Best Family Games of 2024

As gamers get older, and start having families of their own, of course they're going to want to introduce their little ones to controllers, consoles, and all the gaming memories they had when they were young. However, you can't really hand a baby a controller and tell them to steal a car or kill a terrorist, and so here we have the best family friendly games that are either great for youngsters or can be played with them.

5. The Plucky Squire

First off, we have an absolute visual delight in The Plucky Squire. Bringing a children's book to life and letting its imagination run wild, All Possible Futures' adventure title is sure to bring a smile to your face, no matter your age. It's wonderfully simple in its setup, and switches genres and even POVs so often that you're never bored in the short time you'll spend completing The Plucky Squire. A lovely adventure, and one that stands out as one of the year's best.

4. Mouse & Crane

This game does lean towards a younger audience, as older kids might find the puzzles a bit easy, but Mouse & Crane is a great co-op puzzle game about three friends fixing machines. You turn junk into useful tools, and can go through the game solo if you're feeling more confident. Otherwise, team up with a couple of friends, or adjust the settings, and enjoy a chilled puzzle game with some charming graphics.

3. Princess Peach: Showtime!

Once more, 2024 proved to be a great and surprising year for the Switch. Were there any true GOTY contenders on the hybrid console's line-up? Maybe not, but by no means was this the drought year we'd thought it would be, and Princess Peach: Showtime! proved that early on. Giving Peach a solo adventure, where she transforms into different versions of herself based on her outfit, Nintendo delivered a great family friendly experience, once more putting fun at the forefront of its releases.

2. Astro Bot

Here he is, as you probably expected. Astro Bot's quick timing requirements might make Sony's GOTY-winner a bit more suited for older kids, or for youngsters to watch a parent play, but the colourful and cute platformer will have kids reminiscing about their childhoods in twenty years in the same way Mario, Pokémon, and more defined our childhoods decades ago. The only reason it's not number one is because it only allows for one player, meaning it can't exactly bring the family together.

1. Super Mario Party Jamboree

Speaking of bringing the family together (or perhaps tearing them apart), nothing quite says family friendly like a virtual board game. With simple rules and just enough randomness to even give grandma a chance at winning, Super Mario Party Jamboree ticks all the boxes of being a very good game as well as a very good family game. If you're looking to spend what's left of the holiday season playing something with the family, there are few things we can recommend better than Super Mario Jamboree.