My girlfriend has never really gamed. But she’s now forced to move less than she would like to (health problem) and she’s getting bored. I was thinking of introducing her to a game or two that we could play together. She’s not the real action game type, and seeing as she has no experience with controller/mouse and keyboard I was thinking starting simple.
I can’t think of anything else than Factorio, as she likes organizing/keeping track of stuff.
Would you recommend against that or have anything better in mind? Let me know!
When first starting out, I think relaxed games that help a player get used to left and right directions (side-scrolling or platform) and timing on the controls is a good start. Then evolve into camera and movement based controls.
My suggestions are starting with these:
My Brother Rabbit
The Between Gardens
Dawn (may have some camera control, but this is the most relaxing game I’ve played for that)
Then move on to these:
La Rana
The Room Series
Aim Labs or any shooting game that has tutorials/ practice mode (for FPS practice)
These games are found on steam. Note, most of these are casual/puzzle based.
I don’t have much experience with co-op, so can’t help you there. But I do like the suggestions so far based on reviews.
My partner wasn’t into video games, but I got her into them. One she was really into is stardew valley. It’s really chill and low stakes. Might be a good one to try.
Or somewhat similar (though lacking that late game content) Roots of Pacha
Portal
This was a triumph
I second Portal. Technically it’s a “first person puzzle platformer” but it’s just so its own thing that it hardly feels like a video game.
My mom who hadn’t touched any video games since 80s arcade machines absolutely loved Portal
Stardew valley is 2D so fewer controls to learn than a 3D game. It also has a cute art style.
And lots of additional content in mods (you can do that for her, it’s pretty simple).
Another one, Universim. Oh, and Roller Coaster Tycoon 2, maybe Sims 3/4.
Minecraft, Terreria, Starkey Valley, Overcooked, The Sims, Dark Souls.
🎵 one of these things are not like the others 🎵
Really pushing her into the deep end, sink-or-swim style. I just hope Pelican Town doesn’t chew her up and spit her out too hard.
If she likes organizing, let her take a peek at “unpacking”. Cute artstyle, really cozy and lots of stuff to unpack and organize. Hope your girlfriend gets better soon!
A Little to the Left is a nice pick for organizing puzzle style game. It’s on gamepass if you have it.
There’s a game called A Little to the Left that’s a whole bunch of lovely organisational + sorting puzzles
Got any more hidden gems like that which you could recommend?
I’d recommend story-based games like The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, Life is Strange, etc. You don’t need to know anything about gaming to enjoy them, and you can both play it like a series.
Switch?
AC New Horizons Cult of the Lamb My Time at Portia
Was just thinking about My Time at Portia. Pretty new gamer friendly and when things start feeling tedious, a new mechanic is introduced to make everything you were doing easier. Haven’t played My Time at Sandrock, so can’t speak for the sequel.
I’ve heard Sandrock is far better on PC than on Switch fwiw
I was gonna say animal crossing as soon as he said organizing and stuff.
When covid had everyone working from home and avoiding social contact, I started my gaming journey with Firewatch and The Long Dark, and Factorio. All are excellent. Alien Isolation and The Forest came later.
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This is a cliche, but a lot of women I know play the Sims. Your girlfriend might like it as well.
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Wilmot’s Warehouse is a cool game about organizing a warehouse.
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I played a lot of Terraria with my sister. It’s 2D, so she did not get motion sickness. There’s a lot of costumes we could collect. (This was probably our favourite part of the game.)
Adding to the cliche list, Animal Crossing is another game to consider since it’s very chill and can be cozy. Has collections she can work on filling out, she can make a dope island, and make her house into a perfect living space.
Another recommendation that might sound counter-intuitive but could work is Vermintide 2. It’s an action game that does have mechanical depth to it for the higher difficulties, but the game is very forgiving on the two easiest difficulties where you can just use whatever is fun and do decently well. The melee combat is very satisfying even when just going unga bunga, and it goes on sale frequently for like $5, so you both could pick up copies and have fun in a coop game where you’re bashing the heads of ratmen in with ease.
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It takes two is a fantastic experience to have with a loved one, even if inexperienced with games, it is very forgiving
The gameplay of ‘It takes two’ is very fun, but the characters and the story can be infuriating. If they annoy you in the trailers or in a gameplay video, be aware that their dynamic stays like that a long time - we gave up on it after a while because of it
Exactly this. It’s a terrible, outdated story that essentially sells “staying together for the kids.” The whole way through we were both like “ye these two need to get divorced.” The book is a villain.
Eta: game play was fun though
Yep, my girlfriend and I thought the same.
“Oh, I know how to solve our problem! We make our daughter cry!”
“But how?”
“Let’s brutally murder her toy elephant!”A+ parenting right there
Oh, I assumed it was kid friendly. My soon to be 7 year old is just started Minecraft. He struggles with games so far as too complex for him, like lego Harry Potter or even hot wheels (all the ps+ kids games). I was hoping to try it takes two with him at some point. If the story is not nice, maybe that’s not a great idea. Playing Rayman together was fun and forgiving as he just keeps reappearing when he dies.
It is mostly kid friendly.
Just the scene with the elephant is thrown in as a bit of a joke. But can be quite brutal if the child is too young to understand. But it is just about ripping up a toy. So not really all that brutal.
The rest of the game is completely fine though, would recommend.
It’s about ripping up a living, crying toy while it begs for its life, after chasing it through the area. It made me squirm and I’m a grown-ass adult.
Mine loves Cook Serve Delicious and Stardew Valley. Also Starbound and Terraria.
Me and my wife love playing a game called “Out of Space” it’s essentially a procedurally generated clean the house game. It has Overcooked vibes but it’s a lot more chill.
Factorio might be a bit heavy for someone who hasn’t played anything, but the peaceful mode might be interesting for just building. Also depending on what else she likes Cities Skylines, Rimworld, Stellaris or Parkitect are all very management focused.
If you give us more info on what she likes we might be able to give better suggestions.
Not a fan myself, but my wife quite enjoyed getting into Life is Strange.