Games

A short hike. It's like a super short cosy version of breath of the world's platforming/exploration

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.

A Hat in Time is a somewhat easy platformer IMO. It’s super cute and a low-stress game.

If the only reason that you’re avoiding action games is that she may not be good at the controls, you can consider action games that have good low difficulty modes. Deep Rock Galactic has good lower difficulty modes in my opinion, and it is fun to play with others.

IIRC Dusk has a really slow paced low difficulty mode as well. Projectile based attacks move super slow. I’m not sure what she’ll be into as far as genre goes, but action games may be approachable if you pick the right ones.

Maybe she would like to learn programming or Linux stuff?

I played Minecraft with my gf before but she didn't really enjoy it. The only game I've seen her play a lot of is Civ 6.

This time on Minecraft I started a server with some friends and she's having a blast. She made a cute little house and she has built a "girl-cave" where she and her friend shares cake. It's so wholesome.

In case you she's new you could probably play a LAN world on peaceful. That's what I did back when I started.

sorry i don't know enough about multiplayer or local multiplayer games although if you're looking for a Co-op game i would recommend It Takes Two. it's simple but has its own charm. beware it's a third person game and has some shooting sections in it but it's beginner friendly enough.

i think city builders and management/tycoon games would be great for these situations cause if you like them there's no upper limit on playtime. cities skyline and RollerCoaster Tycoon are both great. if you're looking for something like factorio satisfactory could also work.

of course adventure games or puzzle games are also a great fit since most of them tend to have simple controls but great story and humor and hard puzzles that can keep you busy while solving them is satisfying. i've made a post recently on this community asking for people's recommendations so definitely check that out.

there's also this lovely little game called Townscaper. it's really simple you just add or remove blocks on a non-rectangular grid on a sea and the game tries to generate a pleasant looking town. it might sound lackluster on paper but it's fun and you can get some hours out of it developing your town and discovering the town style rules (there is also some hidden structures that can pop up discovering those is also fun).

I'm in a similar situation with my partner; she does game, but only shitty repetitive predatory mobile puzzle games. I got her Stardew to try and she absolutely hated it. I have, however, had some limited success with puzzle RPGs like Ticket to Earth.

If you're a fan of 80s-90s action movies check out "broforce". There are some multiplayer "single stick shooters"out there that are quite fun, vampire survivors comes to mind. Don't starve together is a great multiplayer experience. Others have said stardew valley, and I agree with them, if single player is desired check out animal crossing. Satisfactory is the 3-D version of factorio, with fewer resources constraints and less enemy aggression, Dyson sphere program is factorio tuned the opposite way. Rimworld and dwarf fortress are both highly recommended "run your own city, but in a passive manner"games

Dark Picture games with it being coop and story driven so easier for new comers to get into with less reflexes being involved.

• Mindustry. It's easy Factorio.
• The Trine Games.
• Warframe maybe.
• Portal 2.
• Dungeon Defenders 2 maybe.

My wife wanted to check out gaming and tried many of the games mentioned here. Only two landed in any real way. Unpacking and animal crossing. Neither need you to really understand how to game very much. Unpacking especially. If you know how to move elements on a desktop, you can fully play unpacking. She filled each save file on it and adores it.

Phogs is a game where you a control a dog-dog (Remember Cat-Dog from Nickelodeon? That, but double dog) through a series of themed worlds solving puzzles. The themes are things puppies are interested in (eating, sleeping, and playing). The game is meant to be played co-op, but I believe it can be played alone.

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.

~Anti~ ~Commercial-AI~ ~license~ ~(CC~ ~By-NC-SA~ ~4.0~

Satisfactory. Lots to organize and build. A bit of a learning curve if you want to get complex, but if you want to keep things simple it's really doable.

No Man's Sky. Space exploration, building, and all round reason to goof about for hours. (Free to play this weekend on all platforms.)

Both games have a great community.

