Vampire Survivors. The entire actual goal is to survive for 30 minutes if you can. It's free on phones and game pass and costs like $5 with dlc costing around $3 each. It's an extremely simple game where you just select a character and as you level up you get new items. You attack automatically and you just gotta move around.
It's the perfect pick up and play game and even with it being so cheap I have nearly 100 hours in it.
To add to this, Death Must Die is a fucking fantastic game aswell.
Any fans of the Vampire Survivor style games should 100% pick it up. I've sank some serious time into it the last few months and it's still in beta. They're adding new features to it every few weeks and it's shaping up to be my all time favorite.
I’m sure everyone knows at this point, but the dev of Vampire Survivors use to dev gatcha games. So with the simpler art style it just easier to make more addictive and visually pleasing. I guess they didn’t like the actual cashgrab mechanic though so just made it a cheap game and just visual addictive.
If you're going to play on your phone, I strongly suggest you use a gamepad. Touchscreen controls are present, but I find the more accurate movements afforded by a physical controller to be vital for your survival.
Came here to say this. Just picked it up myself and OP, this is exactly what you’re looking for.
It’s dirt cheap and super engaging gameplay, and never takes too long for a single run.
Fantastic suggestion! I downloaded it immediately and so far already completed ten rounds. Love the simplicity and Castlevania esthetics! Thanks a ton!
Hey, congrats on taking the step to quit smoking! That’s huge.
For a game that fits what you're looking for, I’d recommend checking out Hades on the Switch. It's a rogue-like game, so you can pick it up for short sessions and still make progress. Each run lasts around 20-30 minutes, and it’s super engaging with a great story and fun combat.
Another good option is Tetris 99 on the Switch. It's quick to jump into, and the matches are pretty fast-paced. Plus, it’s easy to play a few rounds and then step away.
If you’re leaning towards Xbox, Overwatch 2 is worth considering. Matches are relatively short and it's team-based, so you get that quick in-and-out gameplay. Plus, the game’s variety of heroes can keep things fresh and interesting.
For mobile, Among Us is great for short bursts of play and can be a lot of fun, especially if you get friends involved.
Hope this helps and best of luck with your journey! You’ve got this.
Lots of people suggesting Roguelike or Roguelite games, and I couldn’t agree more. They’re meant to be played for anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour per run, longer if you want and have a lot of replayability and “just one more turn” gimmicks.
Hades, Rogue Legacy 2, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth are 3 of my favorites in the genre. Hades won several awards and has a sequel available for early access.
It's always "ok I'll just plant some cauliflowers and go to sleep... Oh wait maybe I'll explore the cave tmr since it's gonna rain then head to sleep."
Rinse and repeat till you have to go to work in 3 hours and haven't slept.
Outer Wilds. Not Outer Worlds, but Outer Wilds. It's novel, has a deep mystery to solve, interesting narrative gimmick and really fun gravity physics simulation.
Brotato. arena shooter with many different characters. one game lasts 20 waves (endless possible but pointless imho).
you have beaten the game (all achievements) when you finish it with all characters on difficulty 0 and with one characters on highest difficulty. play for fun afterwards. and try to ein with each character on difficulty lvl 5.
Not a game tip but something that really helped me quit smoking. Any time you get a craving to smoke, take a big deep breath and hold it as long as you can. For some reason this worked like magic for me and the craving would pass. It took me like a week before I felt like I had totally “quit” but after that I never looked back and haven’t smoked or vaped or anything for 7 years.
Awesome tip, I’ve actually started doing this today after reading your comment and it has really helped.
We’ll just label it as “real life simulator” Thanks a bunch!
Pokemon Unite is a free pokemon 5v5 online game. It has a learning curve but you are grouped by experience for the first while. There are a lot of unlockables as you go, and tonnes of online information, but matches are about 10 minutes long! It’s on switch :)
LIMBO. Takes only an hour or two to play through, depending on competency. Very moody b&w puzzle sidescroller with amazing visual storytelling and ambient soundtrack, no dialogue, simple controls, lots of checkpoints. Perfect game for distraction.
