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.
yes it is
Oh, there are so many kinds!
If you have a PC, why don’t you check out some free-to-play games on Stream? Or even a couple demos to see what you may like. I wouldn’t go straight into getting major equipment until you know a little more about what you like.
My grandma has been playing video games since before I was born. Her tastes have changed as she’s gotten older, but there’s absolutely something for everyone.
If you’re 100% a beginner, I may even go a step back to some flash games. Just to get used to moving around (if not using a controller) and some of the more common UI. There’s also a interesting series on YouTube called “gaming for non gamers” about a man and his wife who is trying out different genres. He goes over some things she misses just because she’s not used to it since some mechanics they just assume you know these days.
And be easy in yourself! A new hobby always has some rough points. There will be bad games, matches, complete wastes of time. But there will be some truly remarks gems in there. Good luck!
Steam for your PC will have a large library of free games you can try, and also paid games. If you like board or card games there is an application called table top simulator. This opens up access to traditional board games people have converted to PC–when you can’t find it as a standalone game. Also a suggestion for standalone games if you are into cards:
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Wingspan. It has a steep learning curve but hours of fun once you learn it.
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Dominion. If you like this genre of game it can be a lot of fun.
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Catan. if you have played Catan board game and enjoy it, you can also play online for free https://catanuniverse.com/en/game/
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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.
Absolutely!!
There are video games that work like card games, you’d love Balatro or Magic the Gathering.
If you like puzzles, Tetris is the perfect start, its the greatest puzzle game of all time. Tetris Effect and Tetris 99 are good recent games for that.
If you want to graduate from Puzzles to something more gamey, I’d recommend any Mario or Zelda game, and to develop a game mind, Metroid and metroid-like games are excellent.
Many games work like movies too, so if you like movies those are nice.
If you like books, there is a genre of game called a visual novel, (most of those are from Japan though, but many have an English option for text)
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.
If you like puzzle games, Tetris effect is the greatest puzzle game I have ever played. I love horror games but Tetris is still fun as fuck. Never to old to get into gaming. Good luck!
Loads of great experiences and tons of diversity. I’ve had lot of great experiences through video games and it’s never too late to start.
You could start with by looking through some video game threads and asking more specific question like “I’m new to video games, what are some games that you recommend that are not to hard to pick up” or something.
Recommend: Portal
I personally think you should give Portal a shot, it’s a 3D puzzle game that you can run on any computer and is one of the best games of all time, it’s also pretty funny on top of that.
Very much so. As people have mentioned there’s a lot of good advice here. A Nintendo Switch might be worth checking out as a starting point. It’s handheld and can also connect to your TV to play on a larger screen.
Lots of good advice here, but I would just add, start with your interests and work out from there. You like puzzle games? Portal is a great physics puzzle game, so you might like that. It’s also a 3D platformer, so you’ll find out if you like games with a lot of running and jumping. It’s also technically a first-person shooter (not in the sense that you shoot enemies, but you do shoot a portal gun at walls), so if you don’t like that aspect of the game, you’ll know that FPSs aren’t for you.
Doesn’t have to be the type of gameplay either. You like designing things? Maybe try the Sims or Animal Crossing. Like horror movies? Maybe start with something simple but creepy, like Limbo. Detective stories? Something like Strange Horticulture might be up your alley.
The most important thing is to look around and see what catches your interest. Read some reviews, watch some gameplay footage, and find something that’s right for you. Don’t just say, “I’m going to do video games now,” and buy a Call of Duty or Dark Souls because, “gamers,” like them.
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.
https://g.co/kgs/9BWGKjZ This for a game called belatro. I hear it has the rules of poker but it’s a very replayable game that every time you play it is new and different.
There are many games that have great stories and have game modes that make it very easy or hard to die so you can just really enjoy the story.
Switch is the most user friendly PlayStation has some of the best single player story based game X box is mainly for online play These are all just very general statements
Try a little bit of everything.
Get a Nintendo console. Nintendo Games are absolutely a gateway drug. They’re high quality and generally very easy to get into.
I would only recommend short games. Ive been gaming my whole life and basically quit recently, because I was playing grindy games that were so exhausting mentally.
Even great games like Terraria, Minecraft and dont starve leave me exhausted. Such huge time sinks. Ive moved onto hobbies that are much more satisfying.
