Recently a few friends introduced me to Puck. It's a silly, free-to-play physics-sim ice hockey game. Check it out:
The first challenge is figuring out how to move. Since your character is gliding around on imaginary ice skates, there's no strafing like you'd expect in most first-person games. It's more like a driving sim - W and S accelerate you forward and backward respectively, while A and D let you "steer". There are a few other actions, like a quick stop or a point turn, but this game really rewards those who can keep their speed up.
Once you're mobile, the next challenge (and the part I'm still struggling with) is figuring out how to use your hockey stick. Moving the mouse side to side sweeps the stick across the ice in an arc. Moving the mouse forward and backwards changes your "reach", i.e. how far you're extending the stick. Extend far enough and your stick will lift up of the ice, which can be useful for dribbling the puck among other things. Just like with movement, there are a few other tricks you can do, like tilting your stick to flick the puck into the air - but you won't be doing that right off the bat.
Now all this might sound very intuitive, but I assure you it isn't. This is one of those games that looks super easy when you watch a skilled player, but is shockingly difficult to get right. My first time playing, I spent most of the session running into the walls and trying to figure out where the hockey puck was, or flailing my stick around in hopes of magically getting a lucky slapshot. Pretty sure I cost my team more points than I helped them earn 😆
If you have a few friends and you're looking for a good time, this is a great one to try out. Especially since it's free.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2994020/Puck/
