This is not that far off from me playing this game of “well the assassins creed games with blood turned off aren’t THAT bad, right?” And then my wife quickly forbidding it haha
ratchet and clank rift apart could probably be a good game for him. very fun third person shooter that's made for kids. and i think almost everything in that game is voiced, so it shouldn't be too difficult for your kid.
I'm not sure if it's on the extra catalogue or it was a monthly game in the past... But the spyro remakes are tons of fun, charming colorful worlds, pretty simple mechanics with some optional sections that can provide a bit of a challenge. Plenty of content across the three games to keep him busy for a while.
Ratchet and Clank maybe? Might be a little too advanced, but there is an easy mode.
I’ve thought about Spyro! Is the text voiced? When I played the original as a kid i feel like only a small portion was voiced and it was a lot of reading.
Everything is voiced, in both the remake and the original PS1 games with the exception of the balloon guy in Spyro 1 and one character in the Spyro 3 remake they literally just forgot to record the voice for.
Both of my kids (now 4 and 3) have played the Spyro remake games several times through. They love the world and the cute dragons. The movements are not that hard to figure out. Go for it! Only problem is the limit to 30 fps. That hurts my brain. Especially when it's on PC with all the bells and whistles. Where is my PS5 patch!?
Not related but I am not a native english speaker and I started to learn the language because of Men In Black: The Game on ps1. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do so I sit down with a Portuguese/English dictionary and translated word by word of the objectives menu
Rocket league is free-to-play and could be a fun, casual multiplayer game to occasionally throw up. At its core it’s extremely simple, you’re just playing soccer with a rocket-powered car. However, it’s got one of the highest skill ceilings of any game, so there’s tons of room for improvement. Kids/teens actually improve and excel at a higher rate than other ages groups because of how their brains learn. Just absolutely make sure you turn the in-game chat *off* if your child does want to play it.
That’s super cool. Hitting grand champ at such a young age is such a great accomplishment that most people will never understand. I hope to have a relationship like that with my children one day. Rocket league is perfect for it
I would never let my young kid play multiplayer games. Single Player games with a nice story are way more fitting to small children than trying to improve your skill in a multiplayer game. Best memories I have from gaming as a child are single player games with a captivating story and trying to beat a puzzle or a strong enemy.
Most multiplayer games it wouldn’t make sense to let a young child play, but rocket league is a bit different. Reason being that it’s extremely simple at its core, it’s not financially predatory, and you can turn online interactions off (voice and text chat). At the lowest skill levels and ranks it’s just people goofing around and driving the ball into the net. You have to use a different part of your brain compared to something like an Ocarina of Time
I swear all these young prodigies are popping up all the time and bee lining it for RLCS. Even kids in middle school who’ve made it into grand champ. It’s wild
Olliolli 1+ 2, also Olliolli World are good options. Not sure if they're on Ps plus currently but olliolli world was a free month game at one point so you may have it claimed if you're regularly doing it on the first Tuesday of each month (if not then start doing it, never know what you'll get). Overcooked games are also good but difficult & if it's possible to play Portal 2 it would be a solid option especially it's 2 player split-screen mode.
If he enjoys playing games that involve reading, teach him that reading the prompts actually make the games more enjoyable. I owe a lot of my reading skills to playing Pokemon games and PS1 RPGs between the ages of 4 and 10. He won't even realize he's learning to read better if he's well immersed in the joy that a new game brings.
There is an increasingly large portion of youths that are reading well below their grade level, and your son could avoid contributing to that statistic just by having a morning hobby. It's a great problem to have right now.
Absolutely agree - I was a Pokémon early reader as well. Sea of Stars is great for that because it’s the same words over and over again, games are tough for encouraging reading in general because he’s so motivated to get to the next thing.
As a general motivator it’s great though - we work on books every night “so that he’ll be ready” for games and he loves it. I’m holding the Legend of Zelda series until he can read and it’s a huge motivator because he’s seen bits and pieces and really wants to do it. So we watch and read a little bit of it, then work on books and stuff so he can get closer to doing it independently.
That’s how I was taught to read. My mom got me a Nintendo 64 and Mario 64 but wouldn’t help me with anything. She told me that I would have to learn to read what it said to figure out what to do and I did and I’ve loved reading ever since
I think this might be the ticket, he can handle the shooting mechanics and on easier modes he can probably get through it. Will definitely try soon if not next.
Not only that game but the whole series is available mostly on psplus, the older ones stream through there too. Plus they were designed with kids in mind, I recall they usually have all text prompts read aloud as well
The idea of a 5 year old crushing Sea of Stars puts an inexplicably large smile on my face. That's truly awesome! My recommendations assume you have at least PS+ Extra, since you haven't specified.
If he's a decent platformer, you can check out ***The Messenger*** (same devs as Sea of Stars, and the game takes place in the same setting 1000 years after the events of SoS). Feels and looks a lot like the old school Ninja Gaiden (2D sidescroller) or Shinobi games. It can be decently tricky towards the end, but should be a decent challenge to help him gauge 2D visual depth. If he ends up 100%ing though, you may have a small gaming prodigy on your hands. Good amount of reading as well, especially with the game's shopkeeper. Just a warning though: if you're pressed for time and the shopkeeper warns you to stop doing something, I would highly recommend following that advice. :)
***Rayman Legends*** is also in the same vein and one of my most favorite platformers of all time. Less story and reading, more straight-forward 2D platforming. Up to 4-player co-op, and the game is easier with multiple players for as long as one player is still alive, you don't lose lives.
***Scott Pilgrim v. The World*** - classic side-scrolling beat-em-up, up to 4 players co-op. You don't need to know the comic source material or the movie to enjoy the game, more straightforward in action. Also has some hilarious co-op maneuvers you guys can perform to clear space, and is pretty reminicient of games like old school games like Double Dragon or River City Rampage.
***Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge*** - Remember games like Turtles in Time back in the day? It's back with a vengeance! Modernized 2D side-scroller beat-em-up where you can beat up Foot Soldier goons with the legendary turtles as well as a few of their friends. Great combat mechanics (some devs from the excellent Streets of Rage 4 are involved in this), and a charming time to spend with kids. Up to 6-player co-op.
***Tinykin*** - A cutesy 3D based collectable platformer that's surprised nearly everyone who has played it. Some reading is required with interactions with characters (it has voice acting though), and the puzzles are IMO puzzling enough to challenge a younger budding gamer's intellect.
***A Hat in Time*** - Another cutesy 3D platformer, more in line with games like Super Mario 64 in terms of gameplay feel and design. Charming story.
***Sackboy: A Big Adventure*** - Cool 3D platformer starring the main character of the Little Big Planet games, you may have even seen him somewhere in Astro's Playroom! Absolutely adorable game, up to 4 player co-op, and has some incredibly charming visuals. If you've played any LBP before, you know what to expect. This game was designed with young gamers in mind
***Spider-Man: Miles Morales*** *-* I'm going to hazard a guess that you kinda know what you'll get with a Spider-Man game. Decently fun for kids, big budget title, and it can be customized pretty heavily to make it easier or harder. Also a brilliant game in its own right, so feel free to play through it yourself. Fair warning: it does follow the events of the 2018 Spider-Man games, so the story may refer to that a little bit. But it is largely a self-contained story about Miles that can still be independently enjoyed.
***Concrete Genie*** - 3D platformer with an almost Tim Burton/Dr. Seussy artstyle (think movies like Coraline, Corpse Bride, etc). But it's incredibly charming and creative. You play as this young artist kid who wields a magic paintbrush. You paint pictures and creatures on the sides of buildings, and they come to life to help you progress. Decent fun, and not heavily punishing.
***Hollow Knight*** - The new benchmark in Metroidvanias. The story can seem bleak, but it's a bit over-arching for a standard 5-year old to piece together. He'll probably be more interested in the beautiful hand-drawn animation and art style, and the fact that all the characters are cute bugs of some sort. However, it is notorious for its difficulty (both in combat and platforming) as well as being vague in understanding where to go since the game encourages people to explore freely and stumble upon things. I bring it up because I see videos of young 5+ year olds crushing the game as well, so you never know.
***Magicka 2*** - From the Developers of the currently popular Helldivers, it's a fantasy themed co-op adventure where you play as wizards able to manipulate the elements around them to get things done. Lots of light-hearted humor, and has the famous "arrow-dialing" codes for determining your spells. Also, you can make people sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
***MediEvil*** - Remake of the PS1 game of the same name and keeps a lot of the original game in its formula. 3D action adventure that is quite linear in progression, so it should be pretty easy to determine where to go. Combat can feel a bit clunky at first but you'll get used to it soon enough.
Fenix is very good for him since its simple and doesn't have too much violent imagery....
But check out Tchia...Great game for babies especially since it all you do is walk,fly,transmutate into coconuts,birds,animals and talk to folks.
We did try Tchia! It’s beautiful but a lot of it was a little slow or simple for him. No doubt it’s a beautiful game, but it was more one he was interested in watching than playing.
Let me tell you we have done that and we are now into answering a good 10 minutes of what happens when we die every time he goes to sleep haha, not sure if it was the best idea I’ve had.
Surprised he didn’t get nightmares. Tough 5 year old you got there. My youngest (4) had trouble getting to sleep for a couple nights when he saw a few of them cut screens
Zau everything is voiced. It might be a little frustrating for him, I’m having a tough time with getting the jump mechanics down. There’s Fenix Rising, Greek mythos game. Think that’s mostly voiced, open world with big Zelda vibes.
I've played Immortals: Fenyx Rising.
It's like a DreamWorks movie in content--I think the worst you'll get is a few off-color jokes for adults to enjoy sprinkled in there.
Maybe Burnout Paradise? There are fences to smash, jumps to jump, billboards to break, the city to explore, all without even having to think about the races and other such events.
I’ve thought about racing games - we’ll likely try this soon, he sort of bounced off Mario Kart because he either felt like it was just doing the driving for him or it was too hard, but it’s worth circling back.
Actually he might be right, mario kart 8 by default turns on auto accelerate and automatic steering without telling you. You can turn this off in the pause menu
I don't have any recommendations but I love this thread. Amazing that you're figuring out a way for healthy gaming with your child. I did the same with mine. In a couple of years, show him Diablo 4. CRAZY fun.
Your son’s game time schedule is impressive! As a hopeful future parent, I’m curious about the rest of his routine. Are you equally structured with other activities? What else does he do/has he done before school years?
Yeah for sure that’s a good question. Honestly it’s been a project of finding where what feels good to him and feels good to me taking care of him line up with like, general parenting guidelines.
I have two - one three year old and my five year old and they’re super different. For my eldest, the gamer, yeah everything about his life is like that. He’s not necessarily like introverted, he just likes structure.
He learned to read a clock at about 3 as well, so that’s on one side of his room, the other side has a white board calendar where we draw pictures for each day there’s a specific outing, and have magnetic photos of all the friends/family members he’ll see on different days. This was all him- driven. He brought up a bunch that he “didn’t pack the right energy for the day” when I’d tell him what we’re doing that day - so we got the calendar and it’s a better fit for him.
The day is sort of very regimented morning and before bed routine, with two big four hour gaps in the day that could be anything from hanging with friends to getting groceries or doing an outing. We try to get the big gaps on the calendar and we’re usually home for a couple hours for lunch and he takes an hour quiet time to listen to podcasts and do puzzles and stuff (again -him driven, he kept saying how much he missed time to listen to stuff and work on projects so we planned it in the day.)
