I need a girlfriend game

[Jang]

Recently, my girlfriend started inquire a bit more about my gaming hobby. In fact to the point where she is starting to want to play some games. However, most of what I have are some pretty complex and dark games. Assassin's Creed, Fallout, Deus Ex: Human revolution, Skyrim. That kind of thing. Now, of course, these games are not particularly dark or complex by our standards, but to my girlfriend I am fairly certain it would be different. I mean, an Xbox controller is deeply foreign to her.

So, I know that this is a horrible stereo type, but I need a girlfriend game. Something simple and fun to introduce her to the hobby. I have an xbox and a pretty boss PC, so some games that can run on those, please.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Perhaps something simple and pretty like Trine? It's enchantingly beautiful. No one can resist it.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I always recommend one of the lesser-known Double Fine games when this comes up; Stacking, Costume Quest and Iron Brigade are charming, fun, quite simple and not a massive commitment like any of the games you mentioned might be.

Old-style side-scroller games could be of use, especially because of co-op; see Castle Crashers, Double Dragon Neon etc

In fact, for someone who's not used to 3D navigation, 2D games probably seem like a lesser hurdle to have to cross.

 

[Fireaxe]

She might have some fun with Bastion. It's nice to look at, fairly forgiving, sounds good, and isn't idiotic story wise.

 

[Doom972]

Point and click adventure games neither of you have played before (you solve the riddles together).
House of the Dead series - fun and simple rail shooters.
Worms Armageddon - turn based with local mutiplayer, lighthearted and easy to learn.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - Local multiplayer for 2 players. Encourages teamwork. Not too punishing.

These are the games I started playing with my girlfriend when she showed interest in video games.

 

[sandykumar]

Worms Armageddon - turn based with local mutiplayer, lighthearted and easy to learn.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light - Local multiplayer for 2 players. Encourages teamwork. Not too punishing.

These are the games I started playing with my girlfriend when she showed interest in video games.

regards,
sandeep

 

[Papadam]

Perhaps something simple and pretty like Trine? It's enchantingly beautiful. No one can resist it.

Yea, Im playing Trine 2 with my girlfriend and she's loving it.

Coop plattformers like Rayman or LBP is great too.

 

[The Forces of Chaos]

Portal 2 perhaps? or Rayman, Of course you could try something more advanced like divinity : original sin. Sorry I haven't got any more ideas off the top of my head (only have a Wii u and a pc at the moment).

 

[Gladion]

From experience, Binding of Isaac and BitTrip Runner 2 seemed to have done the trick. On the other hand, the Missus also enjoyed playing The Last of Us, Rayman, Mortal Kombat and The Walking Dead with me and started Alan Wake and Alpha Protocol on her own. Huh.

So maybe you have to accept that yes, "Girlfriend Game" really is a stereotype and you'll just have to try out a few things you can imagine your girlfriend would like. Feel free to collect a few more ideas, but I'd say you're probably the best judge on that topic yourself.

And there's also this


Good Luck!

 

[Colour Scientist]

Assuming your girlfriend isn't a child, I wouldn't exclude games based on the chance that they might be too complicated.

Just let her have a look through your collection, pick something that appeals to her and have her try it out. If she doesn't like it, she doesn't like it and you can move on to something else. I know people who've never gamed in their lives but got really into a whole multitude of different games from a wide range of genres just because they saw other people play them and thought they looked like fun.

Sure, they weren't very good when they started but it's a trial and error thing.

It is a little stereotypical to pick a game for her just because it's simple or light-hearted. If she ends up liking a game like that, then cool but I don't think it's a requirement.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Walking Dead. Story heavy. Strong female characters. Easy to play and understand.

If you were on PC, I'd recommend Sims or WoW, both of which have been hugely appealing to girlfriends of mine in the past, even one who loathed gaming in general. MMOs tend to slant almost 50% female as far as player base goes.

Skyrim would be good too. My girlfriend adored Skyrim. 400 hours played.

Also...

Just let her have a look through your collection, pick something that appeals to her and have her try it out. If she doesn't like it, she doesn't like it and you can move on to something else.

This. You can certainly make recommendations, but at the end of the day let her try what she wants to try. She's going to have her own mental list of things that seem appealing. If she plays five minutes of Deus Ex and screams "UGH. GAMING IS NOT FOR ME" then it was never meant to be.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

How about not treating your girlfriend like an idiot?

