Buying new video games for your kids can be a much bigger decision than it used to be just a few years ago. Some major releases now cost close to $80, and that price becomes harder to swallow when you’re choosing games for two or three children. Sales can help, of course, but a good budget pick should still be affordable when the discount disappears.
Fortunately, there are still quite a few games out there that will only set you back $20 or less. Granted, some of these games are brief, but others have enough content to keep kids busy for weeks, if not months in some cases. The most important part is finding a game your kids will actually like. After all, a cheap game isn’t much of a deal if the little ones don’t want to play it.
Every game on this list costs $20 or less at its regular digital price. Temporary discounts don’t make a more expensive game eligible, and any paid expansions are separate from the base prices shown. We’ve included age ratings, content details, platforms, and player counts to help you find a game that fits both your child and your budget.
Stardew Valley Can Keep A $15 Farm Growing For Years
A few packets of seeds and an overgrown field are all players get when they inherit their farm in Stardew Valley. The first harvest pays for better tools and more seeds, but before long, kids can add a barn, install sprinklers, and work toward restoring the community center. Farming is only one way to spend the day, though, as players can spend just as much time fishing, mining, and getting to know the people in Pelican Town.
The seasons change what players can grow, while the money earned from one improvement helps fund the next. That cycle makes Stardew Valley a great affordable game for kids who enjoy projects they can return to month over month. Local and online co-op on supported versions let players share their work with each other. Parents should know that some character stories touch on depression and alcohol use, hence the E10+ rating, as opposed to E for Everyone.
Why Kids Will Love Stardew Valley
There’s always a new idea to try on the farm, and even a modest harvest can still contribute to the long-term growth of the farm. Over time, the fields, buildings, and animals start to show what they chose to spend their days working on.
- Regular Price: $14.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
- Content Descriptors: Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol, Use of Tobacco; Users Interact
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android
- Players: Single-player; local and online co-op on supported platforms, with player limits varying by version
Minecraft Dungeons Makes Room For Four Heroes At $20
Minecraft Dungeons trades block-by-block construction for fights against mobs, treasure-filled levels, and equipment that changes how a hero plays. The combat is easy to follow at first, but tougher missions encourage players to pay attention to their gear and help teammates who get knocked down. Four players can share the system on Switch, making Minecraft Dungeons a strong budget co-op purchase for families.
The $19.99 base game includes the entire campaign, allowing players to start exploring without buying the Ultimate Edition or extra levels. Online play is available too, though a Nintendo Switch Online membership is required to use that mode on Switch. This is a good choice for kids who want the creatures and look of Minecraft with a more direct goal each time they sit down to play.
Why Kids Will Love Minecraft Dungeons
Finding a weapon that changes their favorite attack gives kids a reason to revisit a level and try a different way through it. Playing beside a sibling turns a near defeat into a shared scramble back to safety.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital base game)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
- Content Descriptors: Fantasy Violence; Users Interact, In-Game Purchases
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Players: Single-player; up to four players locally or online
Cat Quest II Gives Two Players A Kingdom To Share
The cat and dog heroes of Cat Quest II are unlikely allies caught between two feuding kingdoms. Players travel across the map, enter dungeons, collect equipment, and fight with a mix of weapons and magic. Each hero can equip different gear, meaning that changing characters affects more than just whose face appears on the screen. Solo players switch between the pair, while two kids can each take a character in local co-op.
The shared journey gives Cat Quest II an edge compared to other games price at around $14.99. While one player can close in with a sword, the other can casts spells from a safer distance, and they can rethink those roles as new equipment turns up. Just as its name suggest, Cat Quest II is a sequel, but kids can start with this game without having played the original. The third entry in the series costs just under $20 and is worth looking into as well.
Why Kids Will Love Cat Quest II
Having a hero each makes the treasure hunt feel shared, with new weapons and spells giving both players something to look forward to. Players can trade the sword and spellcasting roles whenever a tough fight calls for a new plan.
- Regular Price: $14.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
- Content Descriptors: Fantasy Violence
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS via Apple Arcade
- Players: Single-player or two-player local co-op
Hollow Knight Hides An Enormous World Behind A $15 Price Tag
Hollow Knight centers around a small insect knight descending into Hallownest, a ruined underground kingdom whose passages connect in surprising ways. Finding maps for each area helps, but exploring them still requires players to remember a locked door, take a chance on a side passage, and sometimes find their own way back after a difficult fight. New movement abilities eventually open routes that looked impossible on an earlier visit. There is a great deal of content here for just $15.
