Essential video games for the Blankies

so having given up twitter 3 days ago, and quickly losing attention span for DA MOVEESH (at least outside of a theater), i’ve decided to get into video games.

what would you recommend as a starter game for an elder millennial lady whose total experience is limited to taking a few turns at Halo in the early aughts? what are the essential modern classics?

i like stories with elaborate/smart/original world building, and prefer sci-fi to fantasy. i want something aesthetically pleasing and satisfying (tho maybe that’s a given). i don’t need to have violence and/or horror but am not opposed.

i suck at spatial reasoning and i don’t love puzzles, i think? someone once made me play Portal and that’s probably not what i’m looking for. also, burned out on Star Wars.

planning to wait for Black Friday and get a PS5, seems like that’s the way to go?

eta: thanks, everyone! i’m excited about this list.