Best games that can be completed in under ten hours?
So this isn't directly related to patientgaming but my hardware and personal tastes kind of filter me to playing games no newer than five years old.
I'm looking for some recommendations for games that can be completed within ten hours. I've realized recently that this is the sweet spot how much I enjoy playing a game before I get bored of it. I'm open to all types of games. Thanks in advance!
Portal?
Awesome game, it was one of the first I ever played on my friends' Xbox
You've probably played it then but Portal 2 is pretty short too.
Superliminal is the best similar to portal without being portal game I have played, big recommend
I was a little disappointed with Superliminal. Really short and I didn’t think the puzzles got very interesting. I was excited about the concept, but it really didn’t live up to my expectations. Glad you liked it, though! I think it was maybe just a little overhyped for me.
If you’re looking for other games in this style… The Turing Test was decent and short, and Lightmatter is pretty unknown and decent. They’re not as polished as Portal, obviously, but they’re both relatively short puzzle games. I think the puzzles in Turing Test were pretty straightforward. The Lightmatter puzzles were a bit more interesting, I think.
Awesome! I'll check those out
They’re nice. I wouldn’t be surprised if you liked Superliminal more because I think it’s a more unique concept than either. It’s been a while since I played either, but I think Lightmatter was a more unique concept for puzzles than Turing Test, but Turing Test had some reasonably interesting stuff going on story wise (not amazing, but I have a bit of a soft spot for the kind of Chinese Room philosophy stuff). Either way, they’re worth a look, I think! Sometimes you just want something to scratch the first person puzzle itch and there aren’t thaaaat many games in the category!
Outer wilds. It can be longer for some but finishing it in a single sitting or two it hits best. A deep emotional experience that you can only ever truly experience truly the first time. So avoid spoilers at all costs.
Also Firewatch
Was gonna say Outer Wilds as well. It's such an amazing experience and kind of made me rethink what video games can be as art and just... an experience. Can be finished really quick though for me it took a good chunk of time.
I'll also reiterate, don't look up spoilers. The game is so much about exploration and discovery that going in blind is best.
It truly is something special. Every time it’s on sale I end up buying a key and giving it to somebody I know just so they can experience it.
Sometimes I feel a bit silly with how much and how often I recommend this game, but it truly is something special.
I got the soundtrack on vinyl just recently and listening to it is like microdosing the game.
That and Ellis doing recaps of YouTubers and Twitch Streamers let’s plays
Those Eelis videos gives me life. I went and watched the entire About Oliver play through after seeing the highlights.
Two fantastic recommendations
A Short Hike is a great little platformer you can finish in a couple hours.
Super Mario RPG is a classic and can be squeezed into 10 hours if you rush, but probably closer to 12~15.
I second „A Short Hike,“ it‘s a wonderful little game.
A Short Hike is fantastic!
Thanks for the recommendation. That looks great. Just bought it there on sale for under 4 euro.
Mirror's Edge - a perfect way to spend 5 hours
This has been on my list for a decade haha. I just might have to pick it up
It's a comfort game for me, always come back to it every year or two.
Same. Single run, hard mode, no red highlights A well spent afternoon
The original was a great game.
Journey is a game that has stuck with me for the past ten years. It took me an hour and a half to complete.
Journey is such an amazing that experience.
It's short but it stuck with me too.
I still regularly listen to the soundtrack. Such a good game.
It is one of those games that I visit just to chill.
Another good one is Valley.
Ordered-ish by recommendation:
Wait hellblade is under 10 hours? I really gotta knock that out soon
I beat it in two sittings. If I'd started earlier in the day, it could have been one. Highly recommend headphones for it
My playthrough lasted 8.5 hours and was well worth experiencing.
Super Hot was so much fun.
Sayonara Wild Hearts was beautiful and a blast as well.
+2 to SUPERHOT, SUPERHOT is the most innovative shooter I've played in years!
Is Jusant really that short? I think the demo took me 2 hours
Took me five hours start to finish. Not rushing but not trying very hard to find secrets either.
Perfect game pass game that one.
I always check https://howlongtobeat.com/ before starting a new game
I also tend to prefer games that are short.
