Close search results
SEARCH
DATABASE Search
:
Layout - grid Layout - list

Get Children Into Writing Letters

Online games are often about immediate communication either spoken or typed in the heat of battle or survival. There are some online games that encourage communication much more like writing a letter to someone.

These games offer players the chance to write a note and then place it in the game world for others to discover. They can also, of course, also read messages and notes from other players.

With a little guidance, it can be a lovely way to introduce children to the skill of letter writing, as well as engaging with other players online without the usual bad language (although that can happen here too).

Games like Subnautica, offer the ability to leave time capsules for others, that include a handful of items, a short text message and a screenshot. Similarly, games like, Dark Souls and Demons Souls enable you to leave messages for other players to help them with tips. In Nier Automata you find the bodies of other fallen players that have a customized message left on them when they met their end.

Other games weave the letters and messages into the gameplay. Kind Words, for example, is a game all about responding to letters that other people have sent. The Things We Lost In The Flood, builds its play around the ability to send and find messages in bottles. In Animal Crossing New Horizons on the 3DS you can also put messages in bottles for other players to find.

This list includes 12 games from the last 23 years, with 663 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to write letters to strangers.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Release Date: 25/04/2020

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon, Day and Night, Open World and Weather

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a role-play collecting game where you live on a small island teeming with life. Insects, fish, trees, vegetation and fossils are represented with cute cartoon visuals. Rather than the scale or grandeur of other game...

Subnautica

Release Date: 11/04/2016, updated in 2018

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

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person, Day and Night and Open World

Subnautica is an open-world adventure where you explore the ocean on an alien planet after crashlanding. You collect resources and fight creatures to survive. This enables you to establish an underwater base, gain new craft and equipment and explore...

Demon's Souls

Release Date: 05/02/2009

Out Now: PS3 and PS5

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Demon's Souls is a fighting and exploration game where you take on monstrous enemies in tough-as-nails combat. You navigate interconnected locations while fighting enemies with weapons and magic, timing your attacks, dodges, and parries exactly. It...

The First Tree

Release Date: 11/10/2018

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

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Open World

The First Tree is an exploration narrative game. In a dream, you explore a forest wilderness as a mother fox looking for her cubs. Simultaneously, you revisit childhood memories in spoken reflection from two lovers remembering the dream and their...

Nier: Automata

Release Date: 23/02/2017, updated in 2018

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 3D Third-Person

Nier: Automata is a role-playing game, that span off from the Drakengard series. It's set in an alternate future where there is a war between alien machines and human androids. But this isn't a game about winning the war. It's more focused on the plight...

Kind Words

Release Date: 12/11/2019

Out Now: PC

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Kind Words is unusual because of the main interaction. You write letters to real people and receive back encouraging letters in return. Set in a cosy room with soft furnishings and relaxing music, it creates a space in which to find support and...

Unworded

Release Date: 17/11/2000, updated in 2017

Out Now: Android, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Unworded is a narrative visual puzzle where you use letter shapes to create objects and solve puzzles. As you progress through the five chapters, you uncover the story of a writer who is in the hospital recovering from a serious accident.

The Things We Lost In The Flood

Release Date: 19/06/2019

Out Now: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

The Things We Lost In The Flood is a minimalist adventure. You sail through a flooded world, building and improving your pixelated boat as you go. Along the way you can write messages for others to discover, and toss them into the drink in a bottle.

Dark Souls II

Release Date: 11/03/2014

Out Now: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Dark Souls II is a fighting game with an emphasis on precise timing and extreme difficulty. You navigate through labyrinthine ruins and ancient kingdoms, defeating monsters with your weapons and magic. It pairs immense difficulty with a grand story and...

Letters: A Written Adventure

Release Date: 09/02/2022

Out Now: Mac, PC and Switch

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Letters: A Written Adventure is a running and jumping literary puzzle where you write letters to your pen pal throughout the stages of your life. What's unique is that you physically explore each letter, using the lines as platforms and changing words...

Bloodborne

Release Date: 24/03/2015

Out Now: PS4

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Bloodborne is a fighting game where you defeat monsters in demanding combat. As you navigate the labyrinthine levels, you use weapons, which can transform between fast-paced and weak and slower but more powerful forms, to attack, dodge, and parry...

Dark Souls III

Release Date: 12/04/2016

Out Now: PC, PS4 and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Dark Souls III is a fighting game with an emphasis on precise timing and extreme difficulty. You explore labyrinthine ruins and ancient kingdoms and defeat monsters with your weapons and magic. The final entry in the Dark Souls trilogy features the same...

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.

Subscribe to our free newsletter

Subscribe
Carina Initiatives
PlayStation
HSBC
GameOpedia
Xbox
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Discord
Contact Us
About