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Get Children Talking

It can seem that all children do these days is stare at their screens and play video games. We worry about screen time and what violence, addiction and gambling are doing to their brains.

However, along with screen time comes many other things we can celebrate. All kids do these days is talk to each other. All kids do these days is learn the skills of rhetoric and debating. All kids do these days is develop their social confidence.

It sounds a little far-fetched, but watching my kids play the new “hit” game Among Us, I’ve realised these are exactly the sorts of things they are really developing when they are sat staring at their screens.

Here are some great examples of where you need to talk and talk intelligently and intelligibly, to do well in the game.

This list includes 59 games from the last 26 years, with 1,274 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to rediscover the art of conversation.

Among Us

Release Date: 16/11/2018, updated in 2020

Out Now: Android, PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Hand-Made

Among Us is a strategy game where crew-mates prepare their spaceship for launch by completing tasks. However, one of the players is an impostor intent on sabotaging the ship and killing the crew. As the game progresses in real-time the impostor...

Conduct Together

Release Date: 06/12/2018

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Cartoon

Conduct Together is a strategy game where you control toy trains along overlapping train tracks. Each train can be started and stopped with a specific button. Other buttons change different points. The aim is to transport the people from one station to...

Storyteller

Release Date: 23/03/2023

Out Now: Mac, PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Storyteller is a puzzle game about building stories. You use a set of icons to match what is happening in each frame of the story. It's a simple challenge that gets the mind-stretching as you construct some of history’s greatest stories using building...

That's You!

Release Date: 04/07/2017

Out Now: PS4

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

That's You! is a family quiz game played on the PlayStation using Android or iOS phones/tablets as controllers. The game displays a challenge on the main TV screen that each player tries to complete on the device in their hand.

Wilmot's Warehouse

Release Date: 29/08/2019

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Wilmot's Warehouse is a game for people who like to organise things. You are in charge of a warehouse and must manage 100s of items of stock. Identical square boxes are labelled with rudimentary icons. On your own or with another player, you must...

Under Leaves

Release Date: 27/04/2017

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 2+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Under Leaves is a puzzle game where you search for colour-filled hidden objects in scenes made of flora and fauna. Each one is a hand-drawn watercolour illustration and is accompanied by a soothing soundscape. It's a game about observation and attention...

Chants of Sennaar

Release Date: 05/09/2023

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Chants of Sennaar is a traversal and translation puzzle where you play a traveller called to reunite the Peoples of the Tower who are unable to communicate with each other. Play involves exploring the cell-shaded world to decipher the glyph-based...

A Tiny Sticker Tale

Release Date: 04/10/2023

Coming Soon: Mac, PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Cartoon

A Tiny Sticker Tale is an adventure where you change the cosy cartoon world with stickers. Play involves moving around and talking to the locals, then switching to sticker mode to use objects and complete quests. It stands out for the approachable play...

Overcooked! All You Can Eat

Release Date: 07/08/2018, updated in 2018

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Overcooked! All You Can Eat is part of a series of collaborative cooking games for up to 4 players. You must keep talking to other players to coordinate the various elements of the dishes. It starts simply enough but soon gets more complicated as you...

Royale High (Roblox)

Release Date: 04/10/2017

Out Now: Android, GBA, Mac, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Royale High Roblox is a role-play game about a fantasy school. You dress up, visit differently themed realms collect items and interact with other people. It draws inspiration from the pageantry world and integrates it with different locations to...

Overwatch 2

Release Date: 24/05/2016, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Overwatch 2 is a shooting game where the focus is on teamwork and skill rather than violence. In teams of five, you communicate and work together to take out the other team and complete your objective. Along with games like Rocket League, it has...

Chuchel

Release Date: 07/03/2018

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 2+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Chuchel is a comedy adventure game. You play hairy hero Chuchel and his rival Kekel to solve simple puzzles and challenges in their quest to retrieve the precious cherry. It looks like a children's storybook animation with strange, peculiar creatures.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

Release Date: 13/10/2016

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a brain-communication game where you’re confronted with a bomb on the screen that has to be defused, requiring a series of modules to be disarmed. The bomb defuser player can see and operate the bomb but the other...

