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House flipper, The Sims, Planet Zoo/Planet coaster, Two Point Hospital/Campus, or anything in the creative management genre. Stardew Valley is good, and in the same vein, Graveyard Keeper.
If you have a Switch, Animal Crossing
If she likes Factorio, try Terra Nil maybe?
Also, there's always minecraft in peaceful mode?
Unpacking
I haven't tried it yet, but A Little to the Left looks like a fun organizing game. It was just added to Game Pass if you have that. I also see my daughter playing Power Washer Simulator sometimes, which I haven't tried, but it looks like it could be satisfying to play.
I'm a big fan of Don't Nod games (Life is Strange, Tell Me Why) for atmospheric storytelling. Life is Strange: True Colors is from Deck Nine games, but falls in the same category. Detroit: Become Human is also kind of similar, but it occasionally throws in sections where you have to quickly react with button pushing that I don't enjoy. One thing I find interesting about all of these is that you can play them more than once with different choices to get different paths, but so far I haven't replayed any of them because I felt like the path I took was meaningful and I don't want to change my story yet.
An MMO could be a good way to go. My wife isn't really into gaming, but we played WoW together on and off for years. I haven't played them much, but if I were to recommend one to start with now I'd probably check out Final Fantasy 14 or Elder Scrolls Online.
A Hat in Time is a somewhat easy platformer IMO. It’s super cute and a low-stress game.
If the only reason that you’re avoiding action games is that she may not be good at the controls, you can consider action games that have good low difficulty modes. Deep Rock Galactic has good lower difficulty modes in my opinion, and it is fun to play with others.
IIRC Dusk has a really slow paced low difficulty mode as well. Projectile based attacks move super slow. I’m not sure what she’ll be into as far as genre goes, but action games may be approachable if you pick the right ones.
When first starting out, I think relaxed games that help a player get used to left and right directions (side-scrolling or platform) and timing on the controls is a good start. Then evolve into camera and movement based controls.
My suggestions are starting with these:
My Brother Rabbit
The Between Gardens
Dawn (may have some camera control, but this is the most relaxing game I've played for that)
Then move on to these:
La Rana
The Room Series
Aim Labs or any shooting game that has tutorials/ practice mode (for FPS practice)
These games are found on steam. Note, most of these are casual/puzzle based.
I don't have much experience with co-op, so can't help you there. But I do like the suggestions so far based on reviews.
For puzzles, absolutely unpacking, also have seen similar friends put time into that remodel game that escapes me right now. House Fixer maybe?
It is more action, but I have had success during covid with family who was trapped at home by introducing them to Mass Effect (on story mode, the easiest setting). The story is so engrossing through the three games that they overlooked the action. If she likes big stories, I would suggest that. On keyboard and mouse it's not the most confusing game either, pretty simple.
If you were thinking Factorio but want to do it together, check out Satisfactory. It's a 1st person version of it that supports multiplayer, and you could set up a dedicated server. (I'm biased though, I have over 2000 hours in it and I am a mod of !satisfactory@lemmy.world). Satisfactory is definitely less intimidating than factorio for newbies to the factory building environment, and there's a creative factor in there too.
I've also had luck with people giving them portal. Portal is a great game to introduce them to not anction gameplay but helps them learn movement controls. Honestly out of the three I suggested maybe portal first and go from there. Would introduce movement, a weapon, and the second has a pretty strong story.
For anything else, what are her interests, what does she do for a living? Maybe we can put forward some more.
sorry i don't know enough about multiplayer or local multiplayer games although if you're looking for a Co-op game i would recommend It Takes Two. it's simple but has its own charm. beware it's a third person game and has some shooting sections in it but it's beginner friendly enough.
i think city builders and management/tycoon games would be great for these situations cause if you like them there's no upper limit on playtime. cities skyline and RollerCoaster Tycoon are both great. if you're looking for something like factorio satisfactory could also work.
of course adventure games or puzzle games are also a great fit since most of them tend to have simple controls but great story and humor and hard puzzles that can keep you busy while solving them is satisfying. i've made a post recently on this community asking for people's recommendations so definitely check that out.
there's also this lovely little game called Townscaper. it's really simple you just add or remove blocks on a non-rectangular grid on a sea and the game tries to generate a pleasant looking town. it might sound lackluster on paper but it's fun and you can get some hours out of it developing your town and discovering the town style rules (there is also some hidden structures that can pop up discovering those is also fun).
