Path72 games, done at Rolled Credits
From Noob to Fluent
by ludoFile
[Example list; Work-in-progress] A co-op-first roadmap to gaming literacy. Take someone who has never held a controller to the point where they can pick up almost any game, read what it wants, and have fun playing. Nineteen steps, three or four games each: pick one, reach its checkpoint, move on. Roughly 180 to 260 hours.
How to use this guide
Two roles: the Player (new to games) and the Guide (the experienced partner). Player: watch a trailer and one review for each of a step's games, then pick one. Reach the minimum checkpoint, then play as long as you like or move on. One step at a time; skip games freely, never skip steps. Assist modes, casual modes and easy difficulty are settings, not verdicts. Guide: hands off the controller. Count to thirty before hinting, and let them fail three times first. Hints are questions, not answers. Do not pre-explain conventions, because the steps exist to teach them. For the gems, sit beside and never in front: no spoilers, no "wait for it".
Step 0. Menus 101: get in, look around, get out
Pick oneA 30-minute errand, not a game to finish. The Player should know settings, accessibility options and difficulty toggles exist before they ever need one.
Rhythm Heaven Groove
Walked the accessibility settings, did the TV calibration, played the tutorial and two rhythm games, quit to the home screen
Celeste
Opened Assist Mode, read what each toggle does, turned one on, played four or five screens, quit
Alongside
Menus 101: get in, look around, get out
Find and explain, without prompting: the settings menu; the accessibility or assist section; subtitles and text size; volume; how to quit to the home screen. That is the whole checkpoint. Look sensitivity, invert-Y, motion sickness and saving are deliberately absent; they arrive at 103 and 102.
Step 1. Systems I: nothing is chasing you
Pick oneTouch, mouse, or a single stick and button. No enemies, no timers that hurt. All attention goes to reading a UI and learning that a game is a system you can reason about. 6 to 10 hours.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Paid off the first loan, Nook's Cranny open, and can explain how Bells work
Mini Metro
1,000 passengers on London, Normal
Unpacking
Completed through the 2010 level
Step 2. Movement I: one stick, one jump
Pick one2D, camera handled for you, one action button. Builds the motor foundation before anything else is added. 8 to 12 hours.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Cleared World 1 including its castle
Untitled Goose Game
Completed the Garden and High Street to-do lists
Celeste
Reached Chapter 3, Assist Mode as needed
Alongside
Step 3. Systems II: decisions with consequences
Pick oneAdds inventory, resource management, turn or day structure, and choices that close doors. Movement is trivial so systems stay the lesson. First step where saving is not automatic. 10 to 15 hours.
Stardew Valley
Finished Spring, Year 1, and completed one Community Center bundle
Pokémon FireRed Version
Beat the second Gym, and can explain the type chart
Pokémon Ruby Version
Beat the second Gym, and can explain the type chart
The Sims™ 4
One Sim through their first promotion, and one house built from scratch
Alongside
Menus 102: saving and quitting
Explain how your game saves (on sleep, on command, or automatically), point to the autosave indicator if there is one, find the save slots, and do a save-quit-resume cycle without losing progress. Find where cloud saves live on your platform.
Vicarious gem. JRPG conventions at their cleanest. 20 to 25 hours.
Step 4. Combat I: forgiving fights
Pick oneA hostile world and health bars, but still 2D or isometric and very hard to die in. New skills: attack, dodge, enemy wind-ups, loot. 10 to 15 hours.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Cleared the second dungeon
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
Cleared Level 2
Diablo III
Defeated the Skeleton King
Alongside
1994
Vicarious gem. The exploration grammar half the games since are built on. 8 to 10 hours.
2015
Vicarious gem. Subverts RPG conventions, which requires knowing them first. 6 to 8 hours.
Step 5. Reading I: rules you have to find
Pick oneConvention literacy is a target-advanced skill, so it starts early. These games hide the rules in a manual, a rulebook, or the board itself, and none need dexterity. 8 to 12 hours.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Defused 6 bombs, swapping roles at least twice
Papers, Please
Reached Day 10
Baba Is You
Cleared the Lake
Step 6. Camera I: learning to look
Pick oneThe 3D camera is the biggest wall for non-gamers. It arrives only now, with moving, acting and reading already automatic, so the right stick is the only new thing. No threats while the eyes learn. 8 to 12 hours.
Minecraft
Crafted a stone pickaxe, built a shelter with a door and a bed, slept through a night (Peaceful or Creative)
Journey
Finished in one sitting
Firewatch
Reached Day 3
Alongside
Menus 103: camera and comfort
Before playing, do the camera pass together: look sensitivity, invert-Y (test both ways and pick one), motion blur off, camera shake off, head bob off if offered, FOV up on PC. If you feel queasy, shorten sessions, sit farther from the screen, and revisit FOV and blur. Checkpoint: sensitivity and invert-Y settled, and you can say why.
2017
Vicarious gem. First-person vignettes, each of which changes the controls on you. 2 to 3 hours.
Step 7. Failure I: laughing at it
Pick oneThese games fail you constantly, at a pace where the failure is funny, with the Guide in the room. Losing to your partner forty times in an evening is the fastest tilt-management course there is. Stop on the third angry death and come back tomorrow. 8 to 12 hours.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Gold in three 50cc cups with Smart Steering on, then one race won with it off
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Beat a level 3 CPU three times, won one stock match against the Guide on max handicap, and can name three of your character's moves
Overcooked! 2
3 stars on 6 levels
Step 8. Camera II: moving and looking with something at stake
Pick oneThird-person camera plus platforming or light combat. Everything from Steps 2, 4 and 6 gets combined for the first time. 12 to 20 hours.
