A
Price: N/A

I was left cold trying this earlier this year, but given that I was similarly left cold while playing Nintendo’s Star Fox 64, I justmight be cold on old school Star Fox right now. Lords of Gaming was much higher on it, saying “everything I loved about the best Star Fox games, but with modernized controls and that same arcade fun they offered.”

• Pokémon Pokopia (Update) + Expansion Pass (Part One) (Switch 2) — August 2026

Description: Enjoy an underwater town, with new Pokémon to encounter, furniture, and outfits for Ditto. A free update is also coming to Pokémon Pokopia this August that adds a new move: Dive. With Dive, you’ll be able to explore the world on the ocean floor and enjoy a life with Pokémon living under the sea.
Rating: E
Price: $34.99

There are a couple of reasons this game didn’t take in my household, despite being over the moon initially. One, my kids didn’t want to play. My visions of collaborating on a sprawling town? Shattered. Two, the game doesn’t have a universal box to share items and resources. I simply do not have time to manage stuff like that. If the game adds a solution to that issue in the future, I might seriously consider coming back.

Conveyance is the ability of a game to express to players what the goals and mechanics are. There is an incorrect assumption that complexity or difficulty are limiting factors to conveyance when targeting children. While genres such Kazio Mario or Soulslike may be incredibly difficult, they are made deliberately “readable” to allow players to focus on their execution without confusion of design intent.

It’s always someone’s first time experiencing anything, especially when welcoming them into a new hobby such as video games.

[Editor’s Note: Crossplay does not promote or encourage piracy. Under no circumstances is this article an encouragement to seek out illegal copies of video games, old or new. No such links exist in this piece. Our position is you take advantage of the games you already own.]

Watching parents and children learn a new way to play while my team prototyped Starlink: Battle for Atlas at Ubisoft Toronto ¹ we observed that new players would stop exploring the controller and gameplay once any path to success was found. Switching weapons to target elemental weakness was not immediately obvious to players because doing any damage, even ‘chip’ damage, was perceived as successful. Aligning player perception to design intent is a hurdle for many games ².

With the decision to progress our six-year-old from family to independent play of video games this holiday season, selecting games with high conveyance ³ was the first priority.

Embarking into Videogames

“Come with me and you’ll be
In a world of pure imagination”
- Gene Wilder, “Pure Imagination” 1971

Despite the market for retro handhelds being primarily middle-aged men hoping to relive their childhood, there is growing interest in devices for children of all ages. Our reason for selecting this device was based on the following:

• It’s a closed system, nothing gets in or out of the device without parental involvement.

• No ads, microtransactions, online play, or title updates.

• A form factor that fits well in small hands, and straightforward button layout.

• Most importantly, a device that can be “theirs” and isn’t shared with mom or dad.

• A price point that can be an ‘acceptable loss’ if need be.

When opening the gift it was immediately recognized as a real “Game Boy,” matching their plushie version. Their face lit up with the custom boot screen showing their name and made it clear it was a personal device special to them.

As the device we selected is best suited for Super Nintendo/Game Boy Advance games, that’s where I focused the game curation. The basic principles here can be applied to any library of games.

Self-Guided Difficulty Curve

“I get knocked down, but I get up again”
-Chumbawamba, “Tubthumping” 1997

Difficulty in games is a frequent topic of discourse, especially for new players. A selection of score attack titles will circumvent this by providing a smooth responsive difficulty curve that matches skill growth in the player. Reaching a new high score will be a bar that the child will set themselves and feel accomplished every time it’s surpassed.

Outside of the “things falling down” mechanic found in Tetris or Dr. Mario, classic arcade games such as Ms. Pac-Man or Frogger require handling more chaos to progress. While the games like Mario Picross or Push-Over, focus on logic-based challenges.

Dr. Mario had the honour of being the first selection. Despite having never seen any of these games before, or receiving any guidance from us, besides “match colors,” they were an immediate success. The following days were filled with my child delightfully putting their name in for every new high score and then showing it to me or my partner (who was coincidentally building a Game Boy at the time). The only hiccups were occasionally getting stuck in a menu for two play modes.

“I got a new high score!” he said, while gleefully entering their name into the score list.

Start With Already Known Games

“It’s a Unix system, I know this“
- Lex Murphy, “Jurassic Park” 1993

Sports games, especially those featuring popular mascots, remove the first major hurdle for a games conveyance, by relying on the established outside rules of the base sport. It’s a major factor for the pickup and play success of Wii Sports. These titles will allow the player to focus on building confidence in the device and button layouts.

From Super International Cricket to Super Black Bass, nearly every sport or sport-adjacent activity has an offering in the 16-bit era. For younger players with developing math and reading skills, arcade-style offerings will be more approachable over simulation titles.

Adding pinball variants to the roster of games was an immediate success, likely due to having built multiple pinball kits before receiving the console. Surprisingly, Mario Kart performed worse than expected.

“It’s a lot harder to turn,” he said, playing Mario Kart without Steering Assist for the first time.

Getting Your Feet Under You

“It’s just a jump to the left. And then a step to the right”
-Richard O’Brien, “Time Warp” 1975

Moving left to right may make platformers appear deceptively simple, but they are a discrete step up in multitasking and spatial reasoning. Checkpoints and unlimited continues are the bare minimum when just starting out. Selecting games without level timers will remove a major stress factor for learning players. Titles that use a level select/world map also provide a very clean metric for overall progress and optional routes.

Similar to sports titles, start with a selected entry from any given franchise and wait to see what tastes evolve before adding additional titles. This may not be the first game in the series, as many sequels are more refined experiences.

Platformers came a bit later, and that was where my child’s skills started to falter. Pressing/holding buttons to modify actions is a new complexity in play that has resulted in some hard skill checks. Even though they have successfully walked Mario through a half dozen levels, for now most play time has returned to the previous categories of games.

“It’s hard to keep the baby safe,” he said, playing Yoshi’s Island and being unintentionally poignant.

Explorative Play

“You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”
- Dr. Seuss, ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ 1990

At a certain point, as with all things as a parent, it will be time to let go. Exploration-based games bring fully realized worlds with nooks and crannies that intentionally allow players to get lost and confused.

These games will require players to carry knowledge across multiple play sessions, creating a great opportunity to include note taking, particularly if there are long gaps between screen time.

Pokemon Ruby was the only explorative game we introduced to our child, with mixed success. There was an early win when setting the in-game analog clock, but after that the reading was above their level. Managing resources for pokémon health and in-game currency was also a new challenging scope of play.

“This is like my watch!,” he said, excitingly setting the in-game clock for Pokémon Ruby

Growing Together

“And now for a taste of things to come.”
George S. Clinton, “A Taste of Things to Come“ 1995

We have discovered a lot about our child in just a short amount of time as we observed their exploration of a hobby both parents love. Even the small joy of watching a gamer “handle” evolve as name entry changed from: their name, to a name variation, to made up names. Selfishly, I’m happy that the open world and RPG games are still out of reach of my child’s solo play, keeping our family couch play alive in these genres. The only major downside is now on weekend mornings both the kid (their device) and their mom (Steam Deck) are playing games in the “big bed” while I try to sleep in.

References:

1. From Game Jam to the Creation of Starlink: Battle for Atlas - Matthew Rose, GDC

2. Character Balance in Skylanders: More than the Numbers - Robert Gallerani, GDC

3. Sequelitis - Mega Man Classic vs. Mega Man X - Egoraptor

Deep conversations with kids can be hard.

When I pick up my oldest from school, I secretly wish that in that 20 minutes of one-on-one time, I’ll find a way to pass on some nugget of information that positively changes his life forever! The reality, however, is that’s highly unlikely.

He’s tired, and we often have to walk single file. There’s usually just silence. (I also wish that he would walk faster—sometimes not secretly at all. I think he trolls me by walking at less than regular speed, especially while crossing the street.)

Dinner time is a mix of sharing snippets of stories, random facts, and reminders of table manners. Car rides with all four family members often devolve into “Would You Rather?” questions.

Between the two boys, my youngest will tell me how he feels about everything without prompting. My oldest is a tougher nut to crack.

I, however, have found a semi sweet spot in game grinding together. This gets me one-on-one time with him where we’re not rushed or distracted. We have the space to talk freely–and not about chores or things we have to do. I ask about friends and school. Cool YouTube videos he’s watched. I work up to how he feels about big, stressful events.

I think this helps us understand each other better.

A few days ago, we were scrambling and getting ready to leave the house. It turned into a yelling match with the youngest. The oldest just quietly stuck around to help! I should tell him again that he did a great job of reading the room.

Here is my personal “game grinding recipe:”

Game Grinding (Deb’s definition) — Noun — /ɡeɪm/ /ˈɡraɪn.dɪŋ/

Playing a game, especially after finishing the story quest, in order to win extra achievements, gather resources, unlock bonus levels, etc.

Especially if you’re a completionist, game grinding with your kids allows you to focus on something enjoyable, not physically strenuous, and less meaningful. If you’ve already finished the story quest, it’s not a big deal when they collect a hidden token to complete your set. There’s plenty of time to focus on that story your kid is telling you while running around the level map, or playing with the machine that dispenses costumes.

Sure, you’ll care about the game but not to the point where you’ll say, “Shh, I want to watch this cinematic!” You don’t need their undivided attention, but you kind of have to give yours. And if you’re both bored, you’ll both nope out to go do other things.

The real caveat is that you have to find the right game. Here are some ideal conditions:

1. Couch co-op multiplayer for only two players: You want just you and that kid to play, not mix it up with the siblings. This is priceless alone time with you!

2. “Easy” gameplay: This is mixed advice, because on one hand, challenging gameplay means that nobody talks while focusing, but then you can talk during the downtime, like maneuvering around the map to find the next level.

3. Calm, relaxing gameplay: Calm is different from easy, and I mean this in the sense that you do things like power wash (with low volume!), clear ocean debris, collect plants, etc. Avoid fighting games because that raises heart rates and then we’re all thinking aggressive thoughts while out of breath from intense battles. You also don’t want boss fights that’ll cause rage quitting.

4. Something that doesn’t make you dizzy when watching: You’ll be taking a backseat to really listen, you’ll be “following” the action of your kid’s onscreen character.

5. Very family-friendly: I only say this because if you have to stop midway to explain something like characters doing stuff they shouldn’t, it derails your conversation.

