Best Family Game is a returning category from last year, an evolution of the old “Best Casual Game” category from years prior. We felt that writing off any game as “casual” was disingenuous and wanted to celebrate games that provided wider accessibility to everyone in the family, even if those family members didn’t game as much. All of our featured nominees this year were great games for anyone, covering a range of family-friendly shooters, meaningful adventures, platformers, and kart racers. As a quick reminder, here are the PlayStation LifeStyle nominations for Best Family Game in 2019.
- Concrete Genie
- Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville
- Team Sonic Racing
- Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair
- Crash Team Racing
Best Family Game 2019 Winner
Concrete Genie
Concrete Genie is an amazing little game by Pixelopus, and managed to land nominations in a number of other categories this year too! It’s filled with deep messaging about loneliness, connection, and bullying, and overflows with heart, passion, and creativity. Our review repeatedly compared the visuals to a LAIKA film, the almost stop-motion style of animation helping to bring the world of Concrete Genie to life. It’s a fun adventure with great moments for creativity and has elements that can be played in VR too. Even after the story is done, there’s plenty to do with the game’s creative modes, and seeing your art come to life is enough to bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Reader’s Choice Winner
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled sparked the hearts of many when it brought back a beloved classic kart racer from decades yore with expanded features and continued support. This was a close second in our own staff voting (and Concrete Genie landed second place for readers too), so it seems like the consensus is pretty high that these are two must-play family games this year.
Don’t miss our full lineup of nominees for the PlayStation LifeStyle Game of the Year awards. We’re just getting started with the winners and we’ll be revealing more all throughout the week, leading up to the Game of the Year on Friday December 20.
