Hi, I am new to gaming, apart from GTA5 and SkyRim The Elder Scrolls on PS3, neither of which I have got very far with, although I enjoy the ambience of GTA5, and I like going 'off-story' and just hitting people!

My starting point was that I wanted to start with a really good game, had heard a lot about Witcher III Wild Hunt - so wanted to find the best way to buy this.

I researched both Steam and GOG and decided to join GOG, because I like the way it is curated. I took advantage of the introductory time limited offer and bought the games recommended.

I have 3 laptops to play games on, as follows:

Asus G750JH-T4106H
Windows 10
ASUS ROG Gaming laptop with Assassins Creed installed
Intel® Core™ i7 4700HQ
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5 VRAM
16 GB RAM

This is a 17 inch gaming laptop but very heavy to have on my lap - 4.8 kg - and I don't really like playing on a table.

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Lenovo ideapad 700-15 80RU00EFUK
Intel Core i5-6300HQ 2.3 GHz, 12 GB RAM DDR4 SDRAM, 1 TB HDD, Windows 10
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M

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Lenovo YOGA 900-131SK Model Name: 80MK
Windows 10
Intel i7 6500U
RAM 8G
SSD 512GB
Intel HD Graphics 520

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I also have a Huawei Android tablet - BTV-DL09 - Android Version 7, with external micro sim 125 GB
(Have been wondering whether it's worth buyng DosBox Turbo for this, so I can play some DosBox games on it.)

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I bought these games from GOG, which were the time-limited offer:
The Witcher III Wild Hunt
The Witcher 2 Assassins Kings
The Witcher Enhanced Edition Director's Cut
Grim Fandango
The Witness
Shadowrun Dragonfall Director's Cut
Firewatch
Deux Ex Game of the Year Edition
Homeworld Remastered Collection
FTL
Braid
Darksiders
Little Big Adventure
Psychonauts
Unreal
Spelunky

In addition GOG are now offering me these titles at discount:

Pillars of Eternity
Vampire the Masquerade
Deponia
(4 hours to decide!)

I am completely overwhelmed! I have only tried these so far:
Witcher III on the Asus gaming laptop - can't even get off the battlements into the lower courtyard
Little Big Adventure on the Lenovo Yoga - couldn't type in my name even!
Deus Ex & Braid on the Lenovo 700 Ideapad - very little progress

My questions are these:

1) I realise all the games will more or less run on the Asus ROG. Several may run on the Lenovo IdeaPad 700. - Which ones?

2) One or two will run on the Lenovo Yoga with the Intel HD Graphics 520 - which ones?

3) As I don't understand even the basics of the controls and how to advance in games, what can I do when I get stuck (as is happening all the time)?

4) I am trying out PC gaming on the hardware I have first, to see if I like it. If I want to proceed further, what would you folks recommend I buy in the way of a 15 inch gaming laptop - as light as possible is essential, as the Asus ROG is just too heavy for anything but desktop use? I don't want to fork out £2K - haven't got that sort of money.

5) In terms of my general interests, what other games would you recommend? I like something with a bit of story, not shoot-it-up stuff - fantasy, sci-fi, horror and film noir crime movies and TV series, such as Killing Eve, Walter Presents on Channel 4, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Scandi-Crime, European crime, and for reading - Lee Child, John Connolly 'Parker' series, Michael Connelly; southern gothic noir crime novels - eg. James Lee Burke, Robert B Parker. I DON'T like adolescent Hollywood crap with no depth of character or back-stories.

Tall order to help me, I know - jump in with replies to any of this - sorry it is so long!

Well, for understanding how a game works, it`s vital to read the manual, provided there is one. If not, there are often Wikis and FAQs in the internet to be found that can help you understanding the underlying mechanics of gameplay and character progression. Even suggestions for character builds are out there.

Really good choices. I would recommend The Witcher if you're into CRPGs. You can check out reviews for it on YouTube. Make sure to start with the first game in the series. It does a great job of building up the world for the rest of the games. It can be a bit difficult so adjust the difficulty. If you have Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, you can also go for it. It's an RPG about the world of vampires and IMO is still the best vampire video game. A heed of warning, it is a buggy game and you would need the community patch for it.

The GOG release comes with it, I believe.

