If you have someone in your life who has expressed an interest or curiosity in your video game playing, but they feel too intimidated to pick up a controller, you might want to take note of the current group of PS Plus titles. Several of the games included seem like perfect introductions for first time gamers, and they cover a mix of genres and gameplay types.

- Hohokum (PS4 | PS3 | PS Vita)

This is a 2D side-scroller that some of you might remember from this Conan O'Brien clip: https://youtu.be/HO5imsViKp0?t=1m38s

It's a relaxing experience focused on exploration that will allow players to get used to holding a controller in their hands, using the analog stick, and pressing and holding a few of the face buttons. There's no way to fail, and no time limit. Especially if they end up enjoying the whimsical setting, I can't think of a less stressful choice for someones first game.

- The Unfinished Swan (PS4 | PS3 | PS Vita)

First person adventure with light puzzle elements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qADXXnPy4hA

Another game will no fail states and no time limits, I can't think of too many better choices to learn how to operate first-person genre controls, which are probably one of the hardest aspects of gaming to learn later in life. If someone is having an especially hard time learning the controls, perhaps try inverting the camera from whatever you're used to. I've read that some people naturally gravitate to one camera type, and have a difficult time learning the other way, even if it's shown to them first.

Portal and The Stanley Parable would also be good first-person introductions, if you have them.

- Ether One (PS4)

A bit darker and more serious than the rest of this month's PS Plus games, Ether One is a first-person adventure and puzzle game, and seems like it would make a good follow up to The Unfinished Swan. The controls here are slightly more complex, and the game itself seems like it will take a bit more of an effort to complete.

- Race the Sun (PS4 | PS3 | PS Vita)

You're constantly propelled forward, and mostly just press left or right to dodge obstacles. This game definitely allows failure, but gradual improvement is constantly rewarded with new abilities and unlocks. You can also restart almost instantly. This could be a nice introduction to simple "twitch-based" gameplay, but you might be able to think of something even better if you try.

So then, do you agree that some of these would be good games to introduce people to video games, or can you think of some even better choices? What games have you recommended to new players, and how did it go? Any interesting stories to tell?

Am I the only one who really, really liked Hohokum?

Depends on who you're introducing to these games.

If someone used to be a gamer in the past, gave it up for a long while and wants to get back in then those games would be reaaaal bummers. Like my brother stopped playing games around the PS1 era and sometimes has shown interest in playing something new. Race the Sun or the Unfinished Swan are not things that would really encourage him to come back.

If you want like, your mom or your uncle that doesn't really play games to pick up a controller and not feel absolutely lost then yah sure, Hohokum sounds like a perfect not-really-anything to get comfortable with the pad and feel like you're achieving something without the harsh feeling of failure when you don't.

As someone who just resubscribed to PS+ last month, I was actually rather underwhelmed by this month's offering. Perhaps they might fit the criteria you mentioned, but definitely not what I am looking for.

"More stupid indy crap." - 90% of the PS4 owners I know

I don't mind these titles, but they really need to throw the AAA only crowd a bone and start giving away some launch titles or something. I'm shocked we've gone this long without Knack or Killzone popping up.

Strange. I have Killzone... I am almost certain I didn't buy it? Or was there some amazing sale I forgot about?

Maybe so, but it's not offering anything I'm looking for. It hasn't been great for the last couple of months. At this point I feel I'm getting more out of the discounts than anything else.

@anund: Was it a PS+ release? I bought it at launch so I guess I never noticed.

@anund: Killzone might've gone on sale or maybe you won a copy, but it was never on PS+. The PS Vita Killzone game was on it last month, but not the PS4 game.

@alkusanagi: Once Knack is announced people will play it for a few minutes, hate it and start saying "This isn't even a proper AAA title!"

You didn't mention it in your original post, but I'm happy to see Murasaki Baby (for PSVita) appear on PS+. That's a neat little game that didn't get a lot of attention. It's also got a pretty low barrier to entry, and worth a shot even if just to see the Tim Burton-esque art style on display.

You're right, I think... thinking back, I think I bought it on sale for €5 or something like that.

