041Tech columnist Jenine Wyngaard shares some family games to enjoy solo or with your family this festive season.
WITH the festive season just around the corner, most people are getting ready to enjoy some well earned time off. Letters are being written to a certain gentleman in a red suit with a wishlist geared at helping keep minds occupied with some fun over the holidays. And what better way to spend your holidays than playing some games? So let’s take a look at some of the games that should be on the wishlist, we’ll do this across the various platforms, because we don’t discriminate 😉
Let’s start things off low tech, here is a list of the most popular family board games:
Kids Against Maturity: Family-oriented, fun, fill-in-the-blank game will have your kiddos coming up with the most hilarious combinations. Filled with child-appropriate humor and innuendos that all of the grown-ups can chuckle at, this will become a new go-to favorite for family game night.
Beat the Parents: This hilarious game will have you battling your children through trivia, challenges, and daring wagers.
Disney Villainous: Even if you hate to admit it, the most entertaining character in a Disney movie is most definitely the villain. This board game is all about tapping into your inner bad guy to win. The game comes with some of your favorite evil characters like Scar and Ursula, and which each player chooses determines how they play and their end goal to win. Expansion packs are also available to expand on the fun.
Articulate: Trying to describe words to your team without saying them, using the first letter, or resorting to rhyming is the fun challenge at the heart of Articulate. There’s a kid’s version, and you can use cards from that mixed with the original to get the right level of difficulty for adults and children.
Ticket to Ride: Easy to learn but spellbinding nonetheless, it challenges you to build a train line across continents. You spend cards to claim routes, and there are bonus points for connecting certain destinations. The European version adds ferries and tunnels, and there are lots of other expansions too. There’s also a version called First Journey that shortens and simplifies the gameplay for younger kids.
Moving into the digital arena, let’s look at some of the current top selling games from each platform.
| Minecraft Legends | Action-strategy game where you are the only hope to repel hordes of piglins and prevent the Nether from invading the Overworld. Developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive, published by Xbox Game Studios. |
| Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name | Action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It is a spin-off of the Like a Dragon series. |
| Hogwarts Legacy | Action role-playing game developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. The game is part of the Wizarding World franchise, taking place a century prior to the events chronicled in the Harry Potter novels. |
| Assassin’s Creed Mirage | Action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux and published by Ubisoft. The game is the thirteenth major installment in the Assassin’s Creed series and the successor to 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | First-person shooter video game developed by Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision. It is a sequel to 2022’s Modern Warfare II, serving as the third entry in the rebooted Modern Warfare sub-series and the twentieth installment in the overall Call of Duty series. |
| God of War Ragnarök | From Santa Monica Studio comes the sequel to the critically acclaimed God of War (2018).Join Kratos and Atreus on a mythic journey for answers before Ragnarök arrives. Together, father and son must put everything on the line as they journey to each of the Nine Realms. |
| Gran Turismo 7 | Experience the complete Real Driving simulator… 25 years in the making.Get behind the wheel of over 400 cars from day one – with each classic motor and bleeding-edge supercar recreated with unparalleled detail – and navigate over 90 track routes in dynamic weather conditions. Developed by Polyphony Digital Inc. released by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. |
| Diablo IV | Next-gen action RPG experience with endless evil to slaughter, countless abilities to master, nightmarish dungeons, and legendary loot. Released by Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the megalopolis of Night City, where you play as a cyberpunk mercenary wrapped up in a do-or-die fight for survival. Released by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. |
| Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | Spider-Men Peter Parker and Miles Morales face the ultimate test of strength inside and outside the mask as they fight to save the city, each other and the ones they love, from the monstrous Venom and the dangerous new symbiote threat. Developed by Insomniac Games, Inc. |
| Dead Cells: Netflix Edition | Involves navigating beautifully drawn side-scrolling levels and their unique populations of traps, power-ups and enemies, while building your character up to face the final boss, The Hand of the King.The Netflix version contains all its munificent DLC, right up to the most recent, Return To Castlevania. |
| Warcraft Rumble | Looking a little like Clash Royale, Warcraft Rumble is a card collecting game about destroying your opponent’s tower by placing miniature Warcraft characters on a map, who then go off about their business, targeting air and ground units, and capturing buildings. |
| Marvel Snap | Draws from the comics, so if you are an avid fan, you will recognize tons of characters who have yet to appear in the MCU. Marvel Snap is a digital collectible card game developed by Second Dinner and published by Nuverse. |
| Disney Speedstorm | Drift and drag into this hero-based action combat racer, set on high-speed circuits inspired by Disney and Pixar worlds. Master each Racer’s ultimate skills on the arcade racetrack, and claim victory in this multiplayer racing experience from the creators of the Asphalt series. |
| Genshin Impact | The colorful animations and detailed stories that the game has to offer and its vast open world make it a bit of a marvel on mobile devices. Genshin Impact is also available on several other platforms and supports crossplay between every available platform. |
| Alan Wake 2 | Another chapter in the mind-bending Remedy universe, Alan Wake 2 picks up right where the cult classic left off more than a decade ago. The lightly spooky elements of the first game turn much darker here, for a horror experience full of unforgettable moments. |
| Dota 2 | Not only one of the more daunting PC games to learn and master, but it’s also one of the most rewarding and satisfying to play once you know what you’re doing. Two teams of five assault each other as they try to destroy the opposing team’s Ancient. |
| League of Legends | One of the most popular competitive games for a reason. From its strategic combat and mechanical depth to its colorful characters, it’s hard not to get sucked into game after game of this MOBA. While there’s a lot to learn, it’s not as mechanically dense or difficult to master |
| Starfield | The most anticipated RPGs from Bethesda, the studio behind Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. This game will seem very familiar to those who’ve played these types of games, but the new spacefaring setting introduces a variety of biomes and enemies, space combat, and refined gunplay with boost packs for extra mobility. While it’s available on Xbox as well, only the PC version supports console commands and mods to customize the experience to your liking. |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | Bringing the incredible story of Geralt of Rivia to a close. This installation of the series puts Geralt on a quest to find Ciri. He reconnects with old flames, friends, and adversaries as he searches far and wide for her. Of course, there’s an abundance of side quests and characters to meet along the way, which will undoubtedly keep you busy for hours. |
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