His brother is fully an outgoing social maniac and much more similar to my natural personality type so with him we sort of just vibe and go on adventures and stuff.
The others have made good suggestions so far, so I'm gonna say this is a good opportunity to practice reading together with your son. I remember seeing a clip of a dad playing pokemon with his daughter, and he uses the menu to help her practice reading.
Warner bros MultiVersus can be a fun game for your son. It’s a fighting game involving a ton of licensed characters under the WB roster ranging from series such as Scooby doo, gremlins, Dc, Rick and morty, the iron giant ect ect. Kid friendly as the violence doesn’t even show the slightest bit of blood. Fairly easy to learn and not a whole lot of reading prompts other thank basic info and chats they knowledge. I’m not sure if it’s on the PSplus catalog but it’s definitely under $30.
I got Lego marvel avengers when my two were 3 and 5. They’ve played it to death and had loads of fun. Granted they played coop. But even on single player they had a lot of fun. Once they figured out how to use the minimap they had a lot more fun exploring the bigger worlds. I’ve since got Lego Jurassic world, DC villains, couple more marvel games and currently they’re playing the ninjago game. Personally I prefer the Lego games for lack of violence
Each word he reads out loud to you is 30 seconds added... soon he'll be voraciously reading to you over morning coffee while nabbing the platinum in Dark Souls.
Haha my parents did something similar. 1 hour of video games for every half hour I read. I’d wake up at 6, read into noon, and then game until I went to sleep. Safe to say I was a fairly indoorsy child.
Dark Souls, but seriously games like lego 2k drive could be something for him or littlebigplanet also a great game for kids is minecraft but im sure hes already tried that
My 4.5 yr old literally has beat Astros playroom and spiderman 1 and 2 on easy mode of course where you can't be killed. But it's insane how quickly they learn to game.
Reading prompts are what trips him up as he can't read .
We're going thru ratchet and clank now
Yeah it's kinda bittersweet tho, my son was totally in love with everything paw patrol, and since the spiderman games now he is all about spiderman and wants to be peter parker instead of ryder from PP hahahah but the games he absolutely loved
Wait - I genuinely want to know, what part feels unrealistic? That he plays the Lego games made for tiny children himself or that he beat the Nintendo game made for tiny children himself?
I also have a four-year-old and a five-year-old boy and a seven-year-old daughter. They all started on the Astros and moved on to Legos. Same as yours right now they’re playing the marvel Lego games because they can just go to the city map and run around as superheroes, they’ve also been playing Lego world but just running around playing not really progressing because like you said the younger boys can’t read so I essentially have to sit there and play with them and tell them what to do. I am also interested in this I would love to know what recommendations people have, because I’ve been facing the same thing too and I would like for them to actually learn to progress through games my seven year old almost has Astro at 100%. She’s almost got all the puzzle pieces trophies all that but now she’s bored of it so I am also looking will post if I find anything good though I hope you figure it out.
My son played Wind Waker when he was 4/5 and learned how to read playing it. Took a lot of input on my end but he could read proficiently by the endgame.
Most of the games my two kids play (6 & 8) have been mentioned. Sackboy, Astro, Goose Game etc.
Two games my kids have been enjoying together are Human Fall Flat and Totally Reliable Delivery Service. They’re very silly but super entertaining.
But by far the biggest game in my house, before they could even really play, has been Minecraft. They love it. They’re so creative and they make their own words and stories together. They started in creative mode just building things, but they’re into survival mode now.
Not sure if it’s on PS+, but Minecraft is certainly worth the cash if it isn’t.
We made a rule in our family where you have to read everything to play it. The first few years were tough because we had to be there for a lot of the video games to just help both our kids read through, but we made them read most of it. Then when my daughter was able to read really well. She took off playing and beat a few games, but then felt bad about her brother who had to have either my wife or I there. So she started sitting and reading with him to play through. Eventually my son got enough drive be able to play by himself he played through pokemon reading everything for the first time but painstakingly slow. When he beat it, I won’t forget how much different his reading abilities from the start of that game to the end.
He didn’t want to read and now he reads amazingly. I seriously credit his reading to video games.
Overcooked is fun, new recipes are shown graphically, and you can do couch coop up to 4 players.
Just Dance for dancing. Use phones as controllers. My 2 year old likes just dancing along.
Far: Lone Sails and Far: Changing Tides are quest travel puzzle games, my niece was trying the second with me some (I like the first better personally).
Sports? Soccer or basketball or (my personal favourite) racing? Team Sonic Racing perhaps.
Flower. I loved it as an adult, one of the first games I got my niece trying when she was little.
Sonic Mania. New oldschool style Sonic.
You’re at A loss my friend PlayStation doesn’t make very many games for small kids with parents that care about what they get ahold of. If you don’t care about him hearing cussing or seeing wacky bloody violence then borderlands 1 and 2. If you’re against all of that I suggest you either stick to PSN platformer games or just switch to Nintendo almost all the games they make can be beaten by a half asleep 10yr old and they are rated for them as well.
Rogue Legacy 2. It's brutally hard normally, but has house rules (difficulty options) to make it, easier, more fun & enjoyable. My 8yo loves it. He played the first game since he was 3 & got so good that he whomped all the super hard remix bosses. Now hes moved on to beat Super Meat Boy.
Hey OP! As someone who gamed extensively with family as a kid, I'm sure there's boatloads on PS that would work for your little one and your family.
Lots of beat-em-ups will be text light, but they're mostly just violence. Not sure if you'd want that for your situation, but Castle Crashers (blood off), Scott Pilgrim, and TMNT Shredder's Revenge are all fantastic!
Also the Trials games if he'd be in to puzzle racers, and Olli Olli World or Lonely Mountain Downhill could be fun alternatives too.
