Many gamers often take for granted how difficult it can be to actually get into gaming for the first time, particularly if you didn't grow up with it. Learning dual joysticks for movement and looking, memorizing button placements, and other controls, can be pretty daunting to a newcomer — at any age. This collection of games is what we consider ideal for newcomers to the hobby. With options for accessible difficulty, slow-paced gameplay ideal for learning your way around a controller, or awesome co-op titles where you can help your a friend or loved one, here's the best games for newcomers.
Fun and farming: Stardew Valley
Staff pickStardew Valley is a fun and friendly farming simulation game, with light RPG mechanics. In Stardew Valley, you're granted the deed to an old farm, and tasked with restoring it to its former glory. Make friends with the local villages, grow crops, and explore dungeons in one of the best games of this generation.
Digital Lego: Minecraft
Staff pickMinecraft is one game that needs very little introduction. The global phenomenon is the perfect game for getting to grips with the hobby, with passive creative modes designed to let you build free from threats and difficulty. Once you get to grips with the controls there, you can move over to Survival mode, tailoring the difficulty as the player gain's confidence.
Light in the dark: Child of Light
Child of Light is a forgiving turn-based RPG that allows a second player to participate as a supportive fairy, using a single joystick (ideal for youngsters who want to join in). Child of Light tells a moving tale in a fantasy dream-like world, with hand-painted art work and fun combat mechanics.
Race yourself: Trials Rising
Trials Rising is a physics-based racing game that is a great way to learn how to control the movements of the Xbox joysticks. The game has a robust and lengthy training mode that guides you through the different controls, as you guide your dirt bike across dozens of fun and addictive race courses. Trials Rising is a great game for beginners of all ages, and has multiplayer too.
Defeat evil: Diablo III
Staff pickDiablo III is a great game for beginners, because it allows you to fully tailor the difficulty to meet your skill level. It also has couch and online co-op, allowing you to support a friend or loved one who might want to learn through. Diablo is an isometric action RPG with several unique classes, with customizable playstyles and piles of loot to grab.
Narrative adventure: Life is Strange
Life is Strange is a narrative adventure game rapidly approaching classic status, owing to its evocative storyline and unique narrative gameplay mechanics. It's a slow paced game ideal for those unfamiliar with controllers, as you move through the game's story interacting with the environment and other characters.
Cutesy puzzler: Unravel Two
Unravel 2 is a gorgeous and easy-going platform/physics puzzle game, set in a realistic world from a toy's point of view. Playing as Yarny, you and another friend together in co-op guide the magical toy creature through a series of light puzzles, atop some moving narrative elements.
A fox adventure: Super Lucky's Tale
Super Lucky's Tale is a light-hearted platformer game aimed at youngsters. In Super Lucky's Tale, you'll guide Lucky on a quest to help his sister recover a mystical book from the evil Jinx, who seeks to rebuild the world in its image. Super Lucky's Tale is light on difficulty and is great for getting to grips with the Xbox controls.
Co-op chicken coops: Farm Together
Farm Together is a gorgeous and addictive farming simulation game you can play with friends. It's light on pacing and complexity, although the depth ramps up as you play and learn through the game's range of mechanics. Grow crops, build a ranch, farm animals, with added bonus of multiplayer fun.
Stardew Valley is perhaps the ultimate pick from this list, given the fact that it's easy to pick up and play, but contains mountains of depth as you get more acquainted with the game's intersecting systems. Diablo III functions in much the same way, nailing the "easy to play, difficult to master" design convention pretty well, and it's great for both online and couch co-op sessions.
Many of these titles are also available on Xbox Game Pass, which is a $10 monthly-subscription service granting access to dozens of games for you to try out, without having to worry that you'll drop $60 on a game that might be too difficult for yourself or a loved one.
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