Although it’s pretty easy to get our kids to sit in front of an iPad, getting them to do anything that might get their neurons firing is something else entirely. Claudia just likes to watch people open Kinder Eggs on YouTube, Marshall spends most of his time installing and uninstalling apps in the pursuit of something that might hold his attention and to Morgan the internet is just an infinite-length episode of You’ve Been Framed where he gets to watch varieties of furry animals jumping into or out of things with hilarious consequences.

The request to try out a new game came with a few protests, but that’s mostly generational. They’re not gifted with the excitement for new games unless eight of their friends have already gloated it past them in the school corridor. Marshall seemed the most receptive so he immediately became my first choice to test out a cool game by Avokiddo called We ARGH Pirates! We ARGH Pirates is a 2d puzzley adventure game that sees you navigating your scurvy crew through a series of locations strewn across an olde pirate map.

Each location has its own challenges. In one of them you’ll find yourself using a balloon to get across a rickety old rope-bridge, but then another will see you popping in and out of doors trying to climb to the top of a volcano.

Everything is rendered in a cheeky faux-Python style and the dialogue is witty enough that it kept Marshall glued to the adventure for a good hour-long session.

We ARGH Pirates is aimed primarily at children over 6 years old. Younger children may have a decent time trying to get on with it due to the relatively small amount of text on the screen, but they’re not the target audience and may tire more quickly of what’s asked of them. Older kids will certainly still get a kick out of the game’s funny story but it’s pitched at a level that would likely be most appealing to 6-9 yr olds.

The overall level of quality is certainly very good and the neat animation is supported by good voice acting and a charming soundtrack make it an altogether impressive little package.

If I had to level any criticism at We ARGH Pirates it would be that the game is somewhat linear. I would like to have seen more agency available to the player surrounding what order to approach each environment, but these are small gripes at best and do nothing to diminish the overall experience. Keep in mind that, it’s a well-crafted experience but a finite one, and once beaten there’s not a great deal to encourage children to play through multiple times. There’s totally no harm in this approach and I believe there’s a value to a well-made game that doesn’t go on forever. Just bear in mind that once We ARGH Pirates is mined of its secrets, the kids will likely be back to their Minecraft servers and Peppa Pig livestreams.

We liked We ARGH Pirates and would definitely recommend it to any parents who are looking for something new and quirky to keep their little one occupied through a long journey or overnight trip.

We ARGH Pirates is available here and can also be found in the Android, Amazon and Apple app stores. For further information check out their site here.

Disclaimer: This review was done in return for a copy of the game. No financial agreements have been entered into and our opinions remain our own.