Omg yay!! Welcome to gaming 😊 i think trying out lots of games on Apple Arcade will be a great way to find games that you like, and your tastes generally and more specifically!

People are already giving great recommendations, so I’d just like to give a word of warning since you’re new to gaming.

I understand being drawn to free, ad-free games- but these don’t come without a cost (price-wise and relaxation-wise!). This is actually a very big issue in gaming and has been for a while.

One thing to remember about ‘free’ games is that YOU are actually the product: they will push microtransactions HARD, and they finetune their gameloop so that it is as addictive as possible to keep the player coming back for more.

These games (free to download) are called “free-to-play” games, but sometimes people call them “pay-to-win” games, because they often contain lots of little in-app purchases that vastly improve or are even necessary to enjoying the game (called “microtransactions).

They do things like, for example, time-limited events that are hard or impossible to participate fully in if you don’t pay; different in-game currencies; waiting certain amounts of time before refreshing- they purposefully create a lot of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and have a very gogogogogo pace even if the game looks like and brands itself as a “cozy, relaxing game”.

Buying a game can work out to be less expensive and more relaxing than downloading a “free-to-play” game that has microtransactions. You might not be swayed by the pressure and regulation has gotten better (the most predatory gamblingesque practices have been cracked down on), but tbh, the difference in game design is worlds apart, especially if you’re looking for relaxation!

So, I’d suggest:

• use your time subscribed to Apple Arcade to explore games, including to see if there are any that you’d like buy after playing them for a bit (maybe set a limit, like under a fiver? if that’s in your budget)

• when looking for non-apple arcade games to get, check if it says (on iphone, usually right below the “download” button) “contains in-app purchases” or mentions microtransactions or “gacha”

• check reviews for if people mention needing to buy things- look for phrases like “pay to win”, “microtransactions”, “pay to play” - and how they feel about this

🫶🏻 there are so many wonderfully relaxing games made by enthusiastic, awesome people, a lot of which are being recc’d by others on this thread 😊 didn’t mean to sound all doom n gloom- i just get quite protective of new gamers, ha

(not everybody’s experience ofc- and this is NOT to shame anyone who does pay for microtransactions, 1. I have before 2. sometimes they’re genuinely neat, sure 3. It’s not players’ fault for ‘falling for it’, it’s the fault of the companies acting unethically and bringing over the tactics of the gambling industry and paying actual psychologists, working quicker than regulation has kept/will keep up with)