The goal here is not to crack open the treasure chest of all your child’s innermost thoughts and dreams, but to create an environment that’s conducive to conversation. Turning on the tap to let the words flow. It’s also easier for some people (of all ages) to open up when they’re not forced to make eye contact.

And in the privacy of your own space, there’s nobody else listening in or interrupting.

I’ll admit that I last tried this whole game grinding thing with my oldest kid over getting him to score me a bunch of the hard-to-get bots of Astro Bot. I feel like we really connected; and it was a great prelude to spending the next five hours together at Science World and one of our favorite Vancouver restaurants. No deep conversation or hugs happen in public, but that’s okay.

It was a glorious day.

The short version: Milestone moment. She had a blast. Now, the long version…

I don’t know when the concept of “the backrooms,” or liminal spaces, entered our lives. Like many things, I suspect Roblox. (But it also could have been YouTube.) In either case, for several years now, my oldest daughter (who turns 10 at the end of the summer) has been fascinated by the conceptual horror for young people, transfixed by the notion of entering a forbidden space that feels strangely familiar and, yet, off.

The first trailer for a proper “backrooms” movie from Kane Parsons, the artist responsible for the hugely popular backrooms series on YouTube that establishes much of the accepted backrooms canon and lore, arrived earlier this year. We watched the teaser—it doesn’t show much—but my oldest, who didn’t realize they were making a movie, sat up from the couch and pointed at the screen. (Yes, like the meme.)

That was February. The movie wasn’t due out until May. But I already knew the conversation that would be bopping around the house that neared: “So…can I see it?”

A couple of important notes.

The Backrooms is rated R for “language and some violent content/bloody images.” Pretty vague! The YouTube series is also scary, a mixture of quiet tension and jump scares, but not gory. My daughter loved to watch them while under a blanket, peeking out whenever a creature, referred to as “entities,” show up. But that’s a description you could attach to Stranger Things? That show was our family’s obsession for months!

We’re a permissive family, but there’s balance between what a child believes they are capable of doing and what they are capable of doing. Part of our/my job is to navigate that, even if it means being the bad guy and saying no when they’re not ready yet.

What is “ready,” though?

Some important context: My wife and I saw the movie a few weeks ago, as part of a back-to-back viewing of The Backrooms and Obsession. We thought she could handle it.

The thing is, my nine-year-old’s ambitions can outstrip her actual convictions.

She likes to suggest ideas on what she’s capable of far in advance, because it’s easier to imagine doing them than actually doing them. We saw this play out in real-time with this year’s summer camp, an idea pitched to us months in advance. Her excitement for camp was such that we had to institute a “no more talking about camp” rule in the days before she left. And yet, as the car crawled forward at camp towards her cabin, it began to dawn upon her what was happening. She admitted to, finally, being nervous.

But ambitions outstripping bravery is how you end up doing brave things! It was too late to turn back from camp and her excitement exceeded her nervousness. It’s now a formative memory, so much so that she’s hoping to attend a longer camp eventually.

One of the trickiest parts of being a parent is trying to figure out when to push your kid. I’ve written about trying to navigate this with diving boards and rollercoasters:

Out of nowhere this weekend, my daughter wanted a “daddy daughter date.” She also asked me to be the parent who woke up at 6 a.m. each morning for that weekend’s swim meet. I was tired, but she’s at the age where I’m not sure how long she’s going to ask for such moments, so at my wife’s encouragement, we decided on The Backrooms.

This was, like camp, a rubber meets the road moment. When I proposed the idea, her reaction was excitement—and then pause. “What if I’m too scared? I don’t want to waste our money.” This is a refrain that’s come up before, a worry that backing out means wasting money. Which, look: I cannot help but respect it a bit. But at times, I also think she’s using that as a coping mechanism against being a little more daring.

So, I made her a proposal:

We’d buy tickets to see The Backrooms. If she wanted to leave, there would be no drama. No shame. No guilt. Even trying to see the movie is brave! Plus, we’d make a quick visit afterwards to Dave & Busters no matter what happens, either as a reward for surviving the movie or a way to cool down and reset if the movie proved too much.

(One thing I couldn’t tell her: one reason I can propose such an option is because the backers of Crossplay, especially the paying backers, make bold experiments possible!)

A brief pause, then a nod. She started crafting backrooms-inspired images on her phone in-between bites of food. Soon enough, it was time to walk over to the theater.

The thing about movie theaters, despite their broad mediocrity: they’re loud. It’s the part that you forget as an adult but kids clock immediately Whatever nice sound bar you have, there’s almost no chances it’s turned up as loud as a generic movie theater.

Such a volume tends to amplify the feelings of a young and slightly nervous child.

We had a plan, though, and we talked through it before entering the theater.

1. We’d skip the trailers. R-rated movies mean potentially R-rated trailers.

2. We’d cuddle up with our favorite blanket from home for two reasons:

   1. Warmth in a heavily AC-driven movie theater

   2. Somewhere to hide when we’re scared

3. Our seats were far, far away from anyone else. That would allow us to chat in respectfully whispered tones, in each other’s ears, throughout the movie

It was, truth be told, touch and go.

One trick: because I’d seen the movie, I could spoil everything in advance. I could tell my daughter if someone was going to survive. I knew when a monster was going to appear. And I had a sense when she should probably start hiding under the blanket.

The Backrooms has an interesting narrative framing, too. Nothing scary happens in the real world—only the backrooms. There are a couple of jump scare-y things in the real wold, but it’s not monsters. It’s not creatures from the backrooms. No one dies. This framing provided relief for my kiddo. Are we back in the real world? Breathe easy!

We also stumbled into another trick. Behind our seats was a layer of plastic, likely to prevent the seats behind us from spilling food or drinks. But as my nine-year-old discovered, you can see the movie on that plastic. During scary parts, she would wrap herself in the blanket, flip around to the warped plastic version of the movie, and it provided enough emotional distance from the massive screen to let her continue on.

The scariest moment in The Backrooms is the last 10 minutes. It straight up rips, man.

But it’s also a horrifying monster chasing a character down to tear them apart. I was white knuckling that scene with my wife, so I knew it would be the hardest part of the movie for my daughter, too. She tried hiding under that blanket. She tried looking at the plastic reflection. But I could feel her shaking under the blanket. It was at that point I asked if she wanted to leave. No shame. No guilt. It would be all be okay.

“How much movie is left?”

“Less than 10 minutes, kiddo,” I whispered to her. “If you can survive that, it’s all over.”

A brief pause. She nodded. I could see her peeking out from beneath the blanket.

Then, the credits hit. She’s fuckin’ did it. The movie equivalent of a rollercoaster.

As promised, we walked over to Dave & Busters. The server remembered us from before, and while making her a kiddie cocktail, he asked what movie we saw. My daughter didn’t hesitate and said “The Backrooms.” The look on that man’s face was priceless. He was impressed, and the smile on my kid’s face could’ve lit the damn sun.

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Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

Also:

• I figured my kids would be into video games. The last thing I expected was that I’d be slowly raising little horror hounds. Can’t say that I’m too upset about it.

• We laid some groundwork with my six-year-old ahead of time, telling her the movie was too scary for her. (It is.) There was no jealousy in the morning.

• Maybe we should try playing a backrooms video game? That could be the bridge between the two worlds. If you have any recommendations, please let me know.

Based on the reaction to last week’s post, a lot of parents are also annoyed at the amount of YouTube content making its way onto platforms like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and others. Even for families that allow their kids to watch YouTube, there is a time and place, and its appearance on non-YouTube platforms is an issue.

Fortunately, for some of the platforms, there are solutions. You can block the content.

It is not, however, as simple as saying “please block anything that came from YouTube.” This requires a pro-active approach—and it won’t block future content.

But it’s a start!

Here’s your guide on how to do it…well, if your platform will let you.

(I’m looking at you, Disney!)

By the way: If there ever was a time to share Crossplay with other parents and caregivers in your life, this is probably it! Please think about sharing this one!

How to Block Shows on Netflix

1. Log into www.netflix.com

2. Click on a profile in the upper right corner and choose “manage profiles”

   

3. Click on “adjust parental controls” and choose your child’s profile

4. Under “title restrictions,” search for the shows you would like to block

How to Block Shows on Disney+

You can’t. There is no option to selectively block shows on Disney+.

How to Block Shows on Amazon Prime

1. Log into www.primevideo.com

2. Click the “your account” icon in the upper right corner and choose a kid’s profile

3. Hover over the show you’d like to block and click the stop sign icon

Note: This only blocks each season of a show. You’ll have to block additional seasons.

How to Block Shows on Hulu

You can’t. There is no option to selectively block shows on Hulu.

How to Block Shows on HBO Max

You can’t. There is no option to selectively block shows on HBO Max.

I want to be clear: I do not think YouTube is evil! YouTube is allowed in our house! My kids watch YouTub and YouTube Kids! We watch normal YouTube all the time! I’m not trying to block them from the modern equivalent of TV for their generation!

But not all content is made equal.

The distinction I’m drawing here is expectations of about when, where, and why specific types of YouTube content is watched. There is a huge difference between Salish Matters and, say, Mark Rober. As parents, we’re all making it up as we go along—much like the streaming platforms driving this. Your house rules may be different.

Godspeed. And if you so choose, happy blocking.

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Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

Also:

• Most of these YouTube partnerships come with promises of “original” content down the line, like Mr. Beast’s reality show. I’m curious what becomes of those.

• I said I wouldn’t block Salish Matters on Netflix, but I did. I don’t like lying to my kids, but I’m just going to pretend Netlix removed the series from the service.

• If they push back, I will explain my position to them. I’m willing to allow Salish back, but broadly, those types of YouTube videos are largely going to be iPad-only.

My children are allowed to watch YouTube, be it age-filtered normal YouTube (my nine-year-old) or YouTube Kids (my six-year-old). They are not, however, allowed to watch YouTube on the family television. It’s restricted to their iPads because, truth be told, I don’t want to watch most of that garbage. I understand why they are entertained by a strange YouTube family pulling harmless pranks on one another—but I’m good!

In other words, the family TV is for family screen time (aka us watching and having a blast with Independence Day over the recent holiday) or it’s my children picking a show they both agree upon, like rewatching an episode of Stranger Things. Unfortunately for me, a recent shift in how platforms like Netflix and Disney+ operate has my children accidentally violating the “No YouTube on the TV” principle because these platforms have started licensing content from YouTube and placing them directly in the apps.

Now, YouTube is on the TV and Salish Matter’s father is turning my brain into mush.

