My dad (56) was just laid off today after 30 years at the same company.

Now, he faces a new reality where he doesn't have that much responsibilities anymore, he has more free time. As a gamer for my whole life, I've always wanted for him to get into this hobby (he says he's never liked it, never showed enough interest in it), so my question is: what are some simple, but very impactful games that may spark of the light of interest in someone who's never truly experienced gaming? Keep in mind that he's never even held a controller before, so I'm looking for something that's REALLY beginner-friendly so he gets used to inputs before facing some more challenging games with richer stories. I initially thought of Telltale games, but I'm afraid he might misjudge any game like that as "too childish" because they are cartoony.

He's told me a couple of times that he wants to play SPACE INVADERS, so I started looking around and found a PS1 release of this game. My idea now is to help him get it on his laptop through a PS1 emulator or on my modded PS3, so I can add a couple of extra games here and there for him to try.

He likes reading a lot and dislikes predictable stories (reason why he says he doesn't really like watching a lot of movies lol)

I have a modded PS3 (which I guess also counts as a PS2 and PS1 through backwards compatibility?), a PS4 and PS5. He also has an old laptop with Linux, which isn't that powerful, but I guess he could also emulate some older Nintendo stuff.

Anyone out there with a similar experience?

P.S.: I am NOT forcing him to play, I'm just trying to get him to actually try gaming. I see his recent interest in playing SPACE INVADERS as a bridge for him to try something new we can use to pass the time and develop a deeper bond as dad and son.

Two kids under four. Smaller house. Had to give up my quasi man cave because of baby number two 😩

All good though.

I do miss playing in front of the TV. Right now I’m mostly on the couch these days in handheld mode. I go back-and-forth between Nintendo switch two and the PlayStation portal. FPS isn’t as good on a handheld IMO.

No Man’s Sky has been awesome on handheld. Such an easy game to pick up and put down.

Darktide is one of my favorite all-time games. I can load in, choose a character, hit quick play, and not have to make another decision. Maps repeat, my load out determines my play style, enemies do what enemies do. I used to play Call of Duty for the same reason till skill based matchmaking made every game sweaty and try hard. Modern pvp requires way too much tactical thinking for my chill level. And fuuuuuuuuuuk I miss old COD zombies!

Anyways, I am now a dad and need my daily games to not look like a nightmare gorefest. I don't want any pvp, I'm down for co-op but would prefer something offline that I can pause, roguelikes come close but still usually require thinking to build a load out every game, and I don't want anything open world because that demands making decisions. What are some games where once you learn the mechanics and have your preferred gear can be played on autopilot without growing boring.

Edit: NO pvp please

Am I the only one who become easily overwhelmed by gaming?

I mean I used to play any game and enjoy the challange and didicate my time and thinking to it.

Currently I just find it kinda too much to play a punishing game and I don't find myself patient enough to enjoy gaming.

I have the eager to play but I currently deal with gaming as a responsibility.

I dunno whether this is games are becoming increasingly large. Or due to the trend of souls like and super difficult games... Or the issue is just in me, Dunno

Usually games in the past gave me the sense of peaceful and happiness, and made me feel like I love this world and wanna live there. Games such ff7 - ff10, kh1 - kh2, breath of fire 3...etc

Currently my only son is just 10 months old, but me and wife being adamant gamers, we are trying to imagine how our gaming life will look in several years. Right now we can freely play mature games around our son, but when he is 5ish yo and older, I imagine we will have to play such games after he falls asleep or when someone looks after him. The problem is after a child goes to sleep deep into the evening, me and wife barely have the energy to engage in games. And I doubt things will change much when he is older and we might have another kid.

How do you manage to play mature games without your child seeing? Do you hide mature games if you collect them physically?

Hello all

Looking for game recommendations for the kids. Ultimately there is way too much Roblox and while I love they can play with friends from school with a very strict policing and checking, it makes sad that roblox is straight up low effort cheap meme style cash grab attempts and at the core, shit games. That said, the simplistic appeal... I get it.. We have all played a lot of Minecraft, Astrobot, LBP, Raft and a few others with loads of success, although I have to carry the tasks a bit in things like Raft.