No, I really enjoyed it too. The game is much more enjoyable when organically exploring the different worlds. But once I saw the majority of the game, I fell into old tendencies trying to find all the worlds and collect everything in all the levels. Once I did that, it became very frustrating because of the ambiguous way the levels connect with each other.

I'm really excited to try these games out. I have some, but not all.

What I love about PS+ is that it gets to me try games I probably wouldn't at first glance.

I think Aaru's Awakening is pretty amazing actually, and people are shitting on the game without even giving it a shot. Same thing happened to Never Alone. I get that people see value in "AAA" games on PS+, but I tend to know what I want from that crowd, so these last two months have been awesome for me.

Just to provide an alternative anecdote: I don't know *that* many PS4 owners to be fair - 5 total - and none of them are as "into games" as I am (meaning forums and reading every day) and literally 0 of them have ever complained about PS+ releases. In fact, I don't think that any of them think of games as "Indie". I'm the only one I can think of who would describe a game like that. The general public just looks at them as games - Hell-divers and Binding of Isaac were huge with my friends, for example, and Valiant Hearts too.

Now *all of that said* - I too thought and hoped I'd have my hands on Knack by now. Still, I do prefer PS+ as a way to educate myself with games I'd never buy versus a way to get games I 100% know I like/dislike.

@geraltitude: That's mostly what I use the service for too. I would've never tried Virtues Last Reward had it not been a PS+ game because I've never looked at that genre before, it doesn't grab my attention and the art isn't something I like. But it was actually a good game. Now if they ever get to making that 3rd one or I ever buy a 3DS I'll actually go buy the other games.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

I mean, throw me something better than this. I've been on PS+ since launch. You can't spare me a license of one of the 9,000 HD remakes that seem to be out for these consoles?

@geraltitude: You don't need anecdotes to see a trend. Look at the YouTube video announcing this months PS+ titles, or the PlayStation Blog post, etc. A significant number of users (probably the majority of people not on gaming forums) have no interest in indie titles. It's sad but the general reactions have been consistent for a while.

And for everyone else we're just left not impressed (and it has nothing to do with them being indie games, they're just uninteresting to me indie games). At least last months offerings were more interesting I guess.

It's fine though. I have a ton of games to play right now anyway, and I haven't even booted up last months games.

I would consider myself a core gamer that gets a lot of games on release day and plays a variety of different genres and I've been consistently disappointed by the PS+ games on offer for PS4 since December when I purchased the system. I just don't really care for indie games that much. I liked Gunpoint and I liked Hotline Miami a lot, but I couldn't care less about Shovel Knight, Gone Home or Hohokum. Not to say they are bad games, although I have my own issues with them, but it's just not something I'm drawn to. I mean I don't care about Killzone at all but I would still be a lot more compelled to fire it up and try it than Unfinished Swan or Tower of Guns.

Guacamelee is an awesome, awesome game. The rest seem a little artsy fartsy on the outset. I'm definitely going to try some of em, since they look interesting.

But this month won't be the one for all the people complaining about too many indies on there.

Oh and on topic: I think some of those games might be a little too high concept to introduce people to anything other than drugs!

I was pretty impressed this month stupid Indy crap is some of my favorite stuff

I dunno if you understood what I said, or I stated it poorly.

Anyone posting on any online blog/forum/youtube are *not* the people I was talking about. They post 0 comments anywhere, and do not watch Let's Plays or any YT videos; they find out what is on PS+ *only* by actually logging in to the store or asking me in person when we hang out. The 5 people I mentioned are the real mainstream. If you don't have friends like that, you don't know what I'm talking about. But either way we are not the real mainstream, those people are. We're the fabled "core" market. Yay for us! :D

Is there a trend in the core market? Yeah, absolutely. Look at this thread, look at youtube videos, etc. Myself and @humanity, for example, may be in the minority. All that said we have to keep in mind that complainers are always many, many, many times louder than those who are happy.

I'm starting the Order 1886 watch. In all seriousness though, this is quite the offering of games. Not much there that interests me, but hey it's better than what Microsoft has been giving out recently on the Xbox One (not that they're bad games, just not that interesting).

I'm just here to sing the praises of The Unfinished Swan.