Adventure Gamers - Forums

My son does not like to read but loves to play computer games.
Can you please recommend fun text-based games suitable for 3rd grade level?

Thank you!

If you have an iOS device (I think there’ll be an Android port at some point), Inkle’s Sorcery apps are brilliant. The story’s told mostly through text, but you constantly have decisions to make, paths to choose, spells to cast, monsters to fight, etc., so that it never feels like you’re going through endless walls of text. I used to love the gamebooks the apps are based on when I was about your son’s age, and I find the apps even more fun than the books.

This site’s review of the first part is here: http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/24703

Thank you for the recommendation, but we don’t have iOS devices (only Windows, DS or online).

Also, the game is rated 12+, I am looking for something suitable for a 3rd-grade reading level (8 years old).

Here are a few you could try:

Bee: “The story of a home-schooled girl preparing to compete in the national spelling bee, dealing with various small crises with family and friends, and gradually coming to terms with the clash of subcultures involved in belonging to a family like hers. “

Six: “A lovingly crafted tale of hide and seek starring (naturally) six six-year-olds. As the birthday girl charged with finding and catching them all, your primary verbs of interaction are SEARCH, CHASE, and TIP (or tag), with some TALKing thrown in for good measure. While minimally painted, each hider has a distinct personality, usually broadcast through their chosen costume and reflected in their manner of speech”

On The Farm: “Grandma and Grandpa are in the middle of a fight with each other, and you have to try to find some way to help them make up.”

A Day For Soft Food (playable online) “In the game, the player takes on the role of an ordinary house cat, and the game’s descriptions reflect a cat’s-eye view of the world – a sofa and television set in the corner are a “lumpy mountain” facing a “confusing black box”, and so on. The game has the player performing typical house cat activities – climbing trees, chasing birds, convincing your Provider to fill your food bowl, etc.”

Tookie’s Song: Your dog has been abducted by aliens, and so you have to rescue him

Thank you for the recommendations, Oscar.

The titles sound great but, unfortunately, I doubt they will hold my son’s interest.
They sound like something geared toward children that would normally enjoy a book, not ones that would rather play a shoot-em-up.

The search continues…