I have been on a kick lately with short games. Because I’m a parent with a hectic job, it’s really nice to be able to beat a game in just a few days.
I’ve played both Plague Tale games (10 & 20 hours respectively), Stray (7 hours), and Alan Wake (10 hours). All great stories, very atmospheric, and felt like just the right length for what they were.
Any other good story-heavy games that are pretty short? Throw any and all recommendations at me!
Great idea for a post. I feel the same with games and novels.
Ori and the blind forest is a great platformer that is about 8-10 hours long.
Donut County is a fun little game that takes about 5 hours or less.
Axiom Verge (and 2) is a neat Metroid like game that is around 15 hrs.
Undertale and Untitled Goose Game though the latter isn’t very story oriented.
I’ll always recommend What Remains of Edith Finch into these sorts of conversations. Absolute one of my favourite shorter experiences.
You should give Guardians of the Galaxy a try. I’m not really a Marvel fan but the game is great and should take around 20 hours to complete.
Have you tried What Remains of Edith Finch? It’s a good story heavy game that’s pretty short. Return of the Obra Dinn is a deduction puzzle game that can be done in short sessions. Celeste is also good for short sessions if platformers are more of your thing.
Gris. It’s like playing an art piece.
Similar vein, but I replay Journey often, as well.
I went on my steam profile (note these are all PC games, but some are on console) and looked at all the games I finished in under 20 hours at least once and enjoyed so I’ll just list them here. It’s in descending order from most (20.1 hours) to least (68 minutes):
I put a star next to the ones I’d recommend in a heartbeat even without the 20 hour limit.
- Mirror’s Edge ★
- The Stanley Parable ★ (although may take you at least 20 to find all endings / easter eggs / secrets)
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ★ (due to the fact that it’s the middle game in an incomplete trilogy, also recommend Deus Ex: Human Revolution but that’s more than 20)
- Hotline Miami ★
- Little Inferno
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
- Dishonored ★
- Myst
- DOOM (2016) ★
- Wolfenstein: The New Order ★
- Portals 1 & 2 ★
- Return of the Obra Dinn ★ (beat twice in 9 hours)
- Kentucky Route Zero ★
- The Henry Stickmin Collection ★
- FAR: Lone Sails
- Titanfall 2
- DUSK ★
- COD: Modern Warfare 2
- Ghostrunner (didn’t like this but it seemed most people who weren’t me did so i’m putting it here)
- Thomas Was Alone
- Jazzpunk: Director’s Cut ★
- Gunpoint ★
- Orwell
- Firewatch
- Superliminal ★
- Observer_ ★
- SUPERHOT ★
- The Beginner’s Guide
- BattleBlock Theater
- INSIDE ★
- EDGE
- Quadrilateral Cowboy
- Journey ★
edit: saw u said “story heavy” so i removed some of the arcadey ones. Some of these aren’t exactly “story heavy” depending on ur definition but they at least have a story
I’m pretty upset tf|2 doesn’t have a star. Explain yourself.
i didn’t like the multiplayer
Story-heavy: Uncharted series (between 10 and 16 hours per game), Hellblade (around 8 hours) and - if you can spare another 10 hours or so and Action RPGs are your thing - Nier Automata is really worth it (around 30 hours).
Gris was impactful enough for me that I’ll mention it here, since it was super short (4 hours at most).Hellblade is amazing! Needs to be played with headphones on for the beat experience! The sound design is incredible
Journey is a game you could easily finish in one sitting. Short but sweet, and very easy to get swept up in the atmosphere.
Portal and Portal 2 must be on this list. If you’ve never played then, you must. It is that simple.
Firewatch comes to mind
Depending on your puzzle solving abilities, Outer Wilds (not Outer Worlds!) should only take around 15-20 hours.
Extra bonus, it can be played in very short sessions very easily and has a great in-game log of events in case you have to put it down for a little while.
I just want to say that I also keep hearing about this game, but then can’t remember which one strangers told me to play.
Oh man, it’s so good. It’s my favorite game in recent memory and it’s only competition is probably Hollow Knight.
Don’t look anything up, this game is super easy to spoil because of the way the exploratory puzzles are set up.
Limbo and Inside are both short and atmospheric, but not story heavy at all.
Oof, I would tend to disagree. Those stories are dark (despite being unexplained) and have stuck with me for years.
If you’re cool with visual novels, Doki Doki Literature Club is an incredibly interesting game, not very long. It really stuck with me.
Pretty important to go in blind with this one! It’s a great game!
Hey Op don’t play it in front of the kids, you’ll thank me later.
True!
It’s not a horror game though. It’s more of a creepy tension. And some bloody bits. Overall it’s for the atmosphere you play it, you really get sucked into the mind of the protagonist.
See, you get my worry. The tension’s not bad, just a lot for the kids.
Very true. :)
There’s a bit of gore in there too, not much, but still.
