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For those learning to read, or learning to read English as a second language, video games offer an opportunity to play and interact with the meaning of words. Many games include written dialogue or subtitles of spoken performances, but more interesting in this context are games that use words and sentences as the form of interaction.

There are games like A Dark Room, that offer nouns and verbs as the means of interacting with the world. There are games like Scribblenauts, that let the player enter words to conjure items to solve problems. There are games like Nanotale where you need to enter words to record items in your catalogue and advance the story.

Other games are also useful to those learning English as a second language as you easily can switch between different languages. Also, you can play dialogue-heavy games at your own pace as the action won’t advance without you.

This list includes 21 games from the last 14 years, with 276 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to Learn English as second language.

List Details

PEGI Ratings: PEGI 3 to PEGI 12
ESRB Ratings: ESRB EVERYONE to ESRB MATURE 17+
Australian Ratings: G to M
Genres: Action, Adventure, Brain Game, Collecting, Communication, Creative, Narrative, Physically Active, Platform, Puzzle, Rhythm, Role-Play, Sequencing, Simulation, Sports, Strategy and Traversal
Total Likes: 276

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Baba is You

Release Date: 13/03/2019

Out Now: Mac, PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Baba is You requires some lateral thinking. Each level is controlled by rules written on the screen, such as ‘Lava is Hot’, ‘Wall is Stop’ and ‘Flag is Move’. By moving the words around with your pixelated character, you subvert the...

Penrose

Release Date: 01/09/2020

Out Now: Android, Web and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Penrose is a text adventure, where you don't only read the story and choose its next step, but can go back into the text to change it in all sorts of mind-bending ways. As the developer describes it, "Penrose is a non-linear narrative adventure game...

My Friend Peppa Pig

Release Date: 22/10/2021

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

Skill Rating: 4+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Day and Night

My Friend Peppa Pig is a narrative role-play game. It recreates the TV show Peppa Pig and features a few of the voice actors from the programme. Unlike the show, you are in the cartoon, controlling a character you create. You play with Peppa and her...

Coffee Talk

Release Date: 29/01/2020, updated in 2023

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Coffee Talk is an interactive story about a barista working in a coffee shop in Seattle. You listen to customers' concerns about life and love, in a retro-pixilated world backed with lo-fi chilled hip-hop music.

A Dark Room

Release Date: 10/06/2013, updated in 2019

Out Now: Switch, Web and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Open World and Text

A Dark Room is an adventure where you try and survive in the wild. The world is depicted with just text but leads you into a dense narrative with intriguing visitors and a steadily expanding world. It has a simple start – a single option to stoke a...

Gogogo!

Release Date: 12/06/2020

Out Now: Android and iOS

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Gogogo! is a puzzle party game where friends and family compete in clever skill and knowledge challenges revolving around their smartphones. There are memory games, reaction games, word puzzles, challenges where you spin on the spot or tap a dot on your...

Scribblenauts

Scribblenauts (Series)

Release Date: 15/09/2009

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, Amazon Fire, Android, DS, PC, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Hand-Made

Scribblenauts is a series of puzzle games which you solve by typing the names of everyday objects so they appear in the game and let you progress. What's surprising is the sheer number of items included in the game. This means you can solve problems in...

Ord

PEGI 3 Video Game Age Rating for Ord in UK and Europe

Ord

Release Date: 05/06/2019, updated in 2020

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

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Ord is an unusual text adventure, rather than one grand story, you embark on a series of distinct quests. Whether it's defeating an evil warlock or creating your own world as a god, Ord tells stories through simple series of words and word associations...

Spaceteam

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...

Dodgeball Academia

Release Date: 05/08/2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Overhead, Cartoon and Open World

Dodgeball Academia is a sports game that focuses as much on story as sporting action. You play Otto, who hopes to become the ultimate dodgeball player. To do this you need to build a diverse team and learn new skills.

Typoman

Release Date: 19/11/2015, updated in 2017

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

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Typoman is a running, jumping puzzle game where you use letters and words to solve puzzles and progress. You play as a character made of letters in a hostile land with evil creatures. As this unusual character, you make your way through the world...

Words For A Bird

Release Date: 04/06/2020

Out Now: Android and iOS

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Words For A Bird is a short adventure you play by completing sentences. You follow the story of a purple bird. Each sentence is completed with letters from the tree in which the bird sits, along with a clue tile in the middle of the screen.

Beat! Talk!

Release Date: 11/11/2021

Out Now: Switch

Components: 2D Side-On

Beat! Talk! is a rhythm game where you press buttons while speaking out loud to learn the syncopation and tempo of speaking English, with supported languages being Japanese, Korean and Chinese. As if that wasn't unusual enough, in the game you are...

Cinco Paus

Release Date: 25/12/2017, updated in 2021

Out Now: iOS

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Cinco Paus is a puzzle game where you try and get through 5 rooms picking up treasure as you go. What makes it unusual are the magic wands that help you do this. What appears to be a maze game turns out to be a challenge to discover the effects of each...

