• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

What are the best games for teaching someone how to play games?

Slaps PhD

Slaps PhD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
77
New Hampshire
I am passionate and love to talk about video games, but my SO is not a gamer. She keeps showing interest in getting into games, but they get discouraged by their difficulty. They have very little experience, mostly playing mobile games, but always feels in over her head when they try something more involved on consoles. We are looking for games that help teach how to play video games.

What kind of readily-available games would you suggest to start someone off in modern gaming? What are the games you would recommend to someone who has never played video games before? What's a good place to start for someone who wants to get into games, but needs to start slow?

We have an XB1 and a PS4.
 
HighspeedRefleX

HighspeedRefleX

Member
Feb 8, 2018
2,570
many of todays games got tutorials or sometimes the first few levels have the purpose of introducing core mechanics. Just go trough them and set it to one of the lowest difficulty settings
 

Deleted member 12833

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,078
In my experience of playing with non gamers, the biggest hurdle for them is controlling a 3D camera

Avoid games with camera control
 

gates2

Banned
Jun 3, 2018
312
Actually, Bloodborne;
This will teach her to be on her toes, it will teach her loss, strategy, when to attack, and when to back down, finding a window. Exploration. Almost everything I guess!

And if she succeeds, even for a few hours, then she will be able to be good at any game!
(unless online shooter)
 
dom

dom

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,453
Racing games and 2D games. Games that don't use the 2nd analog stick. Then you can step up to games that use the 2nd analog stick but mainly for camera control and not for precision aiming.
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,713
United States
Hmmm...

Adventure games like Firewatch and What Remains of Edith Finch can be a good way to start out with 3D movement and camera control. You can go at your own pace and there's no fail state. Then you can graduate to the likes of Portal. BioShock introduces combat to that play style but the Vita Chamber system means dying just relocates you to safety rather than set you back at all.

Games like Life is Strange are good at teaching dialog systems and the like. Which carries on into stuff like BioWare RPGs. This helps teach story retention and treating games like a continuous story rather than minute-to-minute scenes.

Most PlayStation first parties have a really easy modes where it's hard to fail, but something like God of War would likely still be intimidating with its menu and level-up systems. Still, putting on the super easy difficulty on games like Uncharted means exploration carries less risk and combat sequences pose less of a challenge.

Unravel Two has a coop feature so you two can play together, which teaches platforming and puzzle skills in an environment you both share. Remastered platformers like Crash and Spyro (or even Yooka Laylee) would be good at communicating physic-based movement.

A lot of first-time gamers seem to like Undertale a lot too.
 
Last edited:

Syril

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,895
The Portal games seem like a good way to go because they involve maneuvering and aiming without having to fight. I noticed that The Orange Box and Portal 2 are both on the Xbox One's compatibility list.
 
Gundam

Gundam

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,801
Umm. If we go by your listed platforms,

I guess Halo Combat Evolved? It basically had to rewrite the book for the First Person Shooter formula and make them feel good to play on a controller. It's as good a start as any.

I'd also say either the Gears of War or Uncharted trilogy collections. Gears similarly set the template for literally every other third person cover shooter, but Uncharted is probably a little bit more forgiving and liberating when it comes to movement. Not to mention, the more approachable story in Uncharted is a good motivator for more people who are more casual about games to complete them.

Bioshock trilogy is also a great first jump into open-ended maps. I wouldn't go as far as to say "Open World", but definitely a great entry into what the medium can offer beyond linear progression-based games. (Not that those are bad.) And again, they have that story motivator that seems to appeal to a wider range of people, even if they don't care about games too much.

Mortal Kombat X or Injustice 2 are just about the best entry-level things for Fighting Games, but, I mean, Fighting Games.

Avoid: Assassin's Creed, Soulsborne (For now)

I am also obligated to recommend Sunset Overdrive in any context whatsoever, so long as "Xbox" is an available platform.
 
KLonso

KLonso

Member
Oct 27, 2017
266
Maybe a co-op platformer like Rayman Legends would be a good place to start. Also like someome above mentioned, I've had success playing Overcooked with friends who never play games.
 
xGrizzly

xGrizzly

Member
Dec 3, 2017
1,148
Atlanta
gates2 said:
Actually, Bloodborne;
This will teach her to be on her toes, it will teach her loss, strategy, when to attack, and when to back down, finding a window. Exploration. Almost everything I guess!