My SO doesn't like gaming as well, but we play Bejuweled 3 together. It is not multiplayer but we take turns everytime it's game over. It's very relaxing and addictive and kills time pretty quick.

The Bloons tower defense games are pretty fun and have co-op, you can take it slow and the upgrade system has a lot of fun little upgrades to manage.

Point and clicks.

Elden Ring

Carve her into a gaming god.

No experience with games? Has she watched you play games, did she have favourites from those? Are there certain IPs she likes that would help?

My sister is now a casual gamer. The games that got her into it are Kingdom Hearts just via Disney branding and Uncharted (which she liked watching people play due to the Nathan Drake) which slid her to her favourite series Tomb Raider.

I recommend going that route instead of trying to find some weird fit since if she likes Harry Potter for example one of the best solutions regardless of the time you put in will be Hogwarts Legacy.

Half the heavy hitters in Elder Scrolls Online are house wives because it’s a game where you get more power just for putting time into it. Also the collecting of pretty outfits.

Baldur's Gate 3.

Escape from Tarkov

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.

Phogs

Maybe Timberborn once she's slightly more familiar with keyboard controls? It's a cute city builder type game with beavers and the big thing with that is building dams and redirecting water, but it's still in early release and I don't think it does an amazing job of explaining its mechanics, but at the moment it still has a fairly straightforward resource management and supply chain mechanic.

Turned based on pausable stuff can reduce stress by allowing for thoughtfulness, and even single player games can be done together through strategizing, while also not requiring the 2nd person if they aren't available. To that end, I'm going to recommend Slay the Spire, Dicey Dungeons or Broken Age. Then probably some kind of tactical game, Darkest Dungeon, Loop Hero or Shadowrun. After that, maybe some kind of management game, Cities: Skylines, SimCity, Stardew Valley, Humankind or Against the Storm. If you want to go deeper, Crusader Kings, Dyson Sphere Program or Wartales.

Real-time games that require using multiple sticks/buttons/aiming+moving at once are inherently more difficult to start without the muscle memory, so I'd look to build that up with games that have simpler controls starting with Vampire Survivors or Brotato. Then I'd probably do some kind of non-shooter first or third person game, thinking of Escape Academy, Firewatch or Superliminal, Amnesia (maybe). Then a combat first/third person game Assassin's Creed, Battlefield (Campaign), Mass Effect. Then maybe something that's got combat plus extra stuff, Atomic Heart, Deep Rock Galactic, Dead Space (maybe), Doom, Prey, Wo Long, Remnant. After that is really PvP stuff.

If you just want more readably accessible stuff, A Short Hike, Disneyland Adventures, Peggle, Plants vs Zombies, Bejeweled, The Walking Dead from Telltale (maybe).

I also pulled every game on this list off of Xbox Game Pass, so that might be a good way to try a bunch of different games for cheaper.

Here are a few I didn't see already. I've played these all on switch.

Untitled Goose Game - casual and goofy 1/2 player puzzle game

Far Lone Sails - casual 1 player puzzle adventure game

Figment - light action adventure platformer one player game

If she would like to get in to more action games, one with a strong story, like the last of us could be a pathway, played on easy/story mode.

Id also second casual games as a pathway to more involved games. Overcooked is white hectic and introduced a few gaming mechanics from others. It's essentially crafting against a timer. To progress, she'll need to get better at controls, but the learning curve is gradual enough that she'll.have fun.

Rayman (legends?), I play coop with my kid. He dies often ,but it's not an issue as you only lose progress when you both die.

Factorio works, but it would probably help to give a guided to tour the store and genres, to figure out what she would like.

If she has really no exposure at all, playing just factorio is limiting yourself to eating one flavor of ice cream.

Haven. You can play alone or with 2 people, it's very relaxing and I don't know any other game like it. It has a story and 2 endings.

It Takes Two is a 2 player game where you really have to attune to each other, though it's not really difficult. It's a good fun game to play together.