Taking clear inspiration from the Oregon Trail (but with Vikings and monsters) you lead a caravan across a dying world in search of safety and supplies. Visual treats aside, the core gameplay is very fun. There are alien encounters as well, but this is a strictly non-violent game, so rather than killing everything in sight, you can interact with the beings you meet, learn about their own stories, and maybe pick up a few clues about your uncle as well.

The suit starts off with a single power-boost that helps you to jump around the various floating islands and platforms, and then you get a grappling hook as well, which gives you more freedom to explore the world around you. The game starts off like an adventure, asking you to find clues about your missing uncle, but rather than sticking with 2D graphics and dull swathes of text, the game suddenly goes rocketing across the dimensions, turning into a kind of 3D platform game as you use Uncle Fred’s ‘adventure suit’ to run and jump around the alien landscape and track him down. The story follows a young boy who goes in search of his Uncle Fred, an intrepid explorer who on this occasion seems to have gotten a bit carried away, and has gone missing in one of those Doctor Strange-esque inter-dimensional landscapes populated by floating islands and strange alien creatures. A Story About My Uncle was also released on PC in 2014, although the Mac version took a few years to arrive, and is now available on Steam.

Admittedly, Gone North Games isn’t the most well-known developer, consisting of a group of former students in Sweden, whose biggest hit seems to have been 2014’s Goat Simulator. Every now and then you come across a little gem of a game and wonder why it hasn’t attracted a wider audience.

Best mac games for kids