I know you asked for as little violence as possible, but have you considered Destiny 2?
There are single, two, three and six person activities (and you can use group finders to help find a 6th and maybe make a friend on the way).
It is a first person looter shooter, but it also has a deep story as well as mechanics (eg platforming, solving puzzles, exploring areas to find collectibles). Ultimately though you do need to shoot and kill stuff. It’s not that gory however.
There’s also builds in the game, so you can spend a lot of time tweaking your builds to get it how you like it, aka theory crafting.
It’s also “free to play”, but in reality it’s “free for the first bit and then if you want access to heaps of other content you gotta spend money”.
Destiny 2 is a terrible choice for a 5 person group, the only activities are raids which is endgame
Not a shooter, but you can have a lot of fun in custom matches of Rocket League and the game is suitable for kids and free.
Not FPS, but Valheim is plenty fun. Also, zomboid, but that ones a bit more violent
Valheim is also capable of being extremely frustrating, so I’d recommend one of the mods that removes the skill penalty loss when dying. It might not be necessary, but dad knows the kids’ temperaments better than me.
EpicLoot might also be good, if OP’s kids are keen to grind components.
I’d recommend EpicLoot anyway. The effects it adds to some gear is sometimes essential, after playing vanilla and and with EL.
If you can find it, Evolve. Four players fighting the fifth player as a monster.
Good suggestion, there are a few in this genre. Dead by Daylight and Friday the 13th are two others. They’re made for 5 people, as long as you’re ok with one person being the monster.
Satisfactory could be amazing if everyone’s into that sort of thing – there’s enough to the exploration and pve that players don’t have to just be building factories all the time, but if they do get into the factory part it’s an excellent foundation for getting into engineering one day!
DRG can be modded to support 5+.
Ninja Turtles Shredders Revenge is up to 6 players. Technically it’s tons of violence, but it’s cartoony. You can do online or couch coop too.
@janbartosik @gaming Helldivers
I’d like to recommend Crab Champions. It’s currently discounted, and quite a blast. Sadly, it’s only four players simultaneously, but quick and also fun to watch.
Palworld, rent a dedicated server, anyone can hop in or out as necessary. Guns, legally(?) distinct from pokemon monsters to catch. Cartoon violence. Tons of fun to be had.
Don’t Starve Together - not a shooter though.
CoOp / PvE + Shooter + 5 players is a bit of a challenge to be honest…
Is one category less important than the others? Might help with suggestions.
@janbartosik @gaming Bronzebeard’s Tavern is free, and 1-8 player:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2422870/Bronzebeards_Tavern/Helldivers 2. It’s not violence when it’s justice, citizen.
Not 5 player coop though
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A survival game is probably what you’re aiming for here. Someone has to host in those scenarios usually unless one of you pays for a dedicated server. I don’t have a ton of experience with the shooty kind. But Valheim, Vrising and Palworld were a lot of fun for about 20 to 30 hours each. Palworld had some shooter experiences.
I like these because it usually turns into a “let’s get things done together “ and everyone finds their tasks to do. Then you put it all together and you end up with a cool base you built together and have some pride in. Palworld again is the one with the lowest “violence” imo
I would definitely recommend some roguelike shooters like Roboquest, Gunfire Reborn, Crab Champions, etc. These are all 4 players, but you could always have a few different lobbies.
Maybe also consider something like Palworld, Grounded, Raft, and other Survivalcraft games. There should be a good few in that genre that will allow you all to play together!
Sounds like a fun group ready for some great memories! Good luck on your game hunt!
Man I wish roboquest supported created than 2 player co-op. That’d be so damn fun
I’ve played so much of it and didn’t realize it only supported two players! I guess I’m glad I only talked one friend into playing with me 🤭.
two player co-op is still a blast
I believe Grounded is limited to 4 players too, unfortunately.
Perhaps Valheim - the archery is pretty good and while not as twitchy as a shooter might suffice to scratch that itch
There’s always the azumatt first person mode and Better Archery mods to get you there 😊