The one place my children are allowed to watch YouTube on TV is grandma’s house. That is by design: a fun perk exclusive to sleeping over. It’s also a get-out-jail card for myself. (Humorously, the person my mom is most annoyed by is also Salish’s father!)

The other exception is that we’ll often wind down evenings by watching trailers for upcoming movies, TV shows, and games. The videos are short and sweet, perfect for my kids nibbling on the last bits of a treat before we’re kicking off the bedtime routine.

Otherwise, I let the kids have (mostly) free rein over what they watch.

They can clock when something might look inappropriate, at which point they’ll ask if it’s okay to watch. (Usually it’s OK.) And at least for right now, there’s enough across Netflix and Disney+ that they can agree upon. For a long time, that was endlessly rerunning Bluey episodes. Later, it was jumping between seasons of Stranger Things.

I don’t know when it happened exactly.

I just know that one morning, after handing the kids their breakfast, the TV started yapping with that familiar over-the-top tone that defines so much content on YouTube, especially videos aimed at younger audiences. Everyone is always yelling.

The thing is, my nine-year-old (who’s almost 10) is sharp. She’s old enough to poke holes in arguments. So when I waltzed over to point out how they’d violated the “no YouTube on TV” rule, she was more than happy to back and show that it was available on Netflix. Did she know it was a YouTube video? Yes. But she said it didn’t count.

“Motherfucker,” I muttered under my breath. Technically, she was right.

I now spend my days hoping my tinnitus drains out Salish Matter and Topper Guild.

It helps explain popular reddit reads like this one: “Don’t mind me, just blacklisting shows on Netflix so my husband stops putting them on for our young kids.” One, we gotta do better here, Dad. Two, I didn’t realize this was something you could do.

“So bye bye, little angel, bye bye cocomelon, bye bye Masha and the bear,” wrote the original poster. “and a couple other shows that no matter how many times I tell my husband not to put on for the kids, it still happens.”

(I remember that show. It was awful.)

“I need to do this because I found out my 8yo watched some trash prank reality show on Netflix (under the kids account) with two different babysitters,” said another poster. “(It’s Salish and Jordan Matter.)”

Matter haters unite!!!!!!

This is part of a broader “Youtubization of Netflix,” as Deadline recently put it:

Creators like the Matter family are supposed to eventually make Netflix-exclusive content, such as “scripted, unscripted, and animated series, in which Salish will star.”

For now, though, you’re stuck with a Netflix-curated playlist of YouTube videos.

This is also why you’ve also seen video podcasts popping up on Netflix.

I don’t think Salish and her annoying father are inherently worse than watching some mediocre cartoon. This is, on some level, a semi-selfish act in which I loathe hearing it from a TV whose audio bleeds into other parts of the house. I think it is healthy and normal to consume garbage programming—but please do so with your headphones on.

Maybe this is a boomer millennial mindset, but I prefer they watch the mediocre cartoon over the hyper exaggerated nonsense on YouTube! And that’s before we get into my general unease with families building social empires out of their children.

(Matter is 16 years old, but was appearing in his father’s videos when she was eight.)

Our approach going forward is likely to be twofold.

1. On Netflix, I’m going to block YouTube-to-Netflix shows from their profile. Salish survives, because it’s already there and that feels mean. As far as I can tell, you can’t do this on Disney+, which means I remain cursed by Topper Guild.

2. We’ll institute a “you can watch one episode, then find something else rule.”

Good controls are important. These trends are going to get worse, but if I can continue customizing the way my children interact with media, I can sleep easier.

Leave a comment

Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

Also:

• How do you handle YouTube on the TV in your house? I’m curious what other approaches people take. Maybe an account that hand curates various channels?

• I do not, in general, watch YouTube myself. I realize this makes me different than younger audiences, and I’m trying to be mindful about generational gaps.

• Much in the same way that Roblox is not going to let me filter out AI videos, Netflix and Disney+ are not likely to let you block “YouTube videos.” They want your kids to become invested these kids, families, and words. But it’s annoying.

It is, at present, extremely hot in the midwest, and all my kids want to do is swim. Swim in our pool, swim in the community pool, swim in a friend’s pool. Swim, swim.

My parents were never ones who’d have us escaping to a movie theater to cool off. We would, instead, drive up to Wisconsin and do exactly what my kids are doing: swim. (In a funny twist, my most recent theater experience was back-to-back showings of Backrooms and Obsession with my wife, as we tried to catch up on horror flicks.)

So, in short, my kids are not playing many games. I am, however, indulging on my deck with a recently acquired Steam Machine. (More on that later, as I figure out where and when a Steam Machine, however pricey, fits into my love of convenience.)

How are video games fitting into you and your family’s summer?

If you represent these games and have a potentially interesting story to share about how these games consider kids as part of their audience, do get in touch with me!

• Rhythm Heaven Groove (Switch/Switch 2) — July 2

Description: No matter how strange the situation, the rules are always the same: just press buttons in time with the beat! Hop through hoops, catch flying vegetables, swing sledgehammers, and much more. Get the band together and enjoy more than 30 multiplayer rhythm games! Up to four players can star in these surprising scenarios, from forming a ring quartet of racing wrestlers to plucking the hairs off a bristly onion.
Rating: E
Price: $39.99

I have not a had a chance to play this! June was chaotic, so I put time into the Star Fox 64 remake. (Meh, but I’m excited about Star Fox’s future.) Game Informer enjoyed the game, though, saying: “The core rhythm minigames don’t offer quite the same level of bizarre surprise as previous games in the series, but they are all still very good.”

• Dungeon Crawler+ (Apple Arcade) — July 2

Description: Dungeon Clawler is a Roguelike Claw Machine Deckbuilder. Build your unique deck, fight enemies by grabbing weapons and items from a claw machine and find special artefacts that help you on your quest to reclaim something you lost... Aim carefully to claw your way through this dungeon!
Rating: 9+
Price: $6.99/month

I’ve meant to play this because the pitch is so charming. With a vacation coming up, maybe I’ll dig in. Nintendo World Report enjoyed it on Switch, saying: “Dungeon Clawler plays with a lot of familiar tropes. However, its claw machine mechanic is playful enough to make it stand out and outlast the trappings of other games in this niche.”

• Creatures of the Deep+ (Apple Arcade) — July 2

Description: What if fishing could take you into a world of ancient secrets, lost monsters, and mysterious treasures beneath the waves? Welcome to Creatures of the Deept - the most unique single-player fishing adventure on mobile. Strange rumors are spreading across the globe. Disturbing shadows move under the water. Legends come to life - and you’re at the center of it all. Dive into the ultimate mix of relaxation, exploration, and mystery.
Rating: 4+
Price: $6.99/month

My nine-year-old has asked to fish, but I don’t know jack about fishing! Which is funny, because the trip I’m going on involves hanging out for a day on a boat, wherein I’m mostly there to chill and cast. I never catch anything and pray I don’t screw up casting my line. Anyway, Hardcore Android enjoyed the mobile version of this, saying: “There is so much to enjoy in Creatures of the Deep. From its serene atmosphere to its exciting gameplay, Creatures is one of my favorite mobile games of the year so far.”

• Pocket City 2+ (Apple Arcade) — July 2

Description: Build and explore your own city! Create roads, zones, landmarks, special buildings, and live the life of a successful mayor! In this unique City Building game you can drop your avatar into the world and roam freely!!
Rating: 9+
Price: $6.99/month

The only time I’ve spent with SimCity game was on SNES, where I played long enough to watch Bowser wreck the city. Pocket City 2 is supposed to be solid, with Touch Arcade saying: “I’m very glad that Codebrew Games didn’t go all in with the social and life simulation elements here. Pocket City 2 is the perfect example of building on what people loved in the original game while adding a ton of optional quality content.”

• Draw It+ (Apple Arcade) — July 2

Description: Put your creative flair to the ultimate test. Get ready for a quick-thinking drawing challenge where your skills are tested against the clock! points you can score. In Draw It, every second counts. Sketch each word before your time runs out and see how many the perfect answer for fans of art, doodle and quick play.
Rating: 4+
Price: $6.99/month

Oh, my kids love this game!!!! I’m not sure what’s different about the “+” version of this, but I will absolutely be grabbing this for their tablets. The only problem is that my six-year-old gets frustrated because she has to ask what she’s supposed to draw.

• Moonlight Peaks (PC, Switch/Switch 2) — July 7

Description: Experience life as a vampire in a magical town full of werewolves, witches, mermaids, and more! In this heart-warming, supernatural life-sim, you will raise mystical crops, learn spell-casting and potion-making, and befriend – or even romance – the locals. And at the same time, show your skeptical father that a life of compassion is possible – even for the undead.
Rating: T
Price: $39.99

There are enough farming games with life sim elements games these days that it’s truly a blur. I’ve kept waiting for the genre to click for my oldest daughter but it’s never happened. If Animal Crossing didn’t do it, though, maybe nothing will. Game Reactor UK seemed to enjoyed this, saying: “Moonlight Peaks doesn’t really do much to challenge the dynamics of the life-sim genre, what Little Chicken has cooked up with this game is entertaining and charming enough to keep you coming back for more.”

• Backyard Baseball (PC, Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S) — July 9

Description: Relive the game that started it all! The original Backyard Baseball 1997 is now enhanced to run on Nintendo Switch. Whether you’re picking your dream team, hitting home runs, or just here for comedy, step back into the backyard and experience the game that made baseball fun for everyone!
Rating: E
Price: $9.99

If you wanna know more about how the game to be, we recently ran a feature about it!

• Tiny Bookshop (iOS, Android) — July 9

Description: Leave everything behind and open a tiny bookshop by the sea in this cozy narrative management me. Stock your tiny bookshop with different books and items, set up your own shop in scenic locations, and run your second-hand bookshop while getting to know the locals.
Rating: 9+
Price: N/A

It’s come to other platforms with positive reviews, and now it’s onto mobile. Qualbert described Tiny Bookshop this way: “If games were hot drinks, Tiny Bookshop would be a perfectly steeped cup of chamomile tea: calming, warm, and slightly floral. It won’t jolt you awake or set your heart racing, but it will leave you feeling quietly content, and maybe, just maybe, make you want to re-organise your bookshelf in real life.”

• Winx Club: The Magic Is Back (Xbox Series X/S) — July 9

Description: Winx Club: The Magic is Back captures the essence of the Winx universe, delivering an enchanting experience with a mix of magical combat, puzzle-solving, and cooperative gameplay with a friend. Play as all six members of the Winx Club, each with their own magical abilities.
Rating: E10+
Price: $29.99

If you’re buying this, you probably know why you’re buying it!

