A Video Game Starter Guide for Total Newbs

If you like: Chess, Risk, math problems, Capture the Flag
Then you might like: Strategy games and tower defense games

The premise is simple. You have a base. You can create units with offensive and defensive capabilities. You can construct buildings that offer defense and support. All of your units and buildings have a fixed resource cost. Your resources are limited, and your base has a fixed carrying capacity. On the other side of the map is another base, controlled by the computer or another player. You both have the same objective: destroy the opposing base before they destroy you.

Strategy games come in a few different flavors. There are turn-based strategy games, which only allow players to act within designated turns, as board games do. Real-time strategy games let both players act simultaneously, which amps up the adrenaline.

Tower defense games are a horse of a different color. Rather than fighting against another base, you’re fighting against hordes of bad guys. Each round has two phases: the first to fortify your base, the second to see how well your defenses hold up (think the Battle of Helm’s Deep, but with reasonable pauses).

Games to check out: StarCraft 2, Civilization V, Revenge of the Titans, Dungeon Defenders

If you like: LEGO, blanket forts, Maker Faire, sorting things into neat little piles
Then you might like: Building/crafting games

Gather resources. Then build a house. Or a fortress. Or a 1:1 scale model of the Enterprise-D. Whatever. If there’s nothing you like better than looking at a box full of random stuff and trying to figure out what you can make out of it, then building games are for you. Many building and crafting games let you play online with friends, too, which can lead to weekends (or even solid weeks) full of good clean fun.

Of course, every construction project has its setbacks. Minecraft’s Survival mode, for example, fills the world with dangerous monsters and burning lava, and imposes limits upon how much stuff you can carry. The explorable world of Terraria comes alive with beasties once the sun goes down. But in both these games, the dangers are a secondary focus (and in Minecraft, they can be turned off entirely). The real game is figuring out how to construct something truly wonderful.

Games to check out: Minecraft, Terraria

If you like: Slasher movies, haunted houses, playing “Bloody Mary”
Then you might like: Survival horror

Most games make an effort to make the player feel strong or powerful. Not survival horror. In these games, your mortality is palpable. You will typically begin with no weapons or items whatsoever. It will be dark. You might hear screams or insane mutterings coming from the floor above you. Eventually you’ll stumble across a simple weapon — a wrench, perhaps. Then you’ll hear something horrible gibbering around the corner. You know the only way forward is to beat said horrible gibbering thing with said wrench until one of you is dead. You’ll ask yourself, “Why am I playing this game?”

Because you like being scared, that’s why.

Survival horror combat is often like that of an FPS or action game, but the environmental storytelling sets it apart. Purists will argue over what makes a true survival horror game (the second item on my list of suggested games has fueled many a debate on that very point), but here’s my dumbed-down litmus test.

How do you feel at the end of the game?

A. Wow, I’m a hero!
B. Wow, I feel clever!
C. Wow, I am never turning off the lights again.

If the answer is C, it’s survival horror.

Games to check out: Dead Space, BioShock, Amnesia: The Dark Descent

If you like: Carnival games, brainteasers, feeling smart
Then you might like: Platformers/puzzle platformers

A platformer is a running, jumping, swinging obstacle fest (I am 99.9% certain that everyone reading this is at least passively familiar with Super Mario Bros., the godfather of all platformers). Platformers require speed, accuracy, and lightning-fast reflexes. A puzzle platformer puts an additional spin on things by forcing you to use that noggin of yours to figure out how you’re supposed to get from Point A to Point B in the first place. The game will start you off gently, teaching you to move quickly and bending your brain in all sorts of fun new ways. By the end, you’ll be racing through a gauntlet of death, with only your logic and cunning to rely on. When you reach the finish line with seconds on the clock to spare, you’ll look down at your marvelous hands and feel like a god.

I’m only half kidding.

If you fall in love with platformers, you’ll probably want to look into a console. Games like Super Mario Galaxy or LittleBigPlanet will be right up your alley.

No matter what, play Portal. Everyone should play Portal.

Games to check out: Braid, Trine, Portal

Veteran gamers, here’s the part where I need you.

If I’ve piqued the interest of any beginners out there, I invite you now to step into the comments. Veterans, take these gentle fledglings by the hand. Tell them about your favorite games, because your tastes are sure to be different from mine. Tell them about the games that I no longer have the space to write about. Tell them about all the quirky little subgenres, so long as you don’t overload their brains. Tell them about your guild or clan, if you’re recruiting.

And newbies, no matter what you decide to play, remember this above all else: Have fun.

Becky Chambers is a freelance writer and a full-time geek. She blogs over at Other Scribbles.

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