And if she succeeds, even for a few hours, then she will be able to be good at any game!
(unless online shooter)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

"discouraged by difficulty" and the first thing people are suggesting are games that don't hold your hand smh.

To answer the question at first 2D platformers then some walking sims like Firewatch to master hand-eye coordination for moving the camera and character at the same time.
 
2+2=5

2+2=5

Member
Oct 29, 2017
971
You need to start from the beginning, there's no way around, there's no magic game that can teach how to play modern games.

Gamers really don't get how hard is for non gamers to use a gamepad and all the complex controls of modern games and how annoying and not fun is to learn to use them without immediate decent results, you need to start with 8/16-bit platformers, shoot'em ups, beat'em ups and other genres with simple controls and gameplay, then you slowly choose more complex games more or less following the historic evolution of games.
 
Last edited:
nsilvias

nsilvias

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,785
the less buttons the better (on the controller)
work her up to controllers with more buttons slowly.
the whole reason people find it hard to get into games is because they are overwhelmed with all the buttons.
 

gates2

Banned
Jun 3, 2018
312
xGrizzly said:
"discouraged by difficulty" and the first thing people are suggesting are games that don't hold your hand smh.

To answer the question at first 2D platformers then some walking sims like Firewatch to master hand-eye coordination for moving the camera and character at the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I believe it is only difficult for 'weak'/'lazy' players; who were taught to button mash with no tactic.
She is starting with a clean slate. For new players BB should be easier.
With Souls-type games a lot of players were crying "Why I loose all my souls if I don't retrieve them!?!?! Other games let me keep them!! This game is hard yo!!"
But for a new videogame-player it would be weird to keep everything after you die, with death having no consequence
 
BlacJack

BlacJack

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
1,021
Tofer said:
In my experience of playing with non gamers, the biggest hurdle for them is controlling a 3D camera

Avoid games with camera control
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yep, any 1st or 3rd person camera. Using both joysticks at the same time to control movement and vision is not natural, and non gamers struggle with it at first.

The only way for them to get past it is repitition until it feels natural like for gamers. The only way I've found success was to find a game that they are interested enough in to push them past the awkward phase.

For me it was Resident Evil, solely cause my wife loved that franchise so much she wanted to play 5 with me. I've tried for years with what were in my opinion better and easier games, but it didn't matter.

It has to be something THEY are interested in. Not something they are doing just because you want them to, IMO.
 
OP
OP
Slaps PhD

Slaps PhD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
77
New Hampshire
BlacJack said:
Yep, any 1st or 3rd person camera. Using both joysticks at the same time to control movement and vision is not natural, and non gamers struggle with it at first.

The only way for them to get past it is repitition until it feels natural like for gamers. The only way I've found success was to find a game that they are interested enough in to push them past the awkward phase.

For me it was Resident Evil, solely cause my wife loved that franchise so much she wanted to play 5 with me. I've tried for years with what were in my opinion better and easier games, but it didn't matter.

It has to be something THEY are interested in. Not something they are doing just because you want them to, IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
We are trying to figure out thier taste as they learn to play. We are trying some of the older Lego games that don't have a focus on using the camera yet teaches most of what one may do using a controller.
 
Doskoi Panda

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,968
Portal 2 co-op is really, really the way to go. The first bunches of levels will help your SO pick up on camera control concepts in 3D environments without putting much pressure on either of you. They'll also help your SO understand locomotion in a 3D space, especially once Portals and Gels start getting involved. And did I mention it's one of the best co-op games ever made, and that everything about its design and presentation holds up spectacularly today?
 
LinkSlayer64

LinkSlayer64

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jun 6, 2018
2,293
Minecraft on peaceful. It is a safe, yet still engaging environment to go ahead and explore a 3D control scheme.
I agree portal 2 may work as well.
 
Janna OP

Janna OP

Member
Oct 25, 2017
593
meltyblood

teach her what characters are good (maids) and which characters are trash (everyone else)

teach her how to spot bullshit like this open shirt fucker


and most importantly teaches her why anime games are bullshit.
 
TheBeardedOne

TheBeardedOne

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
22,189
Derry
Overcooked is a good suggestion, but maybe not the first game to go to. The first one I thought of was Super Mario Bros. but then I saw that you don't have a Nintendo system.

