Can you recommend a family-friendly ARPG?

Our kid has gotten into some PoE with us, in the sense that we let her play easier content with an already leveled character - say, white-tier maps with a character who's already in red, etc. She started with last league's golemancer where she could literally run around and stuff died on its own, and she's doing OK with Cyclone as well - just hold right click and... well, the rest is the same. :) But I'm not too keen about letting her actually play the campaign, not because she might need help before the character is strong enough, but because the content isn't exactly child-friendly. She pops into our Lost Ark occasionally as well, but that one's a bit more complex mechanically, and the story is again full of angsty anime people, and I'd prefer some classic heroes. So could you help me pick a better game? :)

The things I think we'd like in the game:

1) Simple ARPG gameplay, mouse with some keyboard, Diablo-style. Something that can be played with a few buttons. (No problem if she needs adult help for level up choices etc, just make the actual adventuring simple.)
2) Story and atmosphere overall positive, not swamped with M-rated content. Some blood and monsters aren't a problem (she likes watching me play Hunt occasionally and she uses our Warhammer zombies and skeletons as toys :)), but not quite Diablo and PoE with grimdark all over the place. Creepy villains are OK, but the hero and main NPCs should be really positive characters, not morally dubious, and the ending should be a happy one, not planting a soulstone in your head. ;)
3) With a sensible good-fights-evil story (not parody, not storyless action - e.g. not Fate, please), but not too story-heavy, because she won't stay focused enough for conversations galore.
4) Some nice outdoor environments - forests, mountains, etc, not just dark dungeons. Elves, princesses and stuff like that are a plus, but not necessary.

Age of the game isn't an issue, some older thing on GOG etc. could also be fine, I'm just failing to find a good combination. I know a bunch of games with nice environments and art that are a tad more "serious" RPGs, i.e. story-heavy, with complex gameplay, that she's simply too small for right now. The ARPGs I've played sort of tend to go towards zombies and brimstone... :)

So, I sort of need... Disney-meets-Diablo? XD

Thanks in advance for any ideas!
Last bumped on Apr 20, 2023, 12:18:47 PM
Torchlight 1. It's single player only, a bit dated, but as far as I am aware very low gore and quite charmingly cartoonish in style.

Torchlight II is also quite good but I didn't find it as compelling as Torchlight 1.

Although now I look again, Torchlight II satisfied your 'outdoors' condition, while Torchlight 1 is purely a big delve under a single town Diablo 1 style.

And if you want true Disney 'arpg', there's always Kingdom Hearts.

I may or may not have spent a great deal of this weekend hunting down every live version of 'Cliffs of Dover' I can. Eric Johnson is a guitarist's guitarist. He makes me want to be a writer's writer.
Last edited by Foreverhappychan on Jan 12, 2023, 6:09:00 AM
Hmmm, I'll check it out, thanks! Though I'm not a fan of the art style - alas, to me, it's more "a bit too caricatural" than "charmingly cartoonish". And I guess Kingdom Hearts is an option, too, though when I said Disney, I meant more "Prince Philip vs Maleficent" than "Mickey and Donald". But that's more my preference than hers, I guess... :D

Torchlight Infinite. It is free to play and Season 2 just started yesterday.

If you buy the season pass you can play a cat woman with twitching ears.

The game meets the definition of Disney meets Diablo.
Pour one out for my Syndicate homies.

Complex PoE mechanics are getting Diablofied.

GGG: What's better than stable income? Random income of course.
Torchlight Infinite is a free to play mtx-driven Chinese-developed mobile game. Torchlight in name only, developed not by the original devs: David Brevik was a 'consulting producer', which is a peripheral role. Clearly uses a mobile UI.

Nowhere near as predatory as Diablo Immortal or Undecember, but still not something that fits the OP's criterion I think.

Totally not recommended, especially not for someone's child.

If we're talking mobile ARPGs then Eternium is a better pick. Simpler but with a good control system that actually uses the touch screen creatively.

But I figured we weren't.
I may or may not have spent a great deal of this weekend hunting down every live version of 'Cliffs of Dover' I can. Eric Johnson is a guitarist's guitarist. He makes me want to be a writer's writer.
Last edited by Foreverhappychan on Jan 13, 2023, 5:22:20 AM
Nope, not mobile, please, a game for the good old PC. Something emulable for an older console is OK too, but that's better for turn-based games, because lag can happen even on decent PCs. (I remember playing, or trying to, God of War back when the PS2 emulator first came out... my PC was pretty good by that time's standards, but dear gods the lag...)

Though to be fair to zakalwe55, Torchlight Infinite does exist on PC as well, I can see it on Steam. (As does Eternium, but it's in early access and judging by the comments, it was poorly ported.) But I can imagine the PC version also keeps trying to sell you stuff... :)

We'll try TL1 and I'll let you know, but I'm still taking other suggestions, of course!
"
Ora9 wrote:

Though to be fair to zakalwe55, Torchlight Infinite does exist on PC as well, I can see it on Steam. (As does Eternium, but it's in early access and judging by the comments, it was poorly ported.) But I can imagine the PC version also keeps trying to sell you stuff... :)

We'll try TL1 and I'll let you know, but I'm still taking other suggestions, of course!


I pretty much only play Torchlight Infinite on PC. It has very little pay to win and it is not necessary to spend any money to reach the endgame.

You can try it before judging it. Yes, Torchlight Infinite is not like Torchlight 1, 2 or 3. It is more a ripoff of POE. That is why I like it. It scratches that POE itch but it is a lot more streamlined. The quality of life brings a tear to my eye.

Palestron was paid to stream it for 2 hours in Season 1 and ended up playing it for 400 hours.
Pour one out for my Syndicate homies.

Complex PoE mechanics are getting Diablofied.

GGG: What's better than stable income? Random income of course.
Last edited by zakalwe55 on Jan 13, 2023, 1:07:41 PM
What about FATE? :)
Just a lowly standard player. May RNGesus be with you.
Portal Knights is another one to consider.
I have a pretty good sense of humor. I'm not German.
I specifically ruled out Fate and it's ilk because it's a parody and doesn't have a proper inspiring story. I want the kid to have some good-vs-evil glamour, not just "kill stuff for treasure!"

Portal Knights does look cute, but it's cute precisely because we know the role models that it had and that were chibi-ized for it. So... yes, we'll try it, but later. I want her to get the real, shiny, epic deal.

Regarding Torchlight - we tried a bit today, only went two levels of the mines. Predictably, she was bored after a while (though it was fun during that time), and, as I feared, it's a bit too dark and looks sort of funny. So it's not quite what we've been looking for, but it will definitely stay on the menu. :)

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