Just Dance 2022 (Xbox Series X|S)

For those amongst you who like to get a little exercise whilst you game, Ubisoft's long-running Just Dance franchise is an excellent, kid-friendly experience that let's up to six players get their boogie on to an absolutely huge back catalogue of funky tracks - it's even got a special kids mode for younger children.

Straight out of the box, you're getting a pretty slim selection of songs with Just Dance 2022, our one major recurring issue with the series, but you do get a free pass for a full month of Just Dance Unlimited which nets you access to around 600 songs, and the subscription to continue once this runs out is fairly inexpensive. The game itself works really well in picking up your motions and scoring you accordingly and, as this writer can attest, getting your family together and shaking it to the colourful videos and pop songs here is 100% a very good time indeed.

  • Xbox Game Pass? No

Minecraft (Xbox One)

Probably the most obvious, and popular, inclusion on this list, Minecraft has been entertaining kids all over the world since all the way back in 2011.

An amazing mixture of endless creative possibilities set in a lovely blocky world that's absolutely dripping in atmosphere and character, Minecraft really has got it all. Build complex designs and structures that you've spent aeons working on, build your very own village, ultra modern house, castle of horrors or get busy following along the story in order to visit the Nether and the End and destroy the Ender Dragon...you can do pretty much anything here. There's value in exploring how materials break down here too and kids will absolutely learn all manner of things about the real world around them as they play. If you've got a console and some kids, this game is a no-brainer.

  • Xbox Game Pass? Yes

Minecraft Dungeons (Xbox One)

Sticking with all things Minecraft and Mojang turned to dungeon-crawling RPG action in 2020 with Minecraft Dungeons, a bright and colourful, Diablo-esque affair that sees up to four players in local co-op battle their way across wonderful recreations of the Minecraft world, taking on all manner of beasties as they hoover up tons of sweet, sweet loot and raise their hero's character level. This one may be squarely aimed at kids, but there's plenty for adults to enjoy on higher difficulties and it's been supported with lots of updates, patches and DLC since first release. As we said in our review:

"Minecraft Dungeons does an excellent job of taking the blocky world and characters that we all know and love from Minecraft and transplanting them into a light and breezy, kid-friendly action-RPG. The streamlined systems of character building and upgrading here are delightfully easy to engage with, levels are beautifully realised, and randomly generated slices of the overworld and the various mobs and bosses you come up against provide a fun challenge for up to four players to get stuck into."

  • Xbox Game Pass? Yes

Ori The Collection (Xbox Series X|S)

An absolutely magical collection of both of Moon Studios' phenomenal Ori games, in Ori: The Collection you're looking at two of the very best platforming experiences available on Xbox, two absolutely engrossing, emotional and, most importantly, fun games that we've returned to multiple times over the past few years.

Both Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Ori and the Blind Forest are amongst the finest examples of the modern platforming genre, weaving slick and inventive gameplay with phenomenal graphical and audio work and narratives that will keep you, and your kids, hooked right through your adventures. These are must-play games!

  • Xbox Game Pass? Yes, both games from the collection available separately!

Overcooked! All You Can Eat (Xbox Series X|S)

One of our absolute favourite games of the past few years for a spot of couch co-op with four players, Overcooked! All You Can Eat includes both main games from the series and all previously released DLC, resulting in a proper smorgasbord of hilariously frantic kitchen carnage.

The whole deal here is to make the best of your silly chef's limited abilities in a series of increasingly complex kitchens in order to successfully serve up increasingly challenging food orders. You'll need to work together, pass ingredients, boss each other around, make sure everyone is pulling their weight and basically run around like a loon so that things don't fall apart. It can be quite tense, even stressful at times, but the goofy graphical stylings and madcap silliness of the whole thing ensure that it's always a hilariously good time. Also, if you want to sample what this one is all about before splashing out on the full package, you can also just grab Overcooked 2 from Game Pass. Delicious!

  • Xbox Game Pass? No, but Overcooked 2 is!

Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay (Xbox One)

Just the fact that this is a Paw Patrol game will be enough for some kids, but it's also a pretty good one, and it was recently added to Xbox Game Pass as well — so you can try it out at no extra cost if you're a subscriber!

It's essentially a platformer with exploration elements thrown in, where it's "up to you and the Pups to use their powers, rescue skills and gadgets to make the town PAWsome again". There's also a two-player co-op mode thrown in along with various mini-games, so if you've got Game Pass, this is a no-brainer for most young kids in our opinion.

  • Xbox Game Pass? Yes

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville (Xbox One)

Popcap Games' Plants vs Zombies has come a long way from its original incarnation as a top-down tower defence puzzler, and this latest iteration sees you jump into third-person shooter combat in the latest addition to the Garden Warfare spin-off series.

If you think most third person shooters are too violent for your kids this really is a perfect alternative, a bright and colourful shooter where you take on all manner of garden monstrosities across a bevvy of modes, including two different co-op options and plenty of different online offerings. There's been a ton of work put into character designs and the world in which you run amok here, and the whole thing has a great sense of goofy humour and wacky fun to boot. If you're looking for a bright and breezy shooter that's a good fit for younger gamers, this is a fantastic option.

  • Xbox Game Pass? Yes (through EA Play)

Rayman Legends (Xbox One)

The follow-up to the excellent Rayman Origins, Michael Ancel's next blast of platforming action is hands down one of the greatest examples of the genre that we've ever played. It's that good!

Rayman Legends is almost stupefyingly creative, never resting on its laurels, never sitting still for a second, it spits out great new ideas in almost every single one of its many, many levels. With a gorgeous art style, detailed animations, incredible music, tons of unlockables and some of the best boss fights we've encountered in a platformer, Legends is, quite simply, a must-play game and a perfect fit for younger audiences.

We must have to give a shout out to the music-basic levels here, as they're some the coolest and cleverest bursts of platforming we've ever experienced. With up to 4-player co-op, millions of skins and characters to unlock and a sense of joy, fun and humour that make us return to this one over and over again, now is the time to join the Rayman party!

  • Xbox Game Pass? No

Riders Republic (Xbox Series X|S)

Forza Horizon but for extreme sports? It's a great idea and one that Ubisoft pulled off with aplomb in 2021 in the form of Riders Republic. This is a hugely enjoyable esports sandbox that sees you dropped into an impressively huge world map made up of a bunch of famous American national parks all stitched together to create the ultimate extreme sports venue.

It's slick, kid-friendly stuff and the sports, such as mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding and so on, all work extraordinarily well, making for some exhilarating racing action as you take on players from around the world in all manner of events. As we said in our 9/10 review:

"Riders Republic is a fantastic open world sports game that delivers big on massively multiplayer arcade mayhem whilst also giving solo players a ton of content to dig into. There's an enormous, breathtakingly beautiful world to explore here that delivers carefully curated tracks and events for each every one of its sports disciplines, whilst also giving you free reign to head on out and cut your own path through its seven national parks' worth of wonderful wilderness."

  • Xbox Game Pass? No

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ROBLOX (Xbox One)

The first time we laid eyes on Roblox we weren't quite sure what to make of it all but, having seen our kids plough hours into it and heard the excited chatter between them and all of their schoolfriends about their adventures, we can confirm that this one is a bonafide smash hit with the kiddies.

What you've got here is basically an endless selection of crazy, player-created games that borrow and straight-up steal from every gaming and tv trend going in order to provide a constant stream of throwaway co-operative and single player experiences. There's rip offs of Among Us here, games based on all manner of famous franchises and tons of assault course style challenges to dig into. Yes, there's the constant offering of paid for skins and items to look out for but, as long as you've got your console set up properly with parental passcodes, all of this is off limits unless you choose to indulge in it. It's not the prettiest of games, but Roblox sure does capture the imagination of younger players and it's become a long-running phenomenon as a result.

  • Xbox Game Pass? No, but it's free to play!