Best Family Video Games That Bridge the Generation Gap

How video games can bring the family together in playful ways that include all ages and abilities. These best family console games are great for parents, carers, children and even grandparents. 

Like any new technology or media, we can see video games as something that children do on their own. Digital play, however positive we see it, can become something that separates children from the older members of their families.

However, many games are designed for players of different abilities and ages to work together. There’s a thrill for a child when they can help an adult progress through a game they love. But equally, it can work the other way around where a grown-up's skills of comprehension and logical thinking can help a younger player get past a particular gaming roadblock.

As Internet Matters highlights, “progress [is] being made for accessibility in video games. Companies are working to offer inclusive design or settings that enable more people to enjoy these experiences”. These are sometimes to overcome a specific barrier from a disability but they are also useful for new players or those who haven’t developed faster reactions. “Video games offer difficulty settings as well as the ability to adjust how the game is displayed and how it sounds.”

Games For Parents And Children

While you can enjoy almost any video game together in a family by taking turns and cheering each other on, there are some games that lean into intergenerational play. Of course, games that enable two or more of you to play together are popular here. Some of these offer the ability to make progress easier for one or other of the players. Others enable one player to support and protect the less experienced ones. 

For example, Super Mario Bros Wonder enables up to four players to work together. If one of the players is killed the other players can bring them back into the action. There’s also an option to pick the Yoshi character who can't get hurt by enemies. Then there is a game like Knack 2, that adjusts not only the difficulty of the game but how complex your route through the level is so it fits more novice players. Or perhaps Cuphead is a good fit, where you team up on a really tough challenge together and cheer on the surviving player to carry the team if you die.

Games For Grandparents And Children

When it comes to grandparents and children the digital gap can seem too great. However, many games require just the sort of linguistic and real-world skills a longer life brings to the table. Children love it when a grandparent turns out to have just the knowledge and skill they need to get to the next level in their game. Grandparents are often surprised, but equally enthusiastic about this unexpected collaboration.

This can sound like wishful thinking but there really are some amazing games that offer just this kind of experience. Perhaps it’s the linguistic conundrum of Chants of Sennaar where you need to decipher and learn an ancient language to progress through the game world. Or there’s the intricately looping narrative systems of a game like Outer Wilds that require note-taking and lateral thinking to solve.
There are also games that put this intergenerational theme front and centre. Venba, for example, is a narrative cooking game where you play an Indian mother who emigrated to Canada in the 1980s. You cook various traditional Indian dishes and restore lost recipes which were damaged in the move to Canada. As you cook, you talk to your family and learn about their life and history. It stands out for weaving a multi-generational story through the meals and conversations you create.