Ok, so I've bought a computer for some family friends. Their kids will be using it a lot, and I'd love to install some cool games and stuff for them to play on it.

They've been pretty computer deprived their whole life, they have a 10 year old laptop, and a 15 year old desktop. Which pretty much says it all really.

The 10 year old kid has dyslexia, and is apparently into math and science, so I was thinking maybe Kerbal Space Program, but I haven't played it, and don't know if its suitable for a 10 year old.

Pretty sure they know and love Minecraft. No idea what else to get them though. I mean... Mass Effect maybe?

The computer is a new iMac, but it has both windows and mac installed on it.

Any ideas would be awesome.

 

With Steam, Civ V runs well on Mac OSX. Half Life 2 as well (though you probably need a better mouse). Mindcraft, if they're into it.

(In before obligatory Mac hate.)

 

Kerbal Space Program is actually pretty hard, even for normal adults, but if he doesn't get frustrated easily, he could have a lot of fun. Mass Effect... can have sex scenes. Not something for the younger, I'd imagine.

There's always CS and CoD if they like shooters. Warcraft 3?

 

Strategy Games for the science kid, Go Warcraft II & III or the Command and Conquer series, you can pick them up for less than $10 a lot of the time and they still play well.

 

How about Dungeon Defenders?

 

I hear Dark Souls is pretty easy to get into.

 

Octodad: Dadliest Catch $15 US - A light comedy where half the fun is fighting with the controls.

Rayman: Origins $20 US - A terrific platformer with great music.

FTL: Faster Than Light $10 - A 'rogue-like' space game, you die a lot but it's fun anyways.

Uplink $10 - Hollywood style hacking game that I loved when I was around that age. I think it holds up but that might be colored by my love for the game.

 

There's also World of Goo, if you think he'd like a physics based puzzle game.

http://2dboy.com/games.php

 

If they have a girl you can look at one of The Sims games. I think it is still the most popular game ever with a female audience.

 

At around that age I think I was really into KotOR and Morrowind.

For Mass Effect's sex scenes, meh, kids these days have probably seen worse on TV anyway.

 

Starbound - Its like a less confusing version of Terraria except with spaceships and planet exploration. (If you don't know what Terraria is, its basically a 2d version of Minecraft)

Torchlight/Torchlight 2 - ARPGs along the same lines as the Diablo series and Path of Exile.

Portal/Portal 2 - Great puzzle games, the second one also has coop (not sure how well it works on the pc though). Portal 2 also has a build your own map system and you can download other players maps and try to solve them.

 

If you could get some of the non-sucky Final Fantasy games, that'd probably be a nice idea.

 

Pokemon games.

 

If you hook them up with emulators and teach them to use it, you could also pretty much get any console game PS2 generation and back. Gives you alot of options for more kid friendly games. It would also give them a way to get new games for free.

 

Kinda illegal, so he'd better check with their parents first.

 

Point and click adventure games?

 

Psychonauts. Always Psychonauts.

Any game by Sid Meier, though SM's Pirates is a decent timewaster that you don't need spreadsheets to be able to play well.

Any of your garden standard RPGs like Final Fantasy, Mass Effect or the Elder Scrolls series will do. I believe ES has an option to turn off blood as well. If it doesn't, there's likely a mod for it.

FTL is great fun for any age.

For the older of the two, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine could be entertaining.

Any of the Batman games as well.

Aaaaaaand that's it for my Steam games. All of the others I play are either way too complex or way too graphic for kids.

 

I think a load of the indie games like Bastion or Fez would be really good for kids. Also any of the Lego games, they're all pretty great.

 

Seconded. Sims 2 and Sims 3 are great choices for the 10-14 age range.

If you want to go for the educational category, the Carmen Sandiego series, the ClueFinders, and Pyjama Sam are all solid choices and are informational. I still have fond memories of all three of those games, and they kept me entertained from 10-12.

 

You should get them to try Grim Fandango as well. It still remains one of my favourite games to this day. Other than that, I think they might be interested in Portal too.