Nintendo Switch: 5 awesome, family-friendly games coming in 2021

B.ARK

Developed by Tic Toc Games
Releases: Later 2021

This is the family game of my dreams. Given, the family theme is a little suspect as, unlike a lot of these other games it doesn’t really focus on a sense of community, rebuilding a town or things like that but my god does it look like it teaches a heavy bowl of cooperation.

In B.ARK, you play as a group of four adorable animal pilots (think Starfox but with the human bits gone leaving just the animal) that fly four equally adorable ships. You keep the galaxy safe by flying through a side-scrolling game similar to R-Type. The big trick here though is that it’s designed for up to four-player co-op play and each character has its own strength.

Walker the Bear and defacto leader specializes in shields. Marv the Rabbit, beyond just being a solid classic film reference, is an absolute speed demon. Felicity the Cat carries a lot of heavy firepower. And my immediate favorite, Barker, who is a hideously adorable pug, is the group’s healer.

Unlike many games like this that are designed to be played solo, this game works best when played multiplayer to the character’s strengths. A player controlling Walker can keep a shield up whilst Felicity flies within the shield and unloads fiery hell upon the upcoming enemies. Marv might dash into trouble a little too quick and fall back so that Barker can effectively heal them.

But ultimately, what makes this game such a solid family game, is that while all these ideas are well and good, absolutely none of these are going to happen without communication. Any character can put up a shield or do special things, but if you’re playing multiplayer and you’re not talking, prepare to waste your time making this an amazing communication tool between siblings and families.

An official release date hasn’t be announced but I am absolutely waiting impatiently to snag my copy the moment it drops.