Submitted 4 months ago by PP_BOY_@lemmy.world to patientgamers@sh.itjust.works
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!
Outer wilds. It can be longer but some I a single sitting or two it hits best.
Also Firewatch
Was gonna say Outer Wilds as well. It’s such an amazing experience and kind of made he 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.
Two fantastic recommendations
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.
The original was a great game.
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.
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, it’s so goddamn good
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 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
Have you tried The Longing?
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:
I have more, just let me know what you like and I can try to give more recs.
What Remains of Edith Finch - explore your old home to learn everyone’s secrets
I love that game.
Me too! I also highly recommend:
Gone Home - explore your old home to learn everyone’s secrets
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 (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
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
Shorts games of about 10hs from before 2019?
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.
Project Eclise for PvZ2. I’m sure there’s something similar for 1.
Oh, didn’t know. I played it with zero microtransactions. I’m sure there’s a certain way though
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.
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.
Obra Dinn is an absolute banger of a game and soundtrack and I’d love to be able to forget and re play it.
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.
Portal 2
Titanfall 2 is fun! I did the singleplayer in about 6 to 7 hours.
This is a good rec.
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.
Stray
Celeste. Not much to say except that it's a fantastic little platformer.
I think Bastion is a perfect fit for this
Celeste!
Incremental Games: (best played blind)
Man, I loved A Dark Room, thanks for the reminder. Psyched to see they have mobile apps now.
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.
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 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.
Stray
Bulletstorm, its stupid, its raunchy, and its hilarious, and it clocks in it about 8 hours.
Such a good game. Turn off that brain and pull push and kick the shit out of everything!
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 aer by J.J. Granville. 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.
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.
can@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Portal?
PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Awesome game, it was one of the first I ever played on my friends’ Xbox
can@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
You’ve probably played it then but Portal 2 is pretty short too.
danciestlobster@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Superliminal is the best similar to portal without being portal game I have played, big recommend