Here are a couple of my PC recommandations, in no specific order :
Somerville
Jusant
Planet of Lana
Limbo + Inside
Little Nightmares 1 + 2
Cocoon
Solar Ash
Tunic
Cult If The Lamb
Have A Nice Death
Death's Door
Stray
Trek To Yomi
Tunic, ten hours?! I must be terrible at it hahaha
Fuck sake it took me nearly ten hours just to learn how to read in Tunic
TrueAchievements says 15-20 hrs. It took me 25 to get them all. HLTB agrees with this time for completionist.
Have you tried The Longing?
Stray is a good short game. It's on console and PC both. Beautiful game.
The Stanley Parable
I also love short-ish games, so hopefully one of these strikes your fancy. You didn't specify a preferred genre or other games you liked, so I'm going to just throw some out there:
Adventure/Puzzle
Puzzle
ARPG/Souls-like
Narrative heavy
Metroidvania
Point and Click
AAA/high production value
I have more, just let me know what you like and I can try to give more recs.
I love that game.
Me too! I also highly recommend:
Gone Home - explore your old home to learn everyone’s secrets
Gone Home was good, yes!
I feel like it generates way more of a spooky atmosphere, too. I honestly thought I was playing a horror game for the first half, before I finally realized it wasn't going to jump scare me and I could relax.
In a similar vein, The Suicide Of Rachel Foster is a decent experience. It's not nearly as good, to be clear, but it's worth playing imo. It's much creepier, however.
Dear Esther was similar, but less of a game and more of an audio visual experience. Some I haven't played yet:
I just finished Deaths Door and it was a very enjoyable game to play on the go or in bed (steamdeck). Took me about 17 hours to finish it.
Well-reviewed games you can 100% in less than 10hrs:
Portal
The Henry Stickmin Collection
OneShot
Stray
Grimm's Hollow
Any of The Room games
Pineapple on Pizza
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
Doki Doki Literature Club
TOEM
Finding Paradise
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
CULTIC
Gorogoa
The Case of the Golden Idol
Well-reviewed games you can probably beat in around 10hrs, but not quite 100%:
Portal 2
Vampire Survivors
Pizza Tower
Katana ZERO
A Hat in Time
Resident Evil 2
Hotline Miami
The Wolf Among Us
Undertale
Papers, Please
Baba Is You
DUSK
POSTAL 2
Outlast
Edit: formatting is pain
Edit 2: I missed the part about low-end hardware, but it sounds like the only ones of these you may not be able to run are Stray and Resident Evil 2
Upvoting for OneShot
In no particular order:
Metal Gear Rising Revengence
Psychonauts 1
Bladed Fury
Ori and the Blind Forest
Titanfall 2
OneShot
Undertale
Unpacking
Portal/Portal 2
Bastion/Transistor
Any member of the Shadowrun RPG trilogy
Little Inferno
Planetarian
Antichamber - old revolutionary puzzle game, confusing at times
Baba is you - a great puzzle game
Outer wilds - experience that is one in a lifetime, go in blind
Return of obra dinn - you are a detective
How can you finish Outer Wilds in less than 10 hours, it's 10 hours that I'm wandering around and I still don't get what to do!
To finish under 10 hours you need to get lucky and cut out some lore from the playthrough. Usuall playthrough is a bit longer.
I could get you to explain what have you discovered already but as it is now Lemmy devs have a negative position to implement proper spoiler support. Just open ship log (journal?)(I don't remember the name) and follow the question marks.
Games of about 10hs from before 2019?
These are more recent but they should require very low specs:
Is it still possible to get any versions of Plants vs Zombies that aren't riddled with micro transactions? I feel like the non-updated version of the original became hard to find anymore a few years ago. Though maybe that was just on mobile.
Oh, didn't know. I played it with zero microtransactions. I'm sure there's a certain way though
Project Eclise for PvZ2. I'm sure there's something similar for 1.
If it hasn't been mentioned, I think it's newer than 5 years but Return of the Obra Dinn and Curse of the Golden Idol are great short games that you can pick up and put down as you like.
Obra dinn is art
I wish I could give myself a concussion so I can play it again afresh.
It's Xmas. I can doink your noggin with a mallet if you like.
Obra Dinn is an absolute banger of a game and soundtrack and I'd love to be able to forget and re play it.
Titanfall 2 is fun! I did the singleplayer in about 6 to 7 hours.
