Games

The Sonic Racing games are the best counterpart to Mario Kart available on PC. Sonic Racing Transformed is the best of the 3 games (and bundles the very first game) but sometimes gets confused when switching up controllers, so you must delete the config file, so maybe because of that not the best introduction to PC. Team Sonic Racing is a bit less good but that input bug is gone.

Skyrim for the mods.

XCOM 2

Instead just buy something he wants to play so you can play it together. Or at least talk about it.

I usually gift Wallpaper engine. Not a game but it's a fantastic tool for personalization.

straight up cash and a note saying "for games"

not a gift card, not steam credit, just real actual paper cash.

Big shout out to Beyond All Reason. It's an RTS game that's free and open source that I've been playing with my friends for a few weeks now. Not even a fan of RTS games, but it's a lot of fun to play co-op matches against AI.
https://www.beyondallreason.info/

Untitled Goose Game

Hunt Showdown & Doom Eternal

Gift him a Starsector code or share your own if already have one.

Gift any super moddable games he likes. If he enjoys Bethesda games on consoles, he will definitely love PC only mods. Also explain to him what Big Picture Mode on Steam is. I wish I knew it existed when I started. Get the same console experience and seamless controller integration even if the game doesn't officially support it.

Edit: Also any super pretty games would probably be a nice gift. Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the first I installed. Really nice realizing how much better looking games can be with a powerful computer.

So, most of my recommendations are going to be FPS or first person. For Valve related stuff:

• Half-Life 2 is pretty much a must have along with Episodes 1 and 2.
• Black Mesa is a remake of the original.
• Entropy : Zero 2 is a fantastic fan made mod that's a good follow up after finishing Half-Life 2 and the episodes.
• The original Entropy : Zero is pretty good, but the default difficulty is hard as hell.
• Portal 1 and 2 are also a must have
• Portal: Revolution is an independent mod that's a good follow up after 2.

As for non-Valve games and related:

• Crab Champions - fast paced, third-person, rogue-like shooter.
• Talos Principle 1 and 2 - first-person puzzles with a serious philosophical scifi story. It actually gets a bit heavy when it discusses mortality and death. 1 is being remade into a "definitive edition".
• Untitled Goose Game - Honk!
• Gnorp Apologue - fun little game
• Pineapple on pizza - it's free. I would describe it as games-as-art.
• Any of the Serious Sam games. They were made for PC.
• Fallen Aces is still in early access, but a good story driven retro FPS with sprites and multiple ways of navigating each level.
• Trepang2 - a bit of an odd FPS with bullet time.
• Roboquest - rogue like FPS
• Exit 8 - horror walking simulator. Kinda short once you figure it out.
• APE OUT - Ape smash! Top down "shooter".
• Hotline Miami 1 and 2 - top down shooters with fast deaths and excellent soundtracks
• The Binding of Isaac - has always been popular if a little dated
• Gunpoint - stealth puzzle third person. Came out a decade ago, but a good game.
• Party Hard - little indie murder-everyone-and-don't-get-caught.
• The Stanley Parable - walking simulator with some interesting dialog and interactions. 9-to-5 office people can relate.
• Dusk - awesome boomer shooter
• Antichamber - came out a decade ago, but it's mind bending first-person puzzles.
• Hades and Hades 2 which is in early access. Third person isometric rogue-like.
• The Invincible - Story driven walking simulator based off the book of the same name. Good story.
• Firewatch - story driven walking simulator
• Deep Rock Galactic - wasn't my pint of beer, but a lot of people like it.

• Nioh 2
• Witchfire
• Devil Slayer Raksasi
• Curse of the Dead Gods
• Metal Mutation
• Cavity Busters
• Waves (free, but still)
• BlazBlue Entropy Effect
• 30XX
• Nova Drift
• Quantum Protocol
• Deep Rock Galactic
• Hellsinker
• Twin Ruin
• Devader
• Arboria
• Bloody Spell
• Aura of Worlds

Also, if he's a bit of a tinkerer, he might be interested in trying shooters using gyro+flick-stick, which he probably didn't have access to before. Witchfire, Deep Rock Galactic, and Deadlink can readily play that way once set up in Steam Input. Some games you only need to set up the gyro-to-mouse and flick-stick, whereas others (eg Vermintide 2) you have to map the entire controller manually.

Tormented Souls was really good

Honestly, we all can't be much more useful than any of the "Top 10 games of 2024" YouTube videos because we don't really know your friend or his tastes.

A Steam gift card seems like a good idea? Let him pick his own games?

Might consider getting something that only plays well on keyboard/mouse. Factorio comes up off the top of my head. Shooters also generally translate poorly to controllers, so perhaps that?

You could add them to your steam family to give them access to your library?

Otherwise, seeing as he's played a lot of console games, maybe an RTS would be a good option? Something where kB+m is a better controller layout.

In my personal opinion, the steam starter pack should be:

• Portal 1+2
• Terraria
• Gary's Mod
• Tabletop Sim
• Fallout New Vegas
• Stardew Valley

Anything with mods so he can accurately reflect his IRL penis length in-game

Shower With Your Dad Simulator

Surroundead for single player zombie survival

Project zonboid for multiplayer zombie survival

Kingdom come deliverance for visuals and epic story

Hell let loose for FPS shooter

Deadlock for moba/fps

Risk of rain 2 for multiplayer roguelite

The raft for multiplayer survival on water

The forest for multiplayer survival on land

SCUM for pvp survival

That's all I can think of for now...the fun part of PC is gaming with friends without having to pay a shitty subscription fee.