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!

62 points

Stardew valley is 2D so fewer controls to learn than a 3D game. It also has a cute art style.

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1 point
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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.

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55 points

It’s funny how people overestimate what a person that never gamed can do. OP, Factorio is constant precise clicking with an unintuitive UI if you haven’t played any games. So is Satisfactory and similar others.

Start with things casual gamers play. There is a reason Sims is so popular. If you want to later (muuuch later) introduce her into the FPS genre - Portal 2. It has very little controls to remember, and very rarely is there any action that needs to require dexterity in aiming. Also, Valve invisible tutorials are awesome for new gamers.

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6 points
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Yeah, I played It Takes Two with my gf last week and she had trouble with the most basic jumps because she couldn’t use the keyboard and mouse at the same time. It might be easier with the controller, but moving a character and the camera at the same time is surprisingly hard to learn for beginners.

The best recommendations here are the games with extremely simple controls. I think Vampire Survivors was a good pick since you only need to use the keyboard for most of the time. Adventure games was another good recommendation since it should only require the mouse.

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3 points

Yeah, I’d also recommend more casual games.

Good that she likes organizing, but Factorio is way over the head of any non-gamer. Doubt it would keep her entertained for long. Its only great if you like micromanaging and meticulously playing around with game mechanics. Which usually only happens after being exposed to gaming long enough.

It Takes Two is much better for a beginner since it isn’t a punishing game.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is an other great couple game.

We were Here if both of you like puzzles.

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1 point

Factorio feels almost like messing with complicated software than gaming, mechanically speaking. If someone had experience with computers, just not gaming, factorio may be approachable.

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2 points
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Yeah, I played It Takes Two with my gf last week and she had trouble with the most basic jumps because she couldn’t use the keyboard and mouse at the same time.

This is probably a stupid question … but it was an actual mouse right? Like she wasn’t using a touchpad?

So many OSes default to the touchpad being disabled while typing and that causes big issues for WASD keyboard and mouse games.

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2 points

Yes, she was using a mouse

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40 points

Any “cozy” game. Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, others like those.

One that I personally really like, that sort of blends different aspects of AC and SV, is Paleo Pines. You have a ranch that you little by little clear out, fix up, and decorate; all with the help of adorable dinosaur friends. There’s actually a surprising number of species and map space in the game, and the vibe and aesthetic are ridiculously cute. I will say it’s slightly more laid back than SV as there are no real timers for the different quests and such, and there are fewer characters to keep track of/befriend.

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33 points

Stardew Valley

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9 points
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My wife is still playing this, going on 4 years.

Also Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

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Start her on Dark Souls so that nothing she plays after will seem difficult.

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7 points

I got a girlfriend a long time ago to give the game a shot. She had played stuff before- she was playing BioShock on Xbox when we met. The rats by the big drake on the bridge literally made her cry. Felt pretty bad.

(We did eventually finish the game together in co-op, but we’re long since broken up for largely unrelated reasons)

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4 points

One of my coworkers at some point told my girlfriend she should go in completely blind when she tried DS1, and I agree with that, but she took it to mean she should under no circumstances allow me to explain the mechanics of the game or the UI. She spent nearly two hours in the Asylum without ever getting to the boss’s fog wall because she wouldn’t let me explain that picking her weapon up didn’t mean she had it equipped. Finally I told her there was a big problem she could easily fix and move on with the game if she’d hear me out, but she still wouldn’t hear any of it, and then 30 seconds later I see her on her phone googling “do you need to use a shield in DS1” 🤦‍♀️

It was really frustrating because DS1 is hands down my favorite game, and I fully expected her to give up at some point but she gave up before she actually got to play the game.

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