'Bugsnax,' 'Sackboy' and more next-gen family games you should own

Today's games provide many wonders, including complex stories with multiple quests and missions that provide the illusion of letting us stitch together a linear story. But they are also big, and sometimes overwhelming to start. I enjoyed my first hour with "Assassin's Creed Valhalla," a massive Viking-themed addition to the long-running open-world franchise, but stopped the game, knowing I wouldn't be able to fully explore its seemingly go-anywhere universe for a couple weeks.

I found instead that I was craving more bite-size games. At least I thought I was.

That desire doesn't explain why I'm on my second tour of "Astro's Playroom," a game included with the PlayStation 5 and which many believed would be little more than a tech