Looking for simple-to-read text-based and turn-based games (suitable for kids)

[udm]

Fellow dexers, I'm looking for text-based, turn-based games that are also suitable for 7 to 9-year-old kids (i.e. lower lexical difficulty, so that would exclude Choice's and most of Tin Man's games, as well as King of Dragon Pass). I considered FTL, but the problem I have with it is that the combat is fast-paced, so I can handle it well enough but not 7-year-olds. I did manage to find some pretty suitable ones that include:
- Warsim
- Sorcery!
- 80 Days

Child-friendly adventure games like Sam & Max work too (but preferably with easier puzzles).

 

[JarlFrank]

I considered FTL, but the problem I have with it is that the combat is fast-paced, so I can handle it well enough but not 7-year-olds.

idk what kinds of 7 year olds they are but I already played fast-paced platformers like Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabbit, etc when I was 5 years old. And so did most of the kids my age, at least those who had computers... those who had Nintendos played even harder platformers like Mario.

You severely underestimate the capabilities of kids.

 

[A horse of course]

What kind of monster subjects their own children to turn-based games?

 

[JarlFrank]

Child-friendly adventure games like Sam & Max work too (but preferably with easier puzzles).

As to this point, I played adventure games with my dad from the age of 3 onwards. Mostly classic Lucas Arts games: Monkey Island 1 and 2, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. While the puzzles are tricky, the main fun for me as a kid was exploring the colorful cartoony worlds, and I played them with my dad so we were thinking about solutions together and I wasn't left puzzling on my own.

That said, maybe the Book of Unwritten Tales adventure games might be a good choice. German-made fantasy adventures in the style of Lucas Arts, with a very fairy tale-ish vibe to them.

 

[fork]

Give them Doom, best age to start learning to enjoy gameplay and atmosphere.

 

[downwardspiral]

What is your goal?
1.find a game so he/she will spend time on it instead of bothering you?
2. teach him/her something through game?

If it is 1. just give them a game list excluding things that is not safe for kids.
Let them pick the one they are more interested in.
My kid is around the same age. He won't play anything I recommend.

If it is 2.
Egypt: Old Kingdom
Text based
Turned base.
Something about Egypt.

 

[udm]

If it is 2.
Egypt: Old Kingdom
Text based
Turned base.
Something about Egypt.

Yeah it's #2. Thanks for the recommendation, I've never heard of Egypt: Old Kingdom but it looks really interesting.

 

[CryptRat]

Child-friendly adventure games like Sam & Max work too (but preferably with easier puzzles).

The Inner World and its sequel perfectly fit this description :

Anna's quest is on the easier spectrum of Daedalic's games, definitely not as hard as Sam & Max :

I've not played Sniw yet but it seems very relevant :

 

[Norfleet]

Fellow dexers, I'm looking for text-based, turn-based games that are also suitable for 7 to 9-year-old kids (i.e. lower lexical difficulty, so that would exclude Choice's and most of Tin Man's games, as well as King of Dragon Pass).

When my kids were 6, I was using them as grind slaves in shitty MMOs, because it's traditional for children to help out on the farm. I also used them in artillery games where I would show them how math worked to pwn noobs. As for text-based games, there's always classics like ADVENT and Zork, or the old Sierra games, that will thus teach them to read language. Don't dumb down games for kids, the Codex doesn't scale to your level.

 

[Thac0]

Pokemon is crack cocaine for kids.
I can link you some ROMS if you want.

 

[udm]

Pokemon is crack cocaine for kids.
I can link you some ROMS if you want.

Not really what I'm looking for but thanks!

The Inner World and its sequel perfectly fit this description :

Anna's quest is on the easier spectrum of Daedalic's games, definitely not as hard as Sam & Max :

I've not played Sniw yet but it seems very relevant :

The Inner World and Anna's Quest might fit the bill! Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[spectre]

Though I was playing Doom, Mortal Kombat, Civilization and Dungeon Master at that age and still turned out mostly fine,
with hindsight I was way to dumb to appreciate them fully. I was most definitely too dumb for Enemy Unknown back then.

