Multiplat What game would you introduce to someone for the first time?

[Takes Two To Tango]

Say some teenage kid who hasn't played video games really, which game would you show him first.

I'm going to say The Last of Us and Homeworld.

 

[Jose Beehive]

Pong or Seaman

 

[Zer]

I would probably say Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (To avoid cheating and suggesting 3 games)

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

I think the first video game I ever showed my kids maybe 3ish years ago was Astro’s Playroom.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

I think the first video game I ever showed my kids maybe 3ish years ago was Astro’s Playroom.

I've never played that game, but it looks really cool.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I'm going to say The Last of Us

I have a friend that I played games with as a kid but haven't played any games for the last 25 years.

I've been trying to convince him to play TLoU for 5+ years.

*Simple to learn how to play.... for moderately experienced gamers.
*Great characters & the best linear narrative in the history of the gaming industry.
*Adjustable difficulty.
*Its a respectable length of 12-14 hours for first timers.
*Multiple playthroughs are not required for the full experience.

As for a teenager who hasn't played games, thats a more complicated question so many of the best games of this era are made for experience gamers.
And the biggest hurtle for new gamer is the controls. Experienced gamers have superior hand-eye cordination, so it's best to start a non-gamer out with something extremely basic like Tetris.



After Tetris, I'd recommend a racing game.
They're generally pretty easy to learn and are fun.
My recommendation... Wreckfest.
its the most fun I've had in a modern racing game.





After that... I haven't played this myself but I plan to... Astrobot looks like an awesome game for a new gamer to learn the controls of a game a bit more complicated than Tetris or a driving game.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

I have a friend that I played games with as a kid but haven't played any games for the last 25 years.

I've been trying to convince him to play TLoU for 5+ years.

*Simple to learn how to play.... for moderately experienced gamers.
*Great characters & the best linear narrative in the history of the gaming industry.
*Adjustable difficulty.
*Its a respectable length of 12-14 hours for first timers.
*Multiple playthroughs are not required for the full experience.

As for a teenager who hasn't played games, thats a more complicated question so many of the best games of this era are made for experience gamers.
And the biggest hurtle for new gamer is the controls. Experienced gamers have superior hand-eye cordination, so it's best to start a non-gamer out with something extremely basic like Tetris.



After Tetris, I'd recommend a racing game.
They're generally pretty easy to learn and are fun.
My recommendation... Wreckfest.
its the most fun I've had in a modern racing game.





After that... I haven't played this myself but I plan to... Astrobot looks like an awesome game for a new gamer to learn the controls of a game a bit more complicated than Tetris or a driving game.

Very great break down in why someone should play TLOU. Especially a gamer who hasn't played in awhile.

That's true about Tetris for a non gamer, yes. Wreckfest is a good one. Astrobot as well.

Great suggestions.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Very great break down in why someone should play TLOU. Especially a gamer who hasn't played in awhile.

That's true about Tetris for a non gamer, yes. Wreckfest is a good one. Astrobot as well.

Great suggestions.

I've had a few experiences of introducing games to people that have never played before, but they had never even held a controller before and I only owned games for experienced gamers.

So I'm trying to explain both the controller buttons with directional sticks... for a game with steep learning curves. Needless to say it was pretty complicated and complete information overload.

If I could do it over today... start off easy with Tetris.
Then a racing game because everyone understands driving and uses the complete controller but mostly a few buttons to accelerate, brake, and steer.
And then a platform game like Astrobot looks perfect for getting used to a full-controller experience because it looks like it's targeted audience is kids but also looks fun for teenagers and adults.

 

[Valhoven]

Two things for first-time players are titles with forgiving play and anything that drills basic mechanics – camera, d-pad, reaction windows, UI/HUD iconography whatnot while avoiding paddles, mic, or advanced setups.

So…RDR2 is my recommend.

Visual masterpiece, quadruple-A scoring, plays underwater-level slow, freeroam allows for creativity but campaign missions are hard on-rails, QTEs and/or objective markers abound.

The only negative I can think of is NPC mortality, aggro where dude tries talking to someone and blows their head off, lol, putting a bounty on player and falling in whatever NPC faction disfavor. Most games code for NPC invulnerability with hitbox removal, protag disarm etc.

 

[Fury]

Two things for first-time players are titles with forgiving play and anything that drills basic mechanics – camera, d-pad, reaction windows, UI/HUD iconography whatnot while avoiding paddles, mic, or advanced setups.

So…RDR2 is my recommend.

Visual masterpiece, quadruple-A scoring, plays underwater-level slow, freeroam allows for creativity but campaign missions are hard on-rails, QTEs and/or objective markers abound.

The only negative I can think of is NPC mortality, aggro where dude tries talking to someone and blows their head off, lol, putting a bounty on player and falling in whatever NPC faction disfavor. Most games code for NPC invulnerability with hitbox removal, protag disarm etc.

RDR2 is the opposite of what I'd recommend. Too many actions required to do simple things.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Two things for first-time players are titles with forgiving play and anything that drills basic mechanics – camera, d-pad, reaction windows, UI/HUD iconography whatnot while avoiding paddles, mic, or advanced setups.

So…RDR2 is my recommend.

Visual masterpiece, quadruple-A scoring, plays underwater-level slow, freeroam allows for creativity but campaign missions are hard on-rails, QTEs and/or objective markers abound.

The only negative I can think of is NPC mortality, aggro where dude tries talking to someone and blows their head off, lol, putting a bounty on player and falling in whatever NPC faction disfavor. Most games code for NPC invulnerability with hitbox removal, protag disarm etc.