Skylanders could be an option, as could a Lego game.
 
Bomblord

Bomblord

Self-requested ban
Banned
Jan 11, 2018
6,390
Some pretty involved suggestions here. For non-gamers especially ones used to mobile games give them either Animal Crossing or a pre-natsume split Harvest Moon.

The controls are incredibly simple, the concepts easy, and the play style suited to casual gamers. It's also easy in Animal Crossing to share experience
 
pswii60

pswii60

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,673
The Milky Way
Knack (1) is basically designed to introduce newcomers to playing and controlling games in a 3D space, so I'd recommend that even though the game itself is a bit shit.
 
OP
OP
Slaps PhD

Slaps PhD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
77
New Hampshire
gates2 said:
Actually, Bloodborne;
This will teach her to be on her toes, it will teach her loss, strategy, when to attack, and when to back down, finding a window. Exploration. Almost everything I guess!

And if she succeeds, even for a few hours, then she will be able to be good at any game!
(unless online shooter)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Though the points you are making are valid to teaching someone. She has no fundamentals yet and more of backwards step for us if I gave her Bloodborne. I think once she is more comfortable with a controller and has better fundamentals/hand - eye then Bloodborne may be a good teacher.
 
Nameless

Nameless

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,360
Life is Strange. Nice simple introductory course into moving characters, manipulating a camera, following waypoints and other indicators, and of course interacting with the environment. Plus navigating menus through the journal entries, photos etc.. Most importantly it's a great game.
 
Bhonar

Bhonar

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
6,066
Is the poster who's suggesting Bloodborne just trolling? Because that's a ridiculous suggestion given the parameters that the OP stated
 
Advance.Wars.Sgt.

Advance.Wars.Sgt.

Member
Jun 10, 2018
8,847
Tetris, and any game utilizing a deviant of its formula
Mario Kart
Scrolling shmups (ideally 16-bit era)
Pacman/Ms. Pacman
Bomber man
Mappy






Especially Mappy

edit: My fault for skimming past the last sentence

Still stick with Tetris and any shmups you can find
 
Damn Silly

Damn Silly

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,194
I would say modern adventure games are a good start as they have will teach movement in a 3D space and use a decent amount of buttons (but not usually all at once) in a generally safe environment.

I'm obviously a sucker for Life Is Strange, but I'd say Telltale would probably be a better bet as there may be a license that they've worked on that she recognises and would be excited for.
 
Windu

Windu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,630
I'd suggest starting on PC. The mouse is probably easier to use than a controller.
 
julian

julian

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,786
The Portal games are great for this. Enemies don't appear for a while. The levels are short and ramp up difficulty. Even if you end up having to do some of the maneuvering, you can still work out the solution together.

The Mass Effect series isn't bad either. You can play while she makes the decisions and then give her control in the cities to start and let her play the fights only if she's interested.
 
OP
OP
Slaps PhD

Slaps PhD

Member
Oct 25, 2017
77
New Hampshire
Nameless said:
Life is Strange. Nice simple introductory course into moving characters, manipulating a camera, following waypoints and other indicators, and of course interacting with the environment. Plus navigating menus through the journal entries, photos etc.. Most importantly it's a great game.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Damn Silly said:
I would say modern adventure games are a good start as they have will teach movement in a 3D space and use a decent amount of buttons (but not usually all at once) in a generally safe environment.

I'm obviously a sucker for Life Is Strange, but I'd say Telltale would probably be a better bet as there may be a license that they've worked on that she recognises and would be excited for.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Finale Fireworker said:
Hmmm...

Adventure games like Firewatch and What Remains of Edith Finch can be a good way to start out with 3D movement and camera control. You can go at your own pace and there's no fail state. Then you can graduate to the likes of Portal. BioShock introduces combat to that play style but the Vita Chamber system means dying just relocate s you to safety rather than set you back at all.

Games like Life is Strange are good at teaching dialog systems and the like. Which carries on into stuff like BioWare RPGs.

Most PlayStation first parties have a really easy modes where it's hard to fail, but something like God of War would likely still be intimidating with its menu and level-up systems.

A lot of first-time gamers seem to like Undertale a lot too.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Life is Strange is one of our better bets once she is more comfortable with using a thrid person camera, which Firewatch, Gone Home or Edith Finch are good place to learn the use of a camera even though it's in first person.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.