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!
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
- Stacking - fun adventure puzzle game based on matryoshka dolls
- Little Nightmares - fantastic puzzle game stuff great atmosphere and horror elements; similar to INSIDE and Limbo
- Abzû - underwater exploration with light puzzle mechanics
- Ys 1 and 2 - pretty old, but it’s my favorite Ys game; Ys Origin is a bit newer, but also a bit longer (~11 hours per playthrough, need 3 for full story, but each plays differently)
Puzzle
- Manifold Garden - puzzle game where you manipulate gravity
- Hexlogic - sudoku-like
- SUPERHOT - shooter that plays like a puzzle game
- Magrunner - just ignore the story, the puzzles are pretty good
- Portal - the OG puzzle game, must play if you haven’t; second is about twice as long
ARPG/Souls-like
- Death’s Door - just started, but it’s looking good
- Ittle Dew - Zelda-like with lots of satire about the genre
- Furi - boss rush only
- Titan Souls - boss rush, but both you and the boss has 1HP
Narrative heavy
- Telltale Batman or The Walking Dead - narrative heavy game with walking simulator sections; choices matter (but not a ton); great if you want a decent interactive story
- What Remains of Edith Finch - explore your old home to learn everyone’s secrets
- Oxenfree - explore Island to uncover its secrets; replay value for alternate endings
Metroidvania
- Headlander - Metroidvania where you play as a disembodied head that can attach to other bodies
- Ori and the Blind Forest
Point and Click
- Darkside Detective - point and click with a great sense of humor
- Broken Age - you’re a virgin about to be sacrificed, and you’re not sold on the idea
- Deponia - earth is completely wrecked, and you want off; quite funny
AAA/high production value
- Ryse: Son of Rome - not amazing, but a pretty satisfyingly average experience
- Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - shooter a bit after the US civil war
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.
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
I think Cocoon will fit in 10 hours. It did for me.
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.
I think Bastion is a perfect fit for this
Hollowknight!
50 hour game for me lmao
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.
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.
Celeste. Not much to say except that it’s a fantastic little platformer.
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
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.
Helltaker is a little puzzle game that is free and short and sweet
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.
Stray
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.
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 detectiveHow 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.