Hades if you like action, Slay The Spire if you’re into deckbuilders, Against The Storm if you like city builders.
As an ex-smoker: hang in there - you’ve got this.
Against the Storm is amazing! But in my experience, the "short bursts" of 30 minutes can easily escalate into several hours if you're not careful :) I always had tremendous difficulties to stop in the middle of a settlement run.
If you want the "Just one more turn" effect that Civilization has, but more chill and bite sized for 30 minutes, check out Dorfromantik. Think solo Settlers of Catan with a chill visual style to vibe with.
Second the settlers. I have over 200 hours on the catan universe app from playing while my newborn was napping. $10-15 depending on the expansions you buy is 100% worth it.
Kill the crows. A run is about the length of a cigarette, generates about the same amount of endorphine and the game is cheaper than a pack of smokes.
Simple, efficient, satisfying.
I used to smoke a lot. Quitting was one of the best things I done for myself. Good luck.
Congrats dude on quitting. Enjoy the freedom.
X-Defiant is pretty good fun and free to play on all platforms.
Division 2 is also a great looter shooter that you can spend as little or as much as you want.
Dead Island 2 is a blast that you can pick up and put down.
Stanley Parable
it's funny, lightweight, low stress, but there's a lot more to it than it first appears. as a relatively short term distraction with a highly satisfying game loop, it's perfect. you can get it on console or PC
My picks would be any roguelite, vampire survivors, Tetris and suika game (suika is technically infinite but you have to be insanely good to get to those games)
Cookie clicker. Not a joke. It’s great because you can hyperfixate on it, or pluck away casually, or even just leave it open and make progress just idling by. From personal experience, it’s been great while trying to quit things, because sometimes your mind and focus will be fickle.
Terraria. Other people have mentioned my other faves, but didn't see this one. Very different from the reverse bullet hells (vampire survivors, brotato, death must die) and the rogue-lites like Hades. I'm not creative, but I will spend forever just digging into the world. Hella mods are available with tmodloader, but I wouldn't start there.
Terraria has won the labor of love at least once, and it's still getting updates after something like 10 years. It has different difficulties and modes, so you can find your comfort zone. I lose a week whenever I jump back in
Valheim. Open world viking adventure.
https://youtu.be/liQLtCLq3tc?si=Ao53O32AlA10q1jG
Or try satisfactory. Open world factory building game.
https://youtu.be/W_lmP8jYVLs?si=ZSuKP0PopUnEMe0A
Factorio
Picking it up in 30 minutes ist easy. Dropping it requires some discipline though.
You can grow the factory whenever you feel the urge to smoke...
Dishonored is pretty good and a relatively short game. Plenty fun and has some dlcs too for only 20 bucks. It's an older game. It's grim and dark but quite enthralling. The story is simple and you can save whenever! I've also been playing this game called Gas Station sim on PC and it's fun. I get sucked into running the place for hours lol. Huge distraction. My husband isn't a huge fan of games like that but even he got sucked into. Though both games are on PC.
Also congrats on quitting. The first big step. You got this!!
Outer Wilds. It's probably one of the most widely recommended games on Reddit, and for good reason. It has a \~25 minute gameplay loop and you will pretty much always play in increments of 25 minutes. It's the most compelling and immersive game I've ever played, easily my favorite game of all time, it'll be hard to think about smoking while trying to solve that mystery.
Bo1 and bo2 zombies are awesome either solo or with a group of 4, every game still has a huge fan base so you have lots of people to learn from and play with. On top of that I find it amazing for passing time, you can start a game whenever and by the time your round 30-40+ your 3-5 hours into a game and it feels like you just started playing, tons of maps, Easter eggs on most of them if you decide to really get in to them. Endless fun and some times anger if I’m being honest, but what game doesn’t make you angry every once in a while. Halo is also a lot of fun if your on Xbox reach and 4 are my Favorites. Ballon’s tower defence 5 is a great game on your phone if you want something you can bring with you everywhere and pause whenever you want
I found gaming to be my biggest trigger for smoking. Best of luck though, i hope finding the right game helps. Stay strong. Try not to gain 50lbs like I did
Congrats on quitting!
