Edit: Daughter is only 5 so she’s unlikely to play much but she watches me and as long as it’s not too violent, it should be fine
Portal! Chell may be silent, but it’s directly stated that she got as far as she had due to sheer tenacity and resourcefulness
Also, Silksong, if you’re willing to wait for its release in 2377 AD
Edit: here’s some more (these are all fairly family-friendly):
*Celeste
*Crypt of the NecroDancer
*Spelunky 2
*A Hat in Time
*Slime Rancher
*Webbed
Great suggestions, but Spelunky 2??? I love my daughter, but I also don’t hate myself ;)
Hat in Time is perfect for this.
Also to add: Aquaria, quite old but it’s kinda nice. EDF if you willing to play as Wing Diver only. Iconoclast if you’re into metroidvania. Metroid Prime remaster if you have a switch. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is pretty nice. Transistor but i don’t really dig it, maybe you’ll like it. Orc Must Die 2 if you only play as Sorcerer. La Mulana 2 if you wanna torture yourself and confuse your daughter 😂
Slime rancher is a fantastic suggestion for a little girl. Great game, female MC, cute little animals and overall graphic style.
I loved it as a relaxing post work game even as a 30yr old man
Shocked I had to scroll so far for A Hat in Time. Seems pretty much perfect for this.
Ooo ooo I’ve got one.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits. It’s like a Pixar souls like adventure game. Lots of foresty magic, very beautiful, and challenging enough to give you a run for your money while she laughs at your many failures.
It’s a good game.
Thanks!
Not so sure if the protagonist is a girl though. It’s a bit ambiguous iirc
It’s very clearly a girl.
Nothing ambiguous about it at all.
I scrolled until I gave up shame on all of you. Play Portal, solve puzzles, there is multiplayer songs and cake.
Your post is a triumph!
I’m making a note here, huge success.
Celeste. It’s a platformer with a nice story about anxiety and overcoming one’s fears.
IDK man I’m a grown adult and I died 2,000 times before completing the game. I know I’m not the best player ever but giving it to a 5yo may lead to problems
It has a variety of assist-mode options. My 8-year-old plays it and enjoys it, and actually can play with no assist most kf the time now.
very very good game, it does get pretty challenging at some points though, idk if a 5 yr old would like it
Yeah I’m in my 20s and I found even the first few levels too hard. Granted, I’m a total noob when it comes to platformers, but I think the game would be immediately frustrating for a 5 year old
I gave up on it relatively quick, and only recently finished it after 1500 deaths lol
And to add, the game can be extremely difficult but it can be customized to play very easily, even for a 5 year old. The colors are bright, there’s some slightly scary parts but I’m sure you could play those with her!
Very wholesome message and no killing involved, just some strawberry farming!
Seconding because my 8-year-old plays and loves it, due tobthe fact that it has assist-mode options. He now plays without assist mode at all, and is pretty freaking good at it.
Idk if this counts as it’s not visually obvious, but Amaterasu from Ōkami is a fun female protangonist, on account of her being straight up Amaterasu Ōmikami, the sun goddess (and all around top dog) from Japanese mythology. Graceful and elegant and also she’s a big ol’ wolf who does doggy things, which I imagine would delight a 5 year old.
The game’s artstyle is really stylised and pretty, the story is based on Japanese mythology and legends which I’d think would also interest a kid, it’s kinda zelda-like with puzzles and whatnot, and there’s a dedicated woof button. It came out way back in 2006 but at the same time it’s been remastered pretty recently (it’s in capcom’s summer steam sale if you’re going down that route) so you’ve got some choice about which route to go down trying to find it. Try and stick to European versions if you can because apparently the American localisations removed most of the mentions of the fact that Ammy is a girl which imo is a really weird choice because like, that’s a whole ass mythological figure?
Honestly, Spiritfarer would be perfect. You can play local co-op, it’s quite easy. You will understand what’s going on but your daughter will just think it’s cute. One of you can play as a cat. It’s absolutely gorgeous and a very poignant story.
My partner and I have played it all the way through 3 times now.
I love Spiritfarer, would normally agree without a second thought, but in this case, I’d definitely say be quietly prepared to answer some questions about death.
It does excellently to handle its themes in beautiful ways, but kids can be more aware than we give them credit for, even if they don’t fully grasp a concept.
I played this one with my older son a few years back and I think this would be a great option for her. As the cat, you can really just loaf about
any Metroid
Satisfactory.
She’s fearless
She conquers a planet
She’s an engineer
This one’s been on my list. Didn’t realise it’s a female protagonist
Don’t think the gener is specified anywhere so it could be either. Anyways, amazing game.
Most people miss it, because it doesn’t come up and isn’t pointed out. She just is, that’s all. I think that’s pretty amazing.
It’s kinda obvious once you look at the model, though:
Also, the character designer said in an interview that they decided to make the pioneer female.
Interesting. I wonder if this will have more of an influence on the story if/when that is made.
You can only tell by seeing the player model but the devs have confirmed it. Not a whole lot of dialog or story so hard to tell.
