The Last Tinker : City of Colors

This action-adventure game may look like a platformer, but all of the jumping is automatic. This makes it very easy for kids to play, but it’s also fiendishly effective with its gameplay that keeps evolving over the course of the adventure, and its story comes with a fine moral. You’ll play as a resident of Colortown locked in battle with The Bleakness. A little gem.

This is the perfect game for kids – it even has a special game mode just for them – but it will also bring some joy to anyone who grew up with Spyro, Crash Bandicoot or Banjo-Kazooie.

In Colortown, tension between residents has brought colour production to a standstill. The red residents have developed a superiority complex that makes them look down on the greens and blues in disdain, an attitude that has left the greens living in fear and the blues feeling despondent. As you might have already guessed, beneath its childlike exterior, this game is a nice little allegory against racism. The broken world is then invaded by the Bleakness, who strips it of its colour.

Our hero is Koru, a mute-but-cute little monkey who's on a mission to put things right. He can count on some help from his friend Tap, a flying sheep who can be a bit of a grump. The game's dialogue is displayed on cardboard signs, so your little gamers will need to be able to read if they're to enjoy this beautiful adventure that combines exploration, stealth, puzzles, racing, and combat.

We loved the landscape and items that seem to have been crafted out of cardboard and papier-mâché and then daubed in paint. Its striking and soothing all at once. A refreshing take on 3D graphics.

The Last Tinker is an adventure game that you might just mistake for a platformer, except it's nothing of the sort as all of the jumping is automatic. Koru's skills get upgraded whenever he meets one of the spirits of colour: the red spirit will give him the ability to fire colour at his enemies to inflict damage; green attacks send enemies fleeing in terror; while the blue attacks leave them sluggish and vulnerable.

You can also collect gems and well-hidden golden paintbrushes that you can use to unlock tips. Don't be too proud to repeat a level in order to find them all.

Our advice? If you start to feel stuck and don't know where to go next in this labyrinthine world, never fear! Just press the down button and Tap will fly off in the direction you need to head in, leaving a trail of colourful confetti for you to follow.

Our favourite part was the puzzles to solve with help from Biggs and Bomber. They're two funny creatures that have different reactions when you spray them with different colours.

This is a game for everyone: younger gamers thanks to its kids' mode, and older gamers in hard mode... as long as they're still in touch with their inner child!