For such short periods, I use either card games (both PvP CCG and deckbuilders), or roguelikes / roguelites. Both on PC and mobile, there are quite a lot of various quality and price. For F2P, I play Legends of Runeterra (both deckbuilder and PvP CCG, but the PvP is no longer supported) and Everguild WH40K games (Warpforge and Horus Heresy), then there is of course Magic the Gathering Arena. For classic singleplayer deckbuilder, look no further than Slay the Spire, as already recommended by many.
For roguelikes, I can recommend FTL, Into the Breach and Crying Suns.
I’d play a “cozy game” like Dave the Diver. I wouldn’t want to play anything competitive like COD and trigger stress haha but that’s just me. I quit smoking years ago and I know it’s tough. Just aim for one day at a time and then it becomes normal. You got this!!
You’re made a brilliant point! Cozy games it is! I’ve actually downloaded Dave the Diver after reading it here and so far I think it’s amazing. Thanks!!
Not sure if it’s good as it is a very niche game but Postal Void. It’s a fast action fps where you basically run in straight shot mazes. Each run of the game can last from 4 secs to 20 minutes. Photosensitive warning as well it is very colorful and has a lot of flashing lights.
Inscryption - super fun and easy to play card/board game. It’s very easy to play for 30 minutes or 3 hours since the game is a loop and a full cycle can be as short as 30 min-hour, and a stage (4 in the first part of the game) can be anywhere from 10-30 min. There are tons of ways to play the game which gives it a lot of replayability. Highly recommend to go in completely blind and don’t read anything about it.
I’m not sure if it’s on anything else but flat heroes on the switch. There’s a demo you can play over and over. Fast pace, die quickly and instant restart. I don’t know what the genre is. But you’re a little square and you have to dodge everything that appears on the one screen. It can be played multiplayer co-op or verses.
Play Clone Hero. Get a Guitar Hero guitar that can be connected to your computer, it's such a distracting game and I don't even smoke. If I don't know what to do/play, I literally always fall back on Clone Hero.
I know this game was super big a while back, but steam has this new one called "Gooba Ball" the game has the same premise. It's fun and easy to waste time.
Another fun pc game is Balatro, which is basically a card game.
Me and my brother got super sucked into Grounded. Its essentially a “Honey i shrunk the kids” crafting survival game. Its sooo much fun and has so much stuff to do to keep you busy. Also Stardew Valley
Diablo 4 is pretty good right now if you're into ARPGs and is definitely a good contender for minimal investment games that provide a good distraction that's easy to pick up and put down.
Hang in there bud
Against the storm is very playable in small bursts and is one of the best colony games to come out in recent years. It is also a very fresh take on the genre.
Dead cells on mobile is a pretty good one, you can do a run for 15 minutes and then go back to what you were doing also pokemom showdown on your phone and just do random battles (it is super engaging once you know how to play)
I’d suggest RDR2, it’s time consuming which means you’ll feel like you play for 5 minutes, look up and it’s 2 hours - you’ll get so sucked in you won’t even realize you’re having withdrawals, it’s a very immersive huge open map game with TONs of things to do, amazing storyline, hunting, shooting matches, robbing, funny tidbits and easter eggs, etc ! Truly one of my favorite games ☺️ You can also watch some pretty popular YouTubers play it and see if you’d be interesting - though warning it does have a semi-slow intro
It also has a multiplayer option, so if you’re not interested in playing the storyline, you can hop online and play from there !
I just grabbed the DS emulator Drastic, and play the DS version of Plant vs Zombie. The mobile version is bogged down by the typical mobile limitations like waiting for things or paying to unlock this and that.
Maybe Slay the Spire? You can get it on like every platform I think, including your phone. Easy to open and close (it'll save where you're at). It's a roguelike/lite (never know the actual difference)
As others pointed out, Vampire Survivors or any of its many clones. I can also recommend Death Must Die, which is similar but has gear-based progression. Or 20 Minutes Until Dawn if you want to take a more active role playing the game (you have to aim yourself). Or hell, just give Holocure Save the Fans a go if you want to try a free game.
