Here’s the most comprehensive guide to getting started on gaming, ever
For many PC gamers, playing games has become as instinctive as resting our fingers on the WASD buttons as we wait for our rigs to start up. But just as peering around the corners in an FPS environment now comes so naturally to us, we often take for granted how even the basics of gaming controls—such as looking and walking, shooting and looting, and basic map reading—are not that clear-cut for casual or non-gamers. The learning curve for gaming can be steep, and a sizable number of great stories are tucked away behind layers of complicated gameplay and mechanics. How, then, can players new to the hobby get started?
The good thing is that games are becoming more accessible than ever, including those that can continue to engage—and remain fun, of course—without sacrificing narrative or sometimes, even mechanical depth. Rather than introduce a list of gaming essentials that all new players must absolutely go through (because then Bloodborne will have to be one of them, and if that’s the game we’re using to introduce new players to our hobby we’ll never see the community grow), let’s stick to specific categories instead, and the type of games that will fall under them.
Examples: The Walking Dead (Telltale Games), Life Is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment), If Found… (Dreamfeel), Florence (Mountains), What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow)
For intermediate players: Firewatch (Campo Santo), Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
An impactful story is the best way to introduce anyone to gaming, and these are some of the most suitable games to introduce to a new player who aren’t too familiar with the mechanical depth of other genres. On top of having a greater emphasis on story, some of these also introduce would-be gamers to basic navigation, such as walking and looking around, while others would have some light puzzle elements. In other words, I would essentially toss the entire library of Telltale Games into this category.
Firewatch is usually included in the list of games for beginners, but for all the game’s splendour, it’s incredibly easy to get lost in the wilderness due to the game’s map-reading mechanic, which I’ve seen throw some new players off. It’s still worth a spin, however, so do try that when you’re feeling a bit more confident about your navigation skills.
Examples: Katamari Damacy (Keita Takahashi), Donut County (Ben Esposito), Journey (Thatgamecompany and Santa Monica Studio), Entwined (Pixelopus), Unpacking (Witch Beam)
For intermediate players: Untitled Goose Game (House House)
Games like Donut County and Katamari Damacy have one thing in common; they’re both mechanically simple to pick up and learn, without requiring quick reflexes or featuring twitchy gameplay. Titles in this category can be incredibly varied: Katamari Damacy, for instance, is just about gathering as many items as possible, from tiny thumbtacks to entire human beings, while Entwined is a rhythm game about guiding two souls across a psychedelic world at the same time. For players who are keen to take on a slightly greater challenge, they can try Untitled Goose Game, which is a simple two-button game, but would still require them to think outside the box to wreak havoc and do crimes in a very respectable and cosy English village… as a goose.
Examples: It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios), Overcooked (Ghost Town Games), Arms (Nintendo), Among Us (InnerSloth LLC), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo)
For intermediate players: Portal 2 (Valve)
What better way to pick up the basics of gaming than to do so with a friend or two? One of the best examples is the couch co-op platformer It Takes Two, the Game of The Year as awarded by The Game Awards in 2021, and an altogether rad inclusion—a title that our editor-in-chief, Stacey Henley, has mentioned that it’s a game she can easily play with her partner, who isn’t too familiar with games. Another fun multiplayer game would be Overcooked, although that may end up frustrating players regardless of their familiarity and skill with games. At the same time, Portal 2 would be another brilliant puzzle title to pick up, with the game boasting some of the smartest writing and sharpest dialogue. That said, players should be more familiar with navigating 3D spaces and using a gun while moving first, since there will be a fair bit of bouncing off the walls involved in this game.
Examples: Animal Crossing: New Horizon (Nintendo), Ooblets (Glumberland), Story of Seasons (Yasuhiro Wada), My Time at Portia (Pathea Games), Sims 4 (Electronic Arts)
For intermediate players: Stardew Valley (Eric Barone)
Growing your modest farm into a massive agricultural empire is one of the greatest pleasures of gaming—and they’re also some of the easiest games to get started with for any aspiring gamer. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a game about setting up a cosy island home and meeting a community of cute villagers, is probably the most well-known example here, given its meteoric popularity during the pandemic. And with the broad player base, it wouldn’t be too difficult to find someone to play the game with. The progenitor of the pastoral game is probably Story of Seasons (previously known as Harvest Moon), a game about managing your own farm, crops and livestock while settling down with a beloved (by offering them an egg). Players who are looking for a more in-depth pastoral simulator can look to Stardew Valley, a game that’s a love letter to Harvest Moon, but a slight caveat here: it features a myriad of systems that are a tad more complex, which some players may find stressful to manage. Nonetheless, any player looking to return to the days of the rural idyll can pick up these games without worrying too much about their gaming skills.
Examples: All the Lego Games including Lego: The Lord of the Rings, Lego Racers, Lego City Undercover, and Lego Marvel Super Heroes
For intermediate players: Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream)
Lego games may seem like they’re superficial offerings predominantly made for kids, but plenty of them have astounding depth to them—ranging from open-world games to full-fledged RPGs—and can serve as mechanical precursors to triple-A games, as they come with a flurry of familiar game mechanics from puzzles to gunfights. What’s more is that these games don’t have deaths baked into them, so you don’t have to worry about failing and dying too many times. New players who are looking for something more complex can also play Detroit: Become Human, a narrative-driven RPG and a thinly veiled allegory about racism set in not-so-distant future.
Examples: Townscaper (Oskar Stålberg), Everything (David O’Reilly), Unpacking (Witch Beam), Dorfromantik (Toukana Interactive), Dear Esther (The Chinese Room)
For intermediate players: The Stanley Parable (Davey Wreden)
This is what I refer to as the ‘weird’ category, those that stretch the very definition of games, and contain titles that demonstrate how unconventional and groundbreaking video games have the capacity to be—but all still without overwhelming new players. Take Townscaper, for instance, which is often described as a digital toy rather than an actual game; you simply build houses and lighthouses with a click of a button, and there aren’t any goals to fulfil, rules to follow, or a grand quest to see through. That said, not all the games in this category are the same. Dear Esther is a first-person exploration game featuring a stunningly elaborate world that’s set in a remote island—a game that’s more about immersion than it is about playing it. New players craving for something much more absurd can look to The Stanley Parable, but the game does require players to have some understanding of typical gaming conventions, since The Stanley Parable is about subverting and breaking them.
The power of word of mouth.
Khee Hoon is the Features Editor at TheGamer. Contrary to popular belief, they’re not that well-versed in hand-to-hand combat.
