I know this sounds funny, but like — what are some “fun” games? Like what is less immersive but still fun?
Hmmmm... of my recommendations the easiest to 'pick up & play' is Wreckfest.
Typical driving controls. Left stick is for steering. Left trigger is the brake. Right trigger is the acceleration. You'll pick up everything else by playing it.
TMNT Shredders Revenge is the same principle - easy to pick up & play, and you learn more as you play it.
That's a part of the fun of those games.
If you played FPS games on consoles back in early 2000s, Halo & Doom will come back to you very quickly. FPS controls actually haven't changed much. They're actually quite similar to GoW's controls except they're not in 3rd person, and GoW is a cover-based shooter.
Dead Space is also a 3rd person 'shooter' although its a horror/action game. Not much of a leap going from GoW to Dead Space.
Mass Effect trilogy is a 3rd person cover-based action/shooter with RPG mechanics... similar controls to GoW.
Of my recommendations, Gears Tactics and Witcher 3 have the steepest learning curves because they're the most different from the others. I'd say Tactics eases new players into the games systems and difficulty gradually.
Witcher 3's systems are... well to be completely honest I think learning the game's systems can be a bit rough.... but its 1000% worth it.
That's coming from somebody who's completed the entirety of the game + 2 expansions a total of 6 times, which takes about 50-ish hours to do each time.
Again, its the absolute best single game in the last 20 years, at least.
You've heard of 'The Witcher' Netflix series, right? Well, Witcher 3's success inspired that series to be made, and its based on the books.
[knowing anything about the Witcher lore (books, TV series, & games) is not required to enjoy Witcher3 to its fullest. You won't be missing out on much and there's relatively few references to the books, series, & games).