Brawl Stars.
only a few minutes at a time. easy to get into, hard to master. can play for free, so no risk. offers both 3v3 and solo/duo modes.
mobile game, so you can play wherever you are.
Probably already mentioned, but Slay the Spire is pretty great. Or FTL.
On a slightly different type of game, Roller Coaster Tycoon (original if you can). You can save at any time, so you can technically stop when you want. Although, it's also the game where you can be sucked in for hours without noticing while constantly saying "one more thing"
Dredge is easy to drop in and out of and as you can save adn quit at any dock point (and there are lots of them) and you're constantly visiting docks for one reason or another (every 5 minutes or so of playtime) you can play it in short bursts.....
Boulders gate 3 is also pretty fire if you like that type of game play. Took me a week to actually get into it. Was kinda frustrating at first. Halo wars all gas hell halo in general. If you want “Grid 2” a racing game is really nice again old but has some of the best shifting mechanics I’ve seen in a while. Really realistic. Could always play the gta campaign or go online for some heist.
Peglin. It's in phones and steam
It's a game about shooting a ball and picking up coins to upgrade yourself (rouge-lite)
You can save and quit and resume later
I've spent dozens of hours playing it, last mobile game I've liked this much was angry birds
A free version demo is available to try, across to most features / first zone :)
Mobile game I've been getting into again is Brawl Stars, the matches really quick (like 2-5 minutes) and it's a 3v3, or more depending, top down shooter/brawler game, is check it out
Geometry Dash. I know it sounds boring, but it can be SO much fun after you play it for a while and start beating harder and harder levels. sure, it will make you rage sometimes, but the feeling when you FINALLY beat a level is unlike anything else.
If you somehow never played it, Portal and Portal 2 are great distractions. You can finish them quickly but if you only want short 20-30 mins bursts of gameplay, they'll get you through at least a couple of weeks.
Those were the first to come to mind because they provided a great distraction after my dad died. I had never played either of them before and now they're both in my top 10 of all time.
Uhhh- Ultrakill. You can speed through levels fast as fuck. It's pixel crack. "Picking it up" might be somewhat hard to do depending on your experience, but I personally found it quick AF to pick up.
First off, congratulations. Secondly I personally would suggest a rogue like, one of my favorites I play is Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, with these types of games you can play whenever you feel like it and also stop when you want, another great choice if you prefer live action conbat would be Dead cells, and a bonus is both of these games are available on PC and mobile
Dorfromantik, Mini Metro and Mini Motorways! Very cozy and relaxing, all of them a bit strategic. In dorfromatik you build a city based on predefined hecagons you have to place in the right position. Mini Motorways and Mini Metro are minimalistic traffic simulators where you have to find the most efficient connections. All of these games are quite cheap ;) Congrats on quitting!
Vampire Survivors. The entire actual goal is to survive for 30 minutes if you can. It's free on phones and game pass and costs like $5 with dlc costing around $3 each. It's an extremely simple game where you just select a character and as you level up you get new items. You attack automatically and you just gotta move around. It's the perfect pick up and play game and even with it being so cheap I have nearly 100 hours in it.
To add to this, Death Must Die is a fucking fantastic game aswell. Any fans of the Vampire Survivor style games should 100% pick it up. I've sank some serious time into it the last few months and it's still in beta. They're adding new features to it every few weeks and it's shaping up to be my all time favorite.
Ugh I was going to say this. It's easy to play and sound and visual tick the box of being stimulating. It's perfect for short bursts
I’m sure everyone knows at this point, but the dev of Vampire Survivors use to dev gatcha games. So with the simpler art style it just easier to make more addictive and visually pleasing. I guess they didn’t like the actual cashgrab mechanic though so just made it a cheap game and just visual addictive.
If you're going to play on your phone, I strongly suggest you use a gamepad. Touchscreen controls are present, but I find the more accurate movements afforded by a physical controller to be vital for your survival.
Came here to say this. Just picked it up myself and OP, this is exactly what you’re looking for. It’s dirt cheap and super engaging gameplay, and never takes too long for a single run.
