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Best sub-20 hour games?

I have been on a kick lately with short games. Because I’m a parent with a hectic job, it’s really nice to be able to beat a game in just a few days.

I’ve played both Plague Tale games (10 & 20 hours respectively), Stray (7 hours), and Alan Wake (10 hours). All great stories, very atmospheric, and felt like just the right length for what they were.

Any other good story-heavy games that are pretty short? Throw any and all recommendations at me!

orca ,
@orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts avatar

Checkout Somerville. It has its quirks, but I loved it overall. If you’re familiar with the game Out of This World (often referred to as Another World and vice versa), you’ll probably dig it.

Another one I recommend is Planet of Lana. Lovely little story and easy gameplay. This one really grabbed me and was an enjoyable, short playthrough.

I went through a similar period. Played a handful of easy-to-pick-up short adventure games.

Lemmyatem ,

Great idea for a post. I feel the same with games and novels.

iNeedScissors67 ,
@iNeedScissors67@kbin.social avatar

I'd look at Telltale-style games. They're roughly 10 hours each ( five 2-hour ish episodes) and are almost entirely story driven. The gameplay is usually very simple. You choose dialogue choices to drive the story.

The best Telltale games are in my opinion: The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, The Walking Dead, Batman: The Telltale Series and its sequel, Batman: The Enemy Within. They're also releasing the first episode of The Expanse (based on the TV show since the character Camina Drummer does not exist in the books) later this month.

Another series that is very much that same style but by different devs is the Life is Strange series. I've played the first one and the prequel called Before the Storm. They are very emotionally heavy stories so I'm taking some time before I can go into the sequels but I absolutely love that series and will preach it to anyone who will listen.

10 hours is definitely short but it also helps that they are all done in 2-hour episodes so you can easily take breaks.

MrEUser ,
@MrEUser@lemmy.ninja avatar

I beat Myst in 19 hours of continuous game play without a guide or the internet. Best? Well, if you intend to beat it, it’ll take a lot of thinking through stories.

patchymoose OP ,
@patchymoose@beehaw.org avatar

I haven’t played Myst since the 90s! Such a great game.

Thanovir ,

You should give Guardians of the Galaxy a try. I’m not really a Marvel fan but the game is great and should take around 20 hours to complete.

Plus_a_Grain_of_Salt ,

I’mma do it, I’mma be the one to bring up Undertale this time (estimated 2 hours, worth a few replays), there’s also little nightmares (2-4 hours depending on platforming skills) which is a spooky little game, but not too spooky if you ever play in front of the kids.

ranandtoldthat ,

Bastion or Transistor, both early Supergiant games.

Pseu ,
  • Ori and Ori: Will of the Wisps. These games are beautiful and atmospheric. The story is basic, but it’s a world to get lost in.
  • All of the supergiant games (except for maybe Hades). So Bastion, Transistor and Pyre. Dripping with style, Bastion and Transistor have a pretty straightforward story, but it’s well told. Pyre’s story is a bit more complex, with a heavy focus on characters and your choices with them.
Chobbes ,

Pyre is criminally underrated.

EmDash ,

Limbo and Inside are both short and atmospheric, but not story heavy at all.

jeanofthedead ,

Oof, I would tend to disagree. Those stories are dark (despite being unexplained) and have stuck with me for years.

HowlsSophie ,

Oxenfree, A Night in the Woods, Afterparty, and Gris. Gris is a masterpiece when it comes to visuals but not story-heavy. The other three are entirely story.

silent_g ,
@silent_g@beehaw.org avatar

Seconding Oxenfree. It’s one of the few multi-choice/multi-ending games where I was completely content with the ending I got, and didn’t feel like the game ever lied to me or ripped me off for choosing the “wrong” thing. I had stayed away from it for so long because I wasn’t ready to deal with choice anxiety that I get in a lot of games of that type, but for whatever reason, the game never made me feel like that.

HowlsSophie ,

Oh yes choice anxiety was definitely a thing. I think I felt that more with Afterparty and even played the game a second time to try to alter things but at the end of the day, I realized it’s not that serious and simply enjoying the game made it a better experience.

HiT3k ,

Returnal, Resident Evil REmakes, most Giant Bomb games, Firewatch, Hellblade…

If you liked Alan Wake, definitely give the RE remakes and Hellblade a shot, and don’t sleep on Firewatch. In fact, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is probably one of the most thoughtful and atmospheric experiences in gaming (at least in the field of 3rd person, pseudo action games).

Hamano ,

I second Resident Evil games. But, they have multiple ends that require replay the games or a large portion of them. You can watch the endings on YouTube though. But iirc, RE VII, has a whole different portion of game influenced by a choice you make, than make you replay that whole part and it can be long.

knokelmaat ,

What Remains of Edith Finch is a beautiful game in under 2h.

A Short Hike is a wholesome short little experience, really loved it.

Journey is one of my favorite games of all time and is shorter than most movies.

Titanfall 2 campaign was 6h or something and really cool!

CorvusNyx ,
@CorvusNyx@beehaw.org avatar

Jade Empire - a little older Bioware action RPG, originally for the Xbox, but can be found on GOG. Runs between 12 to 20 hours.

Undertale - my favourite game of all time, easy to play, excellent story, and incredible soundtrack.

jehreg ,

Gris. It’s like playing an art piece.

thekbob ,

Similar vein, but I replay Journey often, as well.

bermuda ,

I went on my steam profile (note these are all PC games, but some are on console) and looked at all the games I finished in under 20 hours at least once and enjoyed so I’ll just list them here. It’s in descending order from most (20.1 hours) to least (68 minutes):

I put a star next to the ones I’d recommend in a heartbeat even without the 20 hour limit.

  • Mirror’s Edge ★
  • The Stanley Parable ★ (although may take you at least 20 to find all endings / easter eggs / secrets)
  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ★ (due to the fact that it’s the middle game in an incomplete trilogy, also recommend Deus Ex: Human Revolution but that’s more than 20)
  • Hotline Miami ★
  • Little Inferno
  • Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
  • Dishonored ★
  • Myst
  • DOOM (2016) ★
  • Wolfenstein: The New Order ★
  • Portals 1 & 2 ★
  • Return of the Obra Dinn ★ (beat twice in 9 hours)
  • Kentucky Route Zero ★
  • The Henry Stickmin Collection ★
  • FAR: Lone Sails
  • Titanfall 2
  • DUSK ★
  • COD: Modern Warfare 2
  • Ghostrunner (didn’t like this but it seemed most people who weren’t me did so i’m putting it here)
  • Thomas Was Alone
  • Jazzpunk: Director’s Cut ★
  • Gunpoint ★
  • Orwell
  • Firewatch
  • Superliminal ★
  • Observer_ ★
  • SUPERHOT ★
  • The Beginner’s Guide
  • BattleBlock Theater
  • INSIDE ★
  • EDGE
  • Quadrilateral Cowboy
  • Journey ★

edit: saw u said “story heavy” so i removed some of the arcadey ones. Some of these aren’t exactly “story heavy” depending on ur definition but they at least have a story

TheRoarer ,

I’m pretty upset tf|2 doesn’t have a star. Explain yourself.

bermuda ,

i didn’t like the multiplayer

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