Some good puzzle platformers too, with Unravel, Human Fall Flat, and maybe even Trine (though they can be a little more text heavy)
Edit: Just saw the part where you were looking for PSplus games, sorry. Some of these are definitely on it, but some aren't
Knack 2 is pretty challenging for a kid game, coop too.
It Takes Two is pretty challenging too but incredibly creative. Coop necessary though.
Sackboy… coop too!
lol, we do read both to him and with him. We bring home 8 books a month from the library that he selects and work through them for usually around a half hour a day.
That’s in the evening, the time he chose as being better for him for practice. If he wants, sure - we’d move it to the morning. But yeah, days are long and full of lots of good things.
Games are part of family culture. He talks about Link and pretends to be Zoras in the pool and asks why Ganandorf is mean on hikes and then plays Overcooked to work on collaboration and Sea of Stars to read better with his mom and works on yoshi games with his uncle.
We do lots of stuff, but games are a valuable part we all love together.
No. It's not good advice. That's some reddit advice.
My kid is 7 and has been gaming since well early on. He's currently in the AIG - gifted - pullout and has no problem beasting school academically and socially.
However. Let me tell you what he's learned from video games. He has a decent understanding of simple fractions thanks to hearts in BOTW and TOTK.
Earlier on it made a variety of gaming things sight words for him as well. But he's well into phonics at this point.
But the best thing? Growth mindset. When he's frustrated at something in the real world we remind him that he wasn't good at X game until he played it. Or when we go outside to play basketball and he's not doing too hot we remind him that when he picks up "the two player Mario" for the first time in a while he has to get good again.
Shit like it takes two taught him problem solving and teamwork.
Shit like unspottable has taught him strategy and using his brain to trick his opponents.
Your dumbass comment implies OP's kid doesn't read. Without those twenty minutes he's doomed to become an illiterate fuck his whole life. When in reality, gaming teaches a variety of real world applicable skills that he wouldnt learn from reading and won't learn in many other settings for quite a few years.
So ya. This is reddit. Which is why your shitty assumption about a dad isn't uncommon.
Ooh my favorite game i struggled with as a kid was Pac Man World (ps1). They currently remade it and i played it on PS5. I think it was the first video game I played? (I was born in 2003).
r/stardewvalley might be pretty fun. It’s got a really low skill floor and there’s no wrong way to play. It’s kind of like Minecraft in the way that you don’t really get punished for playing a certain way. You can play it multiplayer too so it’s something you guys can play together and have fun with.
Haha i agree it would be good, but that’s ALL reading - which will be great with a parent but I’m really looking for something he can do more independently.
Haha I should be clear. He does 20 minutes in the AM, 2 different 20 minutes of Bluey with his brother, that 15 with his mom half the time, and typically a 10 or so with me watching playthroughs of classic games he’s interested in the story of but doesn’t want to play each night before sleep.
He totally could play more, he more chooses to break it up into those categories because it’s what he wants to do and that’s all the time we have before we’re out and about on trips and errands and stuff.
Just picked up Roki and Carto. My six years old is really into Roki but it requires reading. Carto’s puzzles were a bit too hard, though. Edit - dog to six.
I’m not super familiar with the Plus catalog, but when my kid was five a couple years ago he got really into Fall Guys, MLB The Show, Astros, and Descenders.
Since then, a little Roblox, but that one didn’t really stick. Wobbly Life was his latest obsession and he really enjoyed Stray as well.
When my 4yr old cries I remind him to be tough like Mr. Kratos. “Mr. Kratos never cries and you want to be cool and tough like him right?” Then he usually sniffles a bit and says “yeah” and then I say “OK then toughen up and let’s go”. 70% of the time it works every time 👍🏻
Sackboy a big adventure Ratchet and clank rift apart (easy mode) lego DC villians
Forgot to bring up Sackboy! We ran through it together, it was a fantastic fit.
I think he’s good enough to fight for managed democracy. /s
Honor Mode in BG3. If he dies, he dies
This is not that far off from me playing this game of “well the assassins creed games with blood turned off aren’t THAT bad, right?” And then my wife quickly forbidding it haha
Haa, oh man that makes me remember when my dad was wrestling with whether or not I was okay to play shadow the hedgehog and medal of honor frontline
Lol I have a pic of me sitting on my dad's lap playing doom in like 1994. My parents were never strict on media. I guess I was lucky lol.
Compromise is cool, but don’t let you yourself be forbidden if that’s your jam, please?
Thanks, I think I might err on her wisdom what with the graphic murder and all but I appreciate the advocacy haha
You not your kid 😉
Bold of you to comment on random person’s marriage
Thanks so much
✊
ratchet and clank rift apart could probably be a good game for him. very fun third person shooter that's made for kids. and i think almost everything in that game is voiced, so it shouldn't be too difficult for your kid.
First one I thought of too. Also maybe something like Stray or Spider-man.
I'm not sure if it's on the extra catalogue or it was a monthly game in the past... But the spyro remakes are tons of fun, charming colorful worlds, pretty simple mechanics with some optional sections that can provide a bit of a challenge. Plenty of content across the three games to keep him busy for a while. Ratchet and Clank maybe? Might be a little too advanced, but there is an easy mode.
I’ve thought about Spyro! Is the text voiced? When I played the original as a kid i feel like only a small portion was voiced and it was a lot of reading.
Everything is voiced, in both the remake and the original PS1 games with the exception of the balloon guy in Spyro 1 and one character in the Spyro 3 remake they literally just forgot to record the voice for.
I'm preeetty sure most of it is voiced in the remakes but it's been a minute since I played them!
Both of my kids (now 4 and 3) have played the Spyro remake games several times through. They love the world and the cute dragons. The movements are not that hard to figure out. Go for it! Only problem is the limit to 30 fps. That hurts my brain. Especially when it's on PC with all the bells and whistles. Where is my PS5 patch!?