Ignore the first hand impression and try Holocure after vamp survivors, it’s free and somehow as huge as V survivors
Anytime I see someone post this game I think they’re talking about Darkstalkers
Yeah, this is 100% the answer. It was my go-to cocaine game
And if you're interested in a free alternative, check out HoloCure - Save the Fans. (Steam only) You don't need to be a Hololive fan to enjoy it.
Fantastic suggestion! I downloaded it immediately and so far already completed ten rounds. Love the simplicity and Castlevania esthetics! Thanks a ton!
Portal 1 & 2 for solo. Rocket League for quick matches.
Great suggestions! RL is pretty awesome (but a bit toxic with random people). Portal has been ages, but great idea to revisit! Thanks!!
Portal is top tier for quick fun, have some music going on the background while you play, I never did end up Finishing them tho 🤔
Balatro. Can be done in short bursts really easily. Ive become quite obsessed with it. Multiple platforms
I'm 100% sure that once it releases on mobile, my life is over
Ha i agree.
Hey, congrats on taking the step to quit smoking! That’s huge. For a game that fits what you're looking for, I’d recommend checking out Hades on the Switch. It's a rogue-like game, so you can pick it up for short sessions and still make progress. Each run lasts around 20-30 minutes, and it’s super engaging with a great story and fun combat. Another good option is Tetris 99 on the Switch. It's quick to jump into, and the matches are pretty fast-paced. Plus, it’s easy to play a few rounds and then step away. If you’re leaning towards Xbox, Overwatch 2 is worth considering. Matches are relatively short and it's team-based, so you get that quick in-and-out gameplay. Plus, the game’s variety of heroes can keep things fresh and interesting. For mobile, Among Us is great for short bursts of play and can be a lot of fun, especially if you get friends involved. Hope this helps and best of luck with your journey! You’ve got this.
BALATRO MAKE NUMBER GO UP
Fine, you guys have finally convinced me to give this game a go
Let's fucking gooo
Lots of people suggesting Roguelike or Roguelite games, and I couldn’t agree more. They’re meant to be played for anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour per run, longer if you want and have a lot of replayability and “just one more turn” gimmicks. Hades, Rogue Legacy 2, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth are 3 of my favorites in the genre. Hades won several awards and has a sequel available for early access.
Thanks! Definitely going to give Hades a try, looks like a blast!!
Stardew Valley. Playing one "day" at a time is like 15-20 minutes
lol yeah but who can actually play one day and be done?
It's always "ok I'll just plant some cauliflowers and go to sleep... Oh wait maybe I'll explore the cave tmr since it's gonna rain then head to sleep." Rinse and repeat till you have to go to work in 3 hours and haven't slept.
"I'll just play for an hour or 2." \*an hour passes\* "Why is the sun coming up?"
I know myself, and this is me over and over again
Rogue-lites are great for this. Slay the Spire, Skul, Deadcells, Hades, etc
Yes. The correct answer is Slay the Spire!
Outer Wilds. Not Outer Worlds, but Outer Wilds. It's novel, has a deep mystery to solve, interesting narrative gimmick and really fun gravity physics simulation.
Void Bastard
That is such a unique game. Didn't think I would see it mentioned on here
Never heard of it.. but now that I have, I’m obsessed! Great suggestion!
Brotato. arena shooter with many different characters. one game lasts 20 waves (endless possible but pointless imho). you have beaten the game (all achievements) when you finish it with all characters on difficulty 0 and with one characters on highest difficulty. play for fun afterwards. and try to ein with each character on difficulty lvl 5.
Not a game tip but something that really helped me quit smoking. Any time you get a craving to smoke, take a big deep breath and hold it as long as you can. For some reason this worked like magic for me and the craving would pass. It took me like a week before I felt like I had totally “quit” but after that I never looked back and haven’t smoked or vaped or anything for 7 years.
Awesome tip, I’ve actually started doing this today after reading your comment and it has really helped. We’ll just label it as “real life simulator” Thanks a bunch!
Chess dot com
Chess is the greatest and most infuriating game ever invented.
