From young to old: games for the whole family
After the Nintendo Wii hit the market in 2006 and became a mega-seller among consoles, people knew that gaming could inspire everyone, from first-graders to grandmothers. More and more often, the board game for the family evening was swapped for a video game. No wonder, there are more than enough multiplayer games for the whole family. This is more valuable now than ever before, as many families still often have to stay at home – and what’s better for cohesion than a shared game night? That’s why we present a small selection of accessible, but always fun games.
Super Mario (Various, all for Nintendo Switch): Super Mario is and remains the gaming mascot par excellence – and rightly so, of course. He stands for cuddly, but sometimes also tricky gaming fun for all family members. Super Mario Party (Switch), for example, contains 80 mini-games and is structured like a board game. Teamwork, skill and a sense of rhythm are required here. The best thing is that even those who don’t know their way around never go away empty-handed. This keeps the game fun at a high level. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch) offers racing fun for all ages (and multiple racing classes), as well as various control options and game modes so that everyone gets their money’s worth. If you want to be more creative, Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) not only lets you play the classic Super Mario games from the SNES era like in the old days, but also lets you design the levels yourself thanks to the ingenious building block principle. Via co-op mode, two players can also experience self-created platforming adventures together.
Overcooked 2 (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, Steam): Up to four players can play in a restaurant kitchen at the same time. Each family member takes on a different task: gathering ingredients, preparing, serving – this can get pretty hectic at times, but thanks to the simple controls, it’s always fun, looks cute and strengthens the sense of community.
PikuNiku (Nintendo Switch, Steam, GOG, itch.io): In this game, two players must bring Piku and Niku to the finish line in each level. To achieve this, you solve puzzles together and help your teammates overcome obstacles or find paths – for that extra dose of teamwork. This takes place in a child-friendly, creative and colorful game world.
LEGO Harry Potter Collection (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch): This is where two huge worlds (and fan communities) meet. The Collection includes the games for years 1 to 4 and 5 to 7 of Harry Potter’s long school career. Together, the whole family can uncover all the secrets of Hogwarts, relive the story in a wittily told way, and of course, learn spells and brew potions. The puzzles can sometimes be challenging, so teamwork is required here as well. LEGO games are now available for so many themed worlds (Star Wars, Marvel, Batman, Lord of the Rings) that there’s certainly no chance of getting bored.