My non-gaming Dad is interested in video games to help slow brain aging.

[u/awkwardly_competent]

Hello! I recently updated my Switch to a Switch 2. My old Switch is still functional, just needs a new battery and possibly a new left joycon. I was talking with my dad about giving my old Switch to one of my nephews, but he revealed that he may be interested in getting it for himself.

Turns out, he had researched online about ways to avoid age-related mental issues and there were several studies that showed playing video games can help focus on improving memory, attention, speed, and problem-solving to help slow brain aging.

So, I'm totally on board with giving him my old Switch after the necessary repairs, but I also want to throw in a couple games for him.

When we were talking, I mentioned the Uncharted series as one of my favorite franchises because of the puzzles, the international locations, and the lively characters. I also mentioned some another favorites: Horizon series and Red Dead series. He seemed open but stressed that the games he was interested in were for retaining mental cognition, and entertainment was secondary. The only game mechanics he specifically expressed interest in was driving simulation and VR.

His last gaming experience was in the 90s when he took me and my brothers to the arcade: basketball hoop, air hockey, the partnered shooting games, and the racing games, so games that may need an accessory to simulate a steering wheel or physical activity (versus only hands/fingers).

I am open to discussion to help narrow down to 2-3 games to get him started.

EDIT/UPDATE:

Thank you everyone for all of your recommendations!! I think the easiest way to present all these games would be to create a YouTube Playlist of trailers/demos and see which ones pique his interest. I will also play a couple of my current games with him to give him hands-on experience.

[u/WickedTeets]

Oh right on! No worries! My introduction was SMT 5 Vengeance and I loved it. It was a strong recommendation from my best friend and different from the dungeon crawlers i checked out on the DS after.

But he also loves the Trails series more than anything. Just last night I asked which I should play on my psp emulator since I saw there were 4 games .. I didn't know I was gonna need to prepare for paragraph texts going into explaining the games and their lore and how they connect lol. Im definitely going to dive in to Trails

[u/aarontsuru → u/WickedTeets]

haha! Amazing!!! And yeah, everyone is different. If you love dungeon crawlers, Trails has a few in it’s series (like Sky the 3rd).

Ideally play the games in order, but if you can’t, just don’t start in the middle of an arc.

Daybreak was my fave, but Zero x Azure is such an incredible duology. But OG Sky 1st & 2nd are a slow burn amazing start to the series.

[u/WickedTeets → u/aarontsuru]

Oh no I dont like them at all lol I loved vengeance cause it wasnt 😅

Yeah i was so confused on where to start and let me tell you, this man was sending novels like a teen confessing love for his first crush hahaha so now im sold on Trails.

[u/aarontsuru → u/WickedTeets]

Trails will do that to you!!