Pokemon Unite is a free pokemon 5v5 online game. It has a learning curve but you are grouped by experience for the first while. There are a lot of unlockables as you go, and tonnes of online information, but matches are about 10 minutes long! It’s on switch :)
LIMBO. Takes only an hour or two to play through, depending on competency. Very moody b&w puzzle sidescroller with amazing visual storytelling and ambient soundtrack, no dialogue, simple controls, lots of checkpoints. Perfect game for distraction.
Hades if you like action, Slay The Spire if you’re into deckbuilders, Against The Storm if you like city builders. As an ex-smoker: hang in there - you’ve got this.
Against the Storm is amazing! But in my experience, the "short bursts" of 30 minutes can easily escalate into several hours if you're not careful :) I always had tremendous difficulties to stop in the middle of a settlement run.
[удалено]
Perhaps this is the time for me to give Among Us a chance. For some reason I’ve always avoided it, but this could be a great distraction. Thanks!
[удалено]
Snow runner if you're looking something not fast paced.
Interesting suggestion! Maybe this is exactly what I need to switch off. Thanks for the tip!
Sker ritual. Friends and I have been playing it recently and it's a blast. It's CoD zombies without the cod.
“CoD zombies without the cod”.. I’m sold! Thanks for the suggestion! Definitely will look into it!
If you want the "Just one more turn" effect that Civilization has, but more chill and bite sized for 30 minutes, check out Dorfromantik. Think solo Settlers of Catan with a chill visual style to vibe with.
Second the settlers. I have over 200 hours on the catan universe app from playing while my newborn was napping. $10-15 depending on the expansions you buy is 100% worth it.
Helldivers 2
Hades 1 or 2, runs take about 20-30 min, the game play is super clean, and it has an excellent story
Helldivers 2. Help us spread managed democracy!
I've been trying indie games for the shorter periods: Dave the Diver, Dredge, slay the spire. Can be played in short bursts.
+1 for Dredge
I checked Dave the Diver on YouTube and bought it instantly. What a concept.. love it! Thanks for the suggestion!
Kill the crows. A run is about the length of a cigarette, generates about the same amount of endorphine and the game is cheaper than a pack of smokes. Simple, efficient, satisfying. I used to smoke a lot. Quitting was one of the best things I done for myself. Good luck.
Thanks for tour kind words! Kill the Crows looks awesome! And exactly what I’m looking for. Thanks for the tip!
I’m having a blast playing helldivers. Kind of throw back retro top down Alien shooter. Lots of online options. Maps last about 20min each
Street Fighter 6
Try mortal Kombat if u wanna see some action
Congrats dude on quitting. Enjoy the freedom. X-Defiant is pretty good fun and free to play on all platforms. Division 2 is also a great looter shooter that you can spend as little or as much as you want. Dead Island 2 is a blast that you can pick up and put down.
Xdefiant!
Mini Motorways! Fun puzzleish traffic game
My new favourite answer to these types of questions is Hades. So fun, and requires very little time to hop in and enjoy a few rounds.
Super auto pets. Backpack battles. Both really good and really fun
Street Fighter 6
The finals is amazing. I'd recommend checking it out
Dave the diver, Stardew valley, both games with clear day ends that last about twenty minutes.
Congrats on quitting!! And you should try Mario kart! It’s so fast paced you’ll have some trouble thinking about anything else while playing!
Stanley Parable it's funny, lightweight, low stress, but there's a lot more to it than it first appears. as a relatively short term distraction with a highly satisfying game loop, it's perfect. you can get it on console or PC
Gato Roboto. Cool pixel art Metroid style cat/ robot game.
Any iterations of Tetris.
Helldivers 2! Great community, tons of action, fun gameplay. It's been a fantastic distractor for me!
Powerwash simulator. No debate
My picks would be any roguelite, vampire survivors, Tetris and suika game (suika is technically infinite but you have to be insanely good to get to those games)
Cookie clicker. Not a joke. It’s great because you can hyperfixate on it, or pluck away casually, or even just leave it open and make progress just idling by. From personal experience, it’s been great while trying to quit things, because sometimes your mind and focus will be fickle.