Fans of the original can follow it up with Hollow Knight: Silksong, which costs $19.99 separately and stars Hornet, a faster fighter with her own tools and a new kingdom to explore. Silksong is a standalone title set in the same universe, but doesn’t require owning the original game to play. In fact, neither game needs any extra purchases to deliver a complete and memorable adventure from start to finish.
Why Older Kids And Teens Will Love Hollow Knight
Finally reaching a place spotted hours ago feels earned for players because they found the route and learned the skills to survive it. A difficult boss can send them back to practice, making the eventual victory feel that much more satisfying.
- Regular Price: Hollow Knight $15.00; Hollow Knight: Silksong $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital; sold separately)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+ for both games
- Content Descriptors: Hollow Knight — Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood; Silksong — Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
- Platforms: Hollow Knight — PC, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One; Silksong — PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Players: Single-player
Into The Breach Lets Kids See The Enemy’s Next Move
Most strategy games make players guess what an opponent will do next. Into the Breach shows where its giant insect enemies plan to attack, then asks a squad of three mechs to protect the buildings in their path. Destroying a creature is one of the ways players can deal with it, but there are always alternatives. For example, a well-placed shove can move it out of range, knock it into another enemy, or make its attack miss the city altogether.
Into The Breach’s small battlefields make every decision readable without making the game easy. Kids can inspect a threatened building, test how far each mech can move, and work backward from the damage they need to prevent. A limited rewind window gives them a chance to reconsider a mistake, while new squads change the tactics on later runs. At $14.99, Into the Breach offers older kids a strategy game they can learn in short sessions and keep revisiting as they get better at spotting combinations.
Why Older Kids And Teens Will Love Into The Breach
A turn that looks hopeless can become a win when one move protects a building and turns an enemy’s attack against its own side. Kids get the satisfaction of spotting that opening themselves, with time to think before committing to a move.
- Regular Price: $14.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
- Content Descriptors: Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Language
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch; iOS and Android through a Netflix membership
- Players: Single-player
Dorfromantik Makes Every New Tile A Small Decision
Dorfromantik hands players a stack of hexagonal tiles showing fields, forests, villages, rivers, and railways. Matching their edges grows a landscape and earns more tiles, but a careless placement can leave a river with nowhere to go later on. There’s no clock pushing kids to decide quickly. They can turn a tile around, consider what might connect to it, and build at their own pace.
The main mode turns the building activity into a score challenge, since smart placements and completed tasks extend a run. Creative mode removes the limited stack of tiles so younger children can focus on the countryside they’re making. Both modes are included in the $14.99 price tag. Dorfromantik works well for kids who like arranging things and watching their plan develop across the screen. At the same time, this is one of those games with enough strategic depth to keep older players thinking too.
Why Kids Will Love Dorfromantik
A tiny village can gradually become part of a sprawling landscape that reflects dozens of choices made throughout the game. Players can chase a higher score or spend the afternoon building a countryside they simply like looking at.
- Regular Price: $14.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: None
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Players: Single-player
Portal: Companion Collection Puts Two Puzzle Classics In One Purchase
One portal opens on a wall while the other might be on the ceiling across the room. Portal and Portal 2 build increasingly clever puzzles around that simple connection, asking players to redirect themselves, move objects, and work out how momentum carries through an opening. The Companion Collection includes both full games on Switch for $19.99, giving older kids plenty to figure out even before they reach Portal 2’s separate cooperative campaign.
The two-player campaign is the collection’s biggest extra for families. Each person controls a robot with its own portal device, and solutions often depend on one player setting up a route for the other. Portal 2 supports local split-screen and online co-op; online Switch play requires a membership. The writing has a dark, sarcastic streak, and the collection carries a Teen rating, so this is a recommendation for teens who enjoy solving things together.
Why Teens Will Love Portal: Companion Collection
The puzzles give them that rare moment when an idea sounds ridiculous until they test it and watch it work. In Portal 2’s co-op campaign, explaining that idea to a friend becomes part of the fun.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital collection)
- ESRB Rating: T for Teen
- Content Descriptors: Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Mild Violence; Users Interact
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch
- Players: Single-player; two-player local split-screen or online co-op in Portal 2
Unravel Two Ties Its Platforming To Cooperation
The two little Yarnys in Unravel Two are joined by a strand of yarn, and the game puts that connection to work. One character can anchor the other during a climb, swing across a gap, or help create a bridge to reach the next ledge. In solo play, the player switches between the Yarnys and can combine them when a section calls for simpler movement. With two players, each person controls one end of the thread.