When it comes to games for this particular age group, I can vouch for these two:



There is also this,

works as a modernized Lost Vikings.

Child-friendly adventure games like Sam & Max work too (but preferably with easier puzzles).

I got good mileage out of these two. Chuchel is pure tripping balls comedy goodness, but child-friendly. Reminds me a bit of Gobliins.


I used those as first adventure games because they're language independent. If that isn't a problem,
there's plenty of classics to choose from. Not sure what I'd start with, maybe something like Pepper's Adventures in Time?
I'd most definitely expose the kids to Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Sam & Max, Monkey Islands, Discworlds etc. etc. at some point

 

[Norfleet]

When it comes to games for this particular age group, I can vouch for these two:

Feh, don't give them the decline modern Pirates, give them the original, the one where you have to beat the copy protection by knowing the history of the Spanish Treasure Fleets. Then they'll actually learn something from it.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Arcanum.

Spoiler

Yes, really.
My nephews were in that age range when they wanted to try it.
They asked for help with language; I gave them a dictionary with hearty "that's how I had to do it".
Years later older of them said that that made later learning of English much easier.

 

[502]

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/forums/jrpg-weeaboo-discussion.60/

 

[deuxhero]

The Atelier series? I don't think the script in general is particularly complex. There's some relatively esoteric words in item names, but otherwise I don't recall the script being hard to grasp. The Arland trilogy is very solid all around (at least with the DX version of Rorona, which is the only one on PC).

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Warlock of Firetop Mountain is the computerized version of a classic gamebook intended for 12-year-olds, but it could certainly be played by precocious kids in the range of 7 to 9 years old. Charming graphics, too.

 

[MRY]

Child-friendly adventure games like Sam & Max work too (but preferably with easier puzzles).

The Pajama Sam series is superb. Loom is a good entry point too.

Oregon Trail (1992 version) very good. (Not an adventure, obviously.)

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

The whole of Humongous Entertainment's games are good for kids in general, not just Pajama Sam. Well, except maybe the sports games, some of those are really bad from my understanding. I'd also suggest some of Coktel Vision's games, like Goblins and Ween: The Prophecy. They do get frustrating at times though. On a similar note the first two King's Quest titles and the Dr. Brain series. I haven't played them myself, but I understand that Below the Root and The Manhole (Cyan) are forgotten gems.

As for strategy games, I'm biased, but I think TBS from the VGA DOS or Windows '95 era are good suggestions. Games like Master of Magic, Civilization II, Heroes of Might and Magic III, and Rollercoaster Tycoon. That could be nostalgia talking though.

 

[MRY]

Both of the first two KQ games require some twitch skills, and the puzzles are less obvious, less amusing, and less fair than in other games on the list.

FWIW, my kids loved Pajama Sam but found the other Humongous adventure titles too juvenile; something about cute animals vs. a kid pushed it over the limit for them.

 

[Norfleet]

Don't count on kids to be lacking twitch skills, mine always beat me at those games, except when I use my devious old man cunning on them...but a trick only ever works once, the little fuckers learn fast.

 

[luj1]

Heart of Darkness is the spiritual successor to Another World and a perfect game for kids.

Also Kings Quest VII.

 

[deuxhero]

We doing PC only, or just consoles?

For pure strategy games, Fire Emblem has some solid titles. 7 (released in west as just "Fire Emblem"), and Path of Radiance are the best starting titles (though 7 has a very handholdy mandatory tutorial the first playthrough without romhacking, so it's the preferred).

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

monkey island.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Both of the first two KQ games require some twitch skills, and the puzzles are less obvious, less amusing, and less fair than in other games on the list.

I was going to say you were wrong, but then I remembered one of the puzzles in 1 was guide-worthy unless you're a cryptologist and forgot the infamous "meant to use my sword" puzzle was in 2. I thought that one was later in the series. Yeah, probably ideal to forget about that one OP.