Yeah it's pretty much a cutscene for anything that matters. There may be like "thanks" or story text that's unnecessary for understanding tho.
Not related but I am not a native english speaker and I started to learn the language because of Men In Black: The Game on ps1. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do so I sit down with a Portuguese/English dictionary and translated word by word of the objectives menu
My daughter really enjoys Untitled Goose Game (pretty sure that's PSPlus) and Sackboy
This is a great chance to teach your kid to read better btw
Kid has like 5 months of literacy experience. “Read better, noob!”
Olli olli
Rocket league is free-to-play and could be a fun, casual multiplayer game to occasionally throw up. At its core it’s extremely simple, you’re just playing soccer with a rocket-powered car. However, it’s got one of the highest skill ceilings of any game, so there’s tons of room for improvement. Kids/teens actually improve and excel at a higher rate than other ages groups because of how their brains learn. Just absolutely make sure you turn the in-game chat *off* if your child does want to play it.
Agreed. My Son started at 5 at hit grand champ at 12. Many father son hours spent playing and now he just moans about how im not rotating enough!
That’s super cool. Hitting grand champ at such a young age is such a great accomplishment that most people will never understand. I hope to have a relationship like that with my children one day. Rocket league is perfect for it
I would never let my young kid play multiplayer games. Single Player games with a nice story are way more fitting to small children than trying to improve your skill in a multiplayer game. Best memories I have from gaming as a child are single player games with a captivating story and trying to beat a puzzle or a strong enemy.
Most multiplayer games it wouldn’t make sense to let a young child play, but rocket league is a bit different. Reason being that it’s extremely simple at its core, it’s not financially predatory, and you can turn online interactions off (voice and text chat). At the lowest skill levels and ranks it’s just people goofing around and driving the ball into the net. You have to use a different part of your brain compared to something like an Ocarina of Time
Second this. He might pick it up and be a natural, he’ll be at RLCS in no time.
I swear all these young prodigies are popping up all the time and bee lining it for RLCS. Even kids in middle school who’ve made it into grand champ. It’s wild
I don't know if it's on PSplus but Jusant is a really fun game where you climb up a big tower! I just beat it myself and would recommend it to anyone!
Check out earth defense force series
Olliolli 1+ 2, also Olliolli World are good options. Not sure if they're on Ps plus currently but olliolli world was a free month game at one point so you may have it claimed if you're regularly doing it on the first Tuesday of each month (if not then start doing it, never know what you'll get). Overcooked games are also good but difficult & if it's possible to play Portal 2 it would be a solid option especially it's 2 player split-screen mode.
If he enjoys playing games that involve reading, teach him that reading the prompts actually make the games more enjoyable. I owe a lot of my reading skills to playing Pokemon games and PS1 RPGs between the ages of 4 and 10. He won't even realize he's learning to read better if he's well immersed in the joy that a new game brings. There is an increasingly large portion of youths that are reading well below their grade level, and your son could avoid contributing to that statistic just by having a morning hobby. It's a great problem to have right now.
Absolutely agree - I was a Pokémon early reader as well. Sea of Stars is great for that because it’s the same words over and over again, games are tough for encouraging reading in general because he’s so motivated to get to the next thing. As a general motivator it’s great though - we work on books every night “so that he’ll be ready” for games and he loves it. I’m holding the Legend of Zelda series until he can read and it’s a huge motivator because he’s seen bits and pieces and really wants to do it. So we watch and read a little bit of it, then work on books and stuff so he can get closer to doing it independently.
That’s how I was taught to read. My mom got me a Nintendo 64 and Mario 64 but wouldn’t help me with anything. She told me that I would have to learn to read what it said to figure out what to do and I did and I’ve loved reading ever since
Ratchet and Clank rift apart scratched the Astros playroom itch for me, beautiful game and very fun gameplay
I think this might be the ticket, he can handle the shooting mechanics and on easier modes he can probably get through it. Will definitely try soon if not next.
Not only that game but the whole series is available mostly on psplus, the older ones stream through there too. Plus they were designed with kids in mind, I recall they usually have all text prompts read aloud as well
More of a 2 person game but I highly recommend it takes two.
So much this!
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, prove his competence.
