Lil' Guardsman

Lil' Guardsman is a puzzle adventure where you play a 12-year-old covering her dad's shift at the guardhouse. Play involves questioning each person who wants to pass to determine who to admit or deny. It combines Papers Please border-control decisions with competing interests in an unfolding fantasy story.

CONTENT RATING

Bad Language,

Sex

PLATFORMS

PlayStation 5

PC

PlayStation 4

Xbox One

Xbox Series X|S

Nintendo Switch

Mac

POSITIVE GAMEPLAY

Empathy

Interpretation

Leadership

Problem Solving

Puzzle Solving

Social Deduction

Storytime

Decision Making

PLAY STYLE

Branching Conversations

You question the stream of different humans, elves, goblins and cyclopes to carefully decide who you should let in. To do this you use a range of tools to inform your choices. Your cypher helps translate foreign languages to spot suspicious documents. Your X-ray gun lets you look into bags. Or there's a truth serum you can use. Often, the best tool is simply asking why they need to get in.

Each choice is important as it affects the story and you only get three actions to uncover nefarious actors. Depending on how you do you get rated and rewarded with money accordingly. You then shift back into point-and-click exploration of the city which helps frame your decisions on the next shift.

The result is a game about trust and evidence. Do you trust yourself, your various advisors with their own aspirations or the apparently innocent people trying to access the castle?

GAMEPLAY TRAILER

Good to know

Insights to ensure your child's gaming experience remains safe and enjoyable

Build critical thinking

Puzzle games can help children develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Ask them about the choices they make to further develop these skills.

Improve core skills

For young children, some puzzle games can support pattern recognition and spatial awareness. Encourage a range of different puzzle games to support the development of these skills.

Learning benefits

Attention to detail is often important for these types of video games. Encourage children to slow down and think outside the box to complete challenges.