What Are The Best Video Games For Casual Players

You don’t need 200 hours, lightning reflexes or a £500 graphics card to enjoy video games. Some of the best games ever made are designed for people who play in short bursts, want a good time without a learning cliff, and have actual lives. Here are the best video games for casual players — the ones you can pick up for 20 minutes and put down happy.

“Casual” isn’t an insult here — it’s a design philosophy. These games respect your time, explain themselves clearly, and are fun from the first five minutes. Whether you’re on a phone, a Switch, or a dusty old laptop, there’s something here for you.

The best video games for casual players

Cosy and relaxing

• Stardew Valley — Run a farm, befriend villagers, explore mines. Gentle, absorbing, endlessly charming. The game equivalent of a warm bath. Available on everything, often under £12.
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons — Build your island paradise at your own pace. No fail states, no pressure, just vibes. (Switch)
• Unpacking — Unpack boxes and arrange a life across decades. A puzzle game that’s really a quiet story about growing up. Beautiful and moving.
• A Short Hike — Climb a mountain, meet charming characters, about two hours long. The perfect palate cleanser.

Puzzle and thinking games

• Portal & Portal 2 — First-person puzzling with the funniest writing in games. Short, brilliant, and frequently under £5 in sales.
• The Witness — Line puzzles on a mysterious island that teach you their own language. Meditative and deeply satisfying.
• Tetris Effect — Tetris, but a transcendent audio-visual experience. The zone mode is pure flow state.
• Mini Motorways — Design road networks for growing cities. Deceptively simple, horribly addictive. Great on phone or Switch.

Fun with friends and family

• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — The ultimate casual multiplayer game. Anyone can play, everyone has fun, blue shells cause divorces. (Switch)
• Overcooked! 2 — Chaotic cooperative cooking. Tests friendships in the best way. Play with people you like arguing with.
• Jackbox Party Packs — Everyone plays on their phone, one copy needed. The modern party game essential — pairs perfectly with my adult party games for a full games night.
• It Takes Two — A co-op adventure designed for two players (one copy covers both). Winner of Game of the Year, and genuinely one of the most joyful co-op experiences ever made.

Mobile gems (free or cheap, no adverts hell)

• Monument Valley 1 & 2 — Impossible-geometry puzzles wrapped in stunning art. Short, perfect, cheap.
• Alto’s Odyssey — Snowboard (sandboard) endlessly through gorgeous landscapes. The most relaxing game on your phone.
• Stardew Valley (mobile) — Yes, again. The full game on your phone for £5. Absurd value.

For more mobile picks specifically, my best free mobile games with no adverts goes deeper.

Getting started without overspending

• Sales are everything. Never pay full price — Steam, Nintendo eShop and PlayStation Store run massive sales quarterly. Wishlist games and wait; 50–75% discounts are routine.
• Subscription services: Xbox Game Pass (£9.99/month) and PlayStation Plus Extra include hundreds of games — including several on this list. One month’s subscription for the price of half a game.
• Free starting points: Fall Guys, Rocket League and Fortnite are free and genuinely fun casually. Your phone already plays thousands of free games.
• Old hardware is fine. A secondhand Switch (£150–£180) or even your existing phone covers most of this list. You don’t need the latest console.

Games for total beginners (never played anything)

For the friend, partner or parent who says “I don’t play games,” these are the converters:

• Untitled Goose Game — You are a goose. You honk, you steal, you cause chaos in a village. The controls are two buttons. Everyone understands being a mischievous goose. The perfect first game.
• Journey — Walk through a desert toward a mountain. No dialogue, no fail state, about two hours. One of the most beautiful experiences in any medium.
• Wii Sports / Switch Sports — Bowling, tennis, golf with motion controls. Grandparents play this. It is the universal gateway.
• Among Us — Social deduction on your phone, free. “Who is the imposter?” Easy to learn, endlessly replayable with friends.
• Candy Crush Saga — Yes, really. Match-3 puzzling is the most-played game genre on earth for a reason. No shame in the gateway.

Gaming with kids (the parent’s guide)

• Age ratings matter: PEGI ratings (3, 7, 12, 16, 18) are on every box and digital store. They are genuinely useful — a PEGI 3 game is safe for little ones.
• Play together: co-op games (Overcooked, Mario Kart, It Takes Two) turn gaming into family time. You will understand what they are excited about, and they will love beating you.
• Time limits: most consoles have built-in parental timers. Set them once, avoid the daily negotiation.
• The creative ones: Minecraft (creative mode) and Roblox (with supervision) encourage building and imagination rather than just consuming. These are the games that teach skills.

Where casual gamers discuss games

You do not need to live on gaming forums, but friendly corners exist: the Cozy Gamers communities on Reddit and Discord for relaxed recommendations, Wholesome Games showcases on YouTube that curate gentle titles, and the BBC Technology gaming coverage for news without the noise.

The casual gamer’s mindset

Play what you enjoy, ignore the difficulty snobs, and never feel guilty about playing on easy mode — games are entertainment, not exams. The BBC Technology section covers gaming news if you want to stay current without drowning in it. The best video games for casual players share one quality: they make your free time better, not more stressful. Life’s too short for games that feel like work.

Great starter games by mood

For cosy evenings: Stardew Valley. You inherit a farm, grow parsnips, befriend villagers, and slowly realise it’s 1am. No fail state, no pressure, endlessly soothing. Available on everything including phones, usually under £12, and it’s the game most likely to convert a non-gamer.

For puzzle brains: Portal or The Witness. Portal is short (3–4 hours), funny, and teaches first-person controls gently — the perfect on-ramp. The Witness is deeper: a whole island of line puzzles that rewires how you see. Both respect your intelligence without demanding twitch reflexes.

For adventure cravings: Firewatch or What Remains of Edith Finch. These are “walking simulators” in the best sense — short, story-driven, gorgeous, completable in an evening or two. Think of them as interactive films where you control the pace. Ideal if you want the narrative satisfaction of a good series with a bit more involvement.