I’m a 30 year old woman who’s only really played card and puzzle games on my phone. Im considering new hobbies. Is it worth trying to get into video games for the first time. Where would I even start.
My wife didn’t typically game in the traditional sense, but games she’s enjoyed in the past are the older Mario games, the Sims, and project zomboid (which she describes as the Sims but with zombies).
She’s also got like 100 hours in power washing simulator and she’s too scared to try Stardew valley because she knows it’ll consume her life.
… Yes?
Start wherever. Buy games with interesting covers or play free demos.
A lot of women I know who aren’t the typical “gamer” type really enjoy Stardew Valley. It’s a little farming game where you live in a town, foster relationships with the townspeople, and generally go about small town life. Very cute game, especially fun with friends.
Also Minecraft, it’s very open ended and there are many ways to play it.
As for how to start, an affordable laptop will run both of these fairly well, if you want Nintendo games you’ll probably have to get a Nintendo Switch.
Definitely make a Steam account though, you’ll find pretty much all the games you could want in one place there (Minecraft is separate).
This game recommendation thingy might be helpful: https://apps.quanticfoundry.com/surveys/start/gamerprofile/
In the profile you choose what you are looking for in a gaming experience - it doesn’t matter if you don’t know yet or need to make up some answers. There are questions like “How important is working towards a common goal with other players?”
It’s a place to start anyway.
If you like puzzle games I suggest trying portal. Portal 1 is inexpensive on Steam and playable on any modern PC including on Linux. It’s low pressure, has some humor, not very violent, and you can restart from anywhere you like.