Game does get pretty complicated quick and I’m not sure a 5yr old could pull it off solo, might be fun for her to watch you though
Plus, it’s coop!
I have to recommend CrossCode, since it is so damn underrated.
It’s a beautifully crafted 2D / sprite based 16bit / SNES era inspired RPG with a fast paced action combat system and puzzle filled dungeons, as well as big boss fights. Although the trailers do not do it justice imo. It contains one of my favorite protagonists, which is sort of mute, which is also part of the story and cause of some hilarious but also sad moments. Pretty wholesome friendship based storytelling for the most part, although it does contain one suicide towards the end, which gets a little darker too. It’s not graphic though and will topically probably fly over her head anyway. The spoiler free premise is that you play in sort of a MMORPG, which is located physically on another planet where they build something akin to a Westworld theme park out of something similar to nanobots, in which you control your avatar remotely made out of the same material. It has tons of accessibility options to adjust the difficulty too, in case something isn’t quite your cup of tea.
Seconding this. It’s a masterpiece. If she’s 5, I don’t think she’d really pay too much attention to the dialogue anyway.
Honestly, yes. This game is so good that it inspired my girlfriend to take up game development, which shes been doing for two years now
I never got to play the whole game but the HTML5 demo was outstanding!
Good point actually. I completely forgot that it had one, even though that’s what made me buy the early access back then too. Makes it easy for OP to check the game out. At least in regards to some very basic gameplay.
- Sayonara Wild Hearts
- Celeste
- Sable
- Night in the Woods (female, but also an anthropomorphosised cat. Maybe too boring-adulty conversational for a kid to enjoy watching)
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssee- Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
- Gris
- Transistor
- Ori and the Blind Forest
You’d recommened AC: Origins for a five year old?
I don’t think the special scenes when you kill important targets would sit well with me. In one you smash someones face in repeatedly. You also play at least half the game as a male character.
Plus it’s AC Odyssey where you can play as a woman. And yeah, I played her as a walking clap clinic. Not really a kids game.
walking clap clinic
I gotta steal this one, sounds like the perfect burn
I’m sure the OP could choose if and when to engage with that totally optional side of the game. And you’re right, i meant Odyssee.
Going by a few of these recommendations I don’t think many read the part where they said she’s 5!
I did read that she was 5, I also read that she likes to watch the OP play.
Oops, i meant Odyssee. But anyway probably you’re right about all the murdering. I basically forgot about the assassination part of that game and just remembered the dialogue, characters and exploration of the game world.
Seconding Sable.
I recommend that one too everyone though.
Haven’t played that particular Shantae game, but I found the series off putting to play in front of my kids due to the high amount of fan service. Seems like not what op might not be going for here.
I only played that one Shantae game. I get what you mean, but i don’t recall anything i would consider too inappropriate for kids. More just tongue in cheek. But i expect the OP will look into each of the games listed and make their own call based on the trailers etc.
Technically I think the Celeste character is supposed to be trans, not female.
That’s the same thing, they’re a woman
That’s a part of why Celeste, and Madeline as a character, now has a strong place to some trans gamers. She climbed the fucking mountain. She looked at her self doubt, her fear, the person in the mirror telling her she could never do it, never be that person, and did it. She overcame it.
Madeline is a woman, and writing her character off as “trans, not female” is writing off the impact that story has had for people climbing their own mountains.
A hat in time is a wonderful mario style game with a young female protagonist.
Man that game was such a breath of fresh air when it came out. I wish I could play it for the first time again.
A Short Hike. Lead character is called Claire. No combat, no death, no resets. Just exploring, puzzles and story.
But deals with family medical issues and a mother daughter coming to terms with one of them being extremely sick.
It does, but that doesn’t have a significant impact on the general tone of the game.
wandersong is a super simple game that she might be able to play. You play a pacifist bard who just is naive, friendly to a fault. The bard is a male, but the villain, supporting cast, it’s quite diverse with some strong females cast in. It’s got a pretty good story and a lot of sesame street level lessons on life in there too. Even starts a conversation on what strength truly is. Totally something you should look at.
Slime rancher is another super chill, might actually be able to play herself, game where you do play as a female protaganist, but much lighter on plot than wandersong. You basically farm cute adorable slimes and it’s genuinely pretty addictive and super relaxing after a shitty day.
Mirror’s Edge you play as a female protagonist. Plot might be a bit steep for her.
If you haven’t played through portal 1 or 2 yet, I bet it could be fun. Glados is silly, Chell (who you play but doesn’t talk) is female and she can help you with the puzzles a bit.
I also want to throw in Ori and the Blind Forest. I don’t know the gender of Ori for sure, but it’s a little animal.
It’s a beautiful game, with great gameplay, animation, music, story, and I think it would be fun to watch someone else play.
Eventually she should play Horizon Zero Dawn 😁
Came here to say this. HZD got me sceptical at first but the more the story unraveled the more everything made sense. Great main character, great story, great ethics.
HZD And Forbidden West really push forward the idea that you are playing as a strong woman and the graphics are so good Aloy seems like a real person. Probably not play as but a young girl watching those games being played would be a great role model.
