REVIEW: ‘Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen’ Is Super Fun, According to My 5-Year-Old Nephew

The console port is a good cozy game for more experienced gamers, but younger audiences may find it challenging. Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen may already be out for mobile devices, but the open-zone Zelda-lite is coming to consoles in just a few short days from publisher PM Studios and developer Halfbrick Studios.

But as a 32-year-old man with no kids and almost no connection to Bluey, I thought it would be fun to get insight on the game from my nephew Merrick’s perspective, a five-year-old Bluey die-hard, who is not only new to games, but isn’t quite up to speed on his reading just yet. I wanted to know whether a game based on the hit children’s TV show would translate well to its target demographic and whether Merrick’s limited experience with games would be an adequate introduction to the medium.

After a bit of a rocky start, he eventually got the hang of it and was hooked, learning the controls, mechanics, and physics, and enjoying the story like any other episode of Bluey. He needed some help from his mom to read some of the instructions and with some of the harder puzzles and platforming sections, but he didn’t want to put the game down, spending a hefty chunk of time with it right up until bedtime (much to my sister’s chagrin).

Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen’s most important critics are the kids who watch the series.

Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen sees the Heeler family rained in, forced to find inventive ways to entertain themselves. Bluey and her sister Bingo are coloring pictures together and telling stories, when their dad Bandit playfully steals the golden pen, setting the stage for a hand-drawn adventure across foreign and distant lands.

Bluey and Bingo, who’s taken on the form of a magical goose and is now referred to as Bingoose, embark on a quest to stop Bandit, now called Goldie Horns, in their imaginary world (cue laugh track). In an original story from Bluey creator Joe Brumm that also features the show’s original voice cast, Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen is an extremely fun and adorable tale that feels just like an episode you’d see on TV.

Mechanically, this is a top-down open zone collectathon, with exploration and puzzle solving similar to something you’d experience playing an older Legend of Zelda title. The goal for each world is to collect enough Goose Food to progress to the next by solving puzzles strewn about each environment (resulting in Bingoose laying silver eggs, for some reason), culminating in a final showdown at Goldie Horn’s castle to reclaim your prize.

Already a success on mobile, this port brings another Bluey game to console.

Some of the puzzles and platforming sections are basic, entry-level things five-year-olds could handle easily, like stepping on every pressurized tile or digging it out of the ground with a simple string of button presses. But according to my nephew, a few of the bouncing and gliding sections were particularly challenging, and he had a hard time with some of the more urgent sections where the platform breaks out from under you.

Merrick had to retry a few times to get the timing right, and with some support from his mom, was able to beat these parts. Luckily, failing isn’t really a thing in this game; if you fall off a ledge, you’re sent back up in a bubble to continue on. Once you collect enough Goose Food, the girls’ mom, Chili, flies down and offers to take you to the exit to progress the story. But you can refuse if you’re a completionist or want to explore more of the area.

Gallivanting around each area is fairly cozy, with crisp visuals in a hand-drawn style that Bluey and Bingo could’ve drawn themselves, and the music is vibrant and fits each world it’s composed for well. The open-zoned worlds offer a wide variety of biome types, such as an abandoned mine or a snowy mountain top.

Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen is “super fun” for all ages, but younger players will need a parent’s help.

No two worlds were all too similar in this Bluey video game, offering a refreshing motivator to keep playing once one area wore out its welcome. And something that my nephew and I both appreciate in its design is that while each level requires a finite number of Goose Food to progress, ranging anywhere from eight to 12, each zone offers nearly triple that amount to find, significantly reducing the frustration of having to find these McGuffins and making it much easier for younger gamers to play on their own.

Some areas offer bespoke traversal mechanics to help you get around and solve their puzzles, like ice skates, a jet pack, and even a mine cart ride. I was curious if this is a game my nephew would recommend to other kids around his age, and my sister chimed in with some good insight. She says yes, but with a caveat: play with a parent.

In Merrick’s case, some of the more complex puzzles require hand-eye coordination that’s a little too advanced for a five-year-old, so having the help of an adult would result in an overall smoother experience. And my nephew can’t quite read independently yet, and despite the well-acted cutscenes, the moment-to-moment gameplay is quite wordy and without voice acting, so she recommends kids around six or seven might be the appropriate audience.

This Bluey video game is a cozy Zelda-lite with more than enough to get lost in.

Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen originally launched as a mobile title, but porting this to consoles (we played on the Switch) felt seamless; the controls were intuitive, and learning the ropes didn’t come with much of a learning curve, even for my nephew, who prefers to try to control the characters by moving his entire body.

Most importantly, I wanted to know if my nephew found this game fun. He replied with an ecstatic yes, saying, “Yes, I liked it! Because you get to collect beads and fruit for Bingoose, and she lays eggs.” After he played it for hours and I heard the excitement in his voice and his body language over video chat, and after finishing the game myself, it’s clear Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen is a worthwhile time for gamers of all experience levels.

I was admittedly impressed. With low expectations going in, Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen’s chill vibes and low-barrier-to-entry checklist-style collectathon make for a genuinely fun, cozy game to get lost in when you want to play without thinking too hard. It’s a great game for onboarding a younger generation of gamers, but don’t take my word for it; my five-year-old nephew can’t put it down.

Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen releases on PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on May 28, 2025.

Editor’s Note: At the time of review, Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen was not fully voiced. However, after this review was published, we were informed by the publisher that the game will be fully voiced at launch. This information was not available during the review period.