This is a good rec.
You absolutely must play Doki Doki Literature Club if you have not. It's free. Do not look up spoilers or be put off by the type of game or the setting. Just play it.
P.S. - "Doki Doki" the way you write the sound of a heart beating in Japanese akin to "lub dub" in English.
Return of the Obra Dinn. The 2nd game from the maker of Papers, Please. You're trying to solve the murders or disappearances of 60 people on a ship, using a watch that can view their moment of death. Insanely unique game, and it's hard to replicate that feeling of all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place that this game fosters.
I have seen it recommended somewhere in the comments but I want to shed some more light on this game: What Remains of Edith Finch. It is a walking simulator that should take about 2 hours and is best played in a single session.
As Edith Finch, you go back to the house where you grew up in your younger years to explore it. The Finch family has an almost genetic trait of bad luck; many of them have died before their time. You explore the house room by room and explore that person's last moments.
There is no gore or horror of any kind, but there are children that die, so if that is a trigger I would sit this one out. If not, it is currently on sale for less than €5. It is worth it.
Portal 2
Stray
Celeste. Not much to say except that it's a fantastic little platformer.
I think Bastion is a perfect fit for this
Incremental Games: (best played blind)
Man, I loved A Dark Room, thanks for the reminder. Psyched to see they have mobile apps now.
I don't think anyone else has mentioned Gunpoint! So.. Gunpoint.
The worst part of Gunpoint is that after finishing up there's no more Gunpoint.
Chrono Trigger apparently. It feels longer, but if you are familiar with square rpgs… or Pokemon. You can get through it quickly.
I take my time personally, and like doing the side activities, and listening to the music.
Chrono Trigger is around 25 hours for a casual playthrough. Great game with a very fast pace for its genre but it seems way too long for OP.
Eliza: A visual novel by Zachtronics, took me 10 hours to beat
Aviary Attorney: A visual novel / detective/ attorney game with music from Camille Saint-Saens and art by J.J. Grandville. Beat it in 7 hours and had a blast.
Braid: 2D puzzle platformer with time shift mechanic. Finished it in 7 hours.
Tiny Bang story: wimmelpicture point & click. 7 hours.
Call of Cthulhu: Horror walking simulator. 7 hours.
Bastion: Amazing isometric action game by Supergiant Games. Rook me good 6 hours to finish.
Thomas was alone: 2 D platformer with geometric shapes as characters and great narrator. 6 hours.
Whispers of a machine: Noir detective story point & click. 5 hours.
Homefront: USA gets invaded by Korea first person shooter. Good 4 hours.
INSIDE: Atmospheric 2D puzzler. 4 hours.
LIMBO: Same as INSIDE, same developer, great game, different story. 4 hours.
Celeste!
(Unless you want to complete additional levels, which are still canon, then much much more).
Stray
I keep a spreadsheet literally called "games to play". Ive played about half of these so far, but they all meet your criteria, and all have overall good reviews, here's a selection from it, including my own notes: (pardon the lack of formatting coming from a spreadsheet)
A Hand With Many Fingers - 3 hours - Puzzle - Difficult (use pen and paper for clues) CIA mystery
A Wolf In Autumn - 1 hour - Walking Sim - Girls nightmare
ADR1FT - 6 hours - Puzzle - Space station catastrophe
Anna - Extended Edition - 5 hours - Adventure - Psych horror in sawmill, inventory based puz
Antichamber - 7 hours - Puzzle - MC-Escher-esque open world physics breaking puzzle solving
Aporia: Beyond The Valley - 5 hours - Walking Sim - Walking Sim+ (puzzles), awaken in ancient temple in jungle
Ballads At Midnight - 4 hours - Visual Novel - Story of a bard and a vampire
Beyond: Two Souls - 12 hours - Adventure - Ellen Page / Willem Dafoe,
Blind Spot - 5 hours - Puzzle - Puzzle mystery story
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons - 3 hours - Walking Sim - Heart-wrenching story told with no words
Brukel - 1 hour - Walking Sim - 92yr old grandma retells memories of WWII