• Digimon Story Time Stranger (Switch/Switch 2) — July 10

Description: Digimon Story Time Stranger is an RPG with monster-taming elements that explores the deep bond between humans and Digimon in an epic story that unravels the mystery of the world’s collapse. Embark on an adventure that spans across the human world and Digital World, collecting and raising a diverse array of Digimon to fight in turn-based battles.
Rating: T
Price: $59.99

Another port!. Way Too Many Games was positive on the original game: “There’s little to complain about. Digimon Story: Time Stranger is everything I wanted from a higher-budgeted sequel to the criminally underrated and overlooked Cyber Sleuth.”

• Palworld 1.0 (PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Mac, PC) — July 10

Description: In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight and breed, or they can be made to work on farms or factories.You can even sell them or eat them.
Rating: T
Price: $29.99

This is the Pokémon with guns (!!!) riff that has, inexplicably, found its own success. It’s been in extended early access state for a minute, and this is where Palworld hits 1.0. The real question is whether it ever arrives on Switch. (Probably not!) Still, IGN liked the early access version, saying: “Palworld is amusingly irreverent, has a surprising amount of content and deep survival mechanics, and is absurdly difficult to put down.”

• D-topia (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch/Switch 2, PC) — July 14

Description: Step into a future where happiness is curated by artificial intelligence, in this gentle-paced puzzle adventure.
Rating: E10+
Price: $19.99

I was charmed by the 15-ish minutes I played last month. The puzzles, at least early on, are of the sliding block variety. It has a neat feature where after you “solve” a sequence, the game asks if you’d like to stick around and solve harder puzzles. It’s an interesting way to incorporate difficulty that doesn’t rely on “easy” or “hard” options.

• Denshattack! (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC) — July 15

Description: Flip, trick and grind your train in a fast-paced, off-the-rails ride through a colourful Japanese dystopia. Take back the tracks with nothing but skill, speed, and style.
Rating: $19.99
Price: T

It’s either going to work or not work. I don’t think there’s another way for a game like this to go. But Quest Daily enjoyed an early version, saying “The charming personality and intriguing premise of Denshattack! wouldn’t matter without tight controls and rewarding level design to back it up. Now that I’ve had hands-on experience, I’m confident that the team at Undercoders is driving along the right track.”

• Puppergeist (Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC) — July 16

Description: Journey through the Doggie Underworld in this heartwarming rhythm and visual novel hybrid. Reunite with your lost Pup by connecting with the souls of other dogs, learning their stories, and lifting their spirits through rhythm games full of charm and playful challenges!
Rating: E
Price: TBA

This comment on Steam in response to a demo of Puppergiest sums up what’s funny about this: “pretty good, only problem was with the belly rubs in the 2nd minigame it was unclear how long I was supposed to hold spacebar and there is a delay when clicking that occurs through the whole game, otherwise this game is great.”

• eBaseball: Pro Spirit 2026 (PC, PS5) — July 16

Description: The latest entry in the Professional Baseball Spirits series, “eBaseball: PRO SPIRIT 2026” has arrived. Experience realistic baseball powered by the eBaseball Engine.
Every movement and sound inside the stadium is brought to life with remarkable realism.
From the flight of the ball and the players’ intense actions to the eruption of the crowd, every moment is recreated with impact. Combined with smooth, live-style play-by-play and commentary*, the game brings you closer than ever to “real baseball.”
Rating: E
Price: $59.99

Way Too Many Games was cautiously positive about an earlier version of this one, saying: “if you’re unwilling to spend a hefty sum for each new MLB The Show iteration, and all you really want is a pretty, competent, and responsive baseball simulator, one which is very forgiving to newcomers and perfect for quick, local matches, then Konami’s brand new F2P sports game does a remarkably good job in that aspect.”

• Heave Ho 2 (Switch 2, Switch, PC) — July 16

Description: Get a grip, it’s Heave Ho 2! The insane 2-4 player party game sequel takes the couch co-op mayhem online for the first time. Grab what you can and swing to win!
Rating: N/A
Price: N/A

Missed the first one, but always room for more local co-op, and reports on the sequel are good, with Checkpoint Gaming saying: “Heave Ho 2 understands exactly what made the first game work. By the end of our short play, we were chatting about what other levels could look like and also jokingly who was the dead weight in the team (me).

• Dewdrop Dynasty (PC) — July 21

Description: Gun-jump your way through a buzzing world full of quirky monsters, tricky puzzles, and outlandish bosses in this fast-paced, lighthearted Metroidvania.
Rating: N/A
Price: N/A

I never tire of a good Metroidvania and will happily dig into this one if it’s any good.

• Dodo Duckie! (PC) — July 23

Description: Waddle into a reality-bending odyssey where simply being a duck is your greatest superpower. With the help of your magical cap, switch instantly between 2D and 3D to uncover hidden paths, outsmart aliens, and rescue your kidnapped chicken friends in this wholesome puzzle platformer adventure.
Rating: N/A
Price: N/A

A 2D game that is also a 3D game is, inarguably, a fun premise. I hadn’t heard of Dodo Duckie! until putting together this list but it’s absolutely on my radar now. Video Chums enjoyed a demo of the game, too, saying: “There’s just something about shifting to 3D, lining yourself up, heading back to 2D, and proceeding down new paths to amass a whole fortune of gems that makes me smile and when you throw in the possibilities for puzzles and platforming challenges, it adds up to one promising adventure that I can’t wait to explore every 2D and 3D nook and cranny of.”

• Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) — July 23

Description: Featuring hand-drawn 2D animation faithful to the series’ roots, Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game lets you experience the world of Avatar like never before. Choose from 12 playable characters and go head-to-head across a variety of modes, including Offline & Online Versus, Story, Arcade, Training, Spectator, and an Art Gallery.
Rating: E10+
Price: $29.99

Are fighting games a new meta? I’ve never touched the series, but IGN enjoyed their time with an early version, saying: “Thirty minutes isn’t nearly enough time to tackle everything Avatar Legends has to offer, but it was enough to make me want to play more of it, and I loved eking out wins and playing around with all of these characters.”

• Splatoon Raiders (Switch 2) — July 23

Description: In this single-player-focused game, play as a mechanic working with Deep Cut—a trio of swashbuckling musicians—and venture out into the mysterious Spirhalite Islands Customize your character, kit yourself out with mechanical gadgets and ink-splattering weapons, and take on waves of enemy Salmonids as you raid the islands for treasure.
Rating: E10+
Price: $49.99

Splatoon is the rare multiplayer game I’ve put hours into. Not enough to become any good at it, but anytime someone is playing Splatoon, I’ll pick up the controller and give it a round. You can’t say that about many multiplayer games. (I think it has to do with the game fusing platforming with shooting.) So, we’re going to toss that into a single-player game? Hot dang, yes please. We’ll see if my kids come along for the ride, too.

• An Eggstremely Hard Game (PC) — July 24

Description: As highly qualified goose parents, work together to bring your little egg home safely. Every crack makes it harder to control, every mistake more hilarious. A co-op physics game for 2 or 4 players about teamwork, clumsiness and honking. HONK!
Rating: N/A
Price: N/A

Very charming. Gotta love this Steam review of the demo: “I never gonna have kids with my boyfriend….” That’s such a ringing endorsement of what this game’s going for.

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Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen is a good game, a game more worthy of the Bluey name than the franchise’s last outing. But one of my knocks against Quest for the Gold Pen was that my five-year-old couldn’t play it on her own because she couldn’t read yet.

As I wrote at the time:

I was delighted, then, to read recently that Quest for the Gold was getting a free update with “fully voiced narration throughout the entire adventure, making it easier than ever for younger players to follow the story, stay engaged and jump right into the fun, while making the experience approachable for families and players of all skill levels.”

You can imagine the smile on my face. It’s like they read my mind!

One of my pet peeves with many games that pitch themselves as family friendly—especially ones from Nintendo, who has the resources to avoid this—is their baseline assumption that children can read. A child who can figure out how to navigate Mario or Princess Peach from left to right should not have to ask a parent for help figuring out how to load up the level that will allow them to move those characters left to right.

This feature is often called, to use accessibility terms, “voice over” or “text to speech.” It’s basic functionality most devices, including phones and tablets and many game consoles, where the system reads the text of what you’re highlighting in the interface.

(To Nintendo’s credit, Switch 2 has a feature supporting this but only in the interface; games are on their own. This is not unique to Nintendo, this level of accessibility is, sadly, a game-by-game basis. Lots of Microsoft games, like Minecraft, support this!)

You might not like the Paw Patrol games, but one thing they do is have the menus speak to the player while they’re navigating. It helps remove friction and judgement.

Why, then, add this to Bluey’s newest game?

“The simplest answer is that we always want the game to be the best version of itself,” said Eli Hodapp, CMO of Quest for the Gold Pen developer Halfbrick, when asked.

“Bluey’s Quest is intentionally rated for the broadest possible family audience across platforms and regions,” said Hodapp. “That is great, because it means very young players can enjoy the game, but it also means some of those players may not be reading yet. Adding full voice narration makes the game more accessible, more natural to follow, and just a better Bluey experience overall.”

Voicing all the text was not the original plan, but it became part of the plan following feedback from the audience—including my own kid!—playing the game. What was part of the plan was a recording session with the actors from the show in the event that Halfbrick “needed changes to [cutscenes] or had other content needs.” Voicing all of the text became “the most meaningful thing we could do with that opportunity.”

“Before joining Halfbrick, I worked on the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl games, and I saw firsthand how much voiceover can transform a licensed game,” said Hodapp. “It helps the characters feel present in a way that text alone usually cannot. For Bluey’s Quest, that felt especially important.”

He’s right.

It’s also—knock on wood—hopefully a sign of more developers taking this seriously.

The update is live now and available on every platform right now.

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Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

Also:

• The Bluey movie arrives next summer. It feels like it’ll be the last hurrah for the Heeler family in the house, because sadly, my kids appear to be aging out of it.

• I’d say Bluey is a little on the decline, too, but it’s also the case that we haven’t had a new episode of Bluey in more than two years. Two years is such a long time.

• Completely left-field, but somehow my nine-year-old managed to hear (catchy!) songs from the Hazbin Hotel soundtrack, a wildly inappropriate show for her age.

