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!
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.
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
- 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.
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.
Seconding Sable.
I recommend that one too everyone though.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has Toadette and Peachette.
Super Mario 3D World has Peach / Cat Peach.
My daughter beat them both at 5 years old. There’s also Mario Kart 8 which also has Peach. You may be noticing a theme here.
There’s also the Lego games where you get to choose your character and she always picks the girls.
Miitopia is great because you create your own characters. She makes the entire team girls.
My Friend Peppa is kinda entertaining, but she didn’t really care for it all that much.
Kirby is pretty great and both games Return to Dreamland and Forgotten Land are accessible, though both ramp up difficulty later. (Kirby is gender neutral)
There are more games out there, like Kena, Metroid, Celeste, Shantae, but not for her age yet.
Just propping this post up, because poster actually remembers the kid is only 5 years old.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart has you play at least half the game as a lady Lombax.
Stardew Valley. They might find that a bit dull though.
Endling if you want to see your child in floods of tears.
Probably be a few years before you can play It Takes Two together. I think my niece is 8 or so, and she played that with her mum. Also tried with her dad, but was less successful because he doesn’t listen.
Hmm, some games with a strong female lead that I’ve played:
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A hat in time. Lovely 3D platformer
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Subnautica: Below Zero. Sequel to the original Subnautica but enjoyable without having played the first one. Loved both games.
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Gris
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Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
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Kena: Bridge of Spirits
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River City Girls: Pixel art beat 'em up
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Horizon Zero Dawn
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The latest Tomb Raider trilogy -
Portal and Portal 2
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There are more things to do than finishing the whole game the way it was intended, not every biome has a monster that can kill you.
You can swim with the pengwings, play with the sea monkeys, build a giant base in the starting area while playing in creative mode…, there might even be mods that completely disable the need to surface for air or make every creature passive so you can swim mwext to them in peace.
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It’s a five year old, and Lara gets graphically, violently killed in the Tomb Raider games.
Yeah, you’re right. I had kind of forgotten about that part lol.
Even if you manage not to die in any of the horrific ways it’s still pretty violent.
Hellblade and lara croft for a 5 year old???
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