Siblings can finish Unravel Two’s story together for $19.99. Its puzzles give both players something to contribute, and the game leaves room to stop and work out a solution before trying a tricky jump. Some chase sequences are more demanding and the story occasionally takes a darker turn, so younger partners may need help when the pace changes.
Why Kids Will Love Unravel Two
Helping a partner across an obstacle feels as rewarding as reaching the other side themselves. The shared yarn makes that teamwork visible when one of the players holds a bridge or swings the other toward a ledge.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Players: Single-player or two-player local co-op
Ultimate Chicken Horse Lets Everyone Build The Obstacle Course
At the start of a round in Ultimate Chicken Horse, each player adds a platform, trap, or other object to the level. Then everyone tries to reach the finish line on the course they just helped create. A trap that catches every player won’t do its owner much good if it also traps them. The clever placement is one that makes the route harder for others while leaving a way through for the person who put it there.
That back-and-forth between building and running gives Ultimate Chicken Horse far more staying power than its $14.99 price tag might suggest. Courses grow stranger over multiple rounds, and a friend who finds an easy shortcut can expect everyone else to block it next time. Up to four people can play locally or online, though the main party game needs a group to come alive. Younger kids can join the laughs, but they’ll have more fun once they can handle the jumping and wall-climbing.
Why Kids Will Love Ultimate Chicken Horse
Getting past a trap players placed themselves is half the joke. Getting past everyone else’s traps is the other half.
- Regular Price: $14.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence; Users Interact
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Players: Single-player modes; two to four players locally or online for the main party game
PICO PARK 2 Gets Eight Players Working On A Single Puzzle
PICO PARK 2 gives every player a small character and sets the group a task that no one can finish alone. A level might require everyone to stand on a switch, stack themselves high enough to reach a key, or move through an obstacle in the right order. The game adjusts its levels for groups of two to eight, so a family can play with whoever is home in that moment without needing to fill every slot.
At just $8.99, this is one of the cheapest ways to get a whole group together for family game night. Local players share the same copy of the game, and online cross-platform play lets distant friends join in, albeit each remote group needs its own copy and Switch players need an online membership. The cooperative stages are the main selling point, with Battle and Endless modes giving players something else to try afterward.
Why Kids Will Love PICO PARK 2
Even the youngest player in the group has a job to do, and a level only ends when everyone gets through it. A solution may take a few failed attempts and a lot of shouted directions, which is where much of the fun comes from.
- Regular Price: $8.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Players: Two to eight players locally or online
Good Job! Rewards The Worst Possible Way To Finish A Task
In Good Job!, an office employee might need to move a projector to the next room or fix a shoddy internet connection. Kids can try to fix such problems in sensible ways if they want to. Alternatively, they can launch the projector through a wall, drag equipment across a crowded floor, and leave a trail of toppled furniture on their way to the objective. The office reacts to all that destruction, turning a simple errand into a physics puzzle with many possible solutions.
Each completed assignment takes the employee farther up the corporate ladder, with new departments introducing different objects to push, pull, and accidentally break. A second player can join on the same Switch, which makes dividing the work possible, however, doubling the staff may just double the mess instead. Good Job! costs $19.99 at its regular digital price and gives kids room to experiment without demanding that they find the tidy solution first.
Why Kids Will Love Good Job!
Two kids can divide up an assignment, but more often than not one of them will end up clearing the wreckage left by the other. The game still lets them finish the job, which makes trying a spectacularly bad idea hard to resist.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch; playable on Nintendo Switch 2
- Players: Single-player or two-player local co-op
Kirby’s Dream Buffet Makes The Biggest Kirby The One To Beat
Kirby’s Dream Buffet sends round little Kirbys rolling across cakes, cookies, and other oversized desserts in a race to collect strawberries. Eating more makes Kirby grow bigger, so the lead isn’t settled when the first racer crosses the finish line. A Gourmet Grand Prix mixes races with a quick minigame and a final battle where players can knock strawberries out of each other. Copy Food abilities add more surprises, including bursts of speed and attacks that can change the standings late in a round.
At $14.99, this is a Kirby game for families who want short competitions they can fit between other activities. There is one catch worth mentioning in that only two people can play on a single Switch. To get all four Kirbys into a match, players need separate systems for local wireless or an online connection. Online play also requires a Nintendo Switch Online membership. Solo player can race against computer opponents and earn costumes and other decorations as they play.
Why Kids Will Love Kirby’s Dream Buffet
A racer who’s behind can still grab strawberries in the last battle and come out on top. Between matches, kids can dress their Kirby in costumes they’ve earned and send that ridiculous little dessert racer back for another round.
