Here are some relatively cheap games to give kids that aren't fortnite or roblox and dont run on some subscription/internal monetary currency:
Risk of Rain 2
Minecraft (Java)
Tunic
Stardew Valley
A Hat in Time
Baba is You
Fate (Wildtangent)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Not the Skywalker Saga)
Chip's Challenge 1 and 2
Shovel Night (Treasure Trove)
Here are some good Free Software games that cost nothing at all:
Hedgewars
Mindustry
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
Minetest (with MineClone2 mod)
0 A.D.
SuperTuxKart
Freeciv
FlightGear
Battle for Wesnoth
What about Veloren?!
I wish more people helped fund the development of open source games, if wesnoth had a real budget then it could be huge
But I want FortNite V-Buck's! I only have the default skins and people are making fun of me at school!
Exactly! This is more about the social aspect of these games. Kids are playing Fortnite/Roblox/Minecraft because that's where their friends are hanging out after school.
Death's Door
Celeste
Party Animals (you can buy a bunch of skins, but you don't need to)
The Outer Wilds
Why not skywalker saga, out of interest? Recently 100%ed it and thought it was a fun game.
It's relatively more expensive, and requires a bit more modern hardware to run it.
Most every game on this list can run on some 2011 bestbuy/walmart unbranded pc.
That's fair, I see what you mean. It is pretty hardware intensive relatively
I would like to add Outer Wilds to this. No combat, virtually no violence, and adult themes are aimed at mild existentialism. Great exploration game with fun physics and puzzles.
For older kids I'd suggest: Satisfactory. Essentially first person Factorio with mild combat vs fauna.
Astroneer: exploration and advancement.
Outer Wilds is kinda spooky though. I guess it depends on how old the kid is.
The DLC, definitely. The thorny planet is in the OG game a little bit. For the DLC I turned off scares because I don't really play horror games and it was still very fun.
Shovel knight rules
I never played the DLCs or the Shovel Knight adjacent games they made (think there was a puzzler?) but I loved the original when it came out. Might be time to dive back in to that world.
I only played the original. I had a super shitty laptop that I loved back in the day when I was working the ambulance. Would play it between calls. As well as a special LoL account that would occasionally go afk dying matches. (Sorry guys. Not my fault. Kind of my fault. I’m sorry.
I don't like how much Minecraft has me by the balls. With all my hatred for Microsoft, I can't let that game go.
On that note, install MineClone first, see if your kid likes it. Can't hurt to try.
(Edit: MineClone2, the mod for Minetest, as seen in the reply below)
MineClone
The top DDG search result for that (on crazygames . com) looks like a rip-off or something. I'm going to assume the thing you mean to recommend is MineClone2, a mod for MineTest, which is the most prominent Free Software Minecraft-style game.
I indeed mean MineClone2, the mod for Minetest.
I should've specified, there's no shortage of Minecraft clones to be confused by.
Missing Risk of Rain Returns smh
Minecraft was probably among the best 25$ I've ever spent. So many fun hours just messing around with friends.
geometry dash
don’t let play if anger issue
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Not the Skywalker Saga)
Clone Wars is also really good, plus it has a lot better split screen which is great for 2p coop playing with your kid/nephew/niece or just being able to have 2 children play together instead of fighting over who gets to play and who has to wait for their turn that never comes
Here are some relatively cheap games to give kids that aren't fortnite or roblox and dont run on some subscription/internal monetary currency:
Here are some good Free Software games that cost nothing at all:
What about Veloren?!
I wish more people helped fund the development of open source games, if wesnoth had a real budget then it could be huge
But I want FortNite V-Buck's! I only have the default skins and people are making fun of me at school!
Exactly! This is more about the social aspect of these games. Kids are playing Fortnite/Roblox/Minecraft because that's where their friends are hanging out after school.
Why not skywalker saga, out of interest? Recently 100%ed it and thought it was a fun game.
It's relatively more expensive, and requires a bit more modern hardware to run it.
Most every game on this list can run on some 2011 bestbuy/walmart unbranded pc.
That's fair, I see what you mean. It is pretty hardware intensive relatively
I would like to add Outer Wilds to this. No combat, virtually no violence, and adult themes are aimed at mild existentialism. Great exploration game with fun physics and puzzles.
For older kids I'd suggest: Satisfactory. Essentially first person Factorio with mild combat vs fauna.
Astroneer: exploration and advancement.
Outer Wilds is kinda spooky though. I guess it depends on how old the kid is.
The DLC, definitely. The thorny planet is in the OG game a little bit. For the DLC I turned off scares because I don't really play horror games and it was still very fun.
Shovel knight rules
I never played the DLCs or the Shovel Knight adjacent games they made (think there was a puzzler?) but I loved the original when it came out. Might be time to dive back in to that world.
I only played the original. I had a super shitty laptop that I loved back in the day when I was working the ambulance. Would play it between calls. As well as a special LoL account that would occasionally go afk dying matches. (Sorry guys. Not my fault. Kind of my fault. I’m sorry.
I don't like how much Minecraft has me by the balls. With all my hatred for Microsoft, I can't let that game go.
On that note, install MineClone first, see if your kid likes it. Can't hurt to try.
(Edit: MineClone2, the mod for Minetest, as seen in the reply below)
The top DDG search result for that (on crazygames . com) looks like a rip-off or something. I'm going to assume the thing you mean to recommend is MineClone2, a mod for MineTest, which is the most prominent Free Software Minecraft-style game.
I indeed mean MineClone2, the mod for Minetest.
I should've specified, there's no shortage of Minecraft clones to be confused by.
Missing Risk of Rain Returns smh
Minecraft was probably among the best 25$ I've ever spent. So many fun hours just messing around with friends.
geometry dash
don’t let play if anger issue
Clone Wars is also really good, plus it has a lot better split screen which is great for 2p coop playing with your kid/nephew/niece or just being able to have 2 children play together instead of fighting over who gets to play and who has to wait for their turn that never comes