I’m a 30 year old woman who’s only really played card and puzzle games on my phone. Im considering new hobbies. Is it worth trying to get into video games for the first time. Where would I even start.
It’s definitely worth trying if you’re interested.
I would not recommend buying a console or gaming PC first as that is a money sink that you’re not sure is worth it yet. My gaming PC broke when I arrived at university, and I got by playing less graphically intensive games on my standard laptop for a few years.
Good games I’d recommend to start with:
- Stardew Valley — cosy, charming farming game that you can play at your own pace. Has great characters that you get to know, and fun, simple, rewarding gameplay. My girlfriend got really into this game.
- Minecraft — this is where many of us started as kids. It’s an excellent game that’s fun for all ages. There isn’t a clear goal so it’s more about making your own fun.
- Vampire Survivors — extremely fun, simple, cheap, and addicting game. Play at your own risk.
- LIMBO — a puzzle game classic with a unique, dark aesthetic. Only takes a couple of hours to complete.
- INSIDE — made by the same people as Limbo. Grabbed me and wouldn’t let go for the whole 4 hour experience. I don’t play many puzzle games but I couldn’t get enough of this one. Probably because of the narrative.
Those can all be played on the average laptop or desktop anyone would have.
Best of luck on your journey! Feel free to reply with any questions or suggestions for specific genres and such. My girlfriend didn’t play video games until I introduced them to her, and the most important thing was that I didn’t try to force any games on her, just show her what there was and let her interest lead the way. So take a look at all the suggestions people are leaving and go with what interests you most. And if you’re not enjoying a game, it’s okay to go play a different one.
(Also, Steam provides free, no-questions-asked refunds for any games purchased that both 1) were bought less than 2 weeks ago, and 2) have less than 2 hours of game time. So you can always demo a game to see if you like it and return it easily if not.)
Agree with this. Stardew Valley and many games can be found on mobile and quite popular with the gaming community. I am not sure as a beginner player I would start off with Stardew Valley as there are a lot of mechanics? Would recommend more of the below as there are not as many things to figure out:
High recommendations for Vampire Survivors. There is a demo with that link as well as direct app access.
Additionally, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp for $20 come December is great intro. Super relaxing game.
100% recommend Slay the Spire as well.
For games without a mobile option, I feel like Portal 1 and Portal 2 are must plays for anyone. And are not too graphically intense for any computer. Its a puzzle game. You run and jump into portals to figure out the puzzles. I wish I could play them again for the first time. All the above are amazing games. Wishing you the best on your journey!
P.S. if you have a friend to game with, It Takes Two is a pleasant experience.
I’d also add Balatro and Terraria to that list.
Balatro could be good. Terraria I think is a bit tricky to learn unless you have a friend guiding you. It requires a lot of looking up the wiki which I think isn’t ideal for someone getting into video games.
Oh, yeah that’s true.
Stardew can be a bit slow and boring at the beginning
Its such a vast ocean, I would just start with whatever catches your attention. Theres so many different kinds if games for all types of people that you should probably assess what you think is fun, and pick a game sort of involved with that? I tend to like cooperative games, RPGs, and games about exploring more than I like competitive games like First Person Shooters. I also really like racing games.
Yes. Start with Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing. From there, post threads asking for suggestions based on what you liked.
Just avoid games that cost a lot or have lots of micro transactions. Its like smoking cigarettes, better to not start.
Slay the Spire is a card based video game.
I think these types of games would be a great place to start; maybe even something like Inscryption since it shows how deep games can be even when they appear to start off fairly simple.
And it’s on mobile so she can start there without buying any new hardware
This is like asking if you should get into books or movies! The answer is absolutely! 💜 There are so so many games.
The genre “cozy game” is a pretty good place to start, I think. They focus more on the vibe than challenges.
Definitely stay away from games that use phrases like “souls like”. Those are games that are trying to be intentionally difficult for the sake of being difficult.
A lot of this depends on what sort of console or computer you have access to. A lot of indie games are not very taxing and you can probably play them on your computer easily even if it isn’t a gaming computer. Things like Stardew Valley and Spiritfarer come to mind.
What gaming is like for a non-gamer
This guy had his non-gaming wife try different games, very enlightening for your purposes
Holy crap there’s a ton of these that they’ve made?!
Now I don’t feel so bad for struggling with later Rockman bosses and stages.
Excellent video!
Start with stardew valley and thank me later.
This is a good entry but may feel daunting to someone whos never played video games.
If you do play stardew valley, you may want to watch introduction videos on YouTube
One more day… just one more day… need to those gold star crops… got to go fish… shit need bait, got to go to the mine… one more day… just one more day…
This. My ex loved this game
You are already a gamer!