- Regular Price: $14.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: Mild Cartoon Violence
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch; playable on Nintendo Switch 2
- Players: Single-player; two players on one system, or up to four via local wireless or online
Lil Gator Game Turns A $20 Island Into A Make-Believe Playground
Lil Gator Game centers around a small alligator trying to draw an older sister back into their childhood game of pretend. The island provides the stage for this little game, with cardboard enemies standing in for monsters, sticks becoming swords, and the other children having their own quests to offer. Players can climb a hill, glide down to a new group of friends, or leave an objective unfinished because something across the water caught their eye.
Helping the island’s children brings them into the playground the gator is building, so wandering around eventually feeds the larger story. Materials collected along the way can become new toys and movement tools. At $19.99 for the base game, Lil Gator Game is a good deal for kids who want the freedom of an open world, but on a smaller scale. The separately sold In the Dark expansion adds more to explore, but the island and its story are already in the base purchase.
Why Kids Will Love Lil Gator Game
Smashing a cardboard monster and recruiting its creator to the playground makes the whole island feel like one big shared game. Kids can set off toward a distant hill just because they want to know who’s waiting there.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital base game)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: None
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Players: Single-player
TOEM Gives Kids A Camera And A Reason To Look Closer
In TOEM, the way forward is often sitting in plain sight until players raise their camera. A request from a local character can send them searching for a particular animal, a hidden figure, or the right angle on an everyday scene. Taking the photo completes the task and helps them collect the stamps needed to travel on to the next area. The black-and-white towns and forests are full of visual jokes, so taking time to inspect them pays off even between assignments.
Kids don’t need quick reflexes to find their next subject, and an apparently empty location can become interesting when viewed through the camera. TOEM’s world is smaller compared to some of the other games on this list, but the modest size helps every stop feel worth examining. Younger children may still need help reading what a character wants photographed, but once they understand the request, the search is theirs to carry out.
Why Kids Will Love TOEM
A photograph can answer a question that seemed baffling just a minute earlier, and kids get to be the ones who notice what was missing. Players can fill their album with odd sights along the way, even when nobody asked them to take that particular picture.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: None
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5
- Players: Single-player
Smushi Come Home Finds Plenty To Do At Mushroom Height
Smushi Come Home places a tiny lost mushroom in a forest where ordinary logs and ponds look like major landmarks. Finding the way home involves climbing, swimming, gliding, talking with woodland creatures, and following paths that lead to light puzzles or a new tool. The Mycology Journal introduces real mushrooms, giving curious kids something to read between trips through the woods. The forest is divided into compact areas, each with its own inhabitants and things to investigate.
There are no time limits or game overs, so Smushi can take a wrong turn without losing progress. That relaxed structure gives younger players a chance to work out the routes for themselves, while the shorter journey suits players who are looking for a game they can finish over the course of just a few sessions. The regular Switch price is $19.99. Nintendo’s US listing doesn’t give the base digital release an ESRB rating, making the game’s actual demands, like reading conversations and solving light puzzles, particularly helpful when deciding whether a child is ready for it.
Why Kids Will Love Smushi Come Home
A fallen tree can feel like a massive structure when the playable character is small enough to climb through its roots. Stopping to help a forest creature or identify a mushroom makes the route home feel like a journey players can shape themselves.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: Not rated by ESRB for the base digital release
- Content Descriptors: Not available
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch; playable on Nintendo Switch 2
- Players: Single-player
Celeste Makes Every Failed Climb Worth Another Try
Celeste asks players to guide Madeline up a mountain one short, demanding screen at a time. She can jump, climb, and dash through the air, but those three moves have to be timed carefully to clear spikes, moving hazards, and long gaps. A missed jump sends her back to the beginning of the section to try again. Kids can see exactly what went wrong and attempt a different route while the pattern is still fresh in their minds.
The $19.99 game has a lot of content to offer to those who stray off the beaten path, including hidden strawberries and tougher optional chapters that give fans of platformer games goals to return to. Celeste is difficult even though restarts are quick, making it a good recommendation for patient older kids and teens. The Assist Mode can be used to adjust the challenge for anyone who wants to experience the climb without mastering every jump.
