Hi All, I’ve recently just finished Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order and I am slowly working my way through Mad Max. My work and home life are pretty hectic at the moment so I’m lucky if I can scrape in an hour of gaming of an evening. But it’s my way of decompressing from a stressful day. Can anybody recommend any relatively short but good games? Maybe 10-12 hours? As games like Horizon (which I loved by the way) take me around 4-5 months to get through!!
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Bioshock is one, Marathon is relatively short, maybe Escape Lala if you want a really short puzzle game
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I don’t know if I’d call them short games, but Dave the Diver and Vampire Survivors are filling in the short gaming time niche for me. I can hit a couple of cycles in Dave the Diver in 20 minutes maybe, or I can play a level or two of Vampire Survivors fairly quickly (with the turbo stuff turned on). My gaming time isn’t very consistent though, so I’ve been trying not to start anything with any kind of story or heavy mechanics as I’ll forget everything.
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I’ll echo Vampire Survivors, and add Grindstone (puzzle), WorldBox (god sim), What the Golf (puzzle but also a bunch of things), I Love Hue (puzzle), Hidden Folks (where’s waldo sort of thing), Astrologaster (visual novel? I don’t really know but it’s quite funny and very well made). Some of these are on console but all of them are on mobile.
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Thank you. I’ve played all the Bioshock games. Loved them. That’s great. I will check them out
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Thank you. Yes I’m the same. I could start a story game and it could be weeks months before I get back to it and forget the story and mechanics. Thank you. Will check those out
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That’s great. Thanks for those suggestions. I will look into them
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If you like horror games, and by that, I mean ones that fill you with unease and a sense of dread rather than a virtual haunted house, I would highly recommend checking out the Haunted Cities volumes by Kitty Horrorshow.
A collection of short games/ experiences.
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Thanks very much. I like horror games (I need to be in the right frame of mind though 
) Thanks again!
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Any specific genres you prefer? I’m better at recommendations when I know the genres and consoles lol
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I like a bit of anything really. I’ve always enjoyed a good story / adventure. But they tend to be the longer games I guess. Games Ive reallly enjoyed in the past are things like Dead Space, Red Dead, wolfenstein, Alan Wake, Mafia Series etc.
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Let’s see…
How about Bastion, or Transistor. Made by the same company that did Hades, both probably in the 6-8 range. Beautiful artwork and soundtracks. Top down hack and slash games.
Saboteur may work out if you skip the side stuff for the most part, which is mostly just blowing stuff up anyway. It might be a little longer than you’re timeline but I’d say at most 12-15 hours. A GTA clone WW2 Nazi shoot em ups in Paris. And that barely explains all its mechanics and such. Got some stealth, gunplay, assassin’s Creed esq climbing, etc.
Horror Tales: The Wine is probably one of my favorites that I’ve played in the past year or so. A walking sim with light puzzles, it has some great moments and beautiful Mediterranean setting, all made by one guy.
The Little Nightmares games both offer great 2d platformer horror experiences in about 4-6 hours each. Well worth experiiencing.
Bulletstorm may interest you, an fps made by the Gears of war crew that features space pirates crashing on a once thriving resort planet and making tons of stupid jokes while kicking guys into spike traps and such. It’s ridiculous fun.
Far Cry Blood Dragon is a spin off game featuring a alternative history based on the 80’s vision of it. Everything is covered in neon and it’s still got the core far cry gameplay and a bunch of hilarious dialogue and great set pieces.
Mirrors Edge I still think is an essential experience for anyone, a first person parkour platformer with a gorgeous aesthetic. Story is pretty junk but that’s not what it’s played for lol
Stacking is a fun puzzle game featuring Russian nesting dolls made by Double Fine, tim Shafer, the crew that made psychonauts
Possibly Sleeping Dogs, another GTA clone but one that is just super enjoyable with awesome melee combat and a great story.
Finally while I don’t believe they’re under your time limit I’d Have to recommend the Yakuza Series. They’re great, wild crime drama’s with a ton of weird and Wonderful side content all packed into tight believable cities.
Hope you find a few things to enjoy!
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OH if you like adventure games and haven’t played Day of the Tentacle, the remaster is also on mobile and console and it’s a classic. I also really liked Milkmaid of the Milky Way. That one’s almost short enough to do in one (long) sitting. Also Thimbleweed Park, strongly recommend that one.
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day of the tentacle sounds like an explicit anime romero zombie movie parody
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It’s the sequel to Maniac Mansion. Only wholesome things happen.
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Some great recommendations thank you. Hades is something that’s peaked my interest when looking online.
Also I have played Sleeping Dogs & Yakuza Kiwami. Both brilliant games. I think I will try and continue with the Yakuza series at some point. Thanks again
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Cool - Will check those out. Thank you!!
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I have the same time constraint problem. I wish more games are made shorter but the trend is totally the opposite. Longer gameplay is considered a selling point. More value for the money! I want to play Red Dead Redemption 2, Personal 5 Royal, Elden Ring etc but these games will each take me more than half a year to complete
I use howlongtobeat.com and the play time stats on Grouvee to check game length. I recommend these shorter games:
- Astro’s Playroom
- Limbo
- INSIDE
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Portal
- Portal 2
- Uncharted series
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Detroit: Become Human
- Stray
- ICO
- Shadow of the Colossus
- The Last Guardian
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Yeah I’m the same 
Always check how long to beat. Some great looking recommendations there. Thanks very much
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