Seeking: Kid-friendly Adventure/Exploration Games (PC)

My daughter (4) is very into exploring cities, homes and villages in Skyrim, feeding aliens in No Man’s Sky, and cleaning houses in House Flipper. She gets annoyed in games like House Flipper because she can’t leave the property to explore all of the visible houses on the block. I’d like to find other PC games that are relatively kid-friendly (or at least with my guidance and supervision) and easy for her to just wander about and be nosy.

Any suggestions? Simple adventure/fantasy would be great and provide us with something to progress through together, but anything that lets you explore a neighborhood and/or poke around in buildings and such would be perfect. I’m picking up Goat Simulator today for that exact purpose.

I appreciate it in advance.

sheepishly,
@sheepishly@kbin.social avatar

Minecraft, 100%. You can set it to peaceful mode so no enemies spawn, and even mess with the world settings so more structures generate in your map.

haui_lemmy,

Since she is very young and has no social pressure towards microsoftcraft, I‘d suggest mineclone, its free, open source and in opposition to bedrock mc not bloated with ingame purchases.

Minecraft used to be good though.

Jakeroxs,

Could just play Java edition…

haui_lemmy,

You mean besides the advantages that mineclone has?

Jakeroxs, (edited )

If you could list one that isn’t just “Microsoft bad” sure, I’ve never played it, but I’ve played literally thousands of hours of Minecraft Java, along with several thousand more on mod packs for Java.

Not to mention the very large community of Minecraft let’s players, tutorials, etc that exist for Minecraft, and it’s huge cultural influence.

Not saying mineclone is bad or anything, I don’t know much about it aside from the site listing it’s features, but MC is the OG and huge for a reason, and I agree bedrock is full of garbage MTX, but Java is not.

haui_lemmy,

One?

  • mandatory telemetry
  • mandatory microsoft account
  • modders literally had to reverse engineer minecraft to mod it (closed source)
  • you cant download the game without logging into mojang despite the fact that you have to log in to your microsoft account anyway
  • constant changes that make the game more approachable but barely any that make it more complex ie redstone (subjective)
  • cant be played offline easily

Those are just the first ones I can come up with.

I have started playing minecraft in the browser. Had to pay for it using paypal since it wasnt available in shops. I definitely played thousands of hours as well, made lets plays, have multiple servers.

The reason I dont recommend it anymore is the initial minecraft was very different from today. It used to be about creativity. Today it feels like a race for content. Mostly like a game as a service thing.

Jakeroxs,

You don’t have to login to a mojang and ms account, it’s just Microsoft accounts, which if you dislike Microsoft sure…

The telemetry is far from insidious and is used in many many games as a way to provide data about what people interact with (or don’t) so devs have a better idea of what to focus on. minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Snooper

Modders seemed to have made due with the closed source nature… Again talking about Java specifically, not Bedrock.

Not sure if you’re aware but the 1.21 release includes an auto-crafter, pretty big addition for Redstone related automation. Though this post is also about a 4yo so… It’s not super likely they’ll be interested in Redstone anyway.

Can be played offline if you’ve logged into the mc launcher at least once before being offline afaik.

I don’t really understand what you mean by “a race for content” if anything it feels like the game hasn’t changed enough considering how long it’s been out, they’ll add one or two new kinda nifty things per release, but compared to mod makers… The pace is much slower.

haui_lemmy,

Sure, you can turn around everything as you like. You wanted to hear one, you got many. Feels kinda disrespectful of you to try this hard to be right.

Jakeroxs,

What? You said use MineClone instead, I asked for any reasons why one would prefer MineClone over MIneCraft, you gave some reasons, I argued my points and agreed with some of yours.

How is that disrespectful lmfao, that’s how people discuss differences in opinion.

haui_lemmy,

I did. Besides the obvious „dont expose your children to microtransactions if avoidable“ I have brought many more that are my concerns.

If you reread your text, you said this, in short:

  • telemetry no problem
  • closed source no problem
  • offline no problem

Which is just taking the facts that you asked for and putting them into the trash. This I found disrespectful. Even before when you said „find one“ was disrespectful but I chose to keep talking since it might be a misunderstanding.

They might be no problem for you but consent is quite a huge problem. Being able to use the product you bought (over a decade ago) in the way you want to and are used to. There is an argument that prolonged sales and development cost money and such but we‘re on lemmy, a FOSS program (where telemetry is opt in btw) and we‘re discussing why telemetry without opt out is bad?

Also, to play offline is pretty much impossible, I checked multiple sources. If you dont have internet and cant login, youre f*cked.

Its also not a point to say modders got around it. Repacking games for piracy reasons isnt much different from what they had to do and I think its legitimately a big plus that the minetest engine is so easily moddable.

Jakeroxs, (edited )

I think the problem is you seemingly don’t know how a discussion and difference of opinon works.

I’m not taking your “facts” and throwing them in the trash, I was point for point giving my take on your concerns.

