The 13 best PS5 games for kids

There are plenty of amazing PS5 games these days, but many are not what a concerned mother would call “age-appropriate.” Don’t traumatize your kid with the horrors of Resident Evil or Elden Ring. Their older gamer cousins will do that for you. Here are the best PS5 games kids can play right now.

1. Stray

Stray is a downright adorable little game where you get to play as an adorable cat! But not your everyday house cat, no. This titular orange stray is living in a distant future, a monolithic sci-fi cityscape that is suspiciously devoid of human life. Groups of feral cats have made the place their home, but this particular kitty—after being separated from their pack—is whiskered away into an adventure involving helpful automatons and the mystery of humanity’s fate to be uncovered.

2. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

The Ratchet and Clank series has had a long and lustrous career as a triple-A kid’s game. It’s a third-person shooter where you play as a little alien cat guy known as a Lombax, accompanied by his robot pal Clank, saving the galaxy from all manner of intergalactic threats. In Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Ratchet, Clank, and a new Lombax pal must load up on cartoon weapons to stop a dimension-warping robotic space emperor from taking over the universe. All in a day’s work.

3. Sackboy: A Big Adventure

When the PS3 first hit the scene, their flagship fun-for-all-ages game was Little Big Planet. You played as an adorable little animated rag doll called a Sackboy and had to build and platform your way through a whimsical cartoon world. Sackboy: A Big Adventure picks up where the Little Big Planet series left off—more places to explore, more monsters to fight, and more surprises to find.

4. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania

The Super Monkey Ball series has been a staple of kids’ gaming since the ancient days of the PlayStation 2. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania passes the torch to a new generation. What exactly is Super Monkey Ball? It’s hard to describe. Essentially it’s a platformer/racing game, but instead of karts, you pilot monkeys inside of hamster balls. As games go, it’s truly one of a kind.

5. DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos

DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos is an adorable little superhero beat-’em-up game that lets you control all of DC’s heroes and rid the little town of Happy Harbor of criminal threats. You can play as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Raven, and a whole slew of other heroes. Despite its cutesy looks, the gameplay is fun and challenging enough to make it a rewarding experience for adults, too.

6. Overcooked! All You Can Eat

Overcooked! All You Can Eat is a gem of a game. Earth has been invaded by a gargantuan alien monster that demands a fine dining experience, and the planet’s best chefs have been called to feed the beast and stave off the planet’s destruction. Co-op madness ensues, with players having to communicate and work together in a busy kitchen to get food cooked. It might be The Bear for kids, but when the clock is ticking, it’s just as heart-pounding as the real thing.

7. Sonic Frontiers

Sonic the Hedgehog has been entertaining generations of kids long since the days of the Sega Dreamcast. Sonic Frontiers introduces the speedy, spiky rodent to an entirely new generation. Moving away from its 2D side scroller roots, Frontiers is the first-ever open-world Sonic game, allowing players to race across breathtaking vistas and battle monsters trying to take over the beautiful world.

8. Moving Out 2

Moving Out 2 and Overcooked! are cut from the same cloth. One is about the stresses of the kitchen, the other is about the stresses of moving to another place. Unlike real life, Moving Out 2 makes moving day fun. This co-op game makes players work together to carry precious furniture across all sorts of whimsical obstacles. Move furniture in a ballet of grace and coordination, or jump bump into things and knock your friends off of ledges with tables, you decide how to play.

9. The Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail—an old-school game of legend—has been lovingly remade for a modern era. This game is part survival sim and part history lesson. What does it teach? Be glad to be born in the modern era. Guide your pilgrims through the beautiful and brutal Old West, surviving snakebites, broken limbs, blizzards, starvation, and, of course … dysentery. Don’t worry, the game isn’t graphic, but it is a sobering experience.

10. Cocoon

Cocoon is what you’d call a puzzle adventure game, much like Stray. You play as an alien being lost on a faraway planet, who must survive by navigating the technological remnants of an ancient and advanced civilization. It’s a sci-fi puzzler that will prepare kids’ minds for all-time genre greats like the Portal series, but without an evil AI bullying them all the time.

11. Minecraft Legends

Minecraft is easily one of the greatest video games of all time, but alas, it is only for the computer. Minecraft Legends, on the other hand, reimagines Mojang’s beloved survival adventure game into a full-on action strategy RPG. Players must gather resources to craft weapons, armor, and fortresses to withstand an invasion from the blockheaded forces of evil.

12. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

You can’t go wrong with a LEGO Star Wars game, and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is no exception. Players can visit all of the famous locations in the galaxy far, far away, taking control of a myriad of characters from the film. Luke. Yoda. Chewy. Vader. Prepare to fight hordes of LEGO enemies and save the galaxy from the forces of darkness … or harness those forces and claim the galaxy for the Sith.

13. Astro Bot

Astro Bot is a space platformer to rival all-time genre greats like Super Mario Galaxy. Players take control of the adorable little Astro Bot as they navigate a cartoon sci-fi future to rescue their five cremates from alien worlds. Travel as far as your little mechanical legs will carry you through lush forests, sandy beaches, sky gardens, alien graveyards, and undersea cities. This charming robot odyssey is not to be missed.