Why Older Kids And Teens Will Love Celeste
The mountain gives players a clear, immediate goal: make it across the screen that stopped them last time. Clearing it after several attempts feels especially satisfying because they can remember the exact move that finally worked.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
- Content Descriptors: Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Players: Single-player
Cuphead Puts A Whole Cartoon Into A $20 Boss Fighting Game
Cuphead‘s hand-drawn characters stretch, dance, and change shape as if someone made a 1930s cartoon respond to the player’s every move. Most of the game is built around boss fights, with shorter run-and-gun stages between them. A boss fight usually starts with a readable set of attacks, then turns into something entirely different halfway through. Learning when to dodge, jump, and fire is a lot more important than rushing through the fight.
The base game costs $19.99 and can be played with Cuphead and Mugman together in local co-op, though playing the game in two also makes it more difficult. This is one of the most challenging games on the list and it’s worth noting that younger children may have a frustrating time with its repeated defeats. The Delicious Last Course is a separate purchase priced at $7.99, but isn’t needed to play the original campaign.
Why Older Kids And Teens Will Love Cuphead
Each boss has a new visual trick to reveal, so learning its attack pattern also means watching the cartoon go delightfully off the rails. Finally beating a fight after losing ten times gives players a story they’ll remember long after they stopped playing.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital base game)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
- Content Descriptors: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Players: Single-player or two-player local co-op
Wargroove 2 Gives Young Strategists An Army For $20
Winning a battle in Wargroove 2 takes a bit more effort than simply sending every unit toward the nearest enemy. Infantry can capture villages, other troops control the roads and coast, and losing a key position may cut off the funds needed to recruit replacements. Each commander has a special Groove ability that can change a fight when used at the right moment. Because the battles are turn-based, kids can check the terrain and think through an attack before moving their units.
Three connected campaigns introduce the factions and their conflicts, while Conquest mode offers a different series of battles once players understand the basics. The $19.99 game also includes local and online multiplayer for up to four players, along with editors for making maps and campaigns. Even though it’s a sequel, newcomers can easily follow Wargroove 2’s story without having to play the original first.
Why Older Kids And Teens Will Love Wargroove 2
Taking a village at the right time can change the whole shape of a battle, giving players a reason to plan a few moves ahead. Once they’ve learned the units, players can build a map that truly puts their favorite tactics to the test.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
- Content Descriptors: Fantasy Violence; Users Interact
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
- Players: Single-player; up to four players locally or online
DAVE THE DIVER Makes The Day’s Catch Matter At Dinner
A dive in DAVE THE DIVER starts with a limited supply of oxygen and the question of how much Dave can bring back before he has to surface. The Blue Hole changes between trips, filling the water with fish to catch, supplies to gather, and larger creatures that can cut an expedition short. At night, those catches become the menu at Bancho Sushi. Serving customers earns money for better diving equipment, which lets Dave go deeper and return with ingredients he couldn’t reach before.
The connection between exploring and running the restaurant gives the $19.99 base game a clear reason to head back underwater, while side quests and minigames keep changing what Dave has to do. The game’s playful presentation can hide some content parents should be aware of, with the E10+ rating including mild blood, suggestive themes, simulated gambling, and alcohol use. Dave also hunts sea life with a harpoon and other weapons.
Why Older Kids And Teens Will Love DAVE THE DIVER
Staying underwater a little longer could land the fish that makes tonight’s menu, but running out of oxygen means losing the catch. Kids have to decide when the risk stops being worth it, then see the result at the restaurant.
- Regular Price: $19.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital base game)
- ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+
- Content Descriptors: Mild Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Mild Violence, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
- Players: Single-player
Donut County Lets Kids Swallow A Town One Object At A Time
Donut County introduces a small hole in the ground that can barely fit a flowerpot. Drop enough small things through it and the hole grows wide enough to swallow furniture, buildings, and eventually the people standing nearby. Moving the hole is simple and the puzzles come from working out which objects fit now and what can be combined or launched back out to change the scene. Each new location gives that simple idea a different comic payoff.
There’s a story behind the disappearing town, too. A raccoon named BK has been using the holes to steal trash, and the neighbors he dropped underground want an explanation. The writing gives older kids something to laugh at while younger ones enjoy watching a whole yard vanish piece by piece. At just $12.99, Donut County is one of the cheaper games on this list, and also one of the silliest and most lighthearted ones.
Why Kids Will Love Donut County
Making soup inside the hole or launching something back out lets kids discover that swallowing everything isn’t always the answer. A clever solution can still leave an entire yard underground, which is very much BK’s idea of a job well done.
- Regular Price: $12.99 on Nintendo Switch (digital)
- ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
- Content Descriptors: Comic Mischief, Mild Fantasy Violence
- Platforms: PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS
- Players: Single-player