I was genuinely curious why someone would play minetest over MC and wanted to know what pros/cons exist, and the pros/cons you gave didn’t resonate with me.

Lemmy has forced telemetry, for example, every time you upvote or downvote something, that information is easily seen by instance admins. The question becomes is that telemetry harmful in any way to the end user, in Lemmys case, I can very easily see how that could be used to harm another user. In Minecrafts case… I don’t see it.

MTX again aren’t in Java, which is again why I stated to just use Java in my first response.

It’s not impossible to play offline, there are many very easy workarounds available.

There are tens of thousands of mods minimum for minecraft, so yes it is fair to say that modders got around it. I’m not talking piracy, I mean large content additions such as Mekanism, Create, etc…

Yes it is a plus that minetest is more open source, but does a 4 YO looking for a game to play, who will likely socialize with other children who are more likely to know what minecraft is vs minetest really understand or care in the slightest that their knockoff mc game is open source? Come on man.

I’m also going to point out I didn’t downvote you at all, and wasn’t at all trying to be rude or disrespectful, simply stating my opinions as a long time MC player, my first paragraph of this response being an emotionally charged/rude response not withstanding, as I was irritated at the strange emotional response you had to what I thought was an innocuous discussion.

I do apologize for the first paragraphs rudeness, but am leaving it there to not hide my misstep.

haui_lemmy,

Thanks for elaborating. I understand a little better now. Also I appreciate you apologizing.

Some things I still want to clear up:

lemmy doesnt have „telemetry“, it is federated and instance admins have a lot more to do than harm someone. Thats very far fetched, whereas microsoft will receive tons of money for behavioral data from players. There is opt in telemetry for lemmy servers which is entirely different. Telemetry is a technical term, not what someone makes of it, sorry.

I checked, the ways to play offline arent easy. From four sources, you always have to log in with an account and after can play without internet.

Mods being available is not an argument against my aegument. Its still been hacked which I find unnecessary. I know about mods I own public minecraft servers.

Mineclone (minetest ist the engine) is not more open source. It is open source, minecraft is closed source. A child does not care either way. Introducing them to open source just makes the world a better place, bit by bit. Not necessarily important now but definitely in a couple years.

Also, you use the child to make your point (of open source) and exclude it when convenient (bedrock being a microstransaction mess and heavily geared towards kids).

I really dont want to fight more today. Its been a rough couple of days actually. Many people with really strong opinions and very little empathy. Lets agree to disagree.

Jakeroxs,

All good, have a good rest of your day.

Carighan, (edited )
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

Still in early development, probably not that suited for a kid. The bespoke and enclosed experience of Minecraft would be better, assuming you can turn the shop off or limit it in some way.

haui_lemmy,

I dont know where you have your information from but it works just like minecraft does, no difference. Especially for a really young kid that probably barely would press „play game“ there’s no issues afaik.

Why do you suggest something that you have to assume things about? You cant turn off the shop in bedrock minecraft. It is part of the ui (made to pull kids into microtransactions) exactly the reason why I would not suggest it to kids - or anyone - in the first place.

Carighan,
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

I got that information from the official page, which lists features implemented vs missing.

haui_lemmy,

I checked the page and your claim is false. It is not in early development and the list of missing features has 4 points in comparison to 40+ points that are on par with minecraft.

Its also incredibly easy to install and free so no harm in trying.

Wojwo,

The putt putt line of games. They run on scummvm and my kids love them. Later kings quest, and stardew valley. The lego marvel super heroes on Xbox 360 (I think there’s a pc version) has an entire Manhattan island that they can roam around freely and interact with.

pietervdvn,
@pietervdvn@lemmy.ml avatar

Putt-putt, pajama sam a.d freddy fish are great!

uninvitedguest, (edited )
@uninvitedguest@lemmy.ca avatar

There’s a few short indie adventure games that may fit the bill:

I haven’t played Stray, but it may be a good fit. I also haven’t played past the opening scene of Firewatch, but if your daughter can manage walking around Skyrim then I think it should be okay.

I searched for indie exploration games. City of Muse came up.

There’s a list of 3D exploration games on Itch.

Klanky,
@Klanky@sopuli.xyz avatar

Slime Rancher might be worth looking into.

conciselyverbose,

If you're open to dealing with emulation, both the new Zeldas pretty much fit the bill. There's combat but probably less than Skyrim.

Slime Rancher is one I enjoyed for a while that's definitely kid friendly. Supraland didn't really grab me, but in terms of being super tame and having varied stuff to explore it fits again.

If it specifically has to be houses/cities, none of those fit that well. But they have worlds that are varied and interesting.

VulKendov,
@VulKendov@reddthat.com avatar

Botw/Totk’s combat might be a bit too difficult in the beginning for a 4 year old, so OP might need to take the reigns when combat starts.

conciselyverbose,

That's possible. I think it's more kid friendly than Skyrim though.

It's also mostly easy to ignore.