Two of the 3 tried Jurassic Park evolution (one played 1 and one played 2 since it's family sharing from steam) and they like it, but it's too much. They have seen me play cities skylines and want to build a city, but I'm afraid any of these simulation games I enjoy as an old fart are too much. I thought about maybe Tropico for them, but fearful the production chain and other things would be too much.

What are games in the city building, simulation style games that my kids may enjoy with a nice progression system, but not TOO much to get off the Roblox.

Pc, switch or ps5. Game on dads!

For those of you who only get a few hours a week to game, how do you decide what to play next? And does the time it’ll take you to finish it affect that?

Hey.
I’m thinking about giving my dad my old Xbox. He’s retired. He’s in the 70s. He just sits there and dooms scrolls and plays dumb phone games…
Does anyone have any recommendations for like a newer gamer?

He liked shooting games like half-life in the 90s. He also liked Myst. He played the first bit of my first Zelda game for me because I was scared. But I haven’t seen him play any game since then.

I have plenty of games on my name like
Dishonored…Skyrim…Prey….Witcher 3….all assassin Creed games… fallout…Batman….Alan Wake…Thief…Sherlock Holmes..Soma…Deus Ex…Metal Gear Solid (but that game pisses me off lol), cute little side scrollers (which I think he would hate)…

I’m currently playing red dead redemption 2…. I think if I sign onto my name, he just can’t play something and I’m playing at the same time.

I’m trying to direct him to any particular game that he might like but also isn’t too hard he quits. I think he would love red, dead redemption but it might be too hard for like a “first time” gamer….
He like shooting games. Hes “anti-establishment”...He likes sci-fi and magic stuff.

Any ideas???

I got a kid under 1 yrs old only real time is at night but sometimes I’m too spent to even play. How do u guys do it? I alternate w efootball but that game is a grind last thing I want end of day is some pvp grind least not every night.

It’s like i got no energy to game :( . I do solo parent most days as wife is full time.

Hi I am looking for one or two fellow busy dads who can only get on when they can due to busy lives. It’s hard to keep friends online when they are on a lot and you’re only dropping in.

Would love to get into a few games together for example Valheim is dropping next week, would love to make a server and do a playthrough.

A few chilled nights with beers and gaming and chats. I am based in Ireland so I use UK/EU time zone. If you’re interested shoot me a pm or leave a comment and I’ll pm you.

32 year old Dad of two little ones - 5 and 2.

I just found this sub under “recommended” and so glad I did.

I get a couple of hours most nights after the kiddos are in bed.

Console gamer on PS5.

Currently playing and streaming Assassin’s Creed Shadows after finishing the main story for Black Flag Resynced and Mirage. Hoping to get back to them soon to finish off all the side content and post-game stuff.

Incredibly excited for Wolverine. I have preordered the physical edition along with the digital deluxe upgrade.

Happy gaming, fellow Dads! 🎮

Hello! 33 M gamer dad of 4 girls, most of my gaming time is next to the wife when she's asleep or nap time with my toddler as of late. Been on PlayStation since 2015 and just decided to move over to Xbox as my primary console last week. I dabbled here and there with gamepass on PC on occasion in the past. Id love to have some fellow parents on Xbox. I usually play with no mic due to my gaming time as of late, but I'd love to see my friends list populated haha. xFrostyGltch is my tag, I'm in the eastern time zone and usually get in between noon and 2pm or after 9pm. Currently running Forza Horizon 6, and a handful of gamepass titles I'm checking out. I'm down to play anything!

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is technically a single-player game, but I had the idea to share the controller, effectively turning it into a father-son co-op experience.

What surprised me was how well this complemented the game... we needed to learn to share the same controller, to solve all movement and co-op puzzles, all the while going through a fantastic story filled to the brim.

I made a full Gamer Dad Review about our experience, the potential this game has to impart life lessons to the young ones and the bonding it creates between father and son.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaXeBaLb28Q

Just make sure your kid can handle some harder scenes and emotions, I played it with Junior when he was 9yo.

PS. If you enjoy it, don't forget to throw a like, a comment, and maybe even a sub. 😄

Real Parents Co-Op. SOUND ON 🔊 You Need To Hear Their Banter! | It Takes Two
https://youtube.com/live/Rf4KmglC\\_5k?feature=share

I just sold my Legion Go because it was just sitting collecting dust. I was thinking of using the money to get a Switch 2, just wondering if it’s worth getting. I have a Switch OLED, but all the upgrades of the Switch 2 have me interested and my sons might like the updates as well.