Earthlingo

Release Date: 06/08/2019

Out Now: Android, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

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

Earthlingo is a hidden object vocabulary game. You are given an object to find in one of 14 different languages and then explore the world to locate it. It's not a new idea, but here the world and things you do are rich and feel more like a...

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...

Nanotale - Typing Chronicles

Nanotale - Typing Chronicles (Series)

Release Date: 23/09/2019, updated in 2021

Out Now: PC and Stadia

Components: 2D Overhead and Open World

Nanotale - Typing Chronicles is an adventure game where you type to progress through a magical planet on the brink of extinction. You play as Rosalind, a novice Archivist, on a journey to study and catalogue the mysteries of the dying planet. Your goal...

Ordet

Release Date: 10/08/2012, updated in 2016

Out Now: iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Ordet is a word puzzle game where you make as many words as possible with seven letters. If you can find a seven-letter word you advance to the next level. The novelty here is over 1000 hand crafted levels.

WordHunters

Release Date: 14/11/2018

Out Now: PS4

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

WordHunters is a world-travelling word game you play on the PlayStation using a smartphone or tablet rather than a controller. The smartphone and tablet screens make picking letters easy for all ages and the camera on these devices is used to put each...

Subwords

Release Date: 26/01/2019, updated in 2021

Out Now: iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Subwords is trivia spelling puzzle game. Unlike other spelling challenges, words are split into syllables rather than letters. You tap them in order as fast as possible. Each level has a topic or theme that you need to learn to find the words.

Kana Quest

Release Date: 12/03/2020

Out Now: PC

Components: 2D Side-On and Grid

Kana Quest is a puzzle game that teaches you how to read Japanese Katakana and Hiragana (a phonetic lettering system that's one component of the Japanese writing system). The puzzles are a grid of different Kana and Hiragana characters that you aim to...

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Accessibility features:	Yes

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User-generated content:	No

Controls
Gamepad:
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Touchscreen:
Motion:	Motion Aiming Motion Pointing Motion Tilting Motion Gesture Motion Camera
Remap Controls:
Button Combinations:	Holding Down Buttons Optional Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional No Simultaneous Buttons
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Getting Started
Onboarding Before Play:
Assistance Getting Starting:	Tutorials Practice Area View Control Mapping Assistance With Controls Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Adjust Speed No Jump Scares
Assistance For Progressing:	Guaranteed Progress With God Mode Bank Progress With Frequent Checkpoints Assisted Progress With Boosts Assisted Progress With Hints Assisted Recall for Characters Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue Save Progress Anytime

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Learn English As Second
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List Details

Related Lists

Baba is You

Penrose

My Friend Peppa Pig

Coffee Talk

A Dark Room

Gogogo!

Scribblenauts (Series)

Ord

Spaceteam (Series)

Dodgeball Academia

Typoman

Words For A Bird

Beat! Talk!

Cinco Paus

Earthlingo

Letters: A Written Adventure

Nanotale - Typing Chronicles (Series)

Ordet

WordHunters

Subwords

Kana Quest

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Reading
Reading Level:
Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text High Contrast Text
Subtitles:
Captions:
Voice Acted:

Navigation
Clarity:
Head-Up Display:
Menu Navigation:

Visual
Contrast:
Interactive Elements:
Visual Distractions:
Audio Cues for Visual Events:
Narration for Visual Elements:
	Motion Sickness Friendly
Colour Options:
Play Without Sight:
Violence:

Audio
	Balance Audio Levels
Audio Events:
	Play Without Hearing

Communication
Player-to-Player Online Communication:
Online Communication Assistance:

Difficulty
Difficulty Options:	Simple and Full Version No Memorisation Advantage No Hidden Information No Deceit Advantage No Colour Advantage No Mathematics Advantage No Weighing Decisions

Getting Started
Assistance Getting Started:	Clear Manual Electronic Version of Manual Electronic Version of Manual for Screen Readers Getting Started Video Digital Version Reference Aid
Assistance Progressing:	Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change) Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Low Impact Catch Up Rule

Reading
Reading Level:
Necessary Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required) Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required) High Contrast Text (Or no text required) QR Code For Text (Or no text required) Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required) Information Orientation Clear Icons

Physical
Pieces:	Components are Distinguishable by Touch Components are Replaceable No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice) No Tiny Pieces No Paper Money No Sprawl
Cards:	Large Card Size Standard Card Shape Limited Hand Management No Excessive Card Shuffling No Right-Handed Advantage
Placement:	No Unbound Placement Player Components Not Shared No Fiddly Placement Easily Verbalised Actions

Visual
Printed Visibility:	Colour Blind Friendly Design Double-Coding Colour High Contrast Colours
Component Identifiability:	Outline Key Elements No Busy Backgrounds Easily Verbalised Game State No Close Inspection Disadvantage Playable Without Sight

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Include compatible platforms:	Yes

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Audio
Communication:	Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) No Pressured Reveals No Pressured Communication Playable Without Hearing

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