Got a teenager who is endlessly locked away in a darkened room, with only the briefest of sightings when dinner time rolls around? They might be holed up playing one of these video games...
The teenage years are always the hardest to navigate – it’s hard to find things to do with teens, deal with their mood swings or just understand them in general. And as parents, it’s hard to keep track of the trends these teens have nowadays, especially when it comes to video games. Don’t worry, we’ve prepared a “tutorial level” for you to understand and get caught up with the popular video games teens are playing today!
Most popular video games teens are playing right now
1. Fortnite
It might not be the newest game on the block but the hype around Fortnite is still going strong, with over 650 million registered players as of 2024. As one of the battle royale genre pioneers, Fortnite continues to draw in new gamers – especially with its cosmetics like skins and accessories for your character. They’ve got a wide variety of characters from other franchises like Marvel superheroes and Transformers but they do cost money – make sure your teens ask for permission before making online purchases!
As for the actual gameplay, Fortnite is a third-person shooter where up to 100 players compete to be the last person or team standing. You can choose to be passive and survive until the final person or team remains or fight your way to victory. Games only last around 10-15 minutes so it’s a good for them to take breaks in between studying or as a reward for completing school work.
Recommended for: Ages 13+
Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation
2. Overwatch 2
If you’re a fan of sci-fi games, then Overwatch 2 is the game for you. It’s a first-person shooter game with cool futuristic weapons that fire lasers, light, and energy balls. Choose from a total of 41 heroes, each belonging to one of the three categories – Damage, Support, and Tank. If you were familiar with the original Overwatch, nothing much has changed since then (they promised a single-player mode but have decided to scrap it). The gameplay has remained fundamentally the same though, it’s a 5-v-5 first-person shooter compared to the original 6-v-6.
You can choose from casual play or competitive ranked play, and there are even eSport competitions if you really fancy putting your skills to the test. They also have a variety of game modes including seasonal ones like April Fools and Halloween ones with quirky rules and objectives. Overwatch 2 has in-game purchases as well so be careful and remind the kiddos not to make any purchases without asking first.
Recommended for: Ages 13+
Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation
3. Minecraft
While popular with the kiddos and the teens, the adults of today might be familiar with Minecraft. This blocky sandbox game allows players to build just about anything, gather resources, and slay evil mobs. Each time you start a new world, the biomes are randomly generated so you’ll never get the same world twice. While there are no actual goals to complete and you can play the game completely peacefully, there is an “end” game – traveling to another dimension called the End to slay the Enderdragon! This will not be an easy task though, gear up in armour and equip yourself with weapons and food before trying to take it on.
There are various game modes to choose from: Survival is your basic game mode and as the name suggests, your main goal is to survive! Creative gives you unlimited access to any materials and cheat codes that let you fly or teleport to wherever you want. This game mode is great for those who just want to build or plan something for their Survival world. There’s also Hardcore mode for those who want a challenge: you only have one life and if you die, your world gets deleted forever! Parents, if you want to get a better understanding of the game there’ll be a Minecraft movie coming in April 2025 that you can watch with the teens too.
Recommended for: Ages 10+
Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, Mobile
4. Roblox
Roblox isn’t really a game technically – it is a platform where you can create your own games or play games created by other users. But Roblox is definitely popular amongst the younger kiddos and teens with over 207 million active users as of 2024. You can find many original user-created games but also remakes of other popular games like Call of Duty or Lethal Company in the Roblox style.
Recently, there’s been a craze online for one of the user-created games in Roblox called Dress to Impress that’s even garnered the attention of adults and has gained popularity since big streamers are playing it. Dress to Impress is essentially a fashion game where you dress your character based on the selected theme. You have a limited time to come up with an outfit and look with the clothes available to you and once the time runs out, you’ll strut your stuff on the runway and the person who gets the most votes wins! It’s interesting to see adults playing a game like Roblox but it definitely makes for entertaining content when streamers like Kai Cenat and CaseOh play them, which is most likely why so many others have followed suit.
Recommended for: Ages 13+
Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, Mobile
5. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Sometimes teens just want to relax, unwind, and take a break from the concrete jungle that is the city. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a great way to escape without actually having to leave the comfort of the room – the player gets transported to a remote island that you can design as you see fit! It’s an extremely peaceful experience as you fish, catch bugs, design your house, farm, and much more! As you grow your island, villagers will come to visit and you can decide if they get to stay on your island to build a community!
Recommended for: All ages
Available on: Nintendo Switch
6. Stardew Valley
Another really cute game, Stardew Valley is a very peaceful open-ended video game that lets you grow crops, raise livestock, fish, cook, mine, forage, and socialize with the townspeople! Parents, if you want more context think of the Facebook game FarmVille but with a lot more interaction with characters and activities to do.
This lets the teens live out their fantasy life of being a townsperson and is a good way to develop management skills – especially when it comes to growing crops. While it may look extremely cute, it reaches a point in the game where you will have to manage your farm well or face the repercussions and lose money (just like in real life!). You can also play with friends, up to 8 players, and develop the town together.
Recommended for: Ages 13+
Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, Mobile
7. Splatoon 3
This third-person shooter is a lot more suited for the younger ones but is still quite popular amongst the teens. Splatoon 3 takes place in the world of Inklings that can shoot and swim in ink – the main multiplayer game mode involves a turf war between two teams where the objective is to cover the area with as much ink as possible! The objective is simple, the team that covers more of the map in ink wins. Use various tools and weapons to shoot the ink and dive into ink belonging to your team’s colour to avoid getting hit. There is also a single-player mode that teaches you the mechanics of the game by taking down enemies and bosses but the main bulk of the game is the online multiplayer mode. Plus, there’s no blood or violence so it’s a good shooter game for the kiddos!
Recommended for: Ages 9+
Available on: Nintendo Switch
8. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Pokémon is one of the video games that will always be popular with kids, teens, and adults alike. The latest edition in their mainline series of games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, is a more open-world approach to the classic monster-catching and battling game some of us grew up with. You get to explore the world as you see fit and you’re not locked into a linear storyline like past games. However, the difficulty of the challenges and level of Pokémon are based on the area you’re in so you do have to explore accordingly to a certain degree.
This new version also introduces 114 new Pokémon in the 9th Generation. Each version has exclusive Pokémon so to really catch them all, you’ll either have to get both games or trade with friends or online to get exclusive Pokémon from the other version. They have also teased the next game, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but not much is known about it other it’s release date being somewhere in 2025.
Recommended for: Ages 7+
Available on: Nintendo Switch
9. Astro Bot
Astro Bot is the new platformer for the PlayStation 5 that has received rave reviews since its release. It’s your typical video game where you focus on moving past obstacles and solving puzzles using various abilities like jumping or climbing. However, Astro Bot’s level design has been described as a “Masterclass” – the levels and abilities don’t get old and make the player use them in interesting ways each time. It’s a great way for teens to put their problem-solving and pattern-recognition skills to the test!
Recommended for: Ages 7+
Available on: PlayStation 5
10. Overcooked 2
If you want to embark on the video game journey alongside your teens, this is a great one to start with. Overcooked 2 will be a game that puts your communication and co-ordination skills to the test – work together to prepare ingredients, cook up a storm, and serve up the correct orders in time before the times up! It won’t always be that simple though, there will be stages and levels with much more complicated recipes and levels. Cook in a hot air balloon, on multiple moving rafts, a volcano – there are many levels to try out and explore. Tension may run high when team work falls apart so be warned, Overcooked 2 puts relationships to the test!
Recommended for: Ages 4+
Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation
You’ve completed the tutorial and leveled up! Now that you know what video games your teens are playing, join in on the fun too.