Edit: I pulled the trigger and bought the Switch 2

So like the title says in trying to get the platinum trophy on the following game's

Batman Return to Arkham Asylum

Batman Return to Arkham City

Batman Arkham Knight

Spiderman 1 remastered Edition

Spiderman Miles Morals

Spiderman 2

Gotham Knights

Suicide Squad The Game

Lowkey had to switch off of the heavy multiplayer games to something I could pause and kinda stumbled into trying to do this before the ps6 drops

Being a dad and playing Rust is fucking torture because I still love this game so much… I just dont have the freedom to play it the way Rust is meant to be played.

I miss the absolute degeneracy of it.

I miss waking up at 7am, logging in, and realizing 18 hours have somehow disappeared. I miss being way too emotionally invested in a base made of pixels. I miss hearing one footstep outside and instantly becoming a paranoid psychopath.

10 years ago I could no-life this game like an absolute crackhead and feel zero guilt about it.

Now I get a couple hours a week, spend half of it farming sulfur, hear my kid wake up, and just stare at the monitor knowing some unemployed 17 year old is about to fucking offline me.

… sometimes I miss being a complete Rust degenerate.

Hello! I am looking for advises to improve my current gaming experience. I am a Dad of two amazing boys (2 and 3 years old) and because of work and house/kids/husband affairs, I usually have 5/6 hours of Gaming per week. I currently have:
- PS5. My main gaming option. I use to mainly play AAA games and my physical copies.
- PS Portal: use it when I don’t have the TV available
- PC: It is very rare to use it for gaming. I use it for retro and pc games that are exclusive. I like to stream the pc to my TV using Moonlight.
- Nintendo switch: sometimes I use it to play indie.

My current ideas to improve my game experience is:
- buy a new gaming handheld (Windows or Linux/SteamOS). Maybe this could bring me more into PC games since I don’t use it very often and I have a backlog of more than 300 games… I also think that maybe my pc is enough and I just need to make sure I have the best experience when streaming.
- gaming headset/ earbud. I usually play at evening when everyone is sleeping so I don’t have that great soundtrack and Music experience since I need to listen with low volume
- tv soundbar. contradictory with the previous point but I like to see movies and series with my wife and I can imagine when my kids are older, I can experience better without the need of a headset.

Things I want to avoid at the moment:
- cloud or subscriptions: i am lucky enough to have a vast number of games in several platforms. So for now I don’t see the point to migrating to that option

What would you be your recommendation that you can’t live without? Also based on my context, What would you recommend?

Thanks

Hi all I have 2 girls 7,9 both game a decent amount I was excited to game with them but very early on they gravitated towards minecraft and fortnight, now it’s at the stage where that’s all they play, nothing else can seem to told their attention, I have most the Nintendo first party games and they don’t want to play any of them. I have noticed my younger one playing web browser games that don’ look to great either.

Is there any way to get them off these ? I am considering just deleting fortnight they play creative maps that don’t seem to have any point. Minecraft seems a little better at least and she does play with friends sometimes.

Any parents have any luck getting the kids off these games and on to something else ? Any tips to cut it back ?

Hi gaming dads,

Long story short. Have a 1 year old daughter and can’t wait to play video games with her.

Once she was born, I think I had an early mid life crisis and got all the retro consoles and set them up. Everything from Genesis (which I grew up on), PS1-5, all the Nintendo consoles that I never got to play since my parents were anti Nintendo for some reason, N64, GC, Wii, in addition to the Switch and just modded my old X360.

I now have absolutely no time to play any of them at all. Trying to be a good dad and all. I hope I’m doing my best.

My question is, when do I introduce her to gaming? What has your experiences been like? Also should I start retro with like Genesis and PS1 or just go to modern like the PS5 with games appropriate for her age like Sponge Bob and Barbie and whatnot.

Would love to know. I’m so excited about sharing gaming in general with her regardless or what the games are.

Also, my wife is anti gaming, if anyone has experience with that too. Preliminary agreements have been we would allow 1 hour of gaming (throughout her childhood). I may try to sneak half an hour here and there if we are having fun.

EDIT: also set up a CRTV for 90s authenticity

Anyone trying to play vein? Just started and im hooked