Are you intrigued by video games, but don’t know where to start? Do you prefer casual, story-driven gaming to role-playing and shooters? Here are some of the best titles that will help you discover a wonderful new hobby.
Video games are by far the favorite pastime of our generation. Beautiful graphics, engaging storytelling, and an interactive experience that’s only improving as technology is getting better can quickly turn this hobby into a lifelong passion for many gamers.
The selection is huge, the genres and types of gameplay seemingly endless, and the array of options so wide that the gaming market offers a variety of titles for every type of player. If you’re just beginning to dip your toes into gaming or if you simply prefer games with a focus on story and character development rather than constant action and quick reflexes — here are five titles available for the PC (and other consoles) that will knock you off your feet.
Portal 1 & 2
The Portal series has been around since the early 2000s and is, at this point, regarded almost as a classic of the industry. However, even though it’s one of the oldest titles on this list, it’s far from being outdated. This first-person puzzle game brings us futuristic, post-apocalyptic-looking surroundings mixed with an addictive and mysterious plot at the center.
While playing as the character of Chell, a young woman waking up in a cell of an abandoned-looking factory, you slowly have to make your way through a scientific complex full of mind-games, puzzles, and an artificial intelligence narrating your experience and possibly trying to kill you. As the game begins, you discover a portal gun, which helps you bend the restrictions of space and offers a path to freedom, while simultaneously being your biggest ally when it comes to solving the riddles presented on your screen.
The Portal franchise consists of two installments — Portal from 2007, with a short, two to four-hour-long gameplay, and the much longer and even better sequel called Portal 2. For those of you who like hidden messages and Easter eggs in your games, this series offers more than you can imagine, with a lot of underlying connections to the Half Life games that may or may not be set in the same universe.
Life Is Strange
By far a fan favorite of the your-choices-influence-the-outcome games, Life Is Strange is another title you should not miss out on if you’re into story and character-driven virtual experiences. Set on a college campus, the first installment of the Life is Strange franchise follows Max, a photography student who discovers a rather paranormal ability.
It turns out that she can rewind time and change the outcome of her interactions — an ability which proves quite handy when reuniting with her childhood friend Chloe and discovering that something dark is happening under the surface of their small town.
Life Is Strange is a game like no other. The stakes are high, the plot intriguing and the choices you get to make throughout your gameplay add as much tension and fun as they do replay value. With a lot of spaces to explore, great dialogue, and characters you get deeply familiar with, you can be sure that you came across your new favorite game. Lucky for you with a prequel and a couple of sequels there’s a lot to do in the Life Is Strange universe.
The Wolf Among Us
The company Telltale Games is best known for its episodic graphic-mystery releases with a huge number of titles in the genres of drama and adventure. For those of you who like lore, fairytales, noir, and intrigue, The Wolf Among Us is a crown jewel mixing all those elements perfectly.
Inspired by the comic book series Fables, we follow a new case of detective Bigby Wolf (maybe better known as the Big Bad Wolf), investigating a series of murders that start to take place all around town. With characters such as Snow White, Beauty, the Beast, the Little Mermaid, and many others, The Wolf Among Us mixes folklore, mystery, and a make-your-own-choices story in an urban environment.
The storytelling is amazing and, once you start playing, you won’t be able to stop until you find out what’s really going on behind the scenes. Thankfully, after almost a decade of waiting, we can soon expect an official sequel following the same characters on yet another adventure.
Firewatch
Part walking simulator, part mystery set in a national park in 1989, Firewatch is a hidden gem of a game that combines amazing graphics and aesthetics with a compelling and heart-wrenching narrative.
While playing the character of Henry, who accepts a new job as a fire lookout in the Shoshone National Forest after his wife develops early-onset dementia, you investigate the almost real-looking nature while fulfilling different tasks. However, once an array of strange things starts occurring, the park might be a bit less peaceful than it seems.
Revealing anything more about Firewatch would ruin the experience of a first playthrough, so with a little faith, go ahead and try this title out for yourself. The visuals will capture you as much and as deeply as the melancholy story will pull on your heartstrings.
What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch is a 2017 quaint and moody adventure game exploring themes of generational trauma in the shape of a ‘family curse’. With a first-person perspective, the players explore the old Finch house and the wilderness around it as Edith Finch, a young woman who after many years returns to her old childhood home.
By going through a myriad of rooms, discovering footpaths, going through the secret crawlspaces, and bending the usual restraints of the genre, this game tells the story of a family in a way you’ve certainly never seen before. The different episodes within the gameplay are tragic, sullen, and sometimes surreal, and offer a visual delight paired with superb and creative storytelling.
With a couple of twists thrown in there when you least expect them, What Remains of Edith Finch is a rather simple game with a layered plot and rich character backstory. Even though you might shed a tear or two during your playthrough, you’ll most definitely find yourself returning to this title in order to discover all the hidden meaning and metaphors woven into its center.
So, whether you’re tired of violent shooters, action-packed titles that bring your heart rate up from constant jump scares, or you simply prefer stories that are quieter and pack the punch through storytelling, rather than demanding tactics — give these titles a fair shot. You’ll soon find yourself asking for more.
Photo: Anton27/Shutterstock
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