In recent years, serious games have gained greater relevance in the educational field due to their usefulness in the intellectual development of students. With this objective in mind, we conducted a systematic literature review on serious games in the learning of primary-school students to reveal the advantages and the disadvantages, as well as the effects of educational game strategies and in the application areas, when using the PRISMA methodology to analyse the academic progress during the last 10 years. We conducted the search, selection and analysis in different databases, such as SCOPUS, ERIC and Dimensions, and analysed 54 studies. The results showed that serious games have a positive impact on cognition; and they generate significant learning achievements. Likewise, the game-based learning strategy concentrates a high level of motivation, generated by the interest, commitment and...