Super easy 3D games for an autistic kid?

June 10, 2022 1:37 PM

What are some fun games that are Super Easy and Very Forgiving but still play like a big console game?

I'm trying to get my 18-year-old autistic daughter into video games. I think it will help her coordination and problem-solving, and also get her out of the swirl of unwanted thoughts that plague her. She has horrible problems focusing her thoughts, and games are made to draw focus.

But, she finds video games difficult. She can maneuver around a 3D landscape with a controller, but she's bad at coordination and timing. On the other hand games with no timing or conflict probably won't pull her in and engage her enough.

What might be good games for her?

posted by musofire to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

Maybe look up “walking simulators”? It was a derisive term at one point, but has also been kind of generally used for games where you’re just roaming around in a virtual environment, usually with some kind of arty theme.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:02 PM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

Maybe something like Minecraft, where you can decide whether or not to include monsters/danger, and there's a ton of cool stuff you can discover, collect, and build?

(Anecdata, but I'm autistic myself and really love games/environments where you get to wander around and collect things and then sort them out in my inventory, etc.)
posted by aecorwin at 2:14 PM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

Are these for a specific console?
posted by saladin at 2:50 PM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

The only console I have is a Nintendo Switch, so that's going to filter my results. Here are some ideas:

Pokemon games are 3d and walk around - there are battles, but they are all turn based. So you do not need coordination or timing, if you take 5 seconds or 5 minutes to choose your next action, the game is the same. And if you like sorting and collecting....

Here are a few of them:

Pokemon Sword or Shield (Sword and Shield are sold as two separate games, but it's the same game mechanic, just different levels/worlds)

Pokemon Legends Arceus is another 3d open world game, however you have to dodge attack so there is some timing that gets hard.

There are also many other Pokemon games that I don't have direct experience with. I would avoid Pokemon Snap - it's very limiting, has tricky timing, and I could never figure out what made a good photo and what made a bad one, so endless repetition

Yonder the cloud catcher chronicles is the ideal gentle 3d game - however my kids did not really get into it. It has a lot of repetitive farming and collecting.

I'd also just make a general recommendation for the Switch as an outstanding piece of gear - and the built in app to switch between games is clean, minimalist, and easy to use. With a Pro Controller and hooked up to the main TV gaming is less of an alone in your head event, but if other family members get sick of hearing the same game music over and over again, it can be used portable with headphones.

Also there are a decent amount of games that offer Free Demos so you can try before shelling out $60.
posted by sol at 3:02 PM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Would she play hidden object games? Picking the items partially hidden by other stuff? Find all of them to continue the mystery? You can often find those pretty cheap, but generally they're for PC.
posted by kschang at 4:12 PM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Lego Worlds! Huge variety of landscapes to walk around in, fun things to stumble upon, no timing needed, and if she feels like it, she can build things, copy things, or just shoot random things into existence in the landscape.
posted by erst at 6:41 PM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

The past few Assassin's Creed games - starting with Origins I think - have Discovery Modes where the game bits are taken out and you get to wander and explore and learn. Origins is Egypt in the time of Cleopatra, Odyssey is Classic Greece, and I haven't played the newest one yet so I can't remember.

More and more in third-person over-the-camera adventure games - definitely Horizon: Forbidden West and God of War (2018) - have story modes where there is still combat and such but it is very much at a difficulty level targeting very new players.

The Forgotten City is a modern time loop game that is more about exploration and identifying patterns than controller skills but there is an aspect of time-sensitive running required and one quest that has some rather out-of-place action but isn't terribly difficult.

If 3d was brought up as an example and isn't a hard requirement, there are lots more options. Classic (either old or in that style) point-and-click adventure games that don't require high skills. Day of the Tentacle (old) and Broken Age (of that style) are both available on this generation of consoles. Machinarium is sweet.

The Civilization series (and many other 4x games) are deeply engaging games that can make entire weekends disappear. They can be heavily customized to increase accessibility and reduce difficulty. Puzzle games like The Witness or Myst focus on exploration and puzzle solving, though I think the former has some bits that require some manual dexterity.

Games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley are all about organization and collection. Idle games like Cookie Clicker or Adventure Capitalist can be popped into and progressed in very short bursts but also can steal hours if one lets them. There's several Sherlock games for consoles that are entertaining, and lots of other mystery games like . Dating sims are a rich vein of content. There's lots of very story driven experiences like Gone Home or Life is Strange, as well as the entire genre of visual novels, though those may lack the hook.

Xbox Game Pass, PS Now (which might be rolled into PS Plus now, I don't entirely understand the transition that is underway) and Apple Arcade are all subscription services with significant libraries, so if you have any of those platforms they might be a good way to just explore a lot of things. Itch.io is indie gaming central and has many free or very low cost things to explore, including many games made by autistic folk.
posted by cCranium at 6:47 PM on June 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

Townscaper is awesome. There’s no goal, timer, or points. Just build a cool town however you want. One of my favorite games when I don’t want to deal with all the “game” aspects of normal goal-based video games. It’s surprisingly deep in the way it generates different building types and features depending on how the blocks are placed in relationship to one another.
posted by Jawn at 11:19 PM on June 10, 2022

Stardew Valley and Katamari Damacy are two of my favorite games of all time. I cannot aim, shoot, or navigate first person games at all (I am also autistic, struggle with spatial stuff, like A LOT, and coordination, grip). For example I loved the Assassin's Creed games that I have played but was lost ALL THE TIME and certain missions were so confusing to me layout wise I would hand the controller to my wife to let her help me.

Also Stardew and Katamari are very fun low-conflict games, which is a great place to put your focus when you wanna get away from dark thoughts, but not boring at all, very engaging. If she tries Stardew, tell her there is no shame in using the Wiki and the community online around the game is very nice :)
posted by wellifyouinsist at 3:34 PM on June 11, 2022

Calico, available on PC, Xbox One, Mac, Switch

You do move in 3D, but the objective is to simply invite enough cats to the town's Cat Cafe, which you can also decorate. Really cute, has minigames, and can also do dress-up. No conflict.
posted by kschang at 4:49 PM on June 11, 2022

I'd personally give Portal and Portal 2 a try. There are a few puzzles that require more precise timing or inputs, but the game works up to them pretty slowly, and they're very well-written games. I wouldn't call them "easy" games, but most of the challenge is working out the solution, not in how well you execute the inputs.
posted by Aleyn at 3:44 PM on June 12, 2022

I'm really bad at video games! I do have a Switch, and I have been playing Breath of the Wild (Zelda) for the past year or so.I have made almost no progress with the main monsters...and that's fine! I don't even try. I like to do the side quests, gather mushrooms and bugs, and explore. I fight monsters sometimes, but only the easy ones. I can't stress enough that I'm bad - there's a very early situation where you have to do a slightly complicated maneuver (press two buttons and move at a specific time), and I haven't beaten it in the time I've been playing. It's still fun and engaging, though.

I also really like A Short Hike. There's no fighting conflict, but there's a story and you do want to hit goals and move around with some timing sensitivity.
posted by quadrilaterals at 6:56 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: FYI, she played STRAY and dug it. Got all the way through it.
posted by musofire at 2:32 PM on August 9, 2022 [2 favorites]