The issue is that I think there are Steam bundles that can’t be gifted, such as the Valve pack and that kind of thing. That also makes something like Civ 6 less likely, just because of the DLC bundles. I can also use Fanatical or Humble but frankly the region thing might be an issue.
This guy has played every console-available game under the sun before around 2020. So I’m focusing more on what he’s not likely to have played. He’s more of a soulslike/fighting game guy and I’m more of a simulation and eurojank enjoyer, so the recommendations don’t always carry across.
That said, I’ve been thinking newer games like Animal Well that are sure to be received well, but it’d suck if he already played it on something else. Would be a funny inclusion as well, a 35 megabyte 2D platformer for his new gaming desktop.
Any suggestions?
Outer Wilds is one of my favorite games. If he likes the explorey/other worldly feel of souls games, he might like it, but it certainly doesn’t have any combat.
As for fighting, I’ve recently started replaying Returnal, and I really enjoy that. It’s a well known console game, but I think it came out after 2020. It’s a roguelike format so slightly different from souls, but I love it.
Unfortunately he’s never been able to get into Outer Wilds despite it being one of my favorite games that I always shill. I’ll still push for him to play it.
If your friend is new to PC gaming then they might not be aware of how much they can get for free. I just wrote a post (stickied in [email protected]) summarising all the places you can regularly get freebies, could be a good way for them to try out a lot of different things.
Just in the past few years I got maybe 100-200 free games. I follow a few discord bots, and several free groups here on lemmy and Slickdeals website. Lots of resources. Amazon prime gives free games, epic free games, lots of free games on steam, itch.io, gog often has free games, other key websites often have free games too.
Can check steam sale prices on steamDB website.
It’s crazy how many full games you can play for free nowadays, I claim them way faster than I can play them!
Games with lots of mods for sure. It may be a generic recommendation but Minecraft with mod packs and gorgeous shaders is an amazing experience for someone who never got around to trying them.
Also if he’s a souls-like fan, I highly recommend Elden Ring’s convergence mod and Dark Souls 3’s convergence mod (they’re by the same team). It adds like a hundred new spells, new weapons and equipment, overhaul of some mechanics like having actual classes with game-changing effects, completely overhauls areas with new geometry, adds new enemies and bosses, etc. It’s a very fun time.
The souls games weren’t on sale, but I’ve passed the message along about the mods. I think he’s taking a break after pushing those games to the absolute limit but I’m glad something like that exists.
Deep Rock Galactic
He can get used to mouse and keyboad, while you cover him.
As mentioned before, gift cards are good way to go.
Rock and stone!
ROAK AND STOOOUNEEH!
Helldivers 2 for similar reasons.
DRG is a fantastic place to start with moving from a controller to mouse/keyboard.
I would personally T-up some classics like portal and Half-life 2 for solo “history lessons” after that. Only then would I make some harder recomendations like long RPGs, MOBAs, 4X, and would shy away from MMOs unless you have an organized group to introduce them to.
Portal 2 has coop 👍
Try Rise of the Triad, One Must Fall 2097, and Goat Simulator
Get them a month (or 3) of PC Gamepass so they can play everything and find out what they like.
This is probably the best way to go. You won’t be able to beat the flexibility for the price.
Total war: Warhammer 3? Baldurs Gate 3? Maybe those are available on console as well…
Limiting to PC only games makes things tricky. Most games on PC are available on console as well. Especially soulslike and fighting games.
But my recommendation is Ultrakill. It’s a fast paced FPS with a Devil May Cry style system. It really showcases the benefit of having a mouse and keyboard for shooters.
Edit: another is Black Mesa.
I went with Ultrakill! I might get it myself. I think older style graphics boomer shooters are a core part of the current wave of PC games.
SuperHot
The DOOMs
Orange box?
Half-Life 2 is pretty much a must have. Black Mesa is a good remake of the original.
My first purchase on Steam
Teardown is good chill fun
How powerful is the PC? Is the question more about games optimised for mouse+keyboard, or is it about demanding recent games that allows his new machine to flex its muscles?
Since you say he likes Souls-likes Black Myth Wukong probably checks both boxes - I never ended up playing it (my backlog is too long) but it looked great with stunning visuals and I heard good things about the gameplay.
Cyberpunk with full path tracing is still one of the prettiest games out there and a pretty damn good game too after the patches and expansions.
Finally, something like Fallout: London could be an interesting suggestion as mods of that nature are out of reach of the console crowd. Could give him a whiff of what he’s been missing out on.
Space Marines 2
Portal
Minecraft
Something shooty: TF2. Overwatch.
RTS game like Age of Empires 2For PC I would go for the avan-garde stuff
e.g. Cold line
Most popular indie titles are already on console as studios will port stuff to increase the sales.
I would go to look for stuff that can’t be sold. Dream like avan-garde surrealism or under 2h experiences on itch.io and newgrounds.com
also RTS require mouse so it could be a fun stuff to get into.
Avant-garde is my jam, it’s just hard to convince people who aren’t into that kind of game to play. I love the Cosmo D games, for example, but I know most of my friends wouldn’t enjoy them if I recommended them.
