Absolutely. Shameless self-plug to my list of games for "non-gamers" that I find enjoyable with a friend or significant other: https://ronan.jouchet.fr/games?list=nongamer . The first of the list is ...... Return of the Obra Dinn ^^.
Sennaar didn't gel with me, because language-based deduction imply an "arbitrariness" ("wobbliness"?) and mis-interpretations. To me, this felt frustrating compared to the sharpness of an Obra Dinn deduction. But for others it might be part of the appeal, and at any rate it's undeniably a polished game, so I understand that a lot people enjoy it :)
Regarding other similar recommendations I see in-thread and that are not already in the list:
- The Outer Wilds: one of my fav games ever (it's at the top of my "absolute best" list), but too 3d-mechanically-demanding for a very-non-gamer.
- The Witness: same, thus for this "non-gamers" list I preferred recommending its excellent 2D little-brother, Taiji :)
- Case of the Golden Idol: yeah it's a clear "play that too if you liked Obra Dinn", added as Obra Dinn addendum
- Lorelei and the Laser eyes: haven't played it yet, will soon!
I definitely found the misinterpretations entertaining. It seems like they went to some amount of effort to anticipate potential misinterpretations, such that discovering those misinterpretations later would lead to amusement.
For The Witness, I would recommend tagging it as appropriately not accessible. There is a section that can't be completed at all without hearing, and large chunks of the game that I can't imagine are possible with color blindness. I don't have either of these issues, but running into those things really rubbed me the wrong way. It is a game that seems to value the creators vision above all else and isn't willing to make any sacrifices for the audience.
Edit: I realize I misread and thought you were saying you were going to add The Witness to the non-gamer list, which was why I was saying that a disclaimer would be extra useful. Left it anyway.
For sure, "uncompromising" or "design-opinionated" are adjectives that fit Jonathan Blow (lead designer & programmer of The Witness) and I doubt he'd object :D.
He was asked about these inaccessible puzzles, and from what I remember, his answer was pretty much what you intuited: that he was aware, but unwilling to compromise, in a "not every art if for everyone and that's fine" kind of way. And announcing them or having { I am color-blind, I am deaf } accessibility options to adapt could/would have spoiled the surprise, so he went ahead with them.
Is it too insensitive / dickish? Maybe, I wouldn't know as I know little of how a vision or hearing-impaired person would feel in front of that. Hey, I'm going to ask a blind friend how he perceives such an attitude: is it "Yeah it sucks", or is it "Whatever, the game isn't actively making fun of disabled people, there's just two sections needing access to certain senses where I'll ask for help, I'm used to it and that's okay"? Curious to see his take.
I still like The Witness for what it is. Maybe I will change my mind someday and will flag my recommendation with an inaccessibility warning, but for now it's in my "absolute best" sub-list without caveat.
> Lorelei and the Laser eyes was one of my favorite games that I played this past year. I think it might be good for a non-gamer, but they had better absolutely love puzzles.
Cool, will try it soon! It's already purchased, I'm just waiting for patches to ship (I'm a "patient gamer": I have my dose of coping with bugs from $JOB, so when it comes to games I choose to never play games day/week/month 1, to let them stabilize). If good, might add it to my "best puzzle games" sublist, https://ronan.jouchet.fr/games?list=puzzle
As someone who is colorblind, you are correct. Those puzzles are just about impossible for me.
After not too far in, you eventually start confirming the meanings of words. Eventually you confirm the meaning of every word of every language. So, while learning a language can be a challenge of interpretation, eventually you do get concrete meanings.
Edit: I'd also recommend The Sexy Brutale for your list, it's a time loop detective game.
> Outer Wilds is in my all time Top 3 games ever made
Hey, same, it's at spot #3 of my "absolute best" list, https://ronan.jouchet.fr/games#outerwilds . The list I was sharing my "for non-gamers" list, and I stand by the fact that Outer Wilds has non-negligible chances to be a bad experience for very-non-gamers. I know it because I've seen it:
1. The very-non-gamer has zero chance of being able to navigate a 3d space before many hours of manipulating a twin-stick gamepad or kb+mouse ...
2. ... And some of them even get nausea from the 6-axis degrees of freedom spacecraft navigation needed by games like Outer Wilds or Descent!
Happened with Slipways (4X, distilled), but also with Into The Breach (Turn-by-turn combat, distilled), Islanders (Civilization, distilled), or Thronefall (Real-Time Strategy, distilled).
According to Steam stats, it's been a huge success for them, which surprised me and has given me hope for the state of the gaming scene.
The two DLCs have been excellent. They're also working on a sequel set in the 1970s, The Rise of the Golden Idol, due for release in a few days [1].
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/2716400/The_Rise_of_the_G...
- Reventure (highly recommended) - Recursed (same) - Treasure Adventure Game, or its remake Treasure Adventure World - Loot Hound (so relaxing) - Wilmot's Warehouse (same) - Out of Space (the opposite of relaxing) - Q.U.B.E. - There Is No Game - An Untitled Story - Tools Up! - Viscera Cleanup Detail
And of course the well-known (as far as I can tell) Terraria, Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Undertale, Stanley Parable, Dicey Dungeons, Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, Firewatch, Transistor, Overcooked.
This post became longer than I expected.
Note that a few you recommended are already in the list or in other sub-lists, you might have missed them if you only reviewed the "for non-gamers" sub-list that I linked to. For the full smorgasbord, check out https://ronan.jouchet.fr/games?list=all
(With the usual qualifier: for me ! I don't doubt many puzzle freaks absolutely loved it and 100%ed it, but for me it was too much, too hard, too tedious).