Bluey: The Videogame — the show is the bar, and the game falls beneath it
A 1–2 hour licensed adventure for ages 4–7 from Madrid's Artax Games via Outright Games. Voice cast and art clear the bar; the runtime, the bugs, and the $40 launch price don't. Wait for the sale or the PS+ month.
A 1-to-3-hour family co-op adventure across four interactive episodes from Madrid's Artax Games and licensed-kids publisher Outright Games. Switch / PS5 / PS4 / Xbox / Steam, $39.99. PEGI 3+ / ESRB E, no IAP, no ads, no online, local 4-player co-op. The voice cast and art reproduce the Emmy-winning show faithfully — but OpenCritic logs 47% recommend across 16 critics, IGN called it "low-effort," and Aftermath called it "shovelware." Kid-reaction signal is real but split. Recommendation depends almost entirely on price: free on PS+ Essential mid-2025, $40 at launch.
How we got to 66
The Play Score is a weighted average: Fun ×0.25, Learning ×0.3, Safety ×0.25, Value ×0.2. Anything below 60 on Safety caps the total at 70.
What parents wrote vs. what their kids did
Quotes are sourced from public App Store, Google Play, and Reddit reviews captured during research. Reviewer handles shown verbatim where the platform makes them public; we never invent quotes or named children.
"For little kids, it's great. As an adult, it's maddening with all the cut scenes. A very conditional 10/10. My 17 year old son asked for it for Christmas as a joke. 17 year old and Dad spent 3 hours playing, making silly jokes."
r/bluey (top comment, "Rate this game" thread)· Reddit"My 5-year-old found it dull and short — and that's despite not knowing that this buggy and uninventive 1-hour experience cost us $40. A textbook example of a shameless cashgrab."
timquo, Metacritic user (1/10, Xbox Series X)· forum"It's good that it's on a subscription service so you can play it through if the kids want (it's 1-2 hours), but don't expect it to be any fun for an adult. It was a great first video game for my 5 year old to play, but yeah the gameplay is a mess."
r/bluey ("Added to PS+" thread, mid-2025)· Reddit"My 5-year-old found it dull and short — and that's despite not knowing that this buggy and uninventive 1-hour experience cost us $40. A textbook example of a shameless cashgrab."
timquo, Metacritic user (1/10, Xbox Series X)· forum"My daughter hated it. Very glitchy. We returned it. I think even kids will find it shit and boring. I don't think kids are stupid: they know what will be a good game, and only the very youngest will like Bluey the Videogame."
r/bluey ("Opinions" thread, top comment)· Reddit"My 2 yr old Niece made us play the chattermax minigame at least 50 times. Overall a friendly and entertaining game."
๓๏๏ภรђг๏๏๓เ (5.2 hrs, Recommended)· steam_reviewWhat's good, what's not
- ✓Show-faithful art and full voice cast — Plugged In: "the colorful 2-D game looks and feels very much like the show," fully voiced characters
- ✓Composer Joff Bush's show score returns; Dan Brumm (Uncle Stripe) on sound design — the music does what the dialogue can't
- ✓Cleanest privacy footprint in the licensed-kids-game space: no IAP, no ads, no online interaction, no "game over." PEGI 3 / ESRB E
- ✓Local 4-player co-op with a Heeler-per-kid — Plugged In: "Mom or Dad can slip in if a little parental Keepy Uppy is required"
- ✓Strong on-ramp for first-time-controller kids aged 4–6 — Fatherly: "a splendid first step to help your child enter the world of video games"
- ✓Common Sense Media editorial recommends for ages 4+ — "the quality makes up for the lack of quantity"
- ✓Free post-launch updates throughout 2024–2025 added Muffin & Uncle Stripe playable, new Nana / Grandad / Aunt Trixie quests, and minigame variants
- ✓Multiple positive kid-reaction reports including the chattermax-minigame-loop pattern and "imaginative adventures" sandbox use of the unlocked endgame
- ✓Recommended starter for autistic and special-needs kids per multiple reviewers — no time pressure, no failure states
- ✓PS+ Essential addition mid-2025 reframed the cost equation: free for subscribers, the recommendation works
- —Kid-reaction signal isn't universal — multiple parents report kids who hated it ("My daughter hated it. Very glitchy. We returned it.") or were "dull-and-short" bored. Bluey-superfan ≠ Bluey-game-fan.
- —OpenCritic 47% recommend across 16 critics — bottom 20% of the release window. Critics' median verdict is mixed-to-negative.
- —Main story runs 1–2 hours; full collectibles 3 hours. At $40 launch the value math doesn't work for most reviewers.
- —Game-breaking glitches at launch and well into 2024 — characters teleporting through walls, dialogue / mouth-movement desync, audio loops, repeated voice lines on every collectible pickup
- —Outright Games' licensed-kids track record is the editorial concern — repeated "shovelware / cashgrab" critiques applied to the studio across years and titles
- —Voice acting quality varied wildly between sentences (Aftermath); Bluey says identical lines on repeat (PC Gamer). The writing the show is famous for is not what's in the game.
What your kid is actually practising
Designed as a controller-first-time experience: simple platforming, no twin-stick, no precision aim. PC Gamer notes the game proved "rather challenging for my wee boy" — meaningful demand on a beginner without overwhelming. Fatherly calls it "an ideal way to teach kids about the buttons on a controller."
Minigames are obstacle-course / collect-the-thing rather than puzzle. Episodes are linear go-here-do-this. The Gamer's reviewer praised Easter eggs more than puzzle design. Not the skill the game targets.
Endgame opens the four environments + a fifth (the beach) for free roam with imaginative-play affordances — costumes, collectibles, treasure-finding. Pre-endgame the structure is too linear to support open-ended play. Magic Kids Learning frames it as "a digital playground."
No timers, no scoring, no losing. The pacing models the show's family-bonding tone. Plugged In: "communicates a sincere encouragement toward real-world family bonding, play and interaction." Lower than Pok Pok / Sago because gameplay friction (bugs, repeated lines) breaks the calm.
The strongest skill the game actually exercises. Local 4-player co-op with a Heeler-per-player, no competitive pressure, no game-over screens. Plugged In notes parental drop-in, kids cooperating on Keepy Uppy and minigames. Endgame opens free roam for sibling sandbox play.
A healthy way to play it
About 30 minutes per session