It Takes Two
Finished Chapter 1
Super Mario Odyssey
Reached the Sand Kingdom and collected 10 Moons
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Reached Hyrule Field and cleared Dodongo's Cavern
Alongside
2018
Vicarious gem. Slow, systemic, and the one people bring up unprompted. 60+ hours.
Step 9. Systems III: tactics and probability
Pick oneThe Player can read a UI and plan across sessions. Now add grids, hit percentages and synergies. 12 to 18 hours.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Cleared Chapter 6 on Casual, and can explain the weapon triangle
Slay the Spire
Reached the Act 3 boss with any character
Balatro
Beat Ante 8 once with any deck
Alongside
Step 10. Shooting I: aim without dread
Pick oneAiming is camera plus timing plus target priority, so it needs Step 8 to be automatic. Friendly PvE or low-stakes PvP first. Interface fluency should hit advanced here. 12 to 18 hours.
Splatoon 3
Hero Mode Site 2, 10 Turf War matches, 3 Salmon Run shifts
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Completed The Silent Cartographer on Normal
Fortnite
Five Zero Build squad matches with the Guide, and one top-5 finish
Alongside
Menus 104: controls
Open the controls menu, try gyro on and off (or aim assist on and off), adjust one sensitivity, remap one button deliberately, and change HUD scale or crosshair if offered. Checkpoint: you can say which setting you changed and why it felt better.
2022
Vicarious gem. The story people cite when they say games can do this. Violent, so the Player decides. 15 hours.
Step 11. Reading II: deduction and design
Pick oneRules that are never stated. By now motor skills are automatic, so all attention can go to inference. 15 to 20 hours.
Portal 2
Finished the single-player campaign and co-op Courses 1 and 2
Return of the Obra Dinn
Confirmed 9 fates
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Finished the second case
Alongside
Step 12. Failure II: death as information
Pick oneRoguelikes make every death diagnosable and every run a post-mortem. 12 to 18 hours.
Hades
Reached the second region (God Mode allowed)
Spelunky 2
Reached Olmec
Dead Cells
Defeated the Concierge
Alongside
Step 13. Shooting II: harder, louder, still together
Pick onePerception and execution to a solid intermediate in dense, fast play. 12 to 18 hours.
Left 4 Dead 2
Finished two campaigns on Normal
Borderlands 2
Reached Sanctuary
Doom
Completed the first three levels on Hurt Me Plenty
Step 14. Playing with strangers
Pick oneJoining a random group, communicating, and following norms without being carried or being a burden. The Guide is not in the party. About 10 hours.
HELLDIVERS™ 2
3 missions at Difficulty 3 to 4 with strangers
FINAL FANTASY XIV Online
Reached level 15 and cleared the first dungeon with a random party
MONSTER HUNTER RISE
3 hunts, one via SOS with strangers
Alongside
Menus 105: online
Before the first match: set voice chat to push-to-talk or off, find mute and block, check cross-play and region settings, and review what the platform shares publicly. Checkpoint: you set these up yourself and can find mute mid-match.
Step 15. Systems IV: big models
Pick oneEconomies, tech trees and long horizons. Systems modeling reaches advanced. 20 to 35 hours.
Baldur's Gate III
Resolved the Emerald Grove crisis, either way
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
One full game on Warlord as a team
XCOM 2
Five missions on Rookie, and can explain what Overwatch does
Step 16. Reading III: inference is the whole game
Pick oneThe confirmation exam for convention literacy. Nothing is explained; the Player has to read the world. All solo, Guide silent. 20 to 35 hours.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Left the Great Plateau, reached Kakariko Village, cleared 10 shrines
Outer Wilds
Two full loops, and landed on two other planets
TUNIC
Obtained the sword and 12 manual pages
Step 17. Failure III: reading the tell
Pick oneAdaptation to advanced: tell-reading under real pressure, tilt management, deliberate practice, and knowing when to look something up versus persist. 15 to 25 hours.
Elden Ring
Defeated Margit
Cuphead
Beat 4 bosses on Regular
Hollow Knight
Defeated Hornet in Greenpath
Step 18. Capstone: the unvetted game
Pick onePick one game from a genre you have not touched. Nobody vets it. No guides for the first three hours. The Guide watches, takes notes and says nothing. Afterwards, explain what the game wants, how you figured it out, and what you would do differently. Any other game from an untouched genre also qualifies.
Resident Evil 4
Reached the village church, and explained how ammo scarcity changed your play
Street Fighter™ 6
Won one round on Modern controls, and explained what neutral seems to mean
Factorio
Automated red science end to end
Rocket League
Won one casual match, and explained what rotation seems to mean
The fluency test
Score each 0 (no), 1 (sometimes), 2 (reliably). Fluent is 12 or above with no zeros on the first five. 1. Start an unfamiliar game and reach its first real decision in under 30 minutes without a guide. 2. Explain the core loop after one hour. 3. Recognise what the game wants from a glowing object, a locked door, a distinct ledge, a red barrel. 4. Say, after a loss, what specifically caused it. 5. Choose deliberately between persisting and looking something up. 6. Find and change three settings without being told where they are. 7. Read a wiki or build guide and apply it. 8. Join a group of strangers and contribute.
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