Recon: Sackboy: A Big Adventure

The thing that pulls kids into Sackboy is mostly that it's a game everyone can play at once. For a kid who's been watching a sibling or parent play, getting handed a second (or third or fourth) controller and being part of the action is a different experience than being a spectator. Sackboy is built around that. Levels are designed so multiple players can move through them together rather than fighting for screen space.

Beyond the co-op pull, Sackboy's visual language is friendly in a tactile way. Sackboy is literally a stitched cloth puppet, the worlds look hand-made, and the physics feel cartoony rather than realistic. For younger kids, that 'looks like a toy' quality matters more than a lot of parents would guess before having one.

The big thing about Sackboy is that it does what Astro Bot doesn't. Sackboy lets multiple people play at the same time, on the same TV, with no internet involved. That's worth saying out loud because that kind of local multiplayer is increasingly rare in modern console games. If you've been juggling sibling turn-taking through every other PS5 game, Sackboy removes the problem.

Sackboy can get chaotic in co-op. Players can throw each other, pick each other up, slap each other off ledges. With older kids that's the whole appeal. With a three- or four-year-old in the mix, it can become a meltdown source. The optional infinite-lives assist takes the sting out of failure, but it doesn't stop a sibling from launching a small kid off a cliff for fun. That's a parent-on-the-couch problem rather than a settings problem.

Sackboy also has online co-op, and that does open the door to strangers if you let it. For most younger-kid setups, sticking to local couch co-op only is the simplest call. PS5 system-level parental controls can turn off online communication entirely if you want a hard line.

Sackboy's campaign is structured as worlds full of platforming levels, plus optional 'team' levels that require multiple players to complete (and are gated off when you're playing alone). The non-team levels can be played solo if no one else is around, so Sackboy doesn't fall apart when your second player wanders off.

With the infinite-lives assist on, Sackboy has no real fail state. Sackboy will get bonked, take damage, fall in pits, and just respawn. For a kid who would otherwise hand the controller back in frustration after one death, this is the difference between 'I want to keep playing' and 'I'm done.' Worth turning on by default for any young kid.

Difficulty in Sackboy optionally ramps up in a separate set of post-campaign 'Knight Trial' levels, which are real platforming challenges aimed at older kids and adults. Useful to know about if you have an older sibling who'd otherwise be bored by the main Sackboy campaign.