Bonkies

Release Date: 29/01/2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Bonkies is a co-operative building game where you construct buildings from different blocks. With a jetpack and a grab-arm you work with other players to manoeuvre the blocks into place. It starts quite simply but soon gets everyone shouting.

Get Together

Release Date: 14/10/2021

Out Now: Android, PC and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Get Together is a puzzle adventure where you and a friend explore a strange world to solve mysteries and discover an ancient story. What's unusual is that you play on two separate devices and need to talk to each other to solve the puzzles.

Tick Tock: A Tale For Two

Release Date: 07/03/2019

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Tick Tock: A Tale For Two is a narrative-driven puzzle game played simultaneously with a friend, where you must escape an eerie world created by a clockmaker. It's unusual because each player's game is slightly different and must be combined to solve...

Dwarf Fortress

Release Date: 08/08/2006, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Day and Night, Grid, Open World and Pixels

Dwarf Fortress is a longstanding strategy game set in a fantasy world where you control a group of dwarves wanting to construct a wealthy fortress. It's unusual not only for it's text-based appearance but for it's expansive scope, and intricately...

Hogwash

Release Date: 22/11/2019

Out Now: Apple TV, Mac and iOS

Components: 3D Third-Person

Hogwash is an action battle game where you play as the farmer or as one of three pigs. The farmer's goal is to capture the pigs while the pigs aim to cause mayhem and get three specific areas on the farm covered with mud.

The Past Within

Release Date: 02/11/2022, updated in 2022

Out Now: Android, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

The Past Within is a co-operative puzzle game where you solve a mystery by communicating with the past. You play the game with another person, either in the same room or elsewhere, by communicating what your different times and perspectives reveal.

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

Release Date: 27/10/2016

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You is a narrative game where you play fictional research using a surveillance program called Orwell. Through a series of episodes, you are tasked with using Orwell to help solve mysteries like the bombing of a public plaza. To...

Dépanneur Nocturne

Release Date: 26/05/2020

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Dépanneur Nocturne (which means Nighttime Convenience Store) is a short narrative adventure about the value of conversation and local shops. You explore a store late at night, to find a gift for your partner. What unfolds is a gentle search-and-suggest...

Escape Simulator

Release Date: 19/10/2021

Out Now: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Escape Simulator is a puzzle game where you try and escape a series of rooms. Like a real escape room, you look in drawers, read books, and solve riddles to provide the tools you need to escape. It stands out for the quality of the environments and head...

Am I The Baddie?

Release Date: 05/10/2021

Out Now: PC, Web and iOS

Skill Rating: 2+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Am I The Baddie? is a running and collecting game of hide and seek where you control a character on a simple maze of streets. Up to five people compete on separate devices or computers. One person is the baddie who tries to collect the clues without...

Frog's Princess

Release Date: 09/12/2020

Out Now: Android, Mac and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Frog's Princess is a narrative game about a kingdom surrounded by evil. You play a young princess who must save her kingdom. Along the way, you encounter a frog prince on a quest to rescue his bodyguard and find your plans overturned.

Heavenly Bodies

Release Date: 07/12/2021

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4 and PS5

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Heavenly Bodies is a puzzle exploration game about cosmonauts working in space. You use one controller stick for each arm and a button for each leg. In this way, you navigate around the space station and complete tasks that would be relatively simple if...

Khan Academy Kids

Release Date: 12/08/2018

Out Now: Amazon Fire, Android and iOS

Skill Rating: 2+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Khan Academy Kids is a free series of game activities staring bright animal characters. Matching animals and photos, solving maths, social scenarios or enjoying some art time, Khan Academy Kids provides a playful framework.