Close To The Sun - 6 hours - Walking Sim - Looks like Bioshock, great atmo
Cloud Climber - 1 hour - Walking Sim
Deliver Us The Moon - 5 hours - Adventure - Sci-fi story on moon, some puzzles, some platforming
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald A Whirlwind Heist - 1 hour - Walking Sim - Very short, hilarious game from maker of The Stanley Principle
Draugen - 3 hours - Mystery - American searching for missing sister in 1920s Norway
Goetia - 7 hours - Point-And-Click - Puzzles / adventure in abandoned house, text heavy
Gorogoa - 2 hours - Puzzle - Hand Illustrated puzzle game
Heavy Rain - 10 hours - RPG - Crime thriller / mystery, multiple outcomes, some QTEs
I Hope She's OK - 1 hour - Walking Sim - Short mystery at a nordic cabin, told through instagram-like messages
Jessika - 3 hours - FMV - Solve suicide of Jessika
Journey - 5 hours - Walking Sim - Atmospheric exploration
Knee Deep - 4 hours - Puzzle - Mystery in a swampland / theater production
Kona - 8 hours - Adventure - Detective in eerie Canada town
Manifold Garden - 6 hours - Puzzle - M.C. escher landscape build gravity bend puzzles
Murdered: Sould Suspect - 10 hours - RPG - Solve your own murder
Scanner Sombre - 3 hours - Walking Sim - Trippy cave-explore game
SOMA - 10 hours - RPG - Horror adventure
Tacoma - 4 hours - Walking Sim - Sci-fi space station adventure
The Fidelio Incident - 3 hours - Puzzle - Short story, plane crash in N. Ireland
The Forgotten City - 10 hours - RPG - Time loop in ancient Rome
The House of Da Vinci - 7 hours - Puzzle - Similar to "The Room" series
The Painscreek Killings - 10 hours - Walking Sim + - Murder mystery, find clues and keys
The Secrets of Darkwood - 5 hours - Txt RPG - Descendant of Might and Magic series
The Signifier - 9 hours - Adventure - Dark, tech-noir
The Silent Age - 4 hours - Point-and-click - Short, fairly easy puzzles, time travel post-apocalypse
The Turing Test - 6 hours - Puzzle - Portal/Talos wannabe
The Unfinished Swan - 4 hours - Puzzle - Paint / blob game
To The Moon 4 hours - Walking Sim - Doctors help dying patients relive life
Untitled Goose Game - 6 hours - TP-RPG - You are a horrible goose
Valley - 8 hours - Walking Sim - Actually running/jumping sim
Of these, the standouts that I've played so far are "Scanner Sombre" and "Unfinished Swan" for truly unique gameplay. "SOMA" and "Heavy Rain" for best storytelling. "Painscreek Killings" for best mystery (minus one very out of place sequence). "Forgotten City" for the best standalone Skyrim mod turned into a self contained adventure.
That's the kind of quality content that needs to be stickied for further reference or something!
To the Moon is a very short must play.
It's been awhile since I finished if, but if I recall correctly,
Abzuwas about 5 hours.I second Abzu. Short but also a brilliant, relaxing, and meaningful game.
Citizen Sleeper, it's so good you will likely not put it down until your story ends!
Thomas Was Alone, amazing narrative platformer and all time favourite.
Telltale Games, most of not all can be completed in 10 hours and they are all great. TWAU is the best one.
Titanfall 2, one of the greatest campaigns.
You can finish a lot in 10 hours.
Telltale Games Wolf Among Us.
Yes, this one is great
Yeah and imagine my surprise when I learned there is Wolf Among Us 2. They say it's coming to PC. I'm excited.
Bulletstorm, its stupid, its raunchy, and its hilarious, and it clocks in at about 8 hours.
Such a good game. Turn off that brain and pull push and kick the shit out of everything!
Journey
Inside
Adrift
Subnautica
Humanity
Maybe I'm just really bad at it.
Definitely not. I’m great at it and it’s absolutely not an under-10-hour game, especially for a first time player.
In easy mode, maybe. I played it on hardcore permadeath and it took many, many hours to complete it.
Honestly, that was the one suggestion I put that's likely well over 10, but damn it's a good game.
Bioshock comes to mind. You'll miss some side stuff with a 10hr play through but I think it's doable. Amazing game
As someone who doesn't have the attention span for long games this one kept my attention real good.
I enjoyed Stray. It’s pretty short, only got stuck one 1 of the puzzles.
