Here's the thing: not all games marketed to kids are created equal. Some are genuinely creative, challenging, and worth the $60-70 price tag. Others are glorified slot machines designed to extract money through microtransactions. And some are just... fine? Like digital vegetables that your kids will tolerate but not love.

The PS5 also has backward compatibility with most PS4 games, which means your library options are massive. But that also means more to sort through, more ratings to check, and more potential for "Wait, this game has WHAT in it?"

Astro's Playroom comes pre-installed on every PS5, and honestly? It's a perfect starting point. It's colorful, creative, teaches kids the controller mechanics, and has zero violence. Plus it's free, which is always nice.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is the spiritual successor to LittleBigPlanet and it's delightful. Great for couch co-op (up to 4 players), genuinely funny, and has that perfect difficulty curve where it starts easy but gets challenging enough to keep older kids engaged.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits looks like a Pixar movie and plays like a gentler version of Zelda. There's some combat (you're fighting corrupted spirits), but it's not graphic. The story deals with themes of grief and letting go, which might be heavy for some younger kids but is handled beautifully.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is visually stunning and shows off what the PS5 can actually do. It's a shooter, yes, but you're shooting robots and alien creatures with cartoonish weapons. The humor is genuinely funny (not just "kid funny"), and the gameplay is solid.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the game every kid wants. It's rated T for Teen, but it's basically a playable Spider-Man movie. There's combat, but it's superhero punching, not graphic violence. The story is about community, responsibility, and finding your identity—all good stuff.

It Takes Two requires two players (no solo option), which is either perfect or a dealbreaker depending on your family. It's about a couple going through a divorce who get turned into dolls, which sounds dark but is handled in a way that's more whimsical than traumatic. Every level introduces completely new gameplay mechanics, so it never gets boring.

Horizon Forbidden West features a strong female protagonist, gorgeous open world, and robot dinosaurs. It's rated T for Teen and there's combat (you're hunting machines), but it's not gratuitously violent. The story is actually smart sci-fi about climate change, technology, and human nature.

Gran Turismo 7 is the racing sim for kids who are into cars. It's educational in a weird way—you learn about actual car models, racing history, and physics. No violence, just racing. Though fair warning: it can be a money pit if you're not careful about the in-game economy.

Let's be real: one of the best things about console gaming is playing together in the same room. Here are the games that actually deliver on that promise:

The PlayStation Store is a minefield. Just because a game shows up in the "Family" section doesn't mean it's appropriate. Always check the ESRB rating and read parent reviews. Our media pages have parent-sourced ratings that often catch things the official ratings miss.

Microtransactions are everywhere. Even in paid games. Fortnite, Roblox, and Fall Guys are all free-to-play but designed to extract money through cosmetics and battle passes. Set up spending limits on your PlayStation account before handing over the controller.

Online multiplayer means online strangers. Most PS5 games with online components have voice chat. You can (and should) disable this in parental controls for younger kids. The PS5's parental controls are actually pretty robust—learn how to set them up properly.

Game sharing is a thing. If you have multiple PS5s in your house (lucky you), you can share digital games between consoles. But this also means your kid might be playing their friend's M-rated games at their house. Worth a conversation.

Minecraft on PS5 is fine, but if your kid is already playing it on another platform, there's no real reason to buy it again unless they specifically want the PS5 version for some reason.

Fortnite is free and massively popular, but it's also a well-designed money extraction machine. If you allow it, set strict spending limits.

Call of Duty and other M-rated shooters—look, I'm not going to tell you how to parent, but these are legitimately violent games with realistic weapons and war scenarios. The ESRB rating is M for a reason. If your 10-year-old is begging for it because "everyone at school plays it," that's a conversation worth having about peer pressure and age-appropriate content.

The PS5 has a genuinely great library of family-friendly games, but you need to be intentional about what you're buying. The best games for families are the ones that encourage cooperation, creativity, and actual fun—not just flashy graphics and endless grinding.

Start with the free Astro's Playroom to see if your kids even like console gaming. If they do, Sackboy and Ratchet & Clank are safe bets that show off what the system can do.

And remember: the best game is the one that gets your family playing together, laughing together, and occasionally yelling at each other about who didn't call out the enemy in Overcooked. That's what gaming should be about.