My 6 year old has just completed Lego city undercover on a Nintendo switch. I will switch to a steam deck for my own gameplay but to sweeten the deal and let me sell the switch, please could you recommend games that would be good for a 6/7 year old?
Looking for games he can play by himself without much help and also games we could play together.
Thanks in advance!
The original Lego Racers. Works really well on the deck, is Lego themed, and is just an all-round fun game.
Child-me spent countless hours with it, adult-me beat it in under 2 hours. Fair warning though: the title screen song will get stuck in your head
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was a childhood favourite of mine that I played when I was 6 in the mid-late 00s and the remaster just came out yesterday! It’s a fun 3D platformer from the 90s that was on the PS1/PC and was mainly made for kids. On PC it’s a GOG exclusive though, so you’d have to set up Heroic Games Launcher to download the game, then add the game manually to your Steam library if you don’t want your child messing around with desktop mode. I think it’s very suitable for his age. The original game had tank controls which he might not like if he’s used to modern game controls, but the new remaster has the option for full dual analogue stick controls which makes it feel like a normal modern game to control. I run a Linux desktop and the game works perfectly on the newest Proton version.
Oh, also Goat Simulator. So much hilarious mayhem!
Pajama Sam was one of my favorites as a kid
Virtual pinball games
Some of the only games I could think of are other lego games or something like the Scribblenauts series, for its puzzle solving that doesn’t have a single solution and encourages creativity.
Haven’t tried these out on a calibrated six year old, but some that I liked which might be in the ballpark are Tinykin, a Short Hike, Smurfs Vileleaf, Loddlenaut, Lil Gator Game, Little Kitty Big City, Costume Quest, What the Golf/Car.
What the golf is awesome
Now I want to know how to calibrate a 6 year old
- Pizza Possum
- Lego games (all of them)
- Amazing Frog
- Glitch Busters
- Disney infinity
- Zoo Tycoon
- Sackboy
- Minecraft (mods!)
- Abraca
- Lovers in a dangerous space time
- Lethal League
- Human Fall Flat
- Bang on Balls
- Palworld
- Unravel Two
- Windjammers 2
- Team Sonic Racing
- Dragon Quest Builders 2
- Royal Revolt Warriors
- Warside
- Cassette Beasts
- Rubber Bandits
- Party Animals
- Goat Simulator 3
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- NBA2K25
- Beam NG Drive
- Slime Rancher 2
- My Time at Sandrock
- Sonic X Shadow Generations *Cat Quest 2
- Paleo Pines
- Little Kitty, Big City
- Crash Bandicoot™ N. Sane Trilogy
- Tinykin
- Sonic Frontiers
- The Plucky Squire
- Crash Bandicoot™ 4: It’s About Time
- Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
- Bluey: The Videogame
- A Hat in Time
- HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED™ 2 - Turbocharged
- Yooka-Laylee
- Disney Dreamlight Valley
Minecraft is all a kid needs these days
Loved “A Short Hike” and every kid I’ve shown it to got hooked!
My six year old loves Pikuniku (puzzle platformer), Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (wholesome 3d adventure), and Horizon Chase Turbo (classic arcade-like racing).
Aer
Rime
Stonefall
Shovel Knight
Journey
Spider Heck
Overcooked (1 & 2)
Snakeybus
Osmos
Sonic Mania
World of Goo
Duck Tales Remastered
Spyro: Reignited Trilogy
Mario teaches typing. Gate their steam dexk time behind what wpm or accuracy % they get. Don’t let touch typing die with the millennials
Might consider this bundle, some of the games are targeted at kids younger than 6, but it’s a good deal for younger players.
Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom is a great one. Colorful, fun, complex enough that he can grow with but simplistic enough for him to have fun without constantly needing help.
