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I have a friend whose video game experience is mostly limited to pretty casual games. She is also into pop culture and wondered about playing Witcher 3 after watching the TV series, but I am worried that it could be a bit overwhelming for someone who does not have much expereince with RPG elements or even video game combat really. However, I am struggling to think of an RPG on PC that might be more of a gentle introduction to the genre. Any suggestions?

Honestly the biggest thing is if you've got an interest in the game. If she's into Witcher the TV series then the game alone might well be enough and Witcher 3 sets the scene well with pretty slick and standard gameplay.

Yes it might be a challenge, but any RPG game for a newbie will have new challenges and things to learn.


Many of us got into turn based RPG games like Baldur's Gate or Divinity Original Sin - and you can argue that turn based can give you more thinking time; but it comes with its own challenges and tricks.

Plus in the end its not Witcher.





Honestly loads of people pick up games like The Witcher 3 as their first game and they get into them fine on their own

I didn’t get into Witcher 3 (despite completing the first two games) but it seemed pretty accessible to me. Then again I’ve been playing CRPGs for a while. Remember that it’s possible to have different difficulty settings. There’s even a casual / story mode setting if I remember correctly.

Other than that Dragon Age Inquisition springs to mind, on Easy mode. Getting into the setting might be the tricky part here though.

Hogwarts Legacy has just come out. Does she like Harry Potter? I have no idea how that game plays though.

DA:I has the disadvantage of being long and tediously empty. (The story is about 6-8 hours. The connecting fetch quests and mission table BS that allow you to see the next story segment are 5-8 times that, even if you just skip the zones that are completely empty and unrelated to anything going on).

Hogwarts is more a weird spectacle fighter built on Shadows of Mordor than an RPG.


Skyrim is more exploration and pretty RPG lite, but its a much more accessible introduction than the Witcher's wonky controls and... set in stone protagonist.

Skyrim or Fable would be my choices, both nice straightforward RPGs.

Yeah, Skyrim might be a decent pick. I loved Baldur's Gate but I think it will be pretty outdated now, plus the 2nd edition D&D system has lots of nonsensical quirks. She hates JK Rowling so I don't think the Hogwarts game is an option

Thanks for the suggestions!

It really depends though - Skyrim I'd argue has one of the weakest story engagement systems coupled to a generally fun and entertaining world exploring system. Esp if you're very new to RPG games.

A more open world exploring game that I think does this a lot better would be something like Horizon Zero Dawn

On the other hand Witcher 3 I'd argue has one of the best story telling setups in an RPG that I've seen for a long time.

Witcher 3 should be ok. It has dexterity based combat, skills are mostly contextual but at the same time it's RPG part is perfectly done - dialogue, meaningful choices, relationships. Gameplay should be intuitive enough with no real stat crunching or skill types overload.

Skyrim and the rest of the TES series are honestly awful for a completely fresh gamer unless at the lowest difficulty level and then the disconnect between the open world and main questline gets progressively worse from Morrowind to Oblivion to Skyrim.
I think the Bethesda Fallout Games would be less offensive in that regard and they are typically more simplistic at lower difficulty levels, but they are still unfocused.

Witcher 3, imo, is a terrible choice because even though I've beaten "hard games" (Elden Ring, Nioh 2, Sekiro), the mobs in Witcher 3 are still absolute damage sponges for the first 20-40 hours, which is awful for a casual gamer.

I would recommend the following:
Kotor1 or Kotor2, I think both games are finishable in under 30 hours, cheap, and story focused
Jade Empire
Mass Effect 1/2 (You can arguably skip ME1, but skipping straight to ME3 is unwise)
Outer Worlds (It's fairly short and easy at the lowest difficulty setting)

Witcher 3 is alright if you turn the difficulty down. No shame in doing so; its definitely not what makes the game special.

For something a bit different, how about Persona 5 Royal? If she has any inclinations towards anime or Japanese culture, it might be a possibility. I'm not into anime, but when Persona 4 Golden released for PC, I gave it a try and it became one of my favorite games of all time. P5R is more modern and accessible than P4G.

Witcher 3 gets VERY easy VERY quickly. The DLCs were actually a nice surprise, having enemies at least a tiny bit challenging on the highest difficulty.

Mass Effect is another great idea, so good it was mentioned. Although the first one feels quite dated now (gameplay-wise), even in legendary edition :(

Chained Echoes is a RPG that is a love letter to 16 bit titles such as FFVI and Chrono Trigger. I believe it is on mo0st systems and is on Xbox Game Pass if you have that.

Elder Scrolls Oblivion might be a good choice too. Good introduction to the setting and it isn't as janky and old school like the earlier Elder Scrolls games. It then leads nicely into Skyrim afterwards.

Alternately, if they like post-appocalyptic then the Fallout games would be good. Either Fallout 3 or 4 are decent introductions.

trexmeyer wrote:

Jade Empire

Oh wow you just took me back with that.