Top 6 great family games to enjoy over Easter holidays

With the Easter holidays upon us, it’s worth considering what console and mobile games you’ll be playing with the family over the break.

While children will inevitably migrate to high profile games like Fortnite, Minecraft, Rocket League and FIFA, it’s important for parents to broaden their family’s gaming diet.

To save you some of the legwork, Andy Robertson Tech journalist at Pocket-lint offers a list of games for your family to play that you might not have considered already.

Subnautica

Available: Windows, Mac, Xbox One
Rated: PEGI 7

This is an underwater survival adventure game. Having survived a crash you must explore a subterranean world, fend off dangers and slowly establish an underwater base. It’s the level of detail here that hooks players in. You have to balance nutrition, hydration and oxygen while you collect resources and build your base.

The game was released a few years ago but the developers have continued to enhance it. Now on Windows, Mac and Xbox One it’s starting to get a lot of buzz in the school playground and for good reason.

Parents will appreciate that there is much more do to here than combat. It teaches a whole host of skills – not least balancing water pressure to ensure your base doesn’t leak.

Knack 2 

Available: PS4
Rated: PEGI 7

This is the follow up to the original PlayStation launch title, Knack, which adds a more varied story and proper two-player co-operative mode. It’s ideal for families because of the Pixar-style story and characters.

There is a good range of intelligent difficulty levels that cleverly change the level design as well as enemy powers. The action-adventure gameplay is therefore accessible to most ages and abilities.

Parents can enjoy playing this game with their children while discovering a beautifully crafted fantasy world devised by the mind behind the actual PS4 hardware.

Tricky Towers

Available: PS4, Mac, Xbox One
Rated: PEGI 3

This is Tetris with a difference. You still have to build neat stacks of tetrimo blocks, but now there is gravity and prevailing wind to contend with. This changes the simple premise into a more varied challenge for children.

Parents will enjoy revisiting a game from their youth, as well as being able to play this with up to four family members for knife-edge sofa battles.

Frantics

Available: PS4 PlayLink
Rated: PEGI 7

This is the latest of the PlayLink games. These are played on the PlayStation 4 but controlled with your smartphone, iPod touch or tablet device. Building on the quiz game style of That’s You! and Knowledge is Power, Frantics takes things in a mini-game direction.

However, controlling these games with your phone opens up all sorts of new gameplay possibilities. Sometimes you use the screen to pull back a slingshot. When you are out you can use it to (friendly) troll other players. There’s also a secret mission assigned on some levels by a fake call on the player’s phone.

Tower Fall Ascension

Available: Android, PS4, Windows, Mac, Vita, Xbox One, Switch
Rated: PEGI 7

This is another retro four-player game with a difference. The platforming action is all on a single screen, but resources and physics are tracked precisely. Four players fight each other by either jumping on heads or firing arrows.

It’s a simple premise but one that soon develops into raucous laughter and deep tactics. If you’re not careful you will run out of arrows, or one of the many power-ups with catch you out.

Parents will enjoy the all-family fun here, as well having a chance to best their progeny at the retro challenge.

Bury Me, My Love

Available: Android, iOS
Rated: PEGI 7

This final suggestion is unusual because of its theme. It’s a text adventure played in the form of an imaginary texting companion. You play the role of a husband of a Syrian migrant travelling to Europe.

While the more serious subject may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s a great example of a game that does more than entertain. Because of the text interactions, it’s only a PEGI 7 rating and offers an experience that is different every time you play.

Parents who play this game with their children will appreciate the conversations the game creates, and the novel way to engage with this complex subject.