Hah, you ninja`d me, wanted to write the same! :-)
And one recommendation: Get Dragon Age: Origins, it`s a good RPG and runs very well even on my crappy Intel HD 3000 graphics chip.

Oh, and one anti-recommendation: Get rid of FTL, it`s very frustrating, unfair and rage inducing.

Many games (including Deus Ex) have a tutorial which introduces you to the controls and always tells you what to do next. All you have to do is pay attention and follow the instructions. Then use what you learned in the actual game. (Sadly some games either don't have a tutorial, or have one that is missing some important mechanics, etc... basically, tutorials while helpful are often an afterthough).

The other obvious thing to do is to go to the settings and check out the controls, even if you don't intend to change them. This gives you an idea what you can do in the game. Some games overwhelm you with a huge list of controls, many of which are specific to only certain aspects of the game (such as multiplayer, menus, or controlling vehicles). Usually you can ignore those (and come back later if you need to do so) and focus on the basics: moving around, jumping, crouching, picking up objects, using items (or shooting guns) that are in your hands, reloading guns, using items (such as doors) that are fixed in the game world. Selecting different weapons. It might seem like a long list but it's pretty basic and covers the critical functionality for most first person & third person games. And knowing the basics should allow you to play just about any game.

If you get stuck, perhaps you weren't paying attention to dialogue? The vast majority of games today are quite hand-holdy, telling you what to do or where to go. So if you have no idea, it's possible that you just were distracted and didn't pay attention, or forgot.. some games give you a map or radar with hints to direct you to your next objective. Some games allow more freedom and give you a list of quests or goals that you can tackle at your leisure in a more open-ended and less directed fashion. In these games, you just have to understand what the quest is asking of you, then explore and look around (usually around where you find enemies!). If a quest doesn't make sense to you, it's possible that it asks you to do something that'll only become clear later on. Of course you can always search for a walkthrough or ask on the forums!

We gamers still sometimes get suck at a smaller scale even knowing objectives, because we miss some door or route (that perhaps wasn't open or visible earlier?). So if you get the feeling that you've come to a dead end and there's nowhere go, explore carefully.. some games require you to use items on specific devices in the game world to make things progress. Cuold be as simple as keys, or something more obscure. Flipping switches usually opens things up too. Unless it's just another light switch.

Unfortunately, sometimes games are just buggy and we get stuck through no fault of our own...

So if you find a game that seems to be your liking, just go play, explore, and then ask about it -- tell us what you were doing and where you got stuck . Maybe post a screenshot about the area or the quest or goal you've been give.

In the list of games you bought, Firewatch is probably among the easiest to get into. It's a story focused first-person adventure, which some people would derisively call a "walking simulator." Oh, you *can* get lost in that game too, but it is relatively straightforward, most of the time. Just listen to the radio and pay attention to your surroundings. It's a fairly short game too. I don't know if it's a "really good game," but the games people praise a lot tend to be big and complex -- maybe not so accessible for new gamers. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to start with something a little less overwhelming? :) I think it's a cool experience kind of story about being stuck in the nature before the mobile phone era.

You do have a mouse, right? And a reasonably large mouse pad or something like that. Playing with a laptop touchpad is a nightmare, as is playing with a mouse on a desk with little space and crap all over.

Oh and finally, try not to feel overwhelmed about all the games. Yeah, GOG has more than 2000 games, and there are sales every week and every weekend. Plus there are big seasonal sales multiple times every year. Check them out, but keep in mind that you don't have to consider everything they're offering :) That's more games than one person can finish in 10 lifetimes.. just grab something that looks and sounds interesting and have fun. And ask when you need help.

Congratulations on some great game purchases. :)

Another difference that might help you is some games are tactical (turn-based) and others are real-time (non-stop action). For instance, Shadowrun—Dragonfall is a turn-based Role Playing Game, and The Witcher series deploys the (realtime) action mechanic. With a turn-based game you can take as long as you want to execute your turn (though some games, like Civilization, don't allow you to undo an action once you have selected it, a lot do allow you to).