DrakeRichards,

These aren’t exactly exploration games, but they’re simple games that my toddler likes too:

  • Animal Crossing is easily her favorite. She loves “helping” my wife pick outfits and fish.
  • A Building Full of Cats is short, cheap, and cute. She likes making up stories about each apartment and cat. There’s also tons of similar games in different locations.
  • Cats in Time has simple puzzles that she can do with a bit of help.
  • Slime Rancher might be a good fit. It’s simple and cute with a focus on exploration.
  • Dorf Romantik is a relaxing and cute game that’s a good introduction to resource management. She might not be good at the actual goal of the game, but she likes placing tiles.
  • Subnautica in creative mode might be interesting for exploration, depending on how sensitive your kid is about some of the darker areas and creatures.
Unsayableorc,
@Unsayableorc@kbin.social avatar

Outer Wilds

Might be a little advanced for a 4yo, but it definitely checks the exploration/adventure mark.

teawrecks,

I was also going to suggest this. No, she won’t be able to understand what she’s doing in it yet, but the game is a celebration of exploration.

MeatsOfRage,

The Peppa Pig game is surprisingly open. If you just walk off screen it lets you keep going and you end up in new locations. Hop on the bus and end up in another location. There aren’t many blocks to stop you from going where you feel like going and there’s a variety of activities at each location.

maxprime,

Maybe Stardew valley would scratch that itch. Or some old rpgs like FF or chrono trigger.

mhz,

Sounds like “The witcher 3” world will be a good fit for your daughter curiosity, the guest line however is too dark for her age.

BaumGeist,

Doesn’t that game feature fully nude characters at times in the vanilla base game? And sex? And violence? And brothels?

Tak,
@Tak@lemmy.ml avatar

Yes

dan1101,

You don’t have to do any of that, but just walking around you will get attacked by all manner of creatures so I would take Witcher 3 off the list on that basis.

Poopfeast420, (edited )
@Poopfeast420@kbin.social avatar

Since you're on PC, using cheats or potentially mods can expand the list of games you have available, since you might be able to just ignore certain aspects of a game, like combat, money or resources in general.

The more recent Assassin's Creed games have something called a Discovery Tour, where you can just explore the world, without combat. They are partially meant for educational purposes and can teach about the different regions and history, and offer guided tours. I don't know if there's a real free roam, where you can just do whatever though.

You mentioned buying Goat Simulator, so maybe other of these "Simulator" games might be for you.

I don't know how much you can go into houses, but Farming Simulator could be worth a look. Your kid can probably just explore the map and maybe even try some of the farming.

As someone else mentioned, Slime Rancher might be fun just to explore the world with the cute creatures all around, but there's not really much or any buildings as far as I know (don't know if the sequel has this stuff).

A Short Hike could be worth a look. You're on a mountainous island / national park type deal and your main objective is to get to the peak of the mountain, but you can just explore, do some side quests, solve puzzles, etc. I feel like the screenshots on the Steam Store page for the game look really ugly, since it's so pixelated, but that's just a filter, that you can change in game (from smooth to really pixely).

Haus,
@Haus@kbin.social avatar

What's the underwater game that came out a few years ago? Your spaceship crashes in the ocean of a cold planet, and you explore and make bases, and solve a mystery... SubZero or something?

Grimy,

Subnautica? I think subzero was maybe an expansion for it.

Zahille7,

Below Zero is Subnautica 2

WebTheWitted,

Subnautica! That’s the first (and better) one IMHO. The sequel is Below Zero.

Might be a little scary for a 4 yo - at least it can be that way for this thirty something.

FollyDolly,
@FollyDolly@lemmy.world avatar

This is a good suggestion because in the Subnautica Below Zero you can play a custom game mode where you can turn off predator aggression, hunger, thirst, and freezing allowing you to roam to your hearts content without getting eaten.

dan1101,

Minecraft, if you play online and enter a server like Cubecraft the default lobby is very kid friendly and has a large interesting map to explore. And of course the game itself has tons of single player content and you can build your own stuff in survival or creative modes.

Try Grand Theft Auto 5 and see what you think. If you don’t actually do any missions it’s really a very nice and alive world to explore. The pedestrians make some rude comments though.

Also Arma 3, the base map is a sandbox of a real life island with most buildings enterable, and no people or traffic or anything offensive by default. You can enter the editor, place a civilian player and some vehicles, and explore the island completely peacefully. There are also lots of mod maps some are very good.

If only driving around is acceptable then the Forza Horiizon games are great for driving around.

lemmylommy,

I agree with Minecraft, just not online and put it on peaceful. But GTA? That must be a joke. Even outside of the missions there is plenty of driving over people, shooting and other events that are inappropriate at that age.

dan1101,

I don’t know, I used to let my young niece play GTA 4 at least, supervised the whole time of course. The rule was you could drive around until you crashed or hit someone, then we switched players. Generally there is no trouble unless you make trouble. The pedestrians can make rude comments but having the volume low solves most of that.

NeryK,
@NeryK@sh.itjust.works avatar

If combat is an option, those simple ARPGs could fit the bill nicely:

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