None of those games you listed aren't nearly as complicated as you're making them out to be.

Ask her what she's looking for, and try and find something that fits, if she doesn't like it try another, rinse and repeat.

 

[Something Amyss]

My girlfriend is a Skyrim junky. Therefore, I must assume all girlfriends will be. Or something.

How about not treating your girlfriend like an idiot?

Hey, I'll have you know that women are biologically programmed to be bad at video games. It's Darwin. Do you oppose SCIENCE?

(sorry, just got done reading a rant where a guy butchers science to "prove" things about women, so this just kind of dovetailed).

 

[Pink Gregory]

How about not treating your girlfriend like an idiot?

None of those games you listed aren't nearly as complicated as you're making them out to be.

Ask her what she's looking for, and try and find something that fits, if she doesn't like it try another, rinse and repeat.

To be fair, if this is someone who hasn't played games much before, or at least modern games, there is a certain getting used to 3D navigation, especially with a gamepad. There are a lot of things that we can do without thinking in games that we take for granted by now.

That's what the OP was implying, right?

That's not an assumption, I've heard of people having that experience.

I still wouldn't recommend a massive, deep experience for someone who's looking to try games out, that's shit all to do with gender. I think the usually reasonable people here are jumping to conclusions a little bit.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

Well, what's she interested in? You should let her try the games that she wants to play. Show her a bunch of things from your library and let her pick one. If it doesn't work, you can try a different game. There's really no limitations. If she can't decide, then recommend some of your own personal favourites.

If you really want some of my suggestions, Minecraft, Portal (and Portal 2) and Pokémon are great entry-level games. However, under no circumstances should you introduce her to a fighting game, unless she wants to try it herself. Besides Smash Bros, fighting games are terrible entry level games, especially since they're extremely newbie-unfriendly, even to veteran gamers, and the communities for a lot of them can be pretty toxic. It took me months to get the hang of BlazBlue, and even then, I still don't like to get involved with other players. Besides, I think co-operative games would be better to introduce someone to gaming than competitive ones.

Now that I think about it, Super Smash Bros. might be a decent jumping-off point, too. It's a friendly, though surprisingly deep, game with a bunch of co-op options and a lot of variety. It could even help introduce to your girlfriend series that she might be interested in.

 

[Phasmal]

I really don't know much about introducing new players to games but I'd always recommend Portal because I feel like it's kind of easy to learn how to use a controller with and progresses very naturally. After she has the hang of that then show her the games you have and then let her pick which one sounds most interesting to her.

Overlooking the stereotype- is everything I touch now a `girlfriend game`?

*stares down at hands*

I'm going to touch ALL THE GAMES. None for you guys. All games are for girlfriends.

 

[Something Amyss]

I really don't know much about introducing new players to games but I'd always recommend Portal because I feel like it's kind of easy to learn how to use a controller with and progresses very naturally. After she has the hang of that then show her the games you have and then let her pick which one sounds most interesting to her.

Overlooking the stereotype- is everything I touch now a `girlfriend game`?

*stares down at hands*

I'm going to touch ALL THE GAMES. None for you guys. All games are for girlfriends.

Nooooooooooooooo! Don't you understand you're ruining my games? How can I enjoy games knowing that girls can play them too?

 

[Nubrain]

As a girl who has been gaming since the atari 2600 I can say that there is no one game anyone of us can tell you that will work 100% sure. you know your girl friend better than we do so think about what other things she likes to find a good starting point. If she reads a lot you might want to go with a text heavy game, if she's more into movies something cinematic with a lot of cut scenes is the place to start. if there is a decent game out about a franchise she's already into than go with that as it comes with investment with the characters.

Also I smack the hands of any and all of the people that suggested two player even co-op. Trust me that is the very WORST thing you can do. unless it's a game that you've never played before all it's going to do is make her see how much better at these things you are than her and that can be rather frustrating. Maybe if the game is more comedy based and messing up is half the fun and even then I wouldn't suggest that for the very first thing you try.

to suggest a game anyways I'd go with Persona 4. great mystery story with interesting characters and an anime art style. the combat system is complex enough to need some thought but the battles are turn based so you have the time to think about what you want to do. Also if you have 2 3ds splitting a pokemon game might not be a bad idea with you each having a different version. It can give the feeling of co-op with out the competition.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Something simple and instantly rewarding. Like a shooter or a puzzle platformer. Wouldn't go with RPGs and RTSs, at least not at the very start.