Rescue: Mayday

Release Date: 15/09/2021

Out Now: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Rescue: Mayday is a helicopter adventure where you are putting out fires and rescuing civilians. You play the game in a team of two, each on your own device. The Pilot player flies the helicopter but has no visibility and must use information from the...

Spaceteam (Series)

Release Date: 01/12/2012

Out Now: Android and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Spaceteam is a puzzle communication game where players pilot a spaceship, each with their own control panel on their smartphone or tablet screen. The switches, dials, sliders and levers are labelled with randomly-generated peculiar names: ‘Astral...

Triple Agent

Release Date: 20/07/2017, updated in 2019

Out Now: Android and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On

Triple Agent is a parlour-style game that uses one device passed between 5-9 players, assigning them either an agent or double-agent role as the game starts. There are tip-offs from the game about other players, the discussion around the table with each...

Vokabulantis

Release Date: Coming soon

Coming Soon: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Vokabulantis is a puppet-animated running and jumping game about two children, Karla and Kurt, who have fallen in love. Just as they find each other though, the world starts falling apart and they discover they can’t speak to each other because their...

Baldo: The Guardian Owls

Release Date: 27/08/2021, updated in 2022

Out Now: Apple TV, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Baldo: The Guardian Owls is an adventure into a magical world. You explore intricately puzzling dungeons, discover new towns, fight ferocious foes and locate hidden temples. It's a game that wants you to discover things for yourself rather than hold...

Operation: Tango

Release Date: 28/08/2020, updated in 2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Operation: Tango is an espionage-themed cooperative adventure where two people play as agent or hacker. The agent explores the world while the hacker provides information and checks out the systems you encounter. You must communicate clearly to work...

Rescue: Under Pressure

Release Date: 15/09/2020

Out Now: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Rescue: Under Pressure is an adventure exploration game. Your task is to explore the sea and find treasure in the dark. But to do this you need the help of another player on the sonar to guide you. It's a game designed to work for players with mixed...

We Were Here

Release Date: 03/02/2017, updated in 2023

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4 and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

We Were Here is a series of puzzle adventures where you and a fellow explorer awake inside the sinister Castle or similar location with no way out. Play is by exploring your location to find clues and solve puzzles. Uniquely, the puzzles you encounter...

Koala Boutique

Release Date: 23/09/2021

Out Now: Android and PC

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Koala Boutique is a strategy game about running a shop on the brink of bankruptcy. Unusually, it's a game designed for two players to play distinct roles. You don't have to play at the same time, but work together to progress as a team. The Adventurer...

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure

Release Date: 16/10/1997, updated in 2020

Out Now: PC, PS4 and Switch

Components: 2D Overhead, Day and Night and Pixels

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure is a role-play adventure set inside another role-playing game where "the hero" has wreaked destruction, killing hundreds of creatures and looting homes. Unusually, you play a supporting character in the game who tries to undo...

Rivals

Release Date: 21/09/2020

Out Now: PC

Components: 2D Side-On

Rivals is a puzzle game where you piece together the story of Josh and Luke and the breakup of their band. Playing detective, similar to Return of the Obra Dinn, but rather than murder it's musical betrayal you are sleuthing here. You inspect sources,...

Unspottable

Release Date: 22/10/2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Overhead

Unspottable is a puzzle game where you try and work out which of the identical characters are controlled by other players and which are computers. It's a race to punch your friends before they punch you, but the more times you get it wrong the more...

Despelote

Release Date: Coming soon

Coming Soon: PC

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Hand-Made

Despelote is a sports adventure where you play an 8-year-old in a school in Ecuador. All you want to do is play football. But you have to wait for the day to be over before you can play. The game is set in 2001, and Ecuador is within reach of qualifying...

Pitfall Planet

Release Date: 02/05/2016, updated in 2019

Out Now: Mac, PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Blocks

Pitfall Planet is a cooperative puzzle game that forces you to think outside the box as you collect gold, fight enemies and escape levels. It features challenging levels that mean that teamwork is central as you grapple, throw and create pathways...

Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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