I’m a 36 year old woman who grew up playing them with my dad. My sister is a year younger than me get than me. She grew out of it a bit but she still plays “cozy”, low to no pressure games. I like long role playing games with interesting stories.
If you want any recommendations or a new friend to play with, I’m here! I also know of several gaming groups for women.
I’d like to know more about what you’re interested to give better suggestions but here are a few that might pique your interest.
Balatro is a recently popular card game. You can play it on your phone or on a computer. It works sort of like poker, but you apply effects to the cards to multiply your score.
A Little To The Left is a puzzle game. You play the owner of a mischievous cat and your goal is to reorganize the messes that your cat made throughout the house, like sorting the mail, organizing a battery draw, displaying sea shells you collected etc
Unpacking is also a puzzle game. You literally unpack boxes in various rooms. Sometimes it’s hard to make everything fit. As you progress through each level, you learn about the main character’s life.
If you want something more traditional, Ori and the Blind Forest is absolutely beautiful. In that, you play as a small guardian spirit and you navigate through a forest solving puzzles, collecting items, and jumping between platforms (sorta like Mario).
I’m a 30-something woman myself. I’ve been gaming longer than I’ve had a phone. Here’s my two cents:
You’re already into videogames. Fuck what the haters say about mobile gaming not being “”“true”“” gaming (whatever the heck that means), they’re just sour they can’t game whenever wherever without investing a ton of time. Then again, maybe I’m just mad because I’ve recently invested a ton of time into Youtube’s playables.
If you want to get into PC or console gaming, I recommend starting off with popular E rated games in the genres you already know you like. Generally these games are more complex than mobile games, but this type will usually introduce difficulty curves to gradually transition you into their mechanics and complexity and teach you to be a master without having to look up training online.
If you want to branch out, start with genre-bending/-blending games. I’m personally a fan of puzzle-platformers, as those are my two favorite genres; while I’m not big on card games, they recently had an explosion in popularity, so there’s a blend of just about every genre you could want.
Something else to consider is that it’s a wonderful social window if you have friends that you don’t get to hang out with very often due to geography and life.
I have a couple of good friends who are too far away after I moved to another area. We play games online and have a nice social hangout for a few hours each Saturday. Voice chatting works great.
It’s fantastic to be able to regularly spend time with them.
This!
Yes games are fun. I made friends, had so many memorable adventures with complete strangers, managed to keep in touch with family and close ones no matter the distances.
Honestly its about how you want to game, do you like something chill? Or something more like adventurous? How long do you see yourself playin? Something that is played on a desk or a couch? Do you like “gamey games”, or do you like realism in your games?
First, you need a system if you dont have one. A system is needed to run a game.
If you are a comeplete beginner the switch by nintendo is in my experience a great onboarding experience, but that might be a bit expensive in the long run once you accumulate games. The system is a bit underpowered, but delivers such great experiences through their exclusive nintendo game titles. Great on the go, light, great for couch co-op, has online play.
Playstation and xbox are very easy to manage, and deliver more on the realism side of games while still having great gamplay first experiences. Its honestly a great balance, old ones are just as great since the old games are cheap and usually have great classics. (Warning about compatibility though). Couch gaming, has online gaming and couch+online coop.
The PC is extreme: its kinda hard to build the right machine for your needs, it can deliver whatever experience you want (it can basically “cheat” and pretend to be a playstation or switch gameboys etc through emulation, a process that is not very beginner friendly), has ALL the games (except the latest nintendo ones, except through the mentioned emulation) but can be pretty expensive if you want a high quality graphical performance to the point where you can see a cyborg sweat running down his firm and physics enhanced abs. You use launchers to go to an online store to buy games that you have to find on the internet and download, like Steam (my fav) Epic (they give a free non freemium game each week I believe!) Gog (very privacy, and consumer oriented ) and many others. Some miscreants will tell you that you can (gasp!) Pirate (arr) games, so a good system could potentially cost less in the long run! Its more of a gaming on desk unless you dont mind having a big PC next to your tv. Couch co op games are rare, but the online experience is really good.
My two cents, get minecraft if you like legos. You can also make it prettier on PC. It runs well on even old laptops. Its a great entry for anyone. If its not what you are looking for, you can look up what youd like!
Also please newcomer, do not EVER pay for the microtransactions, for they plague us all. Games should be about fun, not a tool for extracting wealth from people who just want to go on cool adventures, explore strange worlds, meet interesting characters or experience lives never lived.
I wanted to make this shorter but I get excited about theses things. Gl hf!
How about the steamdeck-like, for.PC gamas. The Pros and Cons.
