Asklemmy

What sort of experience are you interested in? Something challenging and competitive would have you looking at very different games than something relaxing. I’d probably recommend stardew valley for a first game as it’s widely regarded and cozy but not without challenges

IMHO it's worth getting into games because they are a mainstream form of entertainment these days (just like movies) and there are incredibly well made games and all sorts of genres, so that everyone can find something. It's also a fun hobby, at least as long as you play either with friends, or singleplayer, or a multiplayer game with a non-toxic community. Stay away from popular e-sports titles, they're usually filled with toxic teenagers.

If you like puzzle games, there are some great ones, for example Portal 1+2 or The Talos Principle 1+2 are probably the most polished ones out there, these are AAA games made by big studios, who don't usually do puzzle games as they're somewhat niche but there are some exceptions thankfully. Portal 2 is the highest ranked game of all time on Steam (I think it's deserved).

There are also tons of great indie puzzle games out there, of course.

Somewhat related to puzzle games are "point and click" adventure games. That genre was very popular in the 80s and 90s, now it's also rather niche, but still some great ones are being developed all the time. Adventure games are (also) about story-telling and solving many puzzles to advance in the game. You usually find lots of items in those and have to combine them in various ways and interact with the game world and its characters to solve puzzles and advance the story. That's maybe the key difference between those and more focussed puzzle games where it's more about the puzzles, less about item combinations and character dialogs. But adventures can also contain quite challenging puzzles none the less.

Genres are hard to distinguish these days because so many games are a blend of different genres. Anyway, you probably want to stay away from games tagged with "action" or "e-sports" and primarily look for "adventure", "puzzle" or "casual" tags.

If you see a game you think you'd enjoy, go for it.

Personally I find that I'm not super into video games as an adult just because I don't have the time, and I don't find them very fun in short bursts. And when I do have the time I always think to myself I'd be better off spending it on a "productive" hobby like programming. That's an entirely personal thing for me, but it may be something you want to consider, ie if you want to learn a hobby that's also considered a real world skill so to speak, and one that could give you products of your hobby you can actually use and enjoy (eg programming, crochet, cooking, woodworking, etc—so creative hobbies).

Also, feel free to pirate a game if you don't know if it's worth the investment, especially since you won't have a reference point of games you do enjoy. I have no ethical quandary with pirating any game, but if you do, you can just buy the game if you like it, and that way you won't waste money on a game you only get 5% of the way through before getting bored.

Everyone has different preferences, so it can be difficult to judge what you may like or dislike. Even in gaming, there are such disparate subcommunities that one subcommunity may not even know of the existence of another. I personally prefer slow paced, artistic, single player games and I can't stand multi-player games, much less competitive ones.

So my answer is there's likely something for you somewhere, but without more information, I wouldn't know how you would begin finding that something

https://steamdb.info/app/1328670/

Video games used to be good, now most games are just quick cash grabs. I highly recommend old classics if you're planning to get into it.

Yes it's absolutely worth getting in to video games, there is huge breadth and choice on what to play, and a huge vibrant community.

Starting place is really what devices do you have? Do you have a laptop or PC? If so the world is your oyster and you will find plenty to play even if it's not very powerful.

If you want something popular, cosy and accessible I'd recommend Stardew Valley. It's cheap for such a great game, plenty of content, great learning curve and a huge wholesome community.

But there is loads of choice - you could play card games or puzzle games on you other devices and explore what's available. PC games offer much more variety and depth compared to a mobile, and is very easy to access - no need to buy a console or hardware.

It's just like any other hobby, you have to see and decide for yourself! All I can say as a person who's been playing video games for 27 years and loves them for both their mechanics and their artistic potential is that so far it has been time well spent!

To start, i'd first think about what kind of games tempt you most. You have a wide array of genres from which to choose, like cerebral real-time strategy or 4x games (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate), narrative and player expression centric role-playing games, action-packed shooters, or agile and clever platformers.

Then, you can use storefronts like Steam or Epic and run general searches based on genres - I'd recommend sorting according to top sellers/most purchased, as score-based sorting isn't always reliable.

At the end of it all, however, the most important factor is whatever tempts you in any way. Steam (this is what I use most of the time) offers Demos for a lot of games nowadays, so you should be able to try pretty much whatever tempts you! Be it flashy graphics, an interesting story hook, or just sheer bloodlust, everything is valid!