Grounded is the rare feel good story at Microsoft, a company experiencing enormous tumult as it struggles to find a new direction for Xbox, amidst layoffs and price increases. But Grounded, a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-inspired survival adventure where players work alone (or together) to progress, has been a quiet hit since 2022, in part because it’s a wonderful game for adults, children, and adults playing with children.

“One of the best challenges of working on it [Grounded],” said senior producer Mike Winzeler in a recent interview, “is people that play it and ‘Oh, this is so nostalgic for me because the game is set in 1992. I was in high school back then.’ You have people that are like, ‘I play this with my six-year-old, and we build bases together.’”

I was chatting with Winzeler after spending 10 minutes getting my butt kicked fighting a boss in Grounded 2. We lost, though I’ll blame my mistake of choosing a spider as the creature that came into battle with me. While I am not wholly arachnophobic, I do not mess with tarantulas and the creature I picked was one!

(An early story I wrote about Grounded was about how it carefully handled the inclusion of spiders in its game, even though people might be phobic—or anxious.)

“The focus has always been on making sure you can play the game the way you want to and going beyond just difficulty settings on that,” said Winzeler. “We also have a creative mode. So if you really want to build bases, you can go in and do that.”

My children have spent hundreds of hours in Minecraft—but almost none in the game’s survival mode. It’s entirely “creative,” where they can build to their heart’s content. You cannot die, and Minecraft becomes a virtual form of stacking LEGO bricks. “Enemies” are simply goofy creatures to be part of whatever story they’re telling that day. It’s an extension of the social-first, friction-reduced gameplay dominant on platforms like Roblox and also often seen in modern “friendslop” games.

In Grounded, there’s a “Playgrounds Mode,” where players can assign logic to parts of the game. You could, for example, build a racetrack and have bugs compete. And in August, Grounded’s bringing back custom game settings, which means you can dial in how you want the game to feel. Do you want to make it harder? Turn enemy aggressiveness off, which means you can just wander through the beautiful world?

“You can tailor your experience to what your situation is, whether it’s with your friends or your family, or someone young who’s just getting into games,” said Winzeler. “For us, tonally, we’re always making sure we’re hitting both the nostalgia audience and just letting these characters breathe and be their own pieces of the puzzle. And then on the sort of gameplay mechanical side, just making sure that you can really tweak things and make it work for you.”

Some changes are driven by what the team observes, some comes from the game’s active Discord server. (Winzeler assured me the team is always reading the Discord.)

For some players, games are all about friction. But increasingly, younger players are growing up with expectations of being able to customize experiences, introducing friction where they want it—or removing it entirely. When I was a kid, these were called “cheat codes.” Today, it’s a mixture of “accessibility” and “customization.”

“Grounded’s always been about meeting you halfway, “ said Winzeler, “and letting you take it on on your own terms. There are people that don’t want to deal with the fact that when you die, you drop your backpack and all your gear. That’s the deal breaker, so you should be able to turn that off. Anything that’s going to make you go ‘Oh, I felt bad, I feel like you wasted my time,’ or ‘You’re too mean to me,’ it’s just a barrier to entry to any game. If we can find ways to preserve the foundation of what the game is and and let you find a way to love it, we’re all for it.”

It is, by my estimation, one of the great coming changes to design. I expect games to fall into two camps: games with specific, developer-driven experiences where you cannot change anything (i.e. Silksong) or you control every aspect (i.e. Grounded).

I also expect this to be wildly divisive among the players who enjoy the former, which is why you saw handwringing over Mina the Hollower, a great and traditionally challenging game that lets players granularly modify how much of the game works.

Whatever you make of that shift, Grounded has proven very popular with families.

I asked some parents to explain why this survival game has become the game to play with their kids. To kick things off, here’s John, who plays with his nine-year-old son:

And Brandon, who’s played on and off with his two sons, ages 12 and 19:

There’s also Nick, who’s played with this 15-year-old son since since he was around 11:

Maybe it’s finally time to give Grounded a try with my nine-year-old.

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Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

Also:

• Making games customizable doesn’t ensure success. Elden Ring was a massive hit a few years back, and it’s one of the hardest games around. There’s no easy mode.

• But even when developers like FromSoftware don’t include options, players will modify the game to make it easier. This mod’s been downloaded 500,000 times.

• If players are going to do it anyway, why not include options from the developers, as with Mina the Hollower, where they have fun with it? More, please.

My nine-year-old became obsessed with the movie Parent Trap last year. The obsession, thankfully, was not taking notes about what to do if your parents get divorced, but camp. A camp where you’re bunked up with other kids, spending days swimming in a lake, eating by a fire, and most importantly, you’re far away from home.

Months after, we ended up somewhere that coincidentally took place in and around some local campgrounds. Can you guess what they were advertising? Camp. Pictures of kids having a blast in bunks, around fires, in the water. My oldest’s eyes went wide.

“Can I go?”

My wife never did anything like that as a kid. Nor did I. So, uh, maybe?

Stacks of application paperwork and many, many months later, it arrived: camp.

Our oldest has done many sleepovers. But she’s has never been away, in somewhere decidedly foreign and with no friends or family, for a week. If something went wrong, or she wanted to leave, we weren’t a block away. It was 30 minutes. On drop-off day, I’m not sure who was more nervous about the reality of the situation: her or us.

A week away from home. And importantly, a week away from screen time, too.

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I’d like to tell you about my dad, Bob.

Five years ago, I lost him to cancer. I think about him every day. But funny enough, I also think about his camping spot in the 2002 video game Medal of Honor Allied Assault.

Bob was a living image of Boomer masculinity. Think: Red Forman, Tim Taylor, and being from New Jersey, even a little Tony Soprano—just, you know, not evil.

He served in the Marines. He drove an old, wobbly Ford pickup—manual, of course. For most of his life, he worked as a lineman hanging off power poles, or standing in a bucket surrounded by transformers and high-voltage cables. It was dangerous, but he was really good at it.

In his off time, he occasionally played video games. Mostly Medal of Honor Allied Assault’s multiplayer. And despite Bob embodying the idea of working-class manhood, he spent lots of time in Allied Assault using one of the most undignified strategies in gaming: camping.

Growing up, my first gaming PC wasn’t mine—but my dad’s, and to my little-kid sensibilities, that PC was mesmerizing. Standing near it was like standing at the gates of Disneyland. I can even recall the smell when it was first put together—a combination of rubber, plastic and stale air.

My earliest memories of gaming came from that PC. The thrill of flying away from an exploding lunar base in Descent. Call of Duty’s phenomenal multiplayer—where you definitely shouldn’t snipe in Carentan. The demo for Halo: Combat Evolved, which showcased perhaps the greatest single level of all-time. The Silent Cartographer. Return to Castle Wolfenstein scared me enough that I couldn’t sleep for a week and was banned from playing M-rated games. (It didn’t last).

Medal of Honor Allied Assault released in 2002, a transitory period for games, particularly between the shooters of the 90s and the mainstream popularization of Battlefield and Call of Duty that took place in the mid- and late-aughts.

Set during World War II, Medal of Honor Allied Assault’s relatively realistic gameplay is what I think attracted my dad the most. He had a fascination with history in general, not just military history. He loved learning how ancient people lived and what old cultures were like.

In the midst of renewed public interest in World War II thanks to Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and, uh, Steven Spielberg’s Band of Brothers, Allied Assault was the perfect game for a middle-aged, working class veteran/history nerd delivered at the perfect time.

A big part of my memory of that time was this dark little alcove in a destroyed building:

Allied Assault gives you a small, class-like list of weapons to choose from, with each side (Allies vs Axis) getting equivalent weapons. The Allies have the Thompson; the Axis have the MP40, etc.Both teams have a sniper rifle, and that was my dad’s choice—usually.

I don’t remember if he was any good or not, but I loved sitting next to him with my brother and watching him play. It was actually one of my favorite things to do. I distinctly remember one night (and even the map: Snowy Park) when my dad was getting decimated. Surprised at how badly his team was losing, I said, “They have to be cheating! Or maybe they’re all working together?” My dad laughed.“They’re just better than me.”

This was, perhaps, the one and only time in gamer history that sentence was spoken.

To improve his K/D ratio (or maybe because he just enjoyed it), my dad developed a strategy: camping with a sniper rifle! And that dark little alcove was his favorite spot.

It’s from the map Destroyed Village, which I remember being my favorite of Allied Assault’s multiplayer maps.

Destroyed Village is somewhat circular, with a street that cuts through the middle flanked by a line of buildings and a church. It has a good mix of short- and medium-range sightlines, with a few long-range sightlines if you can get the angle right.

The alcove is across the way from the Church’s front door; a ruin obscured by shadow and a half-destroyed wall.The wall cuts the first floor in half and both sides give good views of the lanes beside the church. If you position yourself correctly, you can even sit behind the wall and lean between the sides.

From this vantage point, many players were sent respawning, unaware as they thoughtlessly turned a corner that they were about to be domed by an old man.

The right line is definitely more dangerous for enemy players. Those who walk down the street are farther away and have less cover.

The left lane is still dangerous, but enemies are closer, so it’s easier for them to see you and react. From this side, you’ve got a shorter window to fire. If you miss or an enemy gets to a blindspot, be ready for a few grenades to bounce at your feet.

The worst case scenario is the church’s front door. Not only is it close, but it’s hard to catch enemies coming out of the door to begin with. If an enemy approaches from the church’s door and knows you’re hiding in this spot, you’ll find yourself at a cramped disadvantage.

In the few times I’ve reinstalled Allied Assault over the last two decades, whether it be for another playthrough or just a quick nostalgia hit, I’ve returned to this spot, as though I’m completing a digital pilgrimage.

As there are no official servers for Allied Assault any more, my trips back here are solitary and quiet. I hide myself in the debris and think about all the fun I had watching my dad do the same.

Like I said at the top, he’s been gone for five years now.

The things you reminisce about after you lose someone are strange. For me, his old camping spot is one. It’s a spot we shared. As ephemeral as early 2000’s Allied Assault multiplayer matches were, this spot holds meaning to me. It means more than the actual rooms we were sitting in; even more than the houses!

I’m certain my dad probably didn’t play so much for his own enjoyment, but because it was a way to spend time with us. We’d sit next to him and cheer him on (or probably back-seat play) and those silly multiplayer matches are now some of my favorite childhood memories.

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Last week, Apple held its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), where the company detailed new updates to the operating systems for iPhones, iPads, etc. Amidst Apple’s artificial intelligence reinvention, the company spent a shocking amount of time—more than 10 minutes—discussing updates to its parental controls.

