Disney Illusion Island
This is a Metroidvania built with kids in mind, and that's a good thing. You can pick you level of difficulty by picking ho many hearts you have, 3,2,1, or invincible. For me, the invincible option will be great when my youngest inevitably wants to play. She'll be able to participate without constantly waiting to be brought back, which as a Dad trying to play games that won't turn the kids off from them is excellent. In multiplayer you can also hug each other to gain a bonus heart, which is nice for keeping everyone in the game longer. Respawns are accomplished at mailboxes, which are plentiful, so sitting out watching is never for too long.
As a Metroidvania, platforming is a big part of the game. Nothing I've come across is super challenging for someone who has played plenty of similar games, but learning the jump timing can be frustrating for a new player. This game lets one player do a rope drop, so that the other players can climb up to places they weren't able to reach. For my daughter, I told her that she had to try a few times to make the jump before giving her the rope, and as we played, I had to drop the rope less and less. So it's really a nice tool to help teach someone the skills for the game.
Gameplay wise, it's so far a pretty good Metroidvania. We've come across secret areas, and some areas that we will have to come back to when we get a new powerup. The hardest part was explaining to my daughter that it didn't matter how badly she wanted what was on the other side of the wall, she was just going to have to wait. Platforming is challenging enough to not feel like I'm playing a preschooler game like Paw Patrol, but on the easy side (so far at least) so it's not an impossible task for young/new players to accomplish. The dialogue as had me laugh a bunch of times already.
My only complaint so far about it is that there isn't a way to remove the enemies that are wandering, you just avoid them. Now I don't know if that will change down the line, but right now it can be frustrating for my daughter when she's trying to avoid an enemy and retry a jump without losing hearts. It would be nice to be able to remove the enemy with her to give her a clearer shot at the jump.
We haven't reached a boss yet, so I will update when I get some experience with that.
The Disney brand is big selling point in my house, but I don't think that it's an aspect that would be off putting.
Overall, as a Dad with younger kids, I can't recommend this game enough.
