Question for any parents who might be playing this

[Patastrophic]

Hi folks,

If there are any parents who are playing this, I have a question: How would you rate this game for age-appropriateness?

Here's why I ask: my girlfriend and I have touched on the idea of living together sometime in the foreseeable future, and she has young children (2 and 5). It got me thinking... as a mature twenty-somethings PC gamer who has never had to cohabitate with children, I have never actually had to think about the content that I have become desensitized to in the videogames I play. Maybe I should consider putting together some kind of plan for the eventuality that we will be living together and the children may have (however limited) access to my PC.

I found some cool resources to help me work on this plan: pegi.info and www.commonsensemedia.org, the latter of which actually is a pretty cool resource for this kind of thing... but every once in a while I come across a title which, like Risk of Rain, doesn't seem to have an ESRB or PEGI rating, nor an entry on commonsensemedia.org (I believe I can probably contribute with one and I may do just that, but I wanted to ask this question first).

I don't know, all that to say, would you consider Risk of Rain "OK" for young children to watch or play (ignoring the fact that losing repeatedly would probably cause them to lose interest anyway)? If not, why? What should I have been looking out for that I may have been too desensitized to notice?

Thanks for reading and for your thoughts, I'm really curious.

-CW

[Herr Sten]

The game very clearly states (only in logs) that you are actually KILLING the population of the planet (you bastard). There are some splashes of blood here and there but not too much. They will observe that the game is kill kill kill. I would not give this game to young children since it focuses a lot on killing things.

The verdict is decided by you in the end though. Listen to what others have to say too. :)

[Patastrophic]

Thanks! I feel like that's exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for -- I hadn't thought of it that way. Evidently their mother will have the larger say anyway, but I'm going to try to segregate my games library using common sense (Saints Row will definitely not be accessible to them as an obvious example) before it even needs to become a concern, but it has become clear to me that there are things I don't even notice. I'm a work in progress.

I really appreciate the input. ;) I hope to hear more (in case I'm missing anything else) because this is surely not going to be the only example where I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

[Thrawn]

While it's quite violent, it's only slightly more graphic than Mario bros would have been - pixel art, most characters are no more than 5-10 'pixels' high, and the difference is that some creatures produce pixelated blood (and some do not).

Visually at least, this game is not super stimulating. But it is all about shooting and hitting things, even at tiny, undetailed graphical levels.

[Honorable Duncan]

Nah, it's ok

[MythlyInari]

The only real worry I can think of is when you kill the Imp boss. When he dies, his corpse remains. It's gruesome, to the game's standards. I'm only playing this off memory, so you MIGHT want to take a quick check to see if it's okay with your kids. It's possibly not. And, no, there's no way to remove it unless you "Risk" totally funny damaging the game if you try to directly remove the boss. I think it's possible, But I've not bothered to try it.

[Lord Gaben]

I would rate this more for teens. ( I am not a parent, but I am an adult)
For this game, I would have the appropriate 13-18.

[Crabapentin]

The game is reeeeeaaaaally dark if you pay attention to the lore/story, but since the game itself is pretty pixely it should be fine

[MythlyInari]

Originally posted by KrianTheGreat:

The game is reeeeeaaaaally dark if you pay attention to the lore/story, but since the game itself is pretty pixely it should be fine

In fact, after I beat the game several times, I decided to read the item logs and monster logs...

It's actually much darker than I thought. I love that.

[Patastrophic]

Originally posted by Thrawn:

While it's quite violent, it's only slightly more graphic than Mario bros would have been - pixel art, most characters are no more than 5-10 'pixels' high, and the difference is that some creatures produce pixelated blood (and some do not).

Visually at least, this game is not super stimulating. But it is all about shooting and hitting things, even at tiny, undetailed graphical levels.

I thought this was a very interesting comment, thank you. It got me thinking: "how is this game different from Mario Bros.?"

Take away the context and I think you end up with an interesting comparison -- though you get points for stomping on enemies in Mario Bros., the games constantly interact with you by presenting you with side-goals (however small those may be): The coins, the item spawns, the random hidden stuff (pipes to jump down, vines to climb), the patterns that are familiar and yet different all the time. The end goal (traditionally Princess Peach, more recently trope inversions) is also usually clear and gets a lot of screen time. It's très Nintendo. It's pretty quickly evident to someone who does not know Mario that the game is not "angry plumber stomps on everything".

On the other hand, you have Risk of Rain -- you're on a planet, there is stuff to shoot. When you shoot stuff, you find money. When you get money, you get items that allow you to shoot stuff more effectively. To survive, you must shoot stuff. To escape, you must shoot stuff. Whether or not the context gives it more than that (survival after crash landing on alien planet & all the dilemmas that come with it) it isn't at all translated to the game mechanics.

Originally posted by ✮Alice Windchime✮:

And, no, there's no way to remove it unless you "Risk" totally funny damaging the game if you try to directly remove the boss. I think it's possible, But I've not bothered to try it.

This made me laugh :P Interesting point, though. Doesn't the Toxic Beast's corpse also linger? The 5 year old understands (at least, on a simple level) the concept of death but it's still a little bit morbid.

Originally posted by ✮Alice Windchime✮:

Originally posted by KrianTheGreat:

The game is reeeeeaaaaally dark if you pay attention to the lore/story, but since the game itself is pretty pixely it should be fine

In fact, after I beat the game several times, I decided to read the item logs and monster logs...

It's actually much darker than I thought. I love that.

Admittedly I've only read a few of the logs. I'll need to get to that, it sounds like I'd appreciate it. I doubt the kids will be reading into the lore anytime soon (the 5 year old is, after all, at an introductory reading level) but evidently as her reading level improves, it'll become possible for her to interpret the lore and... that might not be appropriate.

Originally posted by ((((KA-BOOM)))):

I would rate this more for teens. ( I am not a parent, but I am an adult)
For this game, I would have the appropriate 13-18.

Any particular reason for 13-18, specifically? Just curious.

I appreciate all the input!

-CW

[Herr Sten]

Originally posted by CreepingWraith:

...This made me laugh :P Interesting point, though. Doesn't the Toxic Beast's corpse also linger? The 5 year old understands (at least, on a simple level) the concept of death but it's still a little bit morbid...

Save for some enemies that go poof when they die, ALL corpses remain. Some are simply a heap with no gore (especially the spiritual enemies), while for example the imp overlord SPLITS IN HALF VERY GORILY.

[Thrawn]

That's a good point, OP. I play as an engineer most of the time, so I'm constantly laying mines and automated gun turrets. I generally don't see the enemies get killed by my indirect assault. And I generally view the game as "collect as many items as you can" because that's how I've been able to get so overpowered that the game becomes easy yet still fun (because you WORKED for those 40 items you're holding onto!)

You're right that Mario games are more complex. But this game also does have the hidden Artifacts and the little chests that also have money in them. And at some point, there might be some Golems just chilling in a cave, listening to sweet tunes on a boombox... (I'm not kidding; if you haven't found it yet, keep your eyes open and don't be afraid to drop off the map...)