Game Recommendations to play with my 11yr old son

C

ChicagoPete

n00b
Joined
Feb 16, 2019
Messages
1
Hi Im looking to play an online PC strategy game with my eleven year old son. My first attempt this last week was MW3 since we have two xbox consoles. He liked MW3 but he is not really interested in playing for long like his brother is. He would rather play G-MOD and ROBLOX which Im not very familiar with. He loves the board games Stratego and Chess. We just gave him SKYRIM today and he really likes that, we have to ask him to take breaks or he wont stop. So Im hoping to find a 2 player or Multi player game he finds just as interesting.

I was looking at SQUAD and ARMA3 today online and they look great. I would buy either if I knew he really wanted to play one for a while.

Maybe WORLD OF WARCRAFT? I havent played that myself, but any decent strategy will hold my interest as long as my son is having fun.

Any suggestions on games or where to start looking online would be really helpful. Prefer to play for free for short time then buy once I know we both equally like the game.

Thank you in advance.


Pete
Chicago IL
 
Sounds like your son is pretty open to trying a variety of genres, so really the sky's the limit. None of the games you listed are strategy games, though. Squad and ARMA are FPSes, and WoW is an MMO.

For actual strategy titles, some I'd suggest would be the Total War series (Shogun 2, Warhammer are some of the better ones in that series) and there's always RTS games which can be lots and lots of fun to co-op against AI. My fave RTS (and it's available cheaply, too) is the Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War series. Also Starcraft and Starcraft 2, but of course there are maaaany to choose from.
 
Stacraft 2, duos and 1v1 are both incredibly fun. I haven't played it since the 2 expansions came out, but Wings of Liberty may have been the best RTS ever even surpassing BroodWar. Company of Heroes is pretty good as well, but don't think it has as many players. I haven't played RTS in years but just thinking about it makes me want to give the newer ones a try.

If you're looking for shooting games, you could always give Apex Legends a try since it is free as well as Fortnite. If you want something more tactical I would say Squad or Insurgency Sandstorm.
 
You can play Skyrim with your son with Skyrim Together.

https://skyrim-together.com/

Its in a closed beta now, so you can either wait for the open beta, or donate $1 via Patreon and get in right now. If you need help installing or modding Skyrim in general, I've been down that rabbit hole and would be happy to help.


It sounds like he likes "sandbox" games, so I'm sure he's already played the heck out of Minecraft, maybe even modded Minecraft. You could take a look at Terraria (or their sci-fi cousins Dig or Die and Starbound). Subnautica and RimWorld also have multiplayer mods in development, and Satisfactory is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Castle Crashers seems right up his alley as far as RTS games go, but you could also try "traditional" RTS games like Planetary Annihilation: Titans or the ones mentioned in previous posts.

Sanctum 2 combines turret-defense strategy with FPS action, while Executive Assault (and it's upcoming sequel) are RTS FPS hybrids.

Overcooked, Portal 2 and Aragami are fun co-op games in shorter bursts.


That's all my caffeine deficient brain can come up with now, though I'm sure I left out some good ones.
 
Glow Kids cover image copy.jpg
 
Alot of games escape the imagination of a 11 year old or are too complex I mean I had a problem with Mike Tyson's Punchout tor the NES. You might want to get him Pathfinder Kingmaker but that game might be too complex it was for me or maybe try Grim Dawn that game is pretty sweet but I'm partial to top down games of late.
 
if he likes Skyrim I would suggest Elder scrolls online which is basically an MMO verion of skyrim.

Or maybe a diablo or one of it's clones like Comixbooks suggested, Torchlight 2 has some kid friendly graphics compared to some of the others.
 
Diablo 3 is a simple hack and slash game. Easy to get out of and after a good amount of time boring as hell :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Auer
like this
another one if you like strategy games Dota 2 autochess mod which is completely free as well.
 
There is this massive MNORPG, that I've been really hooked lately, where you can play lots of sports (even with your kid) like soccer, baseball and even basketball. I recommend it 100%
 
i have a 11y daughter.

good single player games will keep them in front of the PC 100s of hours. whether this is good for the kids is another matter.

online games have a lot of abusive behavior and bad language.

she only play online games without any kind of chat. teaches her to face defeat and overcame her weaknesses. as she grow older i will allow online games with chat to develop social skills, but under my direct supervision.

as a father, i would rather play WITh her than AGAINST her. so local co-op and couch co-op are my favorite games.

I use https://www.co-optimus.com/ to research co-op games.

LEGO PC games are great for us, because we talk, plan and help each other towards the game goals.
and we laugh together with our fails.

we are currently playing Child of Light and Little Witch Academy Chamber of Time. We have all "Tales of" series of games to play after that.
 
I'm in the same situation and I just bought Borderlands2 and I'll see if she like it.
 
Fortnite and Minecraft are the two really popular games at that age for my son.
 
D3, PoE for sure.

Low budget dungeon fun that are easy to pick up and lay down.

ARPG's are wonderfully casual when needed to.
 
MYST. It will teach problem solving. Also it’s sequel Riven.

I’ve heard roomers that Rand and Robyn Miller May be working on a new chapter.

Trivia: the original MYST release was Mac only. They had 40 Macintosh Quadra 800’s running 24 hrs a day rendering the graphics.

This game deserves a lot more respect than it gets, even though it gets a lot already.

I remember chatting with them on compuserve during its development and release.
 
Fuck Fortnite or any of these mindless new games,

Give him a Nintendo & Sega Genesis. You know, what we grew up with?.....Right? Those games are very hard by todays standards, they will teach him problem solving skills & perseverance.

.....Eh, maybe some Resident Evil 2 remake & old Mortal Kombat for good measure :p
 
Last edited:
Krenum said:
Fuck Fortnite or any of these mindless new games,

Give him a Nintendo & Sega Genesis. You know, what we grew up with?.....Right? Those games are very hard by todays standards, they will teach him problem solving skills & perseverance.
Click to expand...

This. Years ago, I gave my kids a Sega Genesis that I had kicking around when they were pre-teens. I only had a couple of games for it left over, like Street Fighter 2 Turbo- King of Fighters- Vectorman and Sonic 3D. I schooled em' on how to take an ass wooping like a pro first, than I turned them loose on their own, I would find post it notes with codes all over the house for weeks. Since then I have never seen them rage quit as much as they did with the old Genesis. Pure comedy gold.
 
Sounds like you are a fps guy and your kid is a puzzle/builder guy?
Ask him what genre he likes first.

I was a quake guy and played fps for 20 years. My cousin is slow in aiming and hates every fps on earth.
I played pokemon with him and talk about it from time to time. I still cant recognize half the name but Im his favorite.
 
Terraria
Borderlands 1&2
Fighting Games
Lego Worlds
Wizard of Legend
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
CRAWL
M.U.L.E.
Archon
No Man's Sky
Quake 3 Arena (or if you want something more modern Quake Champions isn't too bad at this stage)

Some are newer, some classic. All are good and multiplayer suitable for 2-4 players.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
For exploring and world building, you might look at Astroneer. PC only though on Steam and not free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top