These days, with the stresses of life and the world bearing down with unprecedented pressure, I find myself seeking comfort from my entertainment. I have never been against challenging media but I have been very selective about the stories I absorb these days. More and more, especially recently, I find myself spending my gaming time with old school adventure games aimed at children. I feel a draw and pull to it that makes me think there’s a path through them. Maybe something in that field waits for me in the future. Maybe it’s just how, as someone who isn’t very nostalgic, I experience nostalgia.
Of course, me being me, I can’t talk about games without talking about how much I want to make ones like them. With Nancy Drew at over forty games and counting and a brand-new Carmen Sandiego game going strong, maybe now’s the perfect time to bring one of these back. Either way though, all of these games are worth talking about so let’s get started. If you’re familiar, I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you’re not familiar but you are intrigued, I include links where I can.
Pajama Sam
I have sung the praises of Pajama Sam previously but I can’t talk about kid-focused adventure games without including the exploits of our wild-haired hero here. This “Junior Adventure” from Humongous Entertainment sets a gold standard for adventure gaming. The art is bright and imaginative, the puzzles are intuitive, the dialogue is funny, and the world is chock full of interactivity and wow moments.
You guide Sam through incredibly imaginative worlds full of sentient cookies, vegetable revolutionaries, personifications of weather, a literal chair-man of the board, and a talking mine cart. He will find befriend darkness itself and fix weather machines and prevent junk food from taking over an island all while conquering his fears and learning valuable life lessons in the process. Pajama Sam is just great. Play it. PLAY PAJAMA SAM I MEAN IT.
Humongous Entertainment, through parent company Tommo, has kept Pajama Sam available on modern platforms but, seriously and for real, the world needs more Pajama Sam games.
You can grab the games on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and the App Store.
Spy Fox
Another key entry from Humongous Entertainment, Spy Fox follows the cases of our titular hero as he tracks down nefarious do-bads around the globe. Taking inspiration from sources such as James Bond and Get Smart, Spy Fox has everything you would want from a kid-focused spy adventure. He is supported by a team of experts–coordinator Monkey Penny, tech specialist Dr. Quack, and pocket-sized surveillance expert Walter Wireless–and a vending machine full of gadgets such as a fingerprint-copying utensil set, a programmable set of ice skates, and a
Spy Fox’s globe-hopping adventures will see feeding tranquilizer-laced chicken knuckles to alligators, using bad breath unlock a door, stealing a chef’s coat from a wax statue, and helping a stuntman finish his act all in service of stopping a conspiracy to rid the world of cow’s milk or prevent a towering dog-shaped robot from trampling the World’s Fair.
In addition to the humor, engaging art, and quirky interactivity of the Pajama Sam games, Spy Fox features different playthrough options. One game, you might have to solve one series of puzzles to foil the big bad’s plot while, in another, you’ll have to thwart a completely different set of plans.
Spy Fox is an easy recommendation for fans of the genre. All five Spy Fox games are available on Steam, the first three can be found on the App Store, but only the first one is available for the Nintendo Switch.
Like his pajama-clad stablemate, Spy Fox is more than deserving of a comeback and it is my sincere hope he comes out of retirement.
(This is the last I speak of Humongous Entertainment but they have even more games worth checking out. I recommending hitting their website to see full list of games they have available on PC, Mac, Mobile, and console.)
ClueFinders
While many “kids games” label themselves as “edutainment” they tend to tilt far more toward “tainment” than “edu.” The ClueFinders games lean the other way with a focus on grade-specific subjects for elementary students. In fact, the first few titles were explicitly labeled as “3rd Grade” and “4th Grade” with then curriculum-appropriate focuses in geography, math, logic, and language expressed through puzzles.
The ClueFinders themselves are a diverse team of bright-minded students and, at least for the first two games, their dog, Socrates. Each game has the kids answering a call for help and venturing out to some real-world location to solve a mystery using their (but, really, the player’s) observation skills, intuition, and inventiveness.
First launched in 1998, the ClueFinders starred in ten PC games and three browser games over the course of just a handful of years. Along the way, the games earned numerous awards and accolades from gaming press and educational institutions.
You can pick up physical copies on the secondary market as well as Amazon but, sadly, they are not available for legal download.
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Are You Afraid of the Dark? was a television show that ran in the 90s on Nickelodeon. Like the king of tween terror, Goosebumps, the show was focused on horrifying stories aimed at a younger audience. While each week primarily focused on a different tale, the show had a framing narrative where a group of teens who called themselves the Midnight Society meet up to share stories and try to scare each other senseless. While that frame became less prominent over the series run, it remains an iconic element of the IP.
In 1994, the gaming world was blessed with a fantastic little tie-in game subtitled The Tale of Orpheo’s Curse. In it, two siblings venture into an abandoned theater and run into a twisted plot that involves vengeful ghosts, electrical demons, and wax figures who may or may not be alive. A blend of first-person puzzle-solving, FMV cinematics, 3D environment, and 2D embellishments, the game uses whatever tool it needs to tell its tale. The result is outstanding. The framing narrative comes into play not only as bookends but also as a hint system for when the characters hit a dead end.
Lack of support and advertisement led to the game hitting the shelves with a thud. It deserved then and deserves now far more attention than it ever reserved. It should have launched a series of adventure titles. Trust, I have few dreams higher than working on this IP.
You can find copies of the game on the secondary market (I got my copy off eBay back in 2014). If you’re a fan of the show or of classic adventure games and you have a CD player and a copy of DosBox, it is worth hunting down a copy of the game. Sadly, there’s no legal way to acquire a digital copy.
Fun fact: One the game’s artists and designers (and the guy playing Edgar Allan Poe in the museum), Doug Snook, did illustrations for the original Little Fears and was sole artist for its tenth anniversary edition.
I love love love middle grade horror. And I love love love anthology shows. Therefore, as you can imagine, I love love love Are You Afraid of the Dark? How much do I love AYAOTD? I have its logo tattooed on my arm. It’s right next to my tattoo of…
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is the undisputed queen of young detectives. Of course, as I mentioned at the start of this post, Nancy is no stranger to video games. She has appeared in over forty (!!!) titles, over thirty of which come courtesy of HeR Interactive. For the most part, those games have followed a familiar formula. One that works, to be clear. And one that has resonated with audience for three decades. But I think there is room for a fresh take on Nancy Drew in the video game world. Something that shakes up the formula and offers a new perspective on the space the storied sleuth could occupy.
Whether that ever happens is up to powers beyond mine but I hope Nancy Drew continues to evolve and remain relevant. If you aren’t familiar and want to see what the world’s cleverest young detective has been getting up to, head over to Steam where you will find plenty of options. (I recommend Warnings at Waverly Academy and the White Wolf of Icicle Creek, personally, but it’s hard to go wrong, especially with the older ones.)
In Sum
Adventure games for kids haven’t gone anywhere but, with everyone shoving “kid content” into games like Roblox and Fortnite, there are far fewer being made these days. And I think that’s a shame. There is space for these games beyond just tickling the nostalgia center of some old game developer. Games like those above deserve a shot at coming back. Sure, we implement some modern polish and guidance, we build them for PC, console, and mobile, but we can keep the core, keep what makes these great, and come up with some truly spectacular games for kids of all ages.
