Okay so work with me a little here. You’ve just been tasked with recommending a game to someone who’s got very little experience with gaming.
Maybe they’re a kid who’s just starting out, or maybe they’ve just never had much interest in videogames.
What one game are you giving to them to show what videogames can be
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I would vote for Stardew Valley as a universally “good” introduction to gaming. There’s a lot of charm, it’s low intensity, it’s obviously a labor of love, there are frequent rewards, and it incentivizes planning/engagement but not in a way that makes a new player fail.
Honestly though I’d rather know what kind of preferences a person has and tailor the game to that because gaming is so diverse.
Speaking of labour of love I would also add Terraria
100% agree. Both are examples of how passionate indie gaming can surpass millions of dollars of budget and create something special.
SDV is a great answer. It’s still my top played game in steam. I played it through the entire quarantine phase of the pandemic.
Even if SDV is my favourite game to play, I wouldn’t recommend it for someone with little to no gaming experience. It’s a cozy farming sim yes, but a lot of mechanics are not that well explained and you have to use the wiki A LOT! Even watching streamers playing it for the first time just shows how much on top explaining is often necessary to really start a good farm where you can feel the progress.
The Portal games. They show how games can build alternative realities in a fundamentally more tangible way than other mediums while not assuming previous experience with games.
Untitled Goose Game
This was where I introduced my daughter to games a few years ago. The controls are simple, the game isn’t asking too much and it’s just good fun to walk around and “Honk”. She absolutely loved it.
Dark Souls
Jeez, let them start with something easy, like Battletoads on NES.
It doesn’t directly answer your question, but this playlist of videos is tangentially related. It’s showing the experience of trying various games/genres of games for someone who is not at all a gamer. It was really interesting to see some of the things that gamers might take for granted which are completely foreign to someone who hasn’t been steeped in gaming.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLordXx8iNEyStcX_WzqM0JCpiJYgqhinc
Movie-like games where you pick choices? Life is Strange, The Walking Dead and similar, Heavy Rain.
Also Lego, Thrine, EDGE for easy platforming.
It’s also worth noting many games now have a “story mode” like difficulty, an easy mode with almost no risk, just something to allow you to experience the story.
What comes to mind is the Uncharted series, though I would probably try to avoid any sort of 1st or 3rd person shooter like game with the typical dual stick controls.
I find Nintendo games are great for people that don’t play games much.
If they’re very young, one of the most recent yoshi games are very easy to play.
Or else a nice 2D platformer like Mario wonder. You can play with them and help if necessary.
If you want them to get used to 3D style games Mario Odyssey or Astro’s playroom on ps5 are very fun to play.
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You get to be an animal, and run around and explore an expansive but uncomplicated world. You meet other animals (players), and try to communicate with only animal noises and emojis. And you run around together collecting resources, that unlock more animals or animal things to use.
It’s wonderful.
There isn’t one single answer to this, it depends on the person’s predilections. But good beginner games have in common that they have simple controls, start out easy and introduce new elements piecemeal. An engaging world and story can provide the player with direction.
Portal 1 is one of those games that I’ve heard lots of people enjoy that don’t usually play games and it ticks all those boxes.
The Super Mario jumpNrun games are also great as an introduction as the controls are very intuitive and explorable. Plus it’s fun to move around and traversing the world.
Minimalist puzzle games like Monument valley can also do the trick for some folks.
I love Journey and recommend it for all ages
Stardew Valley or Minecraft.
Minecraft is also my go to. You have the initial hurdle of teaching them to walk with one stick and look with the other, but if they can get past that it tends to pull people in for hours.
Well, I would definitely recommend Java edition, which is only for desktops, laptops or Android over bedrock, but it is still a good game in either edition.
The correct answer is the original Peggie and Peggie Nights.
If you really want to fuck them up just make them play WoW.
I’ve been thinking Cocoon would be a good candidate for that.
- Super simple controls.
- There is no fail state.
- Figuring out the rules is part of the puzzle gameplay. As such, it also uses very few unwritten video game conventions.
- The game pushes you towards the right solution, while making you feel smart for it.
- No unprovoked violence.
- The art style is gorgeous and, perhaps more importantly, unique.