I'll leave a list of games I think would serve as a gentle introduction to this hobby below - they're also not resource intensive, so you should be able to play them on any consumer laptop (or smartphone, some of them!):

• Stardew Valley - management-like game, you have to administrate a farm. But there's a lot of extra complexity I won't spoil

• Cloudpunk - combination of cyberpunk delivery person simulator and role-playing game, I've found it both relaxing and gripping!

• Cultist Simulator - it's technically a card game, but what you actually do is balance having a socially acceptable life with investigating incomprehensible forces and leading a cult

• Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic I and II - these two are meat-and-potatoes role-playing games with really solid stories, well-written and presented characters, a neat progression system which sees you unlocking awesome Force powers and/or other valuable perks, and the combat, I find, is the perfect mix of engaging and lenient

• Rocket League - this is as a taste of faster-paced action, basic multiplayer interactions, and relatively high-end graphis - it's football with cars, but awesome!

As an extra note, you may notice I've left links from everywhere. That's because you'll have to select a game storefront (it's a whole thing nowadays, but you really don't need to interact with that side of the hobby if you don't want to...). The storefronts share most of their libraries of games, but there are a few exceptions, so it's best to check them all out before sticking with one. Some examples of such:

• Steam is the most popular and is good, but you can't run games without running Steam, plus it periodically needs to connect to the internet. Things are fairly priced, the community features are nice, the community is ok, frequent sales. They also offer a no-questions full refund if you choose to do so within two hours of play time, so that's a way to try out games without Demos.

• GOG (Good Old Games) is basically Steam, less meaty. However, the main strongpoint is that, beyond installing the game through their platform, that game then exists as its own independent entity, not requiring any periodic validation through an internet connection (unless the game itself is online), no shady 3rd party software installed alongside the game to "protect it from piracy," etc. The games are as yours as they could possibly be in a digital-only environment.

• Epic wants to be Steam's direct rival, so their storefront has many of the same features, but it's not as popular within the community. I honestly have no opinion about them.

Other than that, all I can say is try to explore the hobby, check out gaming outlets, watch Lets-Plays on YouTube, and you can always lean on the online community for suggestions and tips! Also applicable to myself!

Get a Quest 3! If you're brand new to gaming I think VR is more intuitive than picking up a traditional controller for the first time.

My advice would be to look into emulators. Old school games do not have any micro transactions and are complete. Plus there is a vast library of consoles and games to go through.

They can tell wonderful stories if you pick the right ones. Personally I find Disco Elysium to be particularly good at this.

If you want to start playing video games, you should try easy games like celeste

By "easy" i mean extremely hard, if you play the game you will die thousands of times

If you have a continuous online connection, download Steam. Also look at GoG if you dont want to deal with valves drm

Casual gamer me would tell you there are amazing short narrative games these days.

Well, what is it that you would like? Women usually go for stuff like the Sims, Stardew Valley or Zelda, maybe some of those are for you?

Do you want to play alone, are you looking for a group, ...? The games I mentioned are usually played alone (Stardew can also be played with up to four friends) so they aren't very social, but they are fun nonetheless.

Edit: Also PlateUp and Portal.

Hogwarts legacy might resonate here IMHO

Start with Dark Souls.

If you are considering a hobby for your general well being and long term happiness, video games probably aren't your best bet. Learning a new language, a nusical instrument, a sport, an art or craft, meditation, etc.; could be much more fulfilling for your life. It is easy to invest too much time on video games without getting a considerable reward in terms of long term happiness.

I quit playing video games in my mid 30's. Pretty much went cold turkey. Why would you want to start now? Plenty of healthier things to do with your time

I'm gonna go against the current here and say no. Videogames are not a good hobby and a poor investment of your time. If the alternative is deer hunting or anything shady then playing videogames is one of the less harmful things you can do on earth but among the thousand activities you can do and pick up as a hobby videogames are not free of issues.

First of all by specifically getting into video games you are looking at stare at a screen and sit for hours. Not a big deal if you can manage it but don't limit yourself to just videogames, there are board games, social games, mind sports and many other games you can get into.

Videogames industry has become very rotten and has appropriated the whole community. Many of the titles being suggested here are "products" made by evil companies with mechanics built to mess up with people. Steam which many recommended you to download is a proprietary software launcher that belongs to a company that has no problem pushing loot boxes and abduct kids into gambling. That's the sort of business you are getting your hands into.