I was going to suggest Adventure games too. Games like the Broken Series series, Sam and Max games, Sherlock Holmes and a large variety of puzzle games like Machinarium. There is a huge selection to choose from. A lot of them tell stories, are humorous and engaging
If you're a fan of 80s-90s action movies check out "broforce". There are some multiplayer "single stick shooters"out there that are quite fun, vampire survivors comes to mind. Don't starve together is a great multiplayer experience. Others have said stardew valley, and I agree with them, if single player is desired check out animal crossing. Satisfactory is the 3-D version of factorio, with fewer resources constraints and less enemy aggression, Dyson sphere program is factorio tuned the opposite way. Rimworld and dwarf fortress are both highly recommended "run your own city, but in a passive manner"games
Satisfactory. Lots to organize and build. A bit of a learning curve if you want to get complex, but if you want to keep things simple it's really doable.
No Man's Sky. Space exploration, building, and all round reason to goof about for hours. (Free to play this weekend on all platforms.)
Both games have a great community.
Phogs is a game where you a control a dog-dog (Remember Cat-Dog from Nickelodeon? That, but double dog) through a series of themed worlds solving puzzles. The themes are things puppies are interested in (eating, sleeping, and playing). The game is meant to be played co-op, but I believe it can be played alone.
Half the heavy hitters in Elder Scrolls Online are house wives because it’s a game where you get more power just for putting time into it. Also the collecting of pretty outfits.
My SO doesn't like gaming as well, but we play Bejuweled 3 together. It is not multiplayer but we take turns everytime it's game over. It's very relaxing and addictive and kills time pretty quick.
The Bloons tower defense games are pretty fun and have co-op, you can take it slow and the upgrade system has a lot of fun little upgrades to manage.
I'm really surprised I haven't seen them mentioned here (and apologies if someone did suggest it and I missed it!).
The Monkey Island games. Super simple controls, as most of it is point and click. Not expensive to get into, so no big loss if it ends up not being her thing. They are silly and clever, and reward the player for being silly and clever. They are puzzle games that require some attention to detail and curiosity to solve, but there isn't any "fail" condition. You just don't progress if you can't solve the puzzle. It doesn't assume any prior game knowledge or habits; a lot of games will expect the player to be familiar with certain controls or tropes commonly used in games, but Monkey Island is more similar to a "choose your own adventure" style story.
No experience with games? Has she watched you play games, did she have favourites from those? Are there certain IPs she likes that would help?
My sister is now a casual gamer. The games that got her into it are Kingdom Hearts just via Disney branding and Uncharted (which she liked watching people play due to the Nathan Drake) which slid her to her favourite series Tomb Raider.
I recommend going that route instead of trying to find some weird fit since if she likes Harry Potter for example one of the best solutions regardless of the time you put in will be Hogwarts Legacy.
Overcooked could be fun and easy to get into.
That shit is STRESSFUL
They're gonna break up if they play overcooked xD
A short hike. It's like a super short cosy version of breath of the world's platforming/exploration
Seconded. Nice and chill, with just a touch of coming-of-age parents-aren't-invincible melancholy.
Using A Short Hike as a jumping off point and following the growing-pains and melancholy threads while maintaining the explore-and-talk aspects, I'd like to recommend Night in the Woods.
Baldur's Gate 3.
My wife wanted to check out gaming and tried many of the games mentioned here. Only two landed in any real way. Unpacking and animal crossing. Neither need you to really understand how to game very much. Unpacking especially. If you know how to move elements on a desktop, you can fully play unpacking. She filled each save file on it and adores it.
Dark Picture games with it being coop and story driven so easier for new comers to get into with less reflexes being involved.
Factorio works, but it would probably help to give a guided to tour the store and genres, to figure out what she would like.
If she has really no exposure at all, playing just factorio is limiting yourself to eating one flavor of ice cream.
Here are a few I didn't see already. I've played these all on switch.
Untitled Goose Game - casual and goofy 1/2 player puzzle game
Far Lone Sails - casual 1 player puzzle adventure game
Figment - light action adventure platformer one player game
If she would like to get in to more action games, one with a strong story, like the last of us could be a pathway, played on easy/story mode.
Id also second casual games as a pathway to more involved games. Overcooked is white hectic and introduced a few gaming mechanics from others. It's essentially crafting against a timer. To progress, she'll need to get better at controls, but the learning curve is gradual enough that she'll.have fun.
Rayman (legends?), I play coop with my kid. He dies often ,but it's not an issue as you only lose progress when you both die.
Play some old classics like Mario, they are a lot fo fun to play together! I'd say she'd be better off with a controller, K+M is tricky to get used to when you have never used it to game before.
My girlfriend likes jrpg games.. I think you could try thoses... There are plenty. Final fantasy etc. Can play with an emulator.
Otherwise she loves Tetris! Playing against her is a ton of fun.
Doki Doki litterature club (visual novels that is kind of funny, I played it with my girlfriend)
Spyro the Dragon (my sister just play this and the Sims lol)
My wife loves House Flipper. It's very much about organising, it sounds like it would fit well for her.