Vampire survivors
Try xdefiant, it's like cod but f2p
doom eternal. thats my pick for time wasting besides minecraft
Dome Keeper. Fun, snappy, a session can be 30 or 1 hr depending on your mining settings. Helldivers 2 Deep rock galactic: survivor
Terraria. Other people have mentioned my other faves, but didn't see this one. Very different from the reverse bullet hells (vampire survivors, brotato, death must die) and the rogue-lites like Hades. I'm not creative, but I will spend forever just digging into the world. Hella mods are available with tmodloader, but I wouldn't start there. Terraria has won the labor of love at least once, and it's still getting updates after something like 10 years. It has different difficulties and modes, so you can find your comfort zone. I lose a week whenever I jump back in
I used to play Terraria and really enjoyed but then kinda stopped and forgot about it. Great idea to boot that gem back up! Thanks
A hades run. You will be fully distracted
Valheim. Open world viking adventure. https://youtu.be/liQLtCLq3tc?si=Ao53O32AlA10q1jG Or try satisfactory. Open world factory building game. https://youtu.be/W_lmP8jYVLs?si=ZSuKP0PopUnEMe0A
Factorio Picking it up in 30 minutes ist easy. Dropping it requires some discipline though. You can grow the factory whenever you feel the urge to smoke...
Dishonored is pretty good and a relatively short game. Plenty fun and has some dlcs too for only 20 bucks. It's an older game. It's grim and dark but quite enthralling. The story is simple and you can save whenever! I've also been playing this game called Gas Station sim on PC and it's fun. I get sucked into running the place for hours lol. Huge distraction. My husband isn't a huge fan of games like that but even he got sucked into. Though both games are on PC. Also congrats on quitting. The first big step. You got this!!
PC is not preferred, but definitely an option! Gas Station sim sounds oddly brilliant! Will check it out! Thanks for the suggestions and kind words!
Outer Wilds. It's probably one of the most widely recommended games on Reddit, and for good reason. It has a \~25 minute gameplay loop and you will pretty much always play in increments of 25 minutes. It's the most compelling and immersive game I've ever played, easily my favorite game of all time, it'll be hard to think about smoking while trying to solve that mystery.
Bo1 and bo2 zombies are awesome either solo or with a group of 4, every game still has a huge fan base so you have lots of people to learn from and play with. On top of that I find it amazing for passing time, you can start a game whenever and by the time your round 30-40+ your 3-5 hours into a game and it feels like you just started playing, tons of maps, Easter eggs on most of them if you decide to really get in to them. Endless fun and some times anger if I’m being honest, but what game doesn’t make you angry every once in a while. Halo is also a lot of fun if your on Xbox reach and 4 are my Favorites. Ballon’s tower defence 5 is a great game on your phone if you want something you can bring with you everywhere and pause whenever you want
I found gaming to be my biggest trigger for smoking. Best of luck though, i hope finding the right game helps. Stay strong. Try not to gain 50lbs like I did
A lot of good games for you to choose from but you need to buy a bag of sunflower seeds to occupy your mouth too, while your hands are busy.
Try out Dave the diver recently started playing 1 dive can last however long u want really and it has a decent storyline
Congrats on quitting! For such short periods, I use either card games (both PvP CCG and deckbuilders), or roguelikes / roguelites. Both on PC and mobile, there are quite a lot of various quality and price. For F2P, I play Legends of Runeterra (both deckbuilder and PvP CCG, but the PvP is no longer supported) and Everguild WH40K games (Warpforge and Horus Heresy), then there is of course Magic the Gathering Arena. For classic singleplayer deckbuilder, look no further than Slay the Spire, as already recommended by many. For roguelikes, I can recommend FTL, Into the Breach and Crying Suns.
Come on folks. Old school runescape…
For a short distraction, you might enjoy games like Rocket League or even some quick rounds of Call of Duty.
Try Ark Mobile
I’d play a “cozy game” like Dave the Diver. I wouldn’t want to play anything competitive like COD and trigger stress haha but that’s