What’s that? You want us to talk about some good video games for 50-year-olds? Umm, ok. That’s awfully specific. Do people actually call 50-year-olds 50-year-olds? Seems a bit strange. 

Well, we can try. We’ve come up with a list here. You can go ahead and scroll down to the list if you want. We’ll make the names of the games very easy to see at a glance. 

It’s difficult to know which kinds of games are well-suited to gamers who are in their 50s. After all, folks in their 50s can’t exactly be reduced to a common set of preferences, especially when it comes to their games. 

Sure, there’s a good chance that middle-aged people out there have some first-hand memories of those early arcade games and fledgling video game systems for the home, but there have been some changes in the video industry since that time, and plenty of people in this audience are more than willing to try out some of the newer stuff on offer. 

So we’ve tried to lay out a pretty good variety of games that we think this age group would be into. Please forgive us if these games don’t happen to be to your liking, but we do stand by these picks. There’s some really good stuff here, for players of just about any age.  

Journey 

One of the most peaceful games maybe ever (with a few momentary exceptions), Journey is a gorgeous adventure(?) game set in some kind of desolate nowhere. 

As you start to move through the game world, you’ll probably run into another character who will help you along your way. 

Each area in Journey has a distinct feel, and you’ll also get a different mood from each of them. 

Like we said, most of the game is very peaceful, but there are also a number of sections that could be considered high-tension. 

Without spoiling anything, the last major section of the game actually strikes a very different tone, and one that you probably wouldn’t expect from the average video game. 

But this isn’t the average video game, it’s Journey, one of the best things we’ve played, and we think it will work well for middle-aged gamers, too.  

Doom (2016) 

If you’ll excuse the lingo, basically all of the Doom games are considered to be Boomer Shooters. 

In other words, these are classic FPS games, and the 2016 reboot of the Doom franchise was extremely successful. It revived interest in the series while also introducing millions of new players to the franchise. 

Also, most importantly, this game is just plain fun. You go around and shoot demons. That’s about it. No complicated weapons systems or gathering/crafting. No big storylines to follow. No dialogue options. 

There’s some light platforming in the mix, and there are a few areas that are kind of difficult to navigate if you aren’t used to FPS movement. 

But outside of that, you’ll be shooting the bad guys and having a great time. 

Cities: Skylines 

Management games are nothing new, and city builders aren’t new, either. The SimCity games of yesteryear were some of the most compelling experiences on early PC hardware, and while the actual SimCity series has taken a turn for the worse, other companies have picked up the slack. 

Cities: Skylines is generally considered to be one of the best city builder games in recent years, and for some, it’s one of the best city builders ever made. 

As you might have already guessed, you create cities in this game, and each city will be a mix of your own input and what the city evolves into of its own accord. 

You’ll set up streets and districts and neighborhoods, as well as public transportation, and you’ll also place key buildings to make sure that the city doesn’t collapse within its first year or so. 

But things get much more complicated from there. Don’t worry: the game doesn’t rush you into anything, and you can even control how quickly the in-game time moves, but if you really like getting into the nitty-gritty details, Cities: Skylines has so much to offer. 

Sonic Mania 

You like Sonic? Well here’s the best 2D Sonic game in years, and it’s not even that expensive. 

Sonic Mania is a combination of new and old elements. You get some new environments on top of the old ones. You get some new music that definitely borrows from the classic tracks. And you get the usual enemies, for the most part, with some new bosses in the mix as well. 

If you loved the old Sonic games, then Sonic Mania is an excellent way to get back into the series without going back to old hardware or buying up ported versions of the classics, though you can certainly do that as well via a storefront like Steam. 

Stardew Valley 

This is probably the 107th time we’ve mentioned Stardew Valley here on the site in some form. 

To put it simply, Stardew is one of the most successful farming sim games since the Harvest Moon games that it is so clearly based on. 

The pixel graphics are a nice balance of old and new art styles, and the gameplay itself offers a pretty big range of stuff to do, though farming pretty much stays at the center of things for most players. 

Here’s the setup: you’re a person who hates their job and their life (probably). Your grandad left you his defunct farm a long ol’ time ago, and you figure that now it’s time to go out there and see what this whole farming, homesteading life is all about.

Predictably, the farm is in pretty bad shape, and some of the earliest satisfaction you’ll get from the game is the slow process of cleaning it up and turning it into a working farm.

Yes, all the work here is virtual, but you really do feel a sense of satisfaction when you harvest your first yield of crops, and you’ll form some kind of emotional attachment to your farm animals, be they chickens or cows or those darn rabbits. 

If Stardew Valley hooks you, it really hooks you. It’s easy to run on just about any system, and it’s very easy to control, whether on a keyboard and mouse or a gamepad. 

It’s cheap, too, so just check it out why don’t ya.