With Dragonfall, I have got it to run on my old laptop, which had an Intel integrated graphics processor a generation earlier than your Yoga. (It did take about a minute to load each level, though, but once it was loaded the game played well. Not many other games are as backward compatible, sadly.) In my case I just reduced the pixel area of the screen and the game executed fine. (That said, on a better system one can view a larger screen and all the special effects. :)

Speaking of Dragonfall, I would be the first to advise you that there is almost no introduction into the canon of the gameworld. That said, the sparse help system was enough for me to follow the bouncing ball and begin to play. (It has taken many hours to decipher the more intricate nuances of the game engine/s, but that is not a minus.)

I second the Star Wars games (Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel), which are great turn-based RPGs with 70s nostalgia (perhaps you may have been a little old when the first movie came out, though?).

Welcome! It's never too late! :-)

Good selection of games you got there - from your previous choices you seem to prefer "open world" games, games that allow you to go where you like and do what you want (within the limits of the game - and the character you're playing).

As for help playing the games, one starting point would be the game specific forums found here: https://www.gog.com/forum (use the search box). Some of the forums are pretty dead though, in this case feel free to post your question to the General forum where we are now (don't forget to post the name of the game you have trouble with, otherwise people will make fun of you and send you to The Wizard - happens quite often).

Of the games you got or considered I played those:

The Witcher III Wild Hunt
The Witcher 2 Assassins Kings
The Witcher Enhanced Edition Director's Cut
Grim Fandango
Shadowrun Dragonfall Director's Cut
Firewatch
Deux Ex Game of the Year Edition
Darksiders
Psychonauts
Unreal
Pillars of Eternity
Vampire the Masquerade (both Bloodlines and Redemption)

You can ask me, if you need help (via chat) but please don't expect a super fast response. Fine selection I have to say.
Of course as suggested above walkthroughs, wikis and FAQs found on the internet are also an option, but they tend to give away too much and spoil the experience when all you needed was a little hint.

@ALL: People, the OP just got a bunch of (mostly great) games - and you shower them with an avalanche of MORE recommendations... Let them play some first ;-)

Deus Ex actually DOES have an amazing story - if you can get past the shooty bits

Considering your age I recommend

Grim Fandango - Won't take too long to finish
Deus Ex GOTYE - It's great
FTL - took me about a day to finish but it's replay ability is great

Which vampire the masquerade, there is three:
Vampire the masquerade - Redemption (classic Isometric slog kinda difficult) Gameplay Video
or
Vampire the masquerade - Bloodlines (first person slog - But not too long) Gameplay Video
I don't recommend getting bloodlines II because of hardware limitations (and it's adolescent Hollywood sock full of Horse vomit and Dog Diarrhoea) and other people told me how lame it is compared to the first two.

It's not even out... *rolleyessmiley*

Wow, thanks to all the people who replied so promptly - I didn't expect any replies so soon. What a great community GOG is! I have taken on board your suggestions and will reply to one or two of you individually - but thanks again to EVERYONE - all very useful responses.

I am very pleased to know I have bought some good games, although that was down to GOG's recommendations in their time limited introductory offer, which I thought I might as well take advantage of. I bought just about the lot! (The only one I didn't buy was Deponia, because it looked too "cartoony" and I'm not sure about the German sense of humour...)

One thing I will do is start with the first in the Witcher series before going back to Witcher III, and also I am trying Firewatch.

BTW - I would have liked to mark several of your replies as "mark as solution" but in the end gave it to Ryan333 for answering so comprehensively point by point. I would like to give a special mention to toxicTom too for friending me so promptly and answering a load of my questions in chat. I feel guilty not giving it to you, Tom, you were so helpful! All you guys were great - I'm very grateful to you all and I feel as if I've really joined a wonderful big family in choosing GOG.

BTW, I have now removed my age from my initial post (ahem!) so only you few who replied today know the truth! Hope you'll forget it! I will admit to 39 or at a push 45 at most, and I have always felt no older than 19 inside!

Actually wait WHAT?!?

Bullshit, How come I've seen reviews of it.

AMA CONFUSED?!?

Thanks for your long and very comprehensive reply. Yes, I do have a mouse. I was wondering if I needed to buy a gamepad like you get with a PS3 - but I'm guessing not necessary? Already bought FTL unfortunately. Very useful reply - particularly about my hardware - thanks for all that. And I'll check out Firewatch next.

Point five in the first post kinda covers why though - So it's not like others are just backing up the truck to the doorstep and unloading everything with no regard to how overwhelmed the person behind the door is going to be.