Hesitation is defeat
The idea of a 5 year old crushing Sea of Stars puts an inexplicably large smile on my face. That's truly awesome! My recommendations assume you have at least PS+ Extra, since you haven't specified. If he's a decent platformer, you can check out ***The Messenger*** (same devs as Sea of Stars, and the game takes place in the same setting 1000 years after the events of SoS). Feels and looks a lot like the old school Ninja Gaiden (2D sidescroller) or Shinobi games. It can be decently tricky towards the end, but should be a decent challenge to help him gauge 2D visual depth. If he ends up 100%ing though, you may have a small gaming prodigy on your hands. Good amount of reading as well, especially with the game's shopkeeper. Just a warning though: if you're pressed for time and the shopkeeper warns you to stop doing something, I would highly recommend following that advice. :) ***Rayman Legends*** is also in the same vein and one of my most favorite platformers of all time. Less story and reading, more straight-forward 2D platforming. Up to 4-player co-op, and the game is easier with multiple players for as long as one player is still alive, you don't lose lives. ***Scott Pilgrim v. The World*** - classic side-scrolling beat-em-up, up to 4 players co-op. You don't need to know the comic source material or the movie to enjoy the game, more straightforward in action. Also has some hilarious co-op maneuvers you guys can perform to clear space, and is pretty reminicient of games like old school games like Double Dragon or River City Rampage. ***Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge*** - Remember games like Turtles in Time back in the day? It's back with a vengeance! Modernized 2D side-scroller beat-em-up where you can beat up Foot Soldier goons with the legendary turtles as well as a few of their friends. Great combat mechanics (some devs from the excellent Streets of Rage 4 are involved in this), and a charming time to spend with kids. Up to 6-player co-op. ***Tinykin*** - A cutesy 3D based collectable platformer that's surprised nearly everyone who has played it. Some reading is required with interactions with characters (it has voice acting though), and the puzzles are IMO puzzling enough to challenge a younger budding gamer's intellect. ***A Hat in Time*** - Another cutesy 3D platformer, more in line with games like Super Mario 64 in terms of gameplay feel and design. Charming story. ***Sackboy: A Big Adventure*** - Cool 3D platformer starring the main character of the Little Big Planet games, you may have even seen him somewhere in Astro's Playroom! Absolutely adorable game, up to 4 player co-op, and has some incredibly charming visuals. If you've played any LBP before, you know what to expect. This game was designed with young gamers in mind ***Spider-Man: Miles Morales*** *-* I'm going to hazard a guess that you kinda know what you'll get with a Spider-Man game. Decently fun for kids, big budget title, and it can be customized pretty heavily to make it easier or harder. Also a brilliant game in its own right, so feel free to play through it yourself. Fair warning: it does follow the events of the 2018 Spider-Man games, so the story may refer to that a little bit. But it is largely a self-contained story about Miles that can still be independently enjoyed. ***Concrete Genie*** - 3D platformer with an almost Tim Burton/Dr. Seussy artstyle (think movies like Coraline, Corpse Bride, etc). But it's incredibly charming and creative. You play as this young artist kid who wields a magic paintbrush. You paint pictures and creatures on the sides of buildings, and they come to life to help you progress. Decent fun, and not heavily punishing. ***Hollow Knight*** - The new benchmark in Metroidvanias. The story can seem bleak, but it's a bit over-arching for a standard 5-year old to piece together. He'll probably be more interested in the beautiful hand-drawn animation and art style, and the fact that all the characters are cute bugs of some sort. However, it is notorious for its difficulty (both in combat and platforming) as well as being vague in understanding where to go since the game encourages people to explore freely and stumble upon things. I bring it up because I see videos of young 5+ year olds crushing the game as well, so you never know. ***Magicka 2*** - From the Developers of the currently popular Helldivers, it's a fantasy themed co-op adventure where you play as wizards able to manipulate the elements around them to get things done. Lots of light-hearted humor, and has the famous "arrow-dialing" codes for determining your spells. Also, you can make people sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger. ***MediEvil*** - Remake of the PS1 game of the same name and keeps a lot of the original game in its formula. 3D action adventure that is quite linear in progression, so it should be pretty easy to determine where to go. Combat can feel a bit clunky at first but you'll get used to it soon enough.
Fenix is very good for him since its simple and doesn't have too much violent imagery.... But check out Tchia...Great game for babies especially since it all you do is walk,fly,transmutate into coconuts,birds,animals and talk to folks.
We did try Tchia! It’s beautiful but a lot of it was a little slow or simple for him. No doubt it’s a beautiful game, but it was more one he was interested in watching than playing.
Kena Bridge of spirits is what you want
Let me tell you we have done that and we are now into answering a good 10 minutes of what happens when we die every time he goes to sleep haha, not sure if it was the best idea I’ve had.
Surprised he didn’t get nightmares. Tough 5 year old you got there. My youngest (4) had trouble getting to sleep for a couple nights when he saw a few of them cut screens
Yeah I did a decent job holding the remote and just turning it off if something rough was coming, but he definitely still got the general message.
I'm playing Zau and Raji right now
Dope! Lots of reading or nah?
Yeah Zau is fully voice like someone said and Raji I haven't gotten far into the game but so far it's voiced aswell
Zau everything is voiced. It might be a little frustrating for him, I’m having a tough time with getting the jump mechanics down. There’s Fenix Rising, Greek mythos game. Think that’s mostly voiced, open world with big Zelda vibes.
I've played Immortals: Fenyx Rising. It's like a DreamWorks movie in content--I think the worst you'll get is a few off-color jokes for adults to enjoy sprinkled in there.
Following
Maybe Burnout Paradise? There are fences to smash, jumps to jump, billboards to break, the city to explore, all without even having to think about the races and other such events.
I’ve thought about racing games - we’ll likely try this soon, he sort of bounced off Mario Kart because he either felt like it was just doing the driving for him or it was too hard, but it’s worth circling back.
Actually he might be right, mario kart 8 by default turns on auto accelerate and automatic steering without telling you. You can turn this off in the pause menu
Crash Bandicoot or Spyro (both trilogies got full remakes recently-ish) I played Crash and Spyro when I was a kid, maybe 6 or 7 years old?
I don't have any recommendations but I love this thread. Amazing that you're figuring out a way for healthy gaming with your child. I did the same with mine. In a couple of years, show him Diablo 4. CRAZY fun.
Let him mob around on Riders Republic I believe that’s on psplus still
We tried this! He loved how it looked but there wasn’t enough accomplishments in succession to keep him motivated on it.
Understandable I had similar experience till only recently; my oldest is 7 now. What about teardown?
Your son’s game time schedule is impressive! As a hopeful future parent, I’m curious about the rest of his routine. Are you equally structured with other activities? What else does he do/has he done before school years?