You can watch the relevant clip below, which is worth watching in full:

The most important update in Apple’s next OS, which tends to drop in September alongside new hardware and is already available in beta form if you’re feeling spicy, is the interface for “Screen Time” being completely overhauled and much easier to parse.

The other updates include:

• Children can ask permission to add a new contact

• The system will now block “gore or violent content” in a shared image or video

• Upon setting up a child account, the system recommends apps you should allow at device start, based on science-driven recommendations around what’s appropriate for various age groups. Parents can also choose to allow (or deny) any apps

• “Ask to Browse” allows kids to be granted permission for new websites on demand

  • In the current system, a website is blocked until a parent enters a passcode to grant permission, or they manually add a website to a permitted list in settings

• “Time Allowances” streamlines granting different time permissions for different apps (and groups of similar apps, like games) and makes it easier to differentiate how children are likely to use devices differently on both weekdays and weekends

• It’s now (finally) possible to immediately pause a child’s device with a single click

The interface update is terrific—it looks like it’s made by humans! Humans who actually have children using Apple devices! The previous interface looked like it was made by technologists completing a check list. The interface was so obtuse and weird, not to mention buried deep in the settings app, that I often avoided engaging with it.

One of those problems (the interface) is better. One of the others (buried in the settings app) is not. To engage with Screen Time settings—like wanting to tap that new button to immediately pause a device—involves too many steps for a simple task.

1. Pick up your phone

2. Wait for FaceID to engage

3. Navigate to the Settings app

4. Click on “Family”

5. Click on the appropriate family member

6. Tap “pause devise use”

Apple confirmed to Crossplay that Screen Time is, sadly, not becoming its own app, akin to Google’s excellent Family Link app that Screen Time appears to be riffing on.

But could you ask Siri to lock your child’s device? Sadly, the answer is no.

In theory, more robust options for when and how long your children are engaging with various apps means you should be spending less time futzing around with the customization options, but at least in our house, we’re conservative on the amount of time the children are given to use their devices. Extended use becomes a conversation over “Are chores done? What else were you asked to do today? Did you take the garbage out? Sorry, we’re leaving soon.” We often grant more time—after talking.

(In general, the kids have one hour of free time on weekdays, two hours on weekends, and anything beyond that is where we talk about what they’re doing and when. We do not currently really differentiate between whether it’s videos, Roblox, or something else, but there are occasions where, say, we’re only bringing the device so that one of them can practice drawing by using a specific app for that purpose and nothing more.)

It’s possible some changes could come before the update is finalized, but Screen Time getting its own app seems unlikely. The best we can hope for is being able to invoke Siri, or use the system’s Shortcuts app, to find a way to better achieve these features.

Oh, right. My other hobby horse.

I’m told that, once again, the only options for extending time when a child asks for it is increments of “one minute,” “15 minuets,” “one hour,” and “all day.” Which means Screen Time is, once again, lagging behind functionality available in Family Link.

There are also other basic and foundational issues with Apple’s Screen Time. Just yesterday, my six-year-old was home in-between a cheerleading camp and daycare. I was finishing up some emails, so I let her use her device a little longer than usual. Her request for more time came through to my laptop, I granted her 15 minutes, and…nothing. On my side, it said the request was approved. On her side, nothing changed.

Instead, I had to walk over and manually punch in her passcodes. Wonderful.

I’m told the architecture has been reworked for this update—an update, mind you, that won’t be available for several more months, aka all summer—but if your response is “Why didn’t this work from the start? Isn’t Apple’s pitch stuff just works?” Mmm.

All told, these are positive steps. But to crystalize my requests to Apple for the future:

• A dedicated Screen Time app

• The ability to invoke Siri or other shortcut-like features to lock devices

• Granular control over extending screen time to accommodate specific requests

Maybe next year.

Have a story idea? Want to share a tip? Got a funny parenting story? Drop Patrick an email.

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Also:

• Apple’s policies on parental controls has long been fraught. In general, the company wants you to use their controls. I get it. But they need to be best in class.

• Parental controls from the companies that make devices is, on its face, a problem. They are selling the devices and telling you the safest way to use them?

• The move to Ghost is happening soon. I’ve been waiting for Crossplay’s annual subscriptions to move through the backend before hitting the big, scary button.

My daughter has just turned two, so she’s not playing video games just yet. She’s curious and really likes poking the controller buttons. She can even tolerate sitting on my lap until I find a checkpoint to quit whatever game I was frantically playing while she napped.

Still, a part of me is already anticipating her forays into gaming. Another part of me expects her contrarian toddler mindset to extend to games. Maybe she won’t be into them at all. But if she is, she will need my help—to play and understand, but also to choose. I’m not naive in thinking I’ll have full control over what she ends up playing as she gets older. (Cue memories of wildly inappropriate games I played at a wildly inappropriate age myself.)

A very unscientific self-selection survey that I ran on Bluesky revealed that parents with gamer kids, when in doubt, do their own research on specific games. Looking at reviews on Google, watching playthroughs on YouTube or Twitch, and sometimes researching the studio or developer behind it.

Not a single reply mentioned game ratings, except for this delightful person who recalled their own childhood experience:

“My parents never played video games but let my younger brother and I pick out games based on their ratings.”

My mind rebels at the idea of looking at ratings to determine if a given game is kid-suitable. What am I, my parents? Still, that’s the first thing I think about when imagining making a game purchasing decision. Someone has done the work to review the game, to make my job as a parent easier, so why not use it?

Ostensibly, this is the reason the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), responsible for rating interactive entertainment in the US and Canada, exists. I’m used to seeing the black and white rectangle on game jackets at Gamestop and EB Games, as well as in game trailers on Steam and the like.

The ESRB’s rating classification and similar systems in place in other countries, like the Pan European Game Information (PEGI), struck me as reductive and overly broad.

The criteria by which rating authorities determine their ratings include the usual suspects of violence, sexual content, nudity, gambling, and substance use, including tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. There are subtle differences in how the ESRB and PEGI approach different content warnings, but their idea is similar: broadly, the less explicit or realistic these content themes are, if present, the lower the rating.

Within ESRB, there are five ratings possible for a video game: “E” rated for everyone, “E10+” rated for everyone 10 years and older, “Teen” rated for, I suppose, kids 13 years old and older, “Mature” rated for 17+, and “Adults only” rated to folks over 18.

PEGI uses numbers and colours for achieving essentially the same thing: 3 rated for kids over 3 years old (green), 7 rated for kids over 7 years old (green), 12 rated for teens over 12 (orange), 16 rated for teens over 16 (orange), and 18 rated for folks over 18 (red).

Mild cartoonish violence and some mild language are allowed in games rated E for everyone. Blood is rated T for Teen, as are “suggestive themes.” Intense violence and sexual content are 17+. Simulated gambling is A-OK for teens, but gambling with real currency is 18+ only, as is graphic sexual content and prolonged scenes of violence.

Age, as the crux on which the whole system rests, is the ratings’ biggest weakness.

Everyone’s idea of “age-appropriate,” let alone what constitutes a “mature” theme, is wildly, wildly different. Violent content generally falls lower on the rating spectrum than sexual content or gambling, but some parents may feel differently about this hierarchy. It sticks to sweeping generalizations by design—it has to. '

A convenient, clean, and tidy system of five ratings would be impossible otherwise.

Its lack of specificity is even more evident with Roblox, a platform with a mind-boggling user count of upwards of 150 million and millions of user-generated games. Moderating them alone is a gargantuan task. Giving these games an official, board-approved rating? So far, nothing.

Since ESRB et al cannot ignore Roblox, their solution is to slap it and other platforms like it with a “Diverse Content: Discretion Advised” content warning and move on. PEGI does the same with an exclamation mark “!” rating that reads like so: “PEGI!”

Go on, parents, figure it out yourselves.

(At least, PEGI has been rethinking its approach to rating games with in-game purchases. As of June 2026, games with loot boxes and battle passes will be rated at least PEGI 16, signaling a turn towards more control when it comes to spending real currency.)

My daughter will certainly start with games that my husband and I pick for her, games that we have played ourselves or know well. But there will come a point to consider games for her that I have no first-hand knowledge of. There, I’ll need help figuring out if they could scare, confuse, or upset her. If they are, gasp, age-appropriate—the very thing interactive software ratings boards set out to accomplish with their video game rating classifications.

Is it nearly time to call ratings boards obsolete?

They certainly still matter to game publishers, whose reach can be altered by a restrictive rating, but they’re less relevant to consumers than before. Even sites like Common Sense Media are more top-of-mind for parents than ESRB/PEGI. Readily available resources, more tailored to parents’ needs, make direct research of games possible, bypassing some ratings board that cannot account for each child’s specific interests and sensitivities. The ratings boards fail because they’re an attempt at a one-size-fits-all, where one size just isn’t possible.

Game ratings won’t be a surefire way for me to choose games for my daughter. I won’t rely on them to decide what my child does and doesn’t get to play. I’ll look, sure, if they still exist by then, but I’m already resigning myself to researching each specific game, playing it, or at least looking over my kid’s shoulder sometimes when she plays. I don’t know if she’ll take to Roblox or another big gaming platform that comes after.

All I know is that I will have work to do if I want her gaming experience to be safe and entertaining while she’s little.

So, more homework for us parents. As usual!

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Backyard Sports was a popular edutainment franchise that started in 1997, though there hasn’t been a new entry since 2010. Fans have been waiting for a new Backyard about three years longer than the next Grand Theft Auto. (There was, technically, a mobile game back in 2015.) It’s perhaps best known for its cast of diverse and memorable characters, especially the first sports GOAT for many millennials, Pablo Sanchez.

The gameplay in the Backyard is much more arcade-focused than other sports games: less NBA 2K, more NBA Jam. As opposed to the simulation games that dominate the sports game market, Backyard Sports is more focused on fun—after all, it was originally “edutainment.” The focus was teaching the rules of baseball, rather than a challenge.

But after all these years, a new game didn’t come easy. It took a lot of work, including hiring a private investigator. But on July 9, Backyard Baseball will be released on Steam, and is coming to Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S at a later date.

“What if you had the opportunity one day to work on your favorite franchise?”

It’s a question that Playground Productions’ Lindsay Barnett (CEO and voice behind four characters, including commentator Vinnie the Gooch) and Matthew Berk (CMO) posed to me during our recent interview. It’s one they get to answer every day, as the company bringing back Backyard Sports.

