Animation Lead on Wanderstop! She/Her & Transgenderrific! Past: Radial Games, Gaslamp Games



IndieGamesOfCohost
@IndieGamesOfCohost

New survey! So far we've talked about card games, visual novels, roguelikes, hidden gems, itch.io games, Touhou games, 3D games, turn-based RPGs, horror games, indie shooters, and farm sims/life sims. Folks have added great games in the shares and comments sections.

So, this time: What are indie games you'd recommend for someone who is new to playing games?

Maybe someone just started playing games when the pandemic started, maybe someone has gotten interested because of their friend group, or maybe they had a really great experience with one indie game and want to know what else is out there to try.

What are your favorite indies that don't require prior genre knowledge or built-in experience?


MOOMANiBE
@MOOMANiBE

it's maybe cheating to mention phone games, which are nearly all designed for non-"gamers", but kairo really always brings the right combination of good pacing, simple design, and satisfying moment-to-moment experience. I truly feel like they are games for absolutely anyone


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in reply to @IndieGamesOfCohost's post:

Balatro seems like a good recent answer, most people have at least a basic idea how poker hands work and everything you need is right on screen. The 'juice' would also probably help keep them in it through the initial learning curve

I've straight up been thinking about this since I've been gifting my mom some games over the years.

I'd actually toss in Cloud Gardens by Noio; it's a no-pressure game about being presented a diorama and placing plants on it; as plants flower, you collect those flowers/fruits to generate points to place more plants and props to cover more of the diorama, until you complete it! importantly, it's completely playable with just the mouse, but you can use the keyboard for some shortcuts.

for just a touch more complexity, Dicey Dungeons is a great introduction to deckbuilding games and roguelikes: your tools are tightly curated and the only thing that affects them is six-sided dice!

if someone is looking for something more in the way of mystery-solving, Return of the Obra Dinn and Case of the Golden Idol will scratch that itch. there can be a bit of button-pressing in this to get things done, though, so I'd also toss in Hypnospace Outlaw, since that fits more the ludology most folks would be familiar with, browsing webpages and digging through links.

if they just want something that's all story and vibes, Night in the Woods is perfect with its pure exploration and very straightforward controls.

Knotwords is a straight-up Zach Gage gig, crossword crossed with sudoku, the crossword is broken into chunks and the chunks tell you the letters in them, solve the crossword from there.

A Short Hike is just a slow paced exploration of a world with a nice story and no real stakes. Very calming and a great way to spend an afternoon.

Hexceed is a great little deduction puzzler with simple mechanics that anyone could pick up with relative ease but also has literal years of back content to play through.

Brotato would be a really solid pick for someone that wants a little more spice and action without a huge time commitment or excessive gore.

My first picks of Disco Elysium and Return of the Obra Dinn were already mentioned, so maybe Firewatch, The Beginner's Guide and Bugsnax? First two are relatively short and narrative-focused so there aren't too many overwhelming mechanics, Bugsnax is a bit more complex but is still approachable by new players, if they can vibe with the overall style of course which is somewhat divisive

Bit basic but most Mario titles take care to introduce basic concepts that many other games take for granted you already have. Things like movement and interaction, or even as simple as 'go right'.

Beglitched! Its core game mechanics are match-3 and something inspired by Minesweeper, but it builds onto them with tricky resource balancing and positioning-based goals that are totally orthogonal to the usual score-based play, and it's got enough narrative and clever dialogue to draw you in and get you invested. It's the most "video gamey" video game I've gotten my partner to play and enjoy.

Or Stardew.

(Also, my real first game recco is the Monument Valley series, but idk if that's indie enough.)

For new players, I'd recommend:

  • Games with humour, since that's always a good way to get people engaged in something new, like Donut County, Later, Alligator, and the Frog Detective trilogy (although FPS controls are hard for folks new to them, that'd be my only disclaimer).
  • Games like Immortality, Kentucky Route Zero, and 80 Days that are exceptionally well-written and offer choices.
  • Games like Unpacking and Venba that tell a short, personal story using really easy-to-grasp-at-first-glance means.

Toki Tori 2+ is my more unusual pick here. 100% completion gets extremely difficult even for experienced gamers admittedly (far more than you’d expect for a slow‐paced puzzle game with only 2 action buttons), but i think even little kids could tackle reaching the ending of this puzzle platformer without a jump button. it also doesn’t require any language comprehension at all (even though non‐Wii U versions add some weird, unnecessary text).

Knytt and Seiklus are also easy picks for me though. exploratory platformers with good music, charming graphics, and simple controls that can run on pretty much any Windows machine. for someone who thinks “video games” means Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto, these would be remarkably fresh breaths of air. INSIDE might also be a good pick for people who can stomach its themes and have some capable hardware to run it on. none of these need any language comprehension either!

i think it'd really depend on the type of stories they like in other mediums. in some ways the question is like. what are some good beginner movies for someone who hasn't watched much before. it just really depends on the person. like, for my non-gamer friend who likes chess, turn based strategy would be a rather good idea (not a genre i play though, so no reccs there).

it's easy to recommend games light on mechanics like a short hike and journey, or visual novels, but i think it'd maybe be more interesting to go with point-and-click stuff like growing my grandpa!, in other waters or if on a winter's night four travelers. the black iris would also be nice for something 3d that's on the walking sim side that's not (for lack of a better word) too fluffy. the stanley parable too i suppose. but this is all stuff that's fairly low on skill, maybe others would like something like picayune dreams (or a good old touhou game) — difficult games, but where the basic gameplay is rather uncomplicated.

and well. there's always undertale.

Great question- hard to answer, but Ive given it a go and named some:

Thomas was Alone- Its a platformer, but a relatively easy one, since its priority is on its writing. It might be one of the best written games in the Indie world. Add in an excellent narrator and the games ability to turn a bunch of shapes into compelling characters, and you get a winner.

Unavowed- Can't go wrong with a point and click adventure and Wadjet Eye specialise in them. My favourite is Unavowed since it combines all the great bits from past games into one awesome experience.

Northgard- Strategy/Management RTS, but its more simplified compared to its more well known ones. Its Norse setting and atmosphere in addition make it tons of fun to play.

FTL- Very much the definition of simple to learn, but hard to master. Involves commanding a spaceship, getting into battles, making choices and managing your crew/spaceship. Again lot of fun.

Many great recommendations here already!

The OPUS series is good for beginners: simple gameplay, great emotional stories.

One thing I think many people who have been gaming since their childhood tend to miss is that videogames are difficult to get into. Remembering which buttons are where, performing several actions at the same time, controlling a 3D camera, just understanding what you can and cannot do — those are all skills.
Kids are usually so excited to play that they blaze past this. Adults are often not as invested and bounce off easily. I saw that firsthand, but there's a youtube series called "Gaming for a non-gamer" that shows an example of the difficulties (there might be better ones, that's just what i saw).

I think it's super important to try and recommend a game that's not only approachable but closely matches the person's tastes and interests. And to be there for them to offer advice and assistance.

my mum started playing baba is you because it was one of the few puzzle games i could think of that are on iOS and i can confidently say: probably not that (she had a good time with a monsters expedition though, so maybe that!)