I see so many parents give their kids games that really have no purpose other than to kill time and that are just horrifically bad pieces of gaming. In some cases you may as well inject your kid with a double dose of sugar and attention deficit....

I love games, and I want my kids to love and appreciate quality games and to avoid drivel that has no purpose other than to trap kids into a cycle of addiction.

These games have all been tested on my own kids, however as all kids are very different your own experience might vary!

All photos and screenshots are from the developer's own press kit and are available for public use.

Monument Valley 1 and 2

Press kit

There is no other way to say this, Monument Valley 1 and 2 are just beautiful games. With a distinctive art style that is just a pleasure to look at, this is a game that will just make your heart ache with the beauty of the images on the screen. With great ambient music and the gentle colours of the art, this is a game that lures your into a blissful trance of puzzle solving.

Press Kit

Both games are single purchase games, in that you just pay the upfront fee and there are no real micro-transactions. However, the second game does have expansion packs that add extra puzzles and maps.

Gameplay

So the gameplay revolves (haha...) around getting a girl from a starting door to an ending door. However, the path that is possible for her to traverse depends on perpective. So, think like those "impossible" Escher drawings that have paths that depend on the perspective of the viewer. So, the puzzle is solved by pushing and prodding and rotating the various levers and handles and knobs that change the perspective of the drawing to create a path to the end!

It is a unique and engaging mechanic that is great also for adults. This is not just a kid's game!

Press Kit

Our experience

I gave this to my girl, who was just short of 6 at the time, and she loved it. It wasn't too difficult for her once she got the hang of the mechanics of the game, but she is a quiet thoughtful girl who just loves puzzles. She burnt through the first game in a surprisingly short time (around a few days), however she found the second game a bit more challenging.

Available on

Both games are available on iOS and Android, so easy to have on a phone or spare tablet/phone for when you need a bit of quiet time for yourself! With Android, just make sure you have the necessary horsepower to run the game. For us, it ran fine on a Nexus 7, OnePlus 4T and OnePlus 5.

Originally published on my STEEM blog.