It’s hard to argue that any game beats Backyard Baseball in terms of inclusion. Kenny Kawaguchi, a boy in a wheelchair, is one of the best pitchers you could ask for. Keisha Phillips, a Black girl, is the best power hitter in the game. And the flagship character, Pablo Sanchez, doesn’t speak English. You would be hard-pressed to find a kid who picks up Backyard Baseball and doesn’t someone who looks like them or acts like them.

“How many other games do kids get to see the representation that they see in the backyard, right?” said Berk. “When they look at this game, they get to see themselves. And especially for those who [are having] their first gaming experience, they’re gonna look at these kids who will become backyard heroes, or legends, or whatever they become to them and know that they can do that too. It’s a wonderful place to start.”

As a teacher, Barnett saw firsthand the lack of fulfilling games for children available.

“I had to see for my entire teaching career, students that were getting taken advantage of by the games that they were playing,” she said. “They had to buy things in order to win them, or they were just exposed to violence and inappropriate themes much earlier. There’s a simplicity to the backyard of, you know, ‘you can play here.’”

“It’s a time suck,” said Berk. “Ask a kid after two hours of playing if they’re happy, if they’re satisfied—if they feel good about it. I’d be hard pressed to find one who doesn’t walk away from playing Backyard and saying, ‘I loved it.’”

In an era where live service games are dominating, both in children’s and sports games, time is the valuable commodity. Keep playing to level up a battle pass. Complete the limited-time challenge today, or miss out on a skin of a cool character.

The team has no such aspirations for Backyard Baseball. Not only are parents and children able to play against each other locally (no co-operative multiplayer options, unfortunately), but Barnett and Berk want this togetherness to go beyond the screen.

“If you are inspired to go and get an actual glove and a ball and go outside and play, that is a huge win for us,” Barnett said.

“For those young fans who have not [played baseball] yet, they’re playing and saying ‘I get it. I can go and do this,’” Berk said. “And for the parents or adults playing with them, it’s ‘I want to go do this with you.’”

Playground Productions is helping enable this with new product partnerships. Pablo Sanchez is a sponsored athlete for Wilson Sporting Goods. Louisville Slugger is offering themed bats, including one based on the Aluminum Power power-up. The best part? These deals were initiated by people at Wilson and Louisville Slugger, aka “fans who have grown up to have now grown up to have cool jobs,” in Barnett’s words.

A fun part of testing the game for the team has been seeing how children, like their own families, react. Would kids be able to see what see millennials fell in love with?

“I was really struck by, when my nephew was picking players, he picked players with positive self-talk, and looked like they were excited to play,” Barnett said. “And you start to realize how important these characters and what they say can be to the development of a child.”

Another way that Backyard Baseball is trying to be inclusive is in the difficulty. Barnett and Berk promised there would be plenty of accessibility modes to get everyone involved, but the way they discussed the harder difficulties was especially interesting.

“Difficulty in our world is different from difficulty in some of the other sports titles out there,” said Barnett. “It’s not… having to click a million different buttons. It’s increased comedy. There are more fireball pitches. There’s more errors, there’s more kids that are falling or spinning around. Even if it’s difficult, you’re going to be laughing and having a good time.”

Near the end of our conversation, I asked Barnett and Berk who their favorite characters in the game were.

Barnett showed a wood carving the Playground Productions team had made for her of the commentary duo: Sunny Day and Vinnie the Gooch.

“She [Sunny] is the one reporting at every single game in the entire Backyard,” said Barnett. “No matter who’s playing, no matter what time of day, what time of year, you’ll see Sunny Day out there. I always imagined… that Sunny was always part of the assembly of how these games all get together. Somebody’s got to be organized in that environment to be reporting and bringing the kids together.”

A fitting answer, for a CEO who hired a PI to hunt down the rights to a franchise.

Berk’s answer, however, was a little more controversial: Ronny Dobbs.

“Ronny’s there because [his older sister] Sally’s there, right?” he began. “He’s not particularly good at any one skill. He falls and he makes errors, and he cries. But Ronny walks up to every at bat, hopping with glee towards the plate with renewed enthusiasm for each new play. I think that that’s so emblematic of the spirit of the backyard. When we fall and trip—and Ronny does that a lot—we get back up and we keep going. And there are players that are better than him, but they play with Ronny, too. They’re both on the same field.”

If that’s the kind of kids that Backyard Baseball helps inspire on the real diamond, the team at Playground Productions will be satisfied.

When Stranger Things wrapped, fans were so upset over saying goodbye, plus the conclusion’s polarization reaction, that “Conformity Gate” was born. The theory was that Netflix was hiding a secret final episode that had yet to air—the real ending. There were no “Conformity Gate” truthers in our household, but I was rooting for it anyway, because it would have given our family more time in the world of Hawkins.

I still wish it was true.

I didn’t need Stranger Things to have a secret ending; the final season was okay, the finale was pretty good, and I do not regret spending time in that world. But it was the first time my entire family—kids and adults—were so collectively enthralled by a TV show that we all did our chores faster, we ate our food faster, and we finished homework faster in pursuit of fitting in another 20 minutes of an episode before bed.

Honestly, it’s surprising it happened at all!

Months ago, my wife and I were watching the final season. It’s a show close to our hearts, because of its throwback nature and because its airing parallels my oldest. (Stranger Things debuted in July 2016; my nine-year-old was born a month later.) Vecna, the Freddy Krueger-like villain that appears midway through the series, is wrecking. Our heroes are getting beat. Vecna is scary as hell. Naturally, this becomes an evening where our youngest, then five, waltzes out of her room and declares she can’t sleep.

Our general policy when the kids are having trouble falling asleep is they can color next to us, but they’re watching what we’re watching. Now, there’s limits, but Stranger Things did not rise beyond it. One reason for this approach is that if the kids determine what we’re watching is boring, they’ll go back to their room and fall asleep.

In this case, my youngest decided to stick around and was immediately transfixed. Grabbing onto my wife’s arm. “Who is this?” “Who is that?” And that evening, a kid who never has nightmares had a nightmare…about Vecna killing her. Of course. Sigh.

Later, when my nine-year-old raised the idea of watching Stranger Things, fueled by a YouTube Shorts algorithm that was apparently funneling her spoiler analysis videos, there was some pause about my youngest. Vecna didn’t show up until later in the series, so by the time he came around, maybe she’d be into the show and not care?

Jackpot.

One rainy afternoon, we watched four episodes in a row. I haven’t watched that much TV since before kids. It was special. I figured it would take us the better part of a year to watch all of it, but after school, the kids would beg for “ramen and Stranger Things,” and suddenly, we’d blasted through five seasons of Stranger Things in mere months.

Then, it was over. Not without tears, gasps, and a few is-so-and-so-gonna-die moments, but the credits rolled and we were left without any. more. episodes.

We tried to watch the behind-the-scenes documentary…but that lasted 15 minutes. We tried the animated show…but it’s aimed at children and my wife and I were bored.

Quickly, I could feel this moment—this connection—slipping.

While we regularly watch and enjoy movies together, it’s usually with entertainment aimed at my kids. Stranger Things was a rare “oh, we’re all having a blast.” And it meant many nights of the family cozied up on the couch, yelling and screaming together.

I searched online for “shows like Stranger Things for young kids” and found a few recommendations to try. I jotted down eight into my phone, queued up some trailers on the TV, and asked everyone to sit down. The plan was to watch every single trailer, poll the family on which ones were their favorites, and come up with a handful of shows to trial. Maybe, if we were lucky, one would grab us how Stranger Things did.

Here’s how that experiment played out! All told, we had eight shows in consideration:

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A few days back, my nine-year-old asked if she could ride her bike to a friend’s house.

This friend’s house is not far, but it’s not exactly walking down the street, or even around the block. It’s less than a mile but, well, almost a mile. She’s been further away from the house with a group of older friends, but it would be the furthest she’s gone alone. It gave me pause. I said no, but also said I would talk to her mom about it, because honestly, I did trust her to make the ride. She’s smart, cautious, and capable.

I have written about wanting to avoid becoming a helicopter parent. I want to trust my kids to be independent, out of sight, and making mistakes the same way I did.

Mostly the same way, anyway. It’s no longer the mid 90s. There is technology at your fingertips to keep an eye on where your child is at all times, if you’d like. You can snoop on their messages. What’s the line between caring parent and privacy invasion?

Anyway, this is all to say: we bought my nine-year-old an Apple Watch.

There were several considerations that went into this undeniably expensive solution.

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Summer is not the kindest time for this roundup; the pools are open, the schools are closed, and there’s just a general downturn in video games targeted at families.

Which is fine, but also has me asking a question: what is your family’s relationship with video games in the summer? This was where I’d spend hours upon hours upgrading my characters in RPGs for the SNES and original PlayStation. My parents would discover this because…uh, I would not wake up until sometime closer to lunch.

If you represent these games and have a potentially interesting story to share about how these games consider kids as part of their audience, do get in touch with me!

• eFootball Kick-Off! (Switch 2) — June 2

Description: Originally known as PES, the ultimate football action game is coming to Nintendo Switch 2! Build an original team and enter tournaments around the world! Take your one-of-a-kind dream team to the very top! Jump right into an action-packed match with friends or family using real national teams and clubs!
Rating: E
Price: $19.99

The launch of eFootball was a disaster, and even after Konami rolled out extensive updates, IGN said the game was “no longer a laughing stock due to its most hilarious visual bugs being resolved, but now it’s just kind of sad.” Woof. It’s hard to tell what’s changed in the years since; mainstream critics have largely been ignoring the series.

• Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S) — June 3

Description: The second game of the FINAL FANTASY VII remake trilogy. After escaping from the dystopian city of Midgar, Cloud and his friends set out on a journey across the planet. New adventures await in a vibrant and vast world—sprint across grassy plains on a chocobo and explore expansive environments.
Rating: T
Price: $49.99

The first 10 hours or so I spent with this game were jaw dropping. And then I spent entirely too much time trying to do everything in the game and kinda ruined it for myself. I would have been better off just shooting through the story and getting to the other side. Still, Square Enix’s approach to these “remakes” has been more interesting and ambitious than what you usually get and the Switch 2 ports have been excellent.