I actually own a steam deck! Its a great system, that runs on Linux, so there is a little bit of tinkering and buyers awareness to get through as not all games on steam run on it easily.
The catalogue compatible with just one tap/click is still growing, but you still have to use the proton tool before launching a game that is windows based. Some online games are also protected with some anti cheat software that may or not stop you from playing your favorite online games. Its also a handheld, so unless you plan on connecting the steam deck to a screen and bringing out a keyboard for your keyboard based game, you are going to have a bad time. (Note, there is a virtual keyboard thay pops up if need to enter some text occasionally).
The thing that attracted me to the deck, is the fact that you can actually launch the steam deck in desktop mode, that gives you access to a fully functioning linux system. There, you can also download your games from other launchers/stores and link them to your steam game library and access them through the non desktop mode.
This means that with some more tinkering (kinda alot actually, i wont lie), you can turn the steam deck into the ultimate emulator for any switch/some ps3 games and lower (as in raw processing power, so gameboy, gamecube, ps1, ps2, xbox etc) on the go. You also get a rather powerful computer for an amazing price point,at the cost of an hdmi/usb/ethernet dongle or dock. Since its a computer in the shape of a hanheld console, you can dualboot windows if you wanted.
The other very cool thing, is that you can use steam to stream your games from your gaming pc right to your tv by using your steam deck as a streaming game console, which is amazing and in the end extends your desk PC capacity to offer the best couch gaming experience with no drawbacks if it wasnt for the whole ensemble price. Also the trackpads are a very cool addition to the gamepad layout, amd it has extra buttons on the back! Since it has bluetooth, you can also just get a controller and let it chill next to your tv.
You can configure it the way you want, you can apply cool mods, change components within pretty easily (some ppl buy the cheapest version then upgrade the hardware to save money!) And since its a steam hardware product that has successfully proven itself to enough ppl, the support its gonna be getting is very exciting.
To me the problem of the Steam deck is the time and tinkering that it requires to setup this perfect machine, but its a new system, and emulation is in a gray zone legally in many countries so it will probably always require some amount of tinkering. (There are vids online that take you through it, its absolutely doable but can be a barrier for some newcomers) You can manage well the battery, but it drains rather fast. If you dont like steam, idk if this product is right for you, but you can install windows or another linux distro if youd like. (Level 3 tinkering right there)
I love my steam deck, and actually do work on it occasionally, which got me more comfy with the linux ecosystem (but this is about just using linux as an operating system so im gonna stop here). Its the best for the indie games on steam as long as they have gamepad support and are compatible with or without the proton tool.
Now for the other handheld PCs, I cant speak. I heard that some are very powerful, more than the steam deck by quite alot, however imo they are held back by being run on windows, an Operating System that is not made for such a device, but will absolutely get you through the anti cheat headaches that a steam deck might have.
They also have a 1080 p screen for the fancy ones, but this impacts battery.
You can install chimera OS or Bazzite if you want the linux experience, and the Steam Os (on the steam deck) is coming soon (its gonna be a while though).
So yeah im gonna stop there cuz i cant stop talking about this thing.
very informative. thx.
Worth getting into? Absolutely. It can be very cheap, too.
Where to start? That’s the trick question. It will depend on whether you start with console or PC, the latter having a much more extensive catalogue of games, plus emulation of older systems.
My personal recommendation is getting a PC, it doesn’t even need to be a gamer one, anything that isn’t a piece of shit and was released in the past 4 or so years will do good for playing low end games and emulate anything up to N64 and possibly Dreamcast games (2003 and earlier). You can use a variety of console controllers on computer, so it’s fine. Whe searching for ROMs, be sure to have uBlock Origin installed on your web browser.
If you have any friends, talk to them, see what they’re playing or would recommend you to play. If you don’t, download steam and download demos of games that look somewhat interesting to you. Check GOG as well, it tends to have some older PC games as well, plus demos and whatnot.
Try out a variety of genres. It’s possible one game of a certain genre might not “click” with you, but another might.
In general, it’s worth getting to video games. I would caution against trying corporate-created games, mainly because they are a money sink (for you) first and worthwhile entertainment second. There are a lot of “indie” games out there typically created by people truly passionate on their craft… you can take a look at them and see if it interests you.
- Stardew Valley
- Songs of Conquest
- No Man’s Sky
- Factorio
- Disco Elysium
I would highly recommend Portal and Portal 2 as primers for basically all your 3D games. Not only did Yahzee give The Orange Box in general a glowing review, but they teach you basic gaming mechanics almost intuitively.
Get a Switch Lite and go from there. If you already have a midrange PC with decent iGPU, download Steam and play an older but highly rated game.
Don’t spend too much before deciding if it is for you. Find the cheapest entry point.
