Highlights

• Family dynamics take center stage in gaming, offering diverse experiences beyond combat and puzzles.
• Games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and This War Of Mine showcase the impact of bonds on survival.
• Titles like Wildermyth and Red Dead Redemption 2 explore the complexities of family relationships in gameplay.

An aspect of gaming sorely missed at times is the intrinsic value of a world completely separate from our own. Not in the metaverse idea where you're just forced into a digital representation of reality for no good reason, but a world truly separate, a chance to experience something you'd never see in reality, or in a different light than you would otherwise.

So while many games can focus on combat, or open worlds or puzzles, some take pleasure in the little things, in the rather diverse concept of "family". It may be by blood or by law. It may be a found family, or it may just be the connections you've made along the way. Be it at the core of the game or simply another aspect, family can manifest in many ways.

Updated on April 17, 2024, by Hilton Webster: What you might define as a family can be a very broad topic. Is it the people you've been raised with, or is it the people you met along the way? Maybe it's more unconventional, even stretching what you might call 'family.' No matter what, everyone has their own definition, and there are plenty of games that show them.

This list covers more than just literal family-making dynamics like The Sims, but games where the theme of family is central as well, like Red Dead Redemption 2

18 Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

• All characters can build a deeper relationship with Cloud, while story shows deeper bonds between other characters.
• Especially deep relationships can get a more intimate date at the Gold Saucer.

Final Fantasy 7 exists as more than just a single game or even a compilation of games at this point. It is an entire media franchise independent of the rest of the Final Fantasy series and one that forms a whole meta-narrative rather than existing entirely separately. It's a fascinating, bold direction as seen in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

Core to experiencing that are its many beloved characters and the new relationship mechanics that exist between them. They exist as they are told in the story, but also in the meta-contextual way we understand them as players. The bonds between these characters feel natural, and Rebirth does a great job of genuinely making everyone feel closer as the game reaches its climax.

17 This War Of Mine

It shouldn't need to be said, but war is a terrible, evil thing. It destroys everything, yet this destruction is nothing compared to the myriad ways in which individual lives are devastated. Regular people become fodder for someone else's ideals. This War Of Mine depicts this cruel reality in harsh earnestness and the impacts it has on the bonds between people.

People have to help each other to survive, using the skills they had in regular life to support those now in wartime. This gets that much harder when orphaned children are added to the fray. The relationships that these people share are the only things that can help them survive because alone, they don't have a chance.

16 Pyre

• While no romance exists, the characters you choose to free ultimately determines who remains in your merry band by the end of the game, and who you can learn the most about.

Pyre, Supergiant's greatest game, is a blend of a great many genres. Visual novel, RPG, sports and probably plenty more, yet it all mixes together to give an incredibly cohesive, unique experience. In it, you play as a character of your own creation in a world that is decidedly dire, with the fires of revolution being stoked.

On this journey, the individual faces that form society are highlighted. The rag-tag group of those are the disillusioned nobility to well-intended, misguided children. As the game goes on, you'll also have to choose which of these people should be free to participate in the revolution that, hopefully, will free you all. Trusting the bonds you've formed is core to the experience and makes it exceedingly painful to let them go.

15 Wildermyth

• All characters are randomly generated and form relationships dynamically.
• This also allows you to later play as those children alongside their other family members.

Wildermyth embraces the mythos that people form naturally through passed-on tales and those we intentionally construct to tell a story. Though following an intentional story, the way your characters interact with it, and even the very characters themselves, will change for every player.

Using a turn-based grid combat system, your heroes will undergo many ordeals on their quest. They'll fall in love, get maimed in battle, and even pass into legend themselves. It's a twisting tale where everyone you meet becomes part of your story, and maybe you'll even birth a family to carry on your legacy.

14 Red Dead Redemption 2

• The members of the Dutch Van der Linde gang are determined by story, though the members change as the story progresses.
• Arthur's interactions with these members will ultimately influence his relationship with them all.

While so much of family can be a positive thing, a love-hate relationship that ultimately offers you somewhere to take refuge, Red Dead Redemption 2 highlights the hypocrisy within it. Family can be an anchor to hold you down. It's a prime example of sunk-cost fallacy - you're in too deep now, why would you ever leave?

The members of the Dutch van der Linde Gang, rather manipulatively, call themselves a family. And you'd never abandon family, would you? You're there through thick and thin, but Dutch always has a plan. There will be casualties along the way; there always are. But that's just family. Isn't it?

13 The Guild 2

The Guild 2 is a fascinating blend of genres, from a life sim like The Sims, a grand medieval experience like Crusader Kings all the way to an intricate business management game stretching across its length. It's a truly unique experience, if not a little niche and clunky, but with all the whimsical joy only a blend of those genres can create.

The simple goal (if you want to follow a goal, that is) of the game is to create your own dynasty and make sure it's the strongest by the time the game ends. You can get married, have children, and pass on the torch, but you can also form rivalries and create your own business. You'll have to defend it from those aforementioned rivals, though, and stretch your family across as much of the world as you can to keep the gold flowing — and your dynasty thriving.

12 Final Fantasy 9

You've heard of Final Fantasy already; just about everyone has. Each and every entry in the prolific series of RPGs is as different as they're the same, only loose threads tying them together. Final Fantasy 9 is special for plenty of reasons, from its music and combat to its beautifully designed world. What's really special about FF9, though, are the characters and the bonds between them.

FF9 focuses on what initially seems to be a group of anyone and everyone who don't really mix, and they don't. Not at first, anyway. How these characters unravel layers of themselves, showing they never truly had comfort in their own lives until they all stumbled into each other, is extremely powerful. It's a heartwarming sensation few other entries in the series can match. They're a family to each other, where no other existed.

11 XCOM 2

• Characters in XCOM 2 can form bonds with each other, which increases their combat efficiency.
• Conversely, a member of the bond dying may cause the other character to suffer a mental break.

The XCOM series may have started as very different games from what they are now, but becoming turn-based strategy games really elevated them to another level of success. The more recent XCOM games are known for their brutality, and the sequel didn't do much by way of easing that. Each and every unit is valuable and can die — even with what seems like a guaranteed shot.

The ties between characters were only metaphorical originally. However, whatever stories you experienced with them yourself, the War of the Chosen led to them beginning to form relationships with one another. These bonds made them all the more powerful when fighting alongside one another, but also could cause a mental break if that bond was forcibly broken. Those bonds of family don't just affect your victories anymore, but the individuals securing them.

10 The Sims