• Mini Football Legends (Apple Arcade) — June 4

Description: Kick off the ultimate soccer experience with Mini Football Legends! Step onto the field in this premium edition of Miniclip’s hit game, now available exclusively on Apple Arcade. Get ready to compete with teams from all over the world, as you build your team and rise through the Leagues, becoming the Legend you were born to be. Whether you’re playing with friends or diving solo into a full Career, every match brings you closer to greatness.
Rating: 4+
Price: $6.99/month

Adding a “+” typically indicates an existing game coming to Apple Arcade without microtransactions, but Mini Football Legends appears to be that in another form. (If you weren’t aware, the World Cup is imminent; hence the soccer games.) Would you be shocked to learn the many complaints on Google Play are about microtransactions?

• My Talking Tom 2+ (Apple Arcade) — June 4

Description: Every day is an adventure with the cool virtual pet, Talking Tom. The superstar virtual cat is going on the ultimate pet adventure, and with you, it’s going to be more fun than ever! Your favorite funny friend is ready to dazzle you with his new wardrobe, amazing skills, and special features.
Rating: 4+
Price: $6.99/month

This game is massively popular—nearly a million reviews on the App Store. Most people love it, and it’s funny to see reviews that suggest you flip off wi-fi on your device because it cuts down on some of the ads. Mobile games are often gross, friends.

• Coffee Inc 2+ (Apple Arcade) — June 4

Description: Coffee Inc 2+ is the Apple Arcade edition of the hit business simulation game. Build your coffee empire across the world — without limits. Every feature, upgrade, and expansion is fully unlocked, with no in-app purchases required. Start as the founder of a single cafe and grow into a global powerhouse. Craft new products, inspire employees, expand into major cities, and dominate the market. Every decision is yours.
Rating: 4+
Price: $6.99/month

The problem with so many mobile games, and trying to give you a sense of what to make of them, is so few critics review mobile games. You’re relying on the wisdom of the crowd, but in general, people leaving reviews are typically leaving negative comments. From what I can tell, it seems like a totally serviceable tycoon-style game.

• NBA The Run (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – June 9

Description: Take your favorite NBA stars to iconic streetball courts around the world, in this fast-paced, online 3v3 basketball game. Stack wins, earn cred and become the GOAT of THE RUN. Who’s Got Next?
Rating: E
Price: TBA

At some point, my desire for games like this should manifest in the form of an arcade cabinet in my house. In the meantime, Game Informer enjoyed trying NBA the Run, which apparently comes from ex-NBA Street folks: “While I still miss the Street games, I came away from my hands-on time extremely impressed with not only how well NBA The Run plays, but how the quick-hit structure compelled me to want to keep playing.”

• Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains (PC, Switch/Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S) — June 11

Description: Assemble your team, build your roster of iconic Star Wars™ characters, and battle with your friends and family for control of the galaxy as you move across storied planets and locations. Choose from a wide array of Star Wars heroes and villains, each with their own unique abilities. Whether you’re teaming up with Luke Skywalker or unleashing Darth Vader, every match is packed with team strategy, surprises, and classic Star Wars moments. No two battles unfold the same way, the fate of your team is yours to shape!
Rating: E10+
Price: $29.99

This is from…Ubisoft? I’m baffled. And also not convinced Monopoly is a good game.

• to a T (Switch 2) — June 11

Description: to a T is a narrative adventure game that portrays the extraordinary life of a 13-year-old teenager, whose body happens to be in the shape of the letter “T.” They live in a modest seaside town that they explore by foot, train, or even their favorite unicycle, and interact with a the charming cast of characters who live there.
Rating: E
Price: $19.99

I missed to a T the first time, but I have an affection for everything designer Keita Takahashi touches. I should just play this. Plus, while reviews were a little middling, places like RPGFan found it worth trying out: “It’s almost poetic (or pretentious, if you’re cynical), but the fact that to a T is an imperfect game is in itself perfect.”

• Barbie: Horse Ride & Rescue (iOS, Android) – June 16

Description: Start your Western horse riding adventure with Barbie at Roaming Hearts Rescue Ranch. Rescue and rehabilitate charming horses, test your riding skills and customize your style as you uncover the mysteries of Moonrise Valley!
Rating: 4+
Price: TBA

The screen shots make this look charming, but then read the fine print and realize the numbers are bleak. This children’s game is charging $2.99 per week, $9.99 per month, or $80 per year. What are we doing here? This is a game meant for kids. Come on.

• The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales (Switch 2) — June 18

Description: A brand-new action RPG from the creators of Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default – The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales combines stunning HD-2D visuals and exciting action-adventure gameplay for the first time!
Rating: T
Price: $59.99

Strong Zelda vibes, and perhaps more approachable for youngsters than, say, Mina the Hollower. I’ve had this on my radar, and Polygon said the “relentlessly satisfying and succinct gameplay loop of The Adventures of Elliot made my hour with the game fly by.”

• Destroy All Humans! (Switch) — June 23

Description: Crypto is back and humanity is still very much in trouble. Already wreaking havoc on Nintendo Switch, the cult-classic alien invasion lands on Nintendo Switch 2 later this year with richer visuals, denser worlds, improved shaders, and support for full HD up to 1440p resolution. Unleash chaos with powerful psychic abilities, outrageous weaponry, and a sharp sense of humor. Invade Earth, harvest DNA, and remind the human race exactly who’s in charge. Includes the downloadable content “Skin Pack”!
Rating: T
Price: TBA

Maybe you don’t want to explain what “probing” is, but they don’t make goofy action games like this anymore! No word on the Switch 2 version, but Nintendo Life called it straight last time: “a remake that refreshes the original’s visuals, modernises its controls and adds a few new weapon and traversal upgrades to proceedings, all whilst failing to make any meaningful changes to the game’s rather outdated core gameplay.”

• Wanderstop (Switch/Switch 2) – June 23

Description: From the creator of The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide comes Wanderstop, a narrative-centric cozy game about change and tea.
Rating: T
Price: $24.99

I enjoyed Wanderstop, but fell off it because these are just not my games! What makes Wanderstop work longer than most was being more character-focused and objective-focused than other cozy games. Game Informer felt like I did, calling it “a pensive, funny, and surprising story set in a charming location with enjoyable characters.”

• Star Fox (Switch 2) — June 25

Description: Step into the cockpit and fly across the stars and skies with Fox McCloud and the Star Fox team! With the Lylat system under attack by evil scientist Andross, it’s up to you and the squad to fend off his forces. Blast your way through enemies in a fast-paced adventure that will have you tearing through space, soaring across planets, and shooting loads of foes out of the sky at every turn.
Rating: E10+
Price: $49.99

Star Fox 64 is an all-time favorite. I am reluctant to revisit it because it’s an ancient, linear game that you can finish in a few hours. What I actually want is a version of Star Fox that’s more expensive, fitted for the year 2026. But I will undoubtably give this a shot because my kids were so tickled by Fox McCloud in the recent Mario movie.

• #Drive Rally (PS5, Xbox Series X/S) — June 28

Description: #DRIVE Rally isn’t just a trip down memory lane; it’s an arcade-inspired rally-driving experience set in the golden racing era of the ‘90s. Experience the thrill of rally racing with passionate co-drivers who react dynamically to your driving, offering both praise and critique while helping you navigate the twists and turns of every stage.
Rating: E
Price: $19.99

You don’t get many rally-focused games, unless you count Forza Horizon? Mostly, this makes me want to listen to the Sega Rally Championship soundtrack. If you need to scratch an itch, this might work, but WayTooManyGames was meh on it: “Again, it’s not that #Drive Rally is a bad game; it’s just yet another arcadey rally game.”

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Currently, my family has over 150 hours playing Stardew Valley together. It is rare that we find an activity that the whole family enjoys this much, but Stardew Valley has become that. My kids will now not ask for just screen time—but instead ask for Stardew Valley family time.

All of this has caused me to think about why this is such a hit for my kids.

Stardew Valley is, at its core, a 2D farming simulator, very similar to the old Harvest Moon games. It also contains elements of a relationship simulator, top down Zelda combat, resource gathering, fishing, and crafting. Each of those gameplay elements has been simplified, but they all work together to create an experience where you can easily shift between different types of gameplay. It is this variety of gameplay and level of polish that I can see why Stardew Valley is still going strong even after 10 years.

The game is really easy to control.

My kids are twin eight-year-olds and although they are beginning to dabble in more complex games, they haven’t quite mastered camera control or complicated button pressing. From the beginning, they understood what every button did. The simple controls allowed them to not focus on the controller and dive into all the other aspects of the game.

It also has the right blend of individual and team objectives.

Right now, we are working to complete a very hard optional task of collecting rare seeds from a man named Mr. Qi. This demands the whole family working together to accomplish the task. Before we started this, my son was working on raising his fishing level, and my daughter was trying to find the resources to craft different outfits for the whole family. Now we are all focusing on this one task. That is what makes Stardew Valley really great for the entire family.

At some points, we are working together as a team on a shared goal, at other times we can each work on our own individual goals.

There is a perfect blend of shared and individual goals, and though we encourage our kids to help with the larger goals, it is never forced upon them. They have the freedom to choose what to do, and it is this blend of goals that seems to keep my kids interested. My wife and I encourage their freedom and are really proud when they agree that they should be helping the family with a large shared goal.

Importantly, the game also gives my kids the ability to express themselves in many different ways.

My son likes to dress like a real farmer, and has a cabin to match this aesthetic, while my daughter likes to do something more stylish and has themes for each room in her house. (She also has tailored outfits for each of us for each season.) This creativity not just in aesthetics, but in game play really means they can play how they want, while also contributing to the overall family farm.

One last thing that I am grateful to Stardew Valley for is that it is teaching my kids responsibilities, chores, and contributing to the family. Each Stardew Valley day my daughter is in charge of the animals, and my son is in charge of harvesting crops, mushrooms and sap. They know this is their morning responsibilities, and that if they want to do anything else with the rest of the day, they can—after they finish their morning chores.

It has gotten to the point where they do these chores each morning, without having to be reminded. This behavior has carried over to doing chores in real life, where they don’t complain about doing them, because they relate that, just like in Stardew Valley, they need to contribute to the family.

My wife and I have seen Stardew Valley teach them not just to do chores but that everyone has their own responsibilities within the family.

I am so glad that Stardew Valley has come into our lives and given us this amazing family game. Each night before bed, we usually do one or two Stardew Valley days. It is family time for us, doing something everyone in the family enjoys.

I don’t know when my kids will want to play or do something else, but for now, my wife and I are loving our time with them on our farm in Stardew Valley.

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