Game Where You Take Care of a Baby

I could cite jump, Bambi or the birds and the bees every bit the inspiration for this list, merely the real reason I've been thinking about child-rearing in games has much more to do with the recently released PS Vita game Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines. Childhood is a cruelly short, almost non-existant period of a graphic symbol'southward life in Oreshika (which I reviewed here on Paste a while back) and association members practice precious little parenting exterior of gainsay preparation. But yet, the clan's family tree is a large part of what makes the game memorable, and it got me thinking about how other games have handled the mechanics of having and raising kids.

I'm not necessarily talking about virtual pet games, or games where one character happens to be a parent, or fifty-fifty games where the next generation functions similar an extra handful of quarters at the arcade. I'm too not talking well-nigh the pseudo-instructional babysitting sims in conspicuous pink boxes that have been effectually since well before Babysitting Mama made it'south very delible marker. Instead, let's take a expect at some games where caring for your character's kids is more than simply a thing of keeping everyone'due south meters full.

1. Crusader Kings Ii

Crusader Kings II contains all of the features y'all'd look from a land-grabbing, title-usurping medieval strategy game, but for many of its fans it's the game'south social mechanics that make information technology such a fascinating matter to play. Children are necessary if you want to keep your dynasty going, and some of the simplest strategic moves that you tin can make involve selecting their tutors almost as advisedly selecting their suitors. Random events volition help shape every child's personality as they grow, and depending on what expansions you accept yous may fifty-fifty finish up with a literal antichrist on your hands. That certainly makes your fiefdom a little more than heady when that child inherits their parent's holdings and starts scheming for themselves.

two. Shelter

I waffled about whether or not to include this one on the list. In a sense the offspring y'all're safeguarding in Shelter and its recently released successor Shelter 2 qualify every bit only a handful of quarters—individual buffers between you and a "game over" screen. So long as you can continue at least one of your babies alive, you have a chance to win. But the difference between how this mechanism plays out in Shelter compared to The Deer God, Tokyo Jungle or even Massive Beaker is that Shelter makes you care, and information technology makes you care deeply. It makes you care to the point that yous can feel the game's cold, cruel talons gripping your heart every time another creature's cold, cruel talons grip one of your babies. Even a gentle cakewalk through the grass will exist enough to startle you and send you sprinting, counting the fragile bodies bounding afterwards you to make sure that everyone is accounted for. Shelter 2 twists the knife by assuasive you to name your offspring, ensuring an extra sting when instead of losing Cub #2, you lose 'Little Sammy'. It'due south really something of a approving that yous don't have to spend time educating your babies in either of these games, because you'll take enough on your plate worrying about how (or even if) they'll survive.

3. The Sims

There are a lot of different means to play The Sims. In quite a few of them child-rearing may never enter into the film, but for many players it's a significant part of the equation. Plenty of Sims-fans adopt "legacy" play, building a family tree that grows wealthier and more successful over time every bit each generation builds upon the foundations left by those that came before. Information technology'due south not unlike Crusader Kings II or Oreshika when you think well-nigh information technology, but The Sims provides a much more than detailed social simulation than either of these other games exercise. Procreation and parenting are much more hands-on, starting from a fateful WooHoo between partners and passing through every single phase of life. This is why there was such an uproar over the removal of toddlers in The Sims 4. In The Sims 3, tending to toddlers is i of the all-time ways to ensure that your young sims start out on the right foot. Virtual parents who take the time to diligently teach toddlers how to walk, talk and utilize the potty are rewarded when their children age up and receive more beneficial personality traits. Toddlers without these advantages will still know how to walk, talk and salvage themselves like any other sim, but they have a college risk of developing negative personality traits that could pose a trouble down the line. This carries on throughout a sim'southward childhood with their performance in school tied to like perks, while children who are consistently neglected may end upward existence taken away by protective services. All said it'south not the most subtle or elegant system, simply it does the trick.

4. The Novelist

Many games that attempt to mechanically model parent-child relationships present players with an unconscious (and often inconsequential) pick between their character'southward personal priorities and their responsibilities as a parent. Few games make those choices as explicit at The Novelist does. When yous make the choice to work on your novel rather than taking your kid to the park in The Sims information technology's incredibly easy to overlook the potential ramifications of that choice. Non so in The Novelist where the balance of work and life is an ever-nowadays weight on the main character'south shoulders.

five. Creatures

I'g non a parent, but I imagine that when yous accept a young child y'all are in a abiding state of fright, and that fear is probably divided equally between the idea of your child eating something they shouldn't, going somewhere they shouldn't, or getting Measles from an unvaccinated Grendel. I doubtable that particular blend of parental feet was effectively instilled in nearly young folks who got their hands on a copy of Creatures or its sequels. Creatures allows you lot to raise, train and breed Mogwai-esque bipedal animals called Norns. Norns are highly susceptible to illness and accident, and for every 2nd 1 of your Norns is off screen the chances they volition meet some tragic end amplify. I'd say more, but I wouldn't want to pace on Jenn Frank's toes; Her 2012 essay on Creatures and maternal anxiety is a classic for expert reason.

6. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

Yous've been able to have kids with the town's eligible bachelorettes since the very starting time of this series, but fifty-fifty though they've almost e'er been a office of the Harvest Moon experience the part your in-game kids play has varied from game to game. Sometimes they've been set decoration, some other confront to come dwelling to alongside your spouse and your canis familiaris. On other occasions, yous've been able to utilise them as an actress set up of hands around the farm. No guarantee that they would do a good job, of course, but even when their performance was spotty their assistance was a valuable style to save time and stamina. The well-nigh interesting parenting mechanics by far belong to Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, where your kid has their own interests and you need to do your all-time equally a parent to nurture them on top of managing your crops and livestock. Spoilers ahead: A Wonderful Life ends with the farmer's expiry, going on to show what path in life their child chose and how well suited (or not) they are to it. It's a somewhat heavy note to cease on, which is why information technology stands out dramatically in this otherwise lighthearted series.

vii. Kosodate Quiz My Angel

It wouldn't be a good list without at least one obscure Japanese pull. Kosodate Quiz My Affections is the only game on this list that lets two players parent in tandem (depending on the version) with 1 player as a mother and the other as a father. The human activity of parenting takes on a pretty unusual form too. Players answer trivia questions to help accelerate their young daughter through each stage of her life, and as the game progresses her appearance and personality will change in response to how well you do. It's a fleck like Niggling Pursuit, just with a human existence instead of a little plastic pie bicycle.

viii. Princess Maker

Role of me wants to acknowledge that there is a creepy undertone to some of the Princess Maker games that should disqualify them from being a part of this listing. Withal, some other (much louder) part of me can't discount my ain favorable experiences with the serial. When I first played Princess Maker 2 I had a very enjoyable time rearing a rebellious and precipitous-witted princess who tore through monster-riddled forests with abandon and had no time for the bureaucratic nonsense I tried to impose every bit her guardian. I let her get a picayune out of hand and there were consequences for that, but those 'consequences' just made her a vastly more than interesting character to me in the end. Princess Maker has its problems, but there'due south still something highly-seasoned there. More importantly, without Princess Maker nosotros likely wouldn't have Long Live the Queen around to add a dose of glittery pink attempted regicide to our Steam libraries.

Janine Hawkins is a games writer based in sunny Canada. You can find her written and video work on HealerArcherMage.com or follow her on Twitter @bleatingheart.

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Source: https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/8-great-games-about-parenting/

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