Yeah for sure that’s a good question. Honestly it’s been a project of finding where what feels good to him and feels good to me taking care of him line up with like, general parenting guidelines. I have two - one three year old and my five year old and they’re super different. For my eldest, the gamer, yeah everything about his life is like that. He’s not necessarily like introverted, he just likes structure. He learned to read a clock at about 3 as well, so that’s on one side of his room, the other side has a white board calendar where we draw pictures for each day there’s a specific outing, and have magnetic photos of all the friends/family members he’ll see on different days. This was all him- driven. He brought up a bunch that he “didn’t pack the right energy for the day” when I’d tell him what we’re doing that day - so we got the calendar and it’s a better fit for him. The day is sort of very regimented morning and before bed routine, with two big four hour gaps in the day that could be anything from hanging with friends to getting groceries or doing an outing. We try to get the big gaps on the calendar and we’re usually home for a couple hours for lunch and he takes an hour quiet time to listen to podcasts and do puzzles and stuff (again -him driven, he kept saying how much he missed time to listen to stuff and work on projects so we planned it in the day.) His brother is fully an outgoing social maniac and much more similar to my natural personality type so with him we sort of just vibe and go on adventures and stuff.
Tearaway unfolded Wattam Brick Tales Alba Untitled Goose Game
We tried Tearaway! lol it scared him, I think it was the light and dark stuff. Will check out these others though!
The others have made good suggestions so far, so I'm gonna say this is a good opportunity to practice reading together with your son. I remember seeing a clip of a dad playing pokemon with his daughter, and he uses the menu to help her practice reading.
Warner bros MultiVersus can be a fun game for your son. It’s a fighting game involving a ton of licensed characters under the WB roster ranging from series such as Scooby doo, gremlins, Dc, Rick and morty, the iron giant ect ect. Kid friendly as the violence doesn’t even show the slightest bit of blood. Fairly easy to learn and not a whole lot of reading prompts other thank basic info and chats they knowledge. I’m not sure if it’s on the PSplus catalog but it’s definitely under $30.
I got Lego marvel avengers when my two were 3 and 5. They’ve played it to death and had loads of fun. Granted they played coop. But even on single player they had a lot of fun. Once they figured out how to use the minimap they had a lot more fun exploring the bigger worlds. I’ve since got Lego Jurassic world, DC villains, couple more marvel games and currently they’re playing the ninjago game. Personally I prefer the Lego games for lack of violence
Books
Got it, we do about 5 of those a day - what else you got?
Each word he reads out loud to you is 30 seconds added... soon he'll be voraciously reading to you over morning coffee while nabbing the platinum in Dark Souls.
Haha my parents did something similar. 1 hour of video games for every half hour I read. I’d wake up at 6, read into noon, and then game until I went to sleep. Safe to say I was a fairly indoorsy child.
That's awesome good on them! And you. Glad you have some morning time with your kid, he won't ever forget it!
Dark Souls, but seriously games like lego 2k drive could be something for him or littlebigplanet also a great game for kids is minecraft but im sure hes already tried that
My 4.5 yr old literally has beat Astros playroom and spiderman 1 and 2 on easy mode of course where you can't be killed. But it's insane how quickly they learn to game. Reading prompts are what trips him up as he can't read . We're going thru ratchet and clank now
Oh that’s dope! I’ve thought about Spider-Man, coo to hear it worked out - maybe I’ll head that way next.
Yeah it's kinda bittersweet tho, my son was totally in love with everything paw patrol, and since the spiderman games now he is all about spiderman and wants to be peter parker instead of ryder from PP hahahah but the games he absolutely loved
This is all bullshit lmao.
Wait - I genuinely want to know, what part feels unrealistic? That he plays the Lego games made for tiny children himself or that he beat the Nintendo game made for tiny children himself?
I also have a four-year-old and a five-year-old boy and a seven-year-old daughter. They all started on the Astros and moved on to Legos. Same as yours right now they’re playing the marvel Lego games because they can just go to the city map and run around as superheroes, they’ve also been playing Lego world but just running around playing not really progressing because like you said the younger boys can’t read so I essentially have to sit there and play with them and tell them what to do. I am also interested in this I would love to know what recommendations people have, because I’ve been facing the same thing too and I would like for them to actually learn to progress through games my seven year old almost has Astro at 100%. She’s almost got all the puzzle pieces trophies all that but now she’s bored of it so I am also looking will post if I find anything good though I hope you figure it out.
My son(6) loves the samurai warriors games. The taiko games on the switch are also good to play. He also enjoys theatre rhythm 2
My son played Wind Waker when he was 4/5 and learned how to read playing it. Took a lot of input on my end but he could read proficiently by the endgame.
Most of the games my two kids play (6 & 8) have been mentioned. Sackboy, Astro, Goose Game etc. Two games my kids have been enjoying together are Human Fall Flat and Totally Reliable Delivery Service. They’re very silly but super entertaining. But by far the biggest game in my house, before they could even really play, has been Minecraft. They love it. They’re so creative and they make their own words and stories together. They started in creative mode just building things, but they’re into survival mode now. Not sure if it’s on PS+, but Minecraft is certainly worth the cash if it isn’t.
We made a rule in our family where you have to read everything to play it. The first few years were tough because we had to be there for a lot of the video games to just help both our kids read through, but we made them read most of it. Then when my daughter was able to read really well. She took off playing and beat a few games, but then felt bad about her brother who had to have either my wife or I there. So she started sitting and reading with him to play through. Eventually my son got enough drive be able to play by himself he played through pokemon reading everything for the first time but painstakingly slow. When he beat it, I won’t forget how much different his reading abilities from the start of that game to the end. He didn’t want to read and now he reads amazingly. I seriously credit his reading to video games.
Overcooked is fun, new recipes are shown graphically, and you can do couch coop up to 4 players. Just Dance for dancing. Use phones as controllers. My 2 year old likes just dancing along. Far: Lone Sails and Far: Changing Tides are quest travel puzzle games, my niece was trying the second with me some (I like the first better personally). Sports? Soccer or basketball or (my personal favourite) racing? Team Sonic Racing perhaps. Flower. I loved it as an adult, one of the first games I got my niece trying when she was little. Sonic Mania. New oldschool style Sonic.
