Recommendations for Family Friendly IF Games

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Hey folks! I’ve just recently discovered parser IF and I’m really into the concept and looking for games to play.

I’d like to play longer or more sophisticated games because I want to see cool and creative stuff that people have done with the genre.

As a limitation, though, I’m looking for games that are more on the family friendly. I’m fine with serious or difficult, mostly looking to avoid any sexual / suggestive references.

I played through Bronze, and that was was fine but borderline. I’m in the middle of playing Impossible Bottle which is pretty cool, just not vary story driven.

I’d appreciate any pointers or suggestions, thanks!

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There’s a family-friendly tag on IFDB. As of today, 57 games have it.

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Hello! I have similar preferences for games. This thread had a list of such games in the past: Looking for fun, clean games

I’d also like to add The Missing Ring, a family mystery detective game about, well, a missing ring.

Since I have some time, I can go through the top list of games on the current top 25 list and find ones that are less sexually suggestive. https://ifdb.org/search?browse This might be useful for other people (including people who want or are looking for such content). I’m not recommending each game individually because every game in this list is great.

You only mentioned sex. I’ll include gore and frightening content. If you care about alcohol or drugs, I can look into that.

I’m just going to copy the list over and annotate it:

Summary

Counterfeit Monkey by Emily Short 2012
Has one memory where sex is implied and discussed. About 1% of the game or less. The rest is mostly wordplay, family troubles, political conflict, and crime.

Type Help by William Rous 2025
Lots of death, grim atmosphere, no explicit content that I know of, though some people have mentioned that you can deduce that it occurs (this is a detective game).

Anchorhead by Michael Gentry 1998
Some extreme gore descriptions (involving eyeballs! gahkkk), mentions of incest, pedophilia, masturbation, rape. Lovecraftian horror game.

80 DAYS by inkle, Meg Jayanth 2014
A very grown-up feeling game where you travel the globe (based on the famous book), no sexual content that I remember (ESRB rates it T but not for sexual content).

Superluminal Vagrant Twin by C.E.J. Pacian 2016
Don’t recall any objectionable content. You have to make money to rescue your brother from a space crime syndicate.

Hadean Lands by Andrew Plotkin 2014
Dark atmosphere, not very violent or sexual. Use alchemy rituals to restore a spaceship.

The Wizard Sniffer by Buster Hudson 2017
Romantic attraction is mentioned and several character’s sexuality is discussed, but at a family friendly level. You’re a pig who has to guide around a clumsy hero and his squire.

Eat Me by Chandler Groover 2017
Surprisingly not very sexual. Very disturbing though (in a good way; it’s a great game). You are in a fairy tale and eat everything, including people.

Lost Pig by Admiral Jota 2007
No violence or sexuality (but you can set your pants on fire). You are an orc looking for a pig in a fantasy setting.

Open Sorcery by Abigail Corfman 2016
Genuinely can’t recall. I doubt it. You are a sentient flame being (a living ‘firewall’) in an magical computer system.

Planetfall by Steve Meretzky 1983
Clean game, could make kids sad. Famous old game about investigating an abandoned planet.

Toby’s Nose by Chandler Groover 2015
Prostitution references, violence, overall grim. Sherlock Holmes game where you play as the dog.

Disco Elysium - The Final Cut by ZA/UM 2019
Haven’t played.

Trinity by Brian Moriarty 1986
Lots of depressing nuclear events/mass deaths, no sex. Explore the history of nuclear armament through a fantasy land.

Alias ‘The Magpie’ by J. J. Guest 2018
Others have recommended as family-friendly. British hijinks/caper game as a gentleman thief. Very funny!

Junior Arithmancer by Mike Spivey 2018
Math game. Very fun.

Never Gives Up Her Dead by Mathbrush 2023
I wrote this. I don’t remember putting in sexual content, but there is some violence/deaths. Sci-fi game with portals to different dimensions.

The Gostak by Carl Muckenhoupt 2001
This could quite possibly be the most sexual game on IFDB, especially when the gostak distims the doshes repeatedly. But we may never know (the whole thing is written using indecipherable nouns and verbs).

Savoir-Faire by Emily Short 2002
There is an implied rape at the end but an especially young person may not even realize what’s going on. You’re a kind of rascally person with magical powers investigating their abandoned childhood home.

Coloratura by Lynnea Glasser 2013
You’re an ancient horror that can rip the consciousness from people, torture them with acid, enslave them to your will, etc. but no sexual content (and you’re only being nice when you do the earlier stuff)

Violet by Jeremy Freese 2008
Some mild flirting and mentioning of ‘hooking up’. PhD thesis writing simulator, one-room game with tons of puzzles.

Spider and Web by Andrew Plotkin 1998
Some violence, no sexual content. Gadget game (no more details because there are a lot of fun plot twists, including early on).

Worlds Apart by Suzanne Britton 1999
Don’t remember any sexual content. Fantasy violence. You’re a magical dolphin creature on an island with amnesia.

The Impossible Bottle by Linus Åkesson 2020
You’ve played this one! Family friendly

Will Not Let Me Go by Stephen Granade 2017
Extraordinarily depressing, not any real sexual content but has some heavy topics. Alzheimer’s game.

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I’ll rather shamelessly plug my own Marbles, D, and the Sinister Spotlight as a wholesome game with some unusual features.

https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=kjec5rvyi41ds1qs

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Sweet, thanks for the suggestions!

Oh, nice, I didn’t notice that!

Thanks!

Ooh, sounds great.

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I will also shamelessly plug my own games, To Hell in a Hamper and To Sea in a Sieve, which are character-driven one-room puzzle games, and comprise two parts of what will eventually be a three-part series. I’ve played both games many times with my nephew Max, when he was younger. The second game is dedicated to him. He’s a teenager now and not so interested in his Unc’s scribblings, but he certainly enjoyed them at the time!

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Another shameless self-plug: my game The Gnomish Treasury is a parser that might be in line with what you’re looking for! Here’s the synopsis:

Crates of stolen treasures have been returned to the gnome kingdom. As custodian of the royal treasury, it’s your job to restore these priceless artifacts and curate an exhibition fit for the king.

Find the broken pieces of rare and unusual items, and uncover their historical significance, in this cozy, crafting-driven puzzle game for anyone who loves museums or beautiful objects.

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I’ll suggest Aotearoa as a great game for new young players.

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Older Infocom games with an interpreter which supports turning the TANDY bit on, to comply with the Tandy Corporation’s requirements to sell only family-friendly software!