Dredge
Had no idea what to expect going into it. Had only heard that it was a cosmic horror fishing game and decided to give it a try. Ended up loving it!
Not a huge game in terms of scope but feels it nailed every mechanic and the art style and delivery is top notch
Lil' Gator Game can be 100%'d in like 4 hours or less.
The game is basically BOTW but smol.
A Short Hike is similarly themed to this
Its a really fun game and one where youll actually enjoy 100% it.
Limbo. Good game and it lasts only 2 hours.
Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice
Just throwing out my own recommendation for others, I really enjoyed playing Dredge over the summer, which ran perfectly fine on my 1070. Total playtime was about 11 hours and I don't feel like I missed anything or that it overstayed it's welcome
Second this one, highly enjoyed DREDGE and definitely was a good short experience
Helltaker is a little puzzle game that is free and short and sweet
The Curse of the Golden Idol was released in 2022, but could probably run on my microwave. It's a brilliant little detective game inspired by The Return of the Obra Dinn. Highly recommended.
Another detective game from 2022 I loved that's similarly untaxing on hardware was Strange Horticulture. You run a horticulture shop in a Victorian-y fantasy land where strange things are happening...
Both under 8 hours to complete.
I'm playing through the original metal gear solid and it has a pretty good pacing that keeps things fresh while also being a short game. I think you can beat it in about 10-12 hours depending on how much you call in your codec to get extra dialog if you want.
Vs MGS 4 packing in a LITERAL full feature length movie.
Mgs 2 and 3 are also about 5 or 6 hours each if you skip the cutscenes.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
It has zero filler, it's wall to wall balls to the wall nonstop action
you might exceed the ten hours slightly if you're bad like me and get stuck in the final boss for two hours but otherwise it's perfect
Play with the volume up. Your ears will thank you.
Seriously. For every thread that mentions this game, there is someone shouting "RULES OF NATURE!".
Half an hour in, you will understand why. And you will know why this game absolutely slaps.
very much this, the soundtrack became my soundtrack for work for like two years
every boss theme would be the best boss theme in any other game, but here they are just one of many
It's not just that the soundtrack itself slaps, but also the way they use it, the audio design of the game is absolutely masterful.
It knows exactly when to do things like drop the vocals for maximum effect, and the instrumentations reflect the themes the game itself deliberately conveys.
COCOON and Viewfinder are a couple of not-terribly-long puzzle games with super cool mechanics.
May I introduce you to the Sega Saturn library. A lot of it is arcade style games, many of which can be beaten in 2 hours or less, but replayed nearly endlessly
Not sure what 'low end' is for you but if you like puzzle games, The Talos Principle (2014) is fairly low end (plays great on my 6 year old PC) and can be completed in about 6-8 hours. Though, because it's a puzzle game, it could take much longer than that. Right now it Is $4.49US ($9.98US for the gold edition) on Steam. Puzzle logic is similar to Portal.
If you have a bit of completionist streak like me, it can take a lot longer. Some puzzles are fiendishly hard.
I really enjoyed Her Story, if you're into mysteries.
Wandersong is the happiest game you could possibly play that I play whenever I am feeling particularly depressed. Hypnospace outlaw is hilarious and fits the time criteria. Both are newer than 5 years but have very non-demanding specs
Brothers
Not recommended for fathers - particularly fathers of boys.
Ya... wonderful story telling and gameplay though. It made both me and my brother cry.
Oh man... I suspect I shouldn't play this with my boy then.
If you’re looking for a little bit different and unique experience, you can try Katamari Damacy and it’s sequel, We Love Katamari
Instead of shooting enemies or run into the end of the stage, these games main gameplay is to roll a extremely adhesive ball (using both of the controller analog stick) to collect various random objects and junk and make it grow bigger in size. Each of the levels has a different objectives and size requirements that need to be completed for advancing to the next level. The game main campaign also has a very light storytelling too, typically involves around the protagonist and his abusive father who always command him to roll stuff up. The graphics are really minimalist and colorful, plus the soundtrack are the absolute fire, covering the multiple genres such as J-Pop, Scatting Jazz, Hip Hop Disco, and even Bossa Nova
Both games main campaign can be completed in less than 10 hours and runs great even on the low end hardware
VVVVVV
IIRC, Undertale was a pretty short game, and has as deep a story as games three or four times its length.