RDR2 is the opposite of what I'd recommend. Too many actions required to do simple things.

The hell is going on.
I'm agreeing with @Dizzy in the 'RE2 is overrated' thread a few hours ago and now I'm agreeing with @Fury.



RDR2 is a horrible pick for a first-time gamer, unless it's the only game available and they're a big fan of westerns.

The absolute last aspect a first game for a first-time-gamer should be is 'complicated.'
We're experienced gamers so RDR2 isn't complicated for us.
For a first-time-gamer who's both learning the controller and shouldn't be exposed to something with a steep learning curve... RDR2 is a horrible pick.

I consider Witcher3 to be the best game of the last decade and Cyberpunk2077 is the best game of this decade. Both would be atrocious for first-time-gamers.

 

[Fury]

The hell is going on.
I'm agreeing with @Dizzy in the 'RE2 is overrated' thread a few hours ago and now I'm agreeing with @Fury.

That's what happens, you stop paying attention for a few minutes and all of a sudden you're agreeing with people like me

 

[GergreG]

The hell is going on.
I'm agreeing with @Dizzy in the 'RE2 is overrated' thread a few hours ago and now I'm agreeing with @Fury.



RDR2 is a horrible pick for a first-time gamer, unless it's the only game available and they're a big fan of westerns.

The absolute last aspect a first game for a first-time-gamer should be is 'complicated.'
We're experienced gamers so RDR2 isn't complicated for us.
For a first-time-gamer who's both learning the controller and shouldn't be exposed to something with a steep learning curve... RDR2 is a horrible pick.

I consider Witcher3 to be the best game of the last decade and Cyberpunk2077 is the best game of this decade. Both would be atrocious for first-time-gamers.

I hadn't gamed since Goldeneye and dived back into Witcher 3 on the PS5 and it was pretty easy to adapt. Helps that it was a pretty cool game.

 

[Zazen]

I think the first video game I ever showed my kids maybe 3ish years ago was Astro’s Playroom.

As much as I liked Playroom I think everyone is better off just starting with Astro Bot now that it's out. It's just Playroom but a lot bigger and better.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Another thing to keep in mind.
For those who now know how to type on a keyboard at 45WPM, do you ever remember seeing someone type fast and think 'I'm never going to be able to do that.'

But by learning how to type letter by letter, instinctually, and your speed gradually improves to the point you're no longer thinking about it.
Soon you're seeing words and automatically typing each letter out to the speed of 20WPM, then 30WPM, and 40WPM or even faster than that.

A controller actually isn't significantly different than a keyboard. Take the PS4 controller for example.

Imagine never holding a controller before.

"Wait, there's an R2 button on the back right?
And the one infront of it is R1?
And there's two of these sticks that go in every direction?
And if you press down on each stick that's also a button? R3?
And there's a center button that I can swipe my finger on? That makes it work?
Why are the buttons on the right named shapes when the rest have letters and numbers?"

Then someone gives you a PS4 controller and pops in RDR2 or Witcher3 and expects you to 'get it.'

Practically every game's tutorial only tells the player new things once, and in too many games the tutorial isn't repayable so the game expects you to have amazing comprehension skills.

And if you have someone there explaining everything... and either over explaining or under explaining... you get the feeling that you need them there to explain it.

A good gaming coach for first-timer gamers can either be a 'training wheels'...

...or a ball & chain.

So, this is why new gamers should be eased into gaming with simple games at first.


Edit - I guess I'm going into much further depth of why I recommended Tetris, then (a racing game), and then (a platformer game) in my first post.

It's a rough draft of what I was thinking, but basically can be summarized as 'Only play the most simple games at first, and as they familiarize themselves with the controller, hand-eye cordination, and the learning curve... gradually increase the complication of the games.

I'm thinking Mario Kart would have been a better recommendation than Wreckfest.
Mario Kart is less complicated, and has multiplayer.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I hadn't gamed since Goldeneye and dived back into Witcher 3 on the PS5 and it was pretty easy to adapt. Helps that it was a pretty cool game.

Well you weren't a first-time gamer.
Continuing the analogy I just mentioned with keyboards, typing is something you never actually forget how to do. I suspect its the game for gaming. You just had to adjust to a different controller.

I have to say, going from Goldeneye to Witcher3 is quite a feat. That's not an easy RPG to get into since it was your first modern RPG. Props.

 

[Zazen]

Mario Party games are a fantastic way to introduce people to games. First, of all. Everyone is already familiar with board games so there isn't much explanation needed there. The most complicated part of the game are the mini-games but before each one starts they give a fantastic tutorial on how to play them.

I'd also recommend a new gamer that age to play Streets of Rage 4. It's very simple and it can also be more complicated if you make it that way. A beginner could easily go left or right with the d-pad and learn one or two buttons to attack. Meanwhile you could be playing co-op with him/her while showing off all the badass combos you can pull off which will motivate the player.

For young kids I'd recommend Yoshi's Woolly World or even going to something like My Friend Peppa Pig. I think that will be my daughter's first game. It just plays out like an episode and you hit left and right and the x button. Nothing else.

 

[Pliny Pete]

Battletoads on NES

 

[Valhoven]

Battletoads on NES

Loved that game, especially the punchy music. I remember it being tough in parts.

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

Honestly? I had this with my missus and she only plays stuff like Royal Match and Island Explorer games.

I tried getting her into Borderlands 2 on co-op, bought a controller especially for her, but she couldnt even look ahead or follow my character.

So I'll go ahead and say Stardew Valley.