Discover Games
Lists
Games that have been designed to be inclusive of a wide range of players, as well as including specific accessibility settings for further tailoring the experience. You can search for specific features in our accessibility search.
These relate to games that are designed with a specific age of player in mind. Sometimes this is about the age of a child, but also this can be for a particular stage of life. The group also includes games where ageing and time passing is the theme.
There are many different video game awards. But over time a few of these have become the benchmark of which games have excelled each year. Awards like BAFTA are helpful to find games but also to illustrate the artistic, educational or culturally significant experiences.
It's easy to assume that board games are being eclipsed by video games. But actually, they have never been so popular and for good reason. Board games often offer an experience far and above what video games can currently deliver. The level of story telling, use of physical pieces and the people playing is second to none.
These relate games that focus on the competitive side of video games. Whether that's esports titles, or simply games that are great for families to compete against each other, they are all player versus player experiences.
These relate to games that focus on the connection between people and communities. This highlight different ways that games can connect us with existing friends, as well as being a place to make new connections.
These relate to games that focus on digital interaction that mimics or takes a lead from physical traditional play. This highlights how games can be the new playground or toybox for children. Not to replace these things, but to offer them in a new way that inspires creativity and engagement with the world.
These relate to games that tell stories in different ways. Like novels, picture books, movies and theatre, video games can create narratives. However, they do this in new and unexpected ways. They uncover some different styles of storytelling in video games.
These relate to games with different educational benefits. Along with games that are designed to be educational, this includes games that can inspire learning and knowledge because of the worlds and stories they create. The collateral learning uncovered here is a glimpse into the ways games can help children learn about themselves, their community and the world.
These all relate to a specific event or festival.
If you don't play games yourself (but would like to give it a go), you are on the right page. It can be hard to know where to start with video games. We have a list of great games for parents and guardians wanting to find games to play themselves. These are easy, quick and affordable games about interesting and mature topics.
If you want to try out games from specific genres (like Adventures, Puzzles and Narrative), the lists on this page offer hand picked selections that are great examples of these experiences. These are lists of games for people who don't play many video games.
These relate to games that help us understand ourselves and our place in the world. This uncovers the important identity work that players are often doing in the games they play. Dress-up and role-play in the play room, video games offer a chance for us to be someone else for a while. Building understanding and compassion for ourselves and others.
Sometimes games are serious culture or competition. But often they are a way to blow off steam and have a lovely playful laugh with friends. Here are ways to discover games to just have fun with.
Fundamental to video games is its ability to create a space and invite you into it. These spaces can be somewhere to escape. Somewhere to see your own world more clearly from. They can be zones where you can behave in a way you wouldn't in real life. The locale of the video games we play can be as powerful as any character, interaction or achievement. The places that games create stay with us like the memory of the views from a mountain.
These are games that are helpful for mental health. This includes games that have been helpful for specific mental health challenges, as well as games that help us understand the challenge faced by the people we love. Some of these are designed to be used as a source of games that offer wellbeing in different ways.
These are games that can be played with different sorts of motion controls. They focus on the options for different hardware and controllers, but also uncover the unusual interactions and physical engagement that video games offer.
The games in these lists are evaluated and subject to an activity analysis to determine their therapeutic potential. Meaning, therapy professionals may be able to use these games as part of the therapeutic process to help individuals in a variety of ways. The evaluation process and activity analysis were conducted by University of St. Augustine Doctoral Occupational Therapy student, Tyler Brinkman as part of their doctoral capstone project and reviewed by other professionals and academics in the field.
The in-depth activity analysis for each game can be read in Tyler Brinkman's Video Game Analysis. This provides the therapeutic benefits that each game was found to offer.
These are the games we pick out for being particularly great. They offer something unusual or go above and beyond in some way.
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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. |
