Is Odin a reasonable first language for making games?

Start with Odin if it makes you want to sit down and write code. For a hobby, that matters more than picking the supposedly optimal first language.

Your first language doesn't lock you in. Concepts like variables, control flow, functions, and data structures carry over, even though you'll still have to learn the details of another language later.

The main tradeoff is learning material. There are fewer beginner resources for Odin than for some more established languages, so you may need to get comfortable reading its documentation and experimenting with small examples.

Be cautious with AI-generated answers too. They can invent APIs or describe features incorrectly, especially when a language changes. Check examples against the documentation and try compiling them rather than assuming they're right.

Odin can give you a relatively direct way to learn low-level concepts without taking on all the complexity of C++ at once. That doesn't mean you can avoid memory management and pointers, though. Expect to spend time understanding how data is stored and passed around.

Some C concepts can also help when working with libraries, particularly arrays and pointers to pointers. You don't have to master C first, but you may need to look those things up as they come up.

For games, take a look at Odin's raylib bindings. Getting something moving on screen can make the early lessons more satisfying than working through language syntax alone. Keep the first project small and use it to practice one concept at a time.