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
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.
Same. Single run, hard mode, no red highlights A well spent afternoon
The original was a great game.
Ordered-ish by recommendation:
- SUPERHOT (it’s the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years)
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- Sayonara Wild Hearts
- Carrion
- Planet of Lana
- Jusant
- The Artful Escape
- The Gunk
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
deleted by creator
Stray is a good short game. It’s on console and PC both. Beautiful 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
Planetarian
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.
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:
- Before Your Eyes
- Vanishing of Ethan Carter
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
The Stanley Parable
Portal 2
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.
Games of about 10hs from before 2019?
- King of Dragon Pass: Tribe management game/text adventure with illustrations. Felt it was interesting in both mechanics and vibes
- Plants vs Zombies: Addictive comedy-themed tower defense
- Alundra: PS1’s Zelda
- Gris: Atmospheric 2D puzzle platformer
- Celeste: Rewarding 2D platformer with nice music
- The Lion’s Song: Graphic aventure light on gameplay and heavy on story and atmosphere. 4 chapters about early 20th century Austrian artists and scientists with themes like art, gender, identity, memory, society, etc.
- Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You: You play as a government employee tasked with finding people deemed as terrorists by the gov by scouring their social networks. There’s different ways to play it
- Papers, Please: Similar to above but as a border control agent
- The Banner Saga: Tactical RPG bases on viking mythology
- Rebuild: Gangs of Deadville: Management of a group/colony of customizable survivors in a zombie apocalypse. Web game
These are more recent but they should require very low specs:
- Roadwarden: Very well written and immersive text adventure with RPG elements. Low fantasy world, you’re assigned as a roadwarden by a far away nation to a dangerous and sparsely populated wildland.
- Landnama: Viking tribes settling Iceland. Plays like a well designed board game in video game form. Real time with pause.
- Citizen Sleeper: Incredible cyberpunk text-heavy adventure with RPG elements and a narrative focused on being humane in a not so humane world with a not quite humane body
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
Titanfall 2 is fun! I did the singleplayer in about 6 to 7 hours.
This is a good rec.
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
Stray