The company of myself and its prequel fixation
To the moon and its sequel finding paradise
Firewatch
The LEGO movie (and 2)
Portal (and 2)
Halo (1, 2, and 3)
Force Unleashed (and 2)
Warning:
To the moon will absolutely make you ugly-cry.
More than once.
Some randoms that come to mind:
A plague tale innocence and requiem are both pretty short and absolutely wonderful (and heart wrenching).
Technobabylon (and other point and clicks from that dev) is great and short.
CloudPunk is another good short game (more like an interactive novel)
Donut County is good too. Kinda katamari vibes.
The rebooted Tomb Raider series from the late 2010s is also a lot of fun and each one can be completed in at least 20 hrs. I know that’s over your limit but they’re great.
Finished Cult of the Lamb in 6 hours when it released, and I wasn't slacking around. It's a town-building with some roguelike elements, the graphics are cute and nice, while it explores the idea of cult creation, doctrines, sacrifices and all the dark stuff.
Stray
Forgotten Anne is a really good one that took me about 8 hours to complete.
That's been on my wishlist for years and I finally pulled the trigger on it this steam sale.
The art looks gorgeous!
I managed to complete disco elysium in under 25hrs if your up for the challenge you can try and beat my record
Superliminal.
Webbed. You play as a peacock spider (with lasers) trying to save your boyfriend. The bug designs are actually really cute.
Dishonored 1 and 2.
Hyper Light Drifter would be my personal recommendation. My playthrough lengths ranged from like six hours on my first run to like, an hour and a half when I decided to try and beat it quickly? But the game is really gorgeous, and a lot of fun to play
One of my favorites for sure. I hope they make another action RPG without roguelike elements.
What remains of Edith Finch, a very emotional and wonderful game, short and bitter sweet.
I'd go so far to even gift it to people. Outer Wilds make you feel small and huge at the same time.
Opus: The Day We Found Earth, another great short one.
A bit old, but gold: Fate (the dungeon crawler one). It's a bit low-poly by today's standards, but it's so fun and has killer music, lots of spells and weapons, tons of interesting enemies and can be beaten in like 6 hours.
If you wanna have some nostalgia for 2000s era AOL chatrooms you ahould try Emily is Away Too
Hypnospace outlaw also keeps some of this similar nostalgia alive and now I want to go check out this one for even more of it
Ori
Resident Evil 7 & 8. Seven sets a new protagonist in a series reboot sort of way, so you might miss some Easter eggs and callbacks but playing the previous games AT ALL. Its meant to be an entry point in the series.
Most point and click adventures take about 6-10 hours in my experience. My favorites are the Monkey Island and Deponia games.
Digital - A Love Story and its not so close successor Hate Plus. These are digital novels. The former is a story set in a cozy 80s BBS network and the other in an archeological space ship retelling stories related to old Korea. Both touched me very much.
Ratchet and Clank (into the) nexus on ps3 is like a 5 hour game. It also nicely ties into the latest game if you've yet to play that
I think Cocoon will fit in 10 hours. It did for me.
Stranded Sails can't have been much longer than that.
Braid is deffo under ten.
Klondike solitaire 😁.
Castlevania: SOTN once you know a couple of thing about grinding faster.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a game in this category that really left an impression. Would definitely recommend a playthrough.
World of goo
Been a while since I’ve last played but I wanna say Earthbound.
Earthbound is a great game, but it's quite a bit longer than 10 hours for the average first play through.
Yeah it’s more than double that, easily. You’ll spend an hour on fuzzy pickles alone.
Cultic!
I think it will be longer eventually when more chapters get added, but right now it clocks in at about 6 hours I think. Well worth the money.
SANABI
This game absolutely blew me away.
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
Neon beats is a really short that can be finished in much under 10 hours. I love it and replay it every now and then
Brothers: A tale of two sons is pretty spectacular and can be finished within a few hours.
Inscryption
Take a look at Contrast, a 5 hours narrative platforming game with pretty visuals an concept
I just played through the entirety of Storyteller in one sitting but had a riot of a time with a few friends. I think I spent about 2-3 hours finishing the campaign and will probably spend about another hour finishing the last of the achievements when I next take a crack at it.
