Bastion
LQ: 9.15
Recommended Age: 10+
Skills Used: Planning, Working Memory, Mathematics, Reading
Guildlings is a fantasy RPG where you are playing as Coda, a young girl who is becomes trapped in a bubble after receiving a magical cellphone that turns her into a Guildling. Coda must collect other Guildlings in order to break the spell but in order to do this, she needs to interact with other characters via a sprite that can manipulate objects. Conversations take place via a cellphone interface, meaning that it looks much like a text conversation between two people.
In the quest to obtain more Guildlings, Coda and her friends need to occasionally do battle. Instead of doing and taking damage, the player needs to simply survive the fight by keeping their cell phone charged. Some quests will require that the guildlings be in certain moods before they can accomplish tasks such as moving objects or climbing walls. Characters’ moods can be altered by engaging in battle, conversing with other characters, or even listening to music.
Guildings is available for free with a subscription to Apple Arcade. It is rated for children ages 12 and up. Learningworks for Kids recommends that parents know the ESRB rating system and weigh this against their knowledge of their child when making decisions about whether or not to allow a particular game. Due to the large amount of reading required to navigate Guildlings, this game might not be appropriate for children who are just learning to read.
Planning: Developing a systematic approach for setting and achieving goals.
In order to win battles in Guildings, the player needs to end the encounter with some charge left in their cellphone. They do this by executing moves that provide extra battery power, as well as moves that affect their overall emotional state. Players need to plan out the order of their moves to ensure that they end the encounter with charge left on their phone and in an emotional state which will allow them to execute other moves within the game. For players who struggle with planning, they may need to enter into additional encounters until they get to the emotional state they need.
Self-Awareness: Caring and connecting emotionally with others.
Many of the game's mechanics rely on what mood the characters are in. Certain actions will affect how the characters feel and this can determine whether or not they are able to level up, cast spells, and perform certain actions during encounters. The player is able to have Coda respond to the other characters by selecting from several options. These options range from kind to impatient to energetic; the character responds in a unique way based on what you choose to have Coda say. The player needs to use their self-awareness skills to read the situation and know which response would be the best to use in the situation at hand.
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