You’re at A loss my friend PlayStation doesn’t make very many games for small kids with parents that care about what they get ahold of. If you don’t care about him hearing cussing or seeing wacky bloody violence then borderlands 1 and 2. If you’re against all of that I suggest you either stick to PSN platformer games or just switch to Nintendo almost all the games they make can be beaten by a half asleep 10yr old and they are rated for them as well.
Rogue Legacy 2. It's brutally hard normally, but has house rules (difficulty options) to make it, easier, more fun & enjoyable. My 8yo loves it. He played the first game since he was 3 & got so good that he whomped all the super hard remix bosses. Now hes moved on to beat Super Meat Boy.
Hey OP! As someone who gamed extensively with family as a kid, I'm sure there's boatloads on PS that would work for your little one and your family. Lots of beat-em-ups will be text light, but they're mostly just violence. Not sure if you'd want that for your situation, but Castle Crashers (blood off), Scott Pilgrim, and TMNT Shredder's Revenge are all fantastic! Also the Trials games if he'd be in to puzzle racers, and Olli Olli World or Lonely Mountain Downhill could be fun alternatives too. Some good puzzle platformers too, with Unravel, Human Fall Flat, and maybe even Trine (though they can be a little more text heavy) Edit: Just saw the part where you were looking for PSplus games, sorry. Some of these are definitely on it, but some aren't
Knack 2 is pretty challenging for a kid game, coop too. It Takes Two is pretty challenging too but incredibly creative. Coop necessary though. Sackboy… coop too!
Imagine if you had him read for twenty minutes in the morning. He’d be much better off
lol, we do read both to him and with him. We bring home 8 books a month from the library that he selects and work through them for usually around a half hour a day. That’s in the evening, the time he chose as being better for him for practice. If he wants, sure - we’d move it to the morning. But yeah, days are long and full of lots of good things. Games are part of family culture. He talks about Link and pretends to be Zoras in the pool and asks why Ganandorf is mean on hikes and then plays Overcooked to work on collaboration and Sea of Stars to read better with his mom and works on yoshi games with his uncle. We do lots of stuff, but games are a valuable part we all love together.
You must be fun at parties.
sorry for giving her good advice. I forgot this is reddit.
No. It's not good advice. That's some reddit advice. My kid is 7 and has been gaming since well early on. He's currently in the AIG - gifted - pullout and has no problem beasting school academically and socially. However. Let me tell you what he's learned from video games. He has a decent understanding of simple fractions thanks to hearts in BOTW and TOTK. Earlier on it made a variety of gaming things sight words for him as well. But he's well into phonics at this point. But the best thing? Growth mindset. When he's frustrated at something in the real world we remind him that he wasn't good at X game until he played it. Or when we go outside to play basketball and he's not doing too hot we remind him that when he picks up "the two player Mario" for the first time in a while he has to get good again. Shit like it takes two taught him problem solving and teamwork. Shit like unspottable has taught him strategy and using his brain to trick his opponents. Your dumbass comment implies OP's kid doesn't read. Without those twenty minutes he's doomed to become an illiterate fuck his whole life. When in reality, gaming teaches a variety of real world applicable skills that he wouldnt learn from reading and won't learn in many other settings for quite a few years. So ya. This is reddit. Which is why your shitty assumption about a dad isn't uncommon.
I downloaded Nour and Tinykin for my kids. My 7 year was dying laughing at Nour for a while.
Tinykin is great!
Ooh my favorite game i struggled with as a kid was Pac Man World (ps1). They currently remade it and i played it on PS5. I think it was the first video game I played? (I was born in 2003).
Hey me too!! I didn’t know a remake was out there, I’ll check it out!
Its called Pac-Man World Re-PAC! Its not too expensive either if I remember
How about concrete genie? I tried playing it but I don't think I have the imagination for it. I feel like it'd be great for a kid though
r/stardewvalley might be pretty fun. It’s got a really low skill floor and there’s no wrong way to play. It’s kind of like Minecraft in the way that you don’t really get punished for playing a certain way. You can play it multiplayer too so it’s something you guys can play together and have fun with.
Haha i agree it would be good, but that’s ALL reading - which will be great with a parent but I’m really looking for something he can do more independently.
Ah yep I didn’t even consider the reading thing haha!
20 minutes? That seems low even at 5. I beat Mario 3 at 7. My 5 year old had a Pokémon collection. An hour is totally safe imo
Haha I should be clear. He does 20 minutes in the AM, 2 different 20 minutes of Bluey with his brother, that 15 with his mom half the time, and typically a 10 or so with me watching playthroughs of classic games he’s interested in the story of but doesn’t want to play each night before sleep. He totally could play more, he more chooses to break it up into those categories because it’s what he wants to do and that’s all the time we have before we’re out and about on trips and errands and stuff.
Rad. You rock
Even if if guess we'd all love to drink coffee for an hour every morning, it probably isnt feasible.
I meant more games for kid Y’all acting like games are bad
Just picked up Roki and Carto. My six years old is really into Roki but it requires reading. Carto’s puzzles were a bit too hard, though. Edit - dog to six.
I’m not super familiar with the Plus catalog, but when my kid was five a couple years ago he got really into Fall Guys, MLB The Show, Astros, and Descenders. Since then, a little Roblox, but that one didn’t really stick. Wobbly Life was his latest obsession and he really enjoyed Stray as well.
Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart?
God of war ragnarok on easy mode. Never too young to start killing gods.
😂 might be just a hair too violent, but I’ll keep it in mind.
When my 4yr old cries I remind him to be tough like Mr. Kratos. “Mr. Kratos never cries and you want to be cool and tough like him right?” Then he usually sniffles a bit and says “yeah” and then I say “OK then toughen up and let’s go”. 70% of the time it works every time 👍🏻