If you're good enough, Vanquish.
Brothers - Tale of Two Sons https://store.steampowered.com/app/2153350/Brothers_A_Tale_of_Two_Sons_Remake/
Gamepad required, but pretty dope and short puzzle-ish fantasy adventure about 2 brothers who go on an adventure to get medicine for their father. Bit of a tear jerker. Few hours at most for length. If you're not into somewhat somber (or downright depressive) subjects, steer clear.
Catquest https://store.steampowered.com/app/593280/Cat_Quest/
Kinda like topdown zelda-game, but with cats and obscene amounts of cat puns. About 6 hours ish, give or take.
Gunpoint https://store.steampowered.com/app/206190/Gunpoint/
Scifi-noir puzzle platformer, ish. Basically you infiltrate, steal info, try not to be seen, get out. You climb walls/ceilings, tap into buildings circuits to control doors/lamps/elevaters/whatever to lock/smack guards to avoid detection or downright down them. Absolutely banger electronic/jazzy soundtrack. Bit janky with resolution as it is 2d game, wouldn't recommend using anything above 720p.
Perspective https://store.steampowered.com/app/1109410/Perspective/ (free!)
Another puzzle platformer, but the platformer character is separate character from "you". You move in "fps", and depending on how you leave the "camera", that forms the path for the 2d platformer dude. Difficult to explain in brief, but if you check the gameplay video it should clear it up.
Obvious choice, but, Portal 1&2
Small saga
INSIDE is one of my favorite games of any length
Here are some short games that I enjoyed: Untitled Goose Game, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, Donut County, Firewatch, Tangle Tower, Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise, What Remains of Edith Finch, Spectrum Retreat, Dust: An Elysian Tale
Portal, Hyperbolica
I finished Capcom's Remember Me in just under 10 hours. I actually played through the whole thing in one sitting. It was a really fun game. I think about it a lot
Journey is one of my favourite short games.
Spec Ops: The Line is $6 on steam right now, it's one of the few games I would call a masterpiece. I was able to finish it in two sittings, it's the perfect length and it's so damn good
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is another masterpiece, $4.50 on steam right now, an absolute crime that a game as beautiful as that is that cheap. You gotta make sure you're wearing headphones when you play it
Spec Ops: The Line was a surprise. The name sounds like a B level shooter. Powerful ending.
That's its greatest asset, and its downfall. It looks, sounds, and plays like the most generic "Americans in the middle east fighting brown people" mid 2000s shooter, and it was entirely on purpose. I implore anyone reading this who's at all into third person shooters to stop reading, pick up the game, and pretend you're the target audience of a game called "Spec Ops" while you're playing. It's $6 on steam, it's over a decade old so you can definitely run it, and it takes like 8 hours to beat.
And pay attention to the loading screen tips, especially in the latter half of the game.
You’re 💯 right.
Dave the Diver
Funny enough, this was the game that sparked this post. Amazing game, but I eventually lost interest after 23 hours without any sight of the ending. Could just be a skill issue for me for taking so long though, I only wish I was able to experience all of it in a shorter amount of time
I competed it literally yesterday. It took me 28 hours in total and I'd say I had a similar experience to you that I really enjoyed the concept but I wanted it to be finished quite a few hours before I actually completed it. Also, if you made it to the glacier area then you weren't far from the end.
Dave the Diver has lost me at about 8-10 hours. I detest doing chores for underwater people.
The game is entirely too wide and too shallow: it has too much in it but very little depth. Kind of ironic.
Super Mario RPG can be wolluped in 20. If you go hard, I bet you can do it in 10.
Pretty fun and rather full of Easter eggs if you want to keep at it.
Hollowknight!
It seems I was mistaken
Hollow knight is a great game, but it’s also not remotely close to a <=10 hour long game.
Really? I finished my first run in under 10 hours. Of course I went back and spent 200 hours doing everything I missed but it's definitely completable in under 10 hours depending on how you play
Don't you have to beat it in under 10 hours for the first speed run achievement? HowLongToBeat says 27 hours for just the main story; 41.5 hours for main + sides. If you managed under 10 hours on your first run, you must be a serious metroidvania veteran.
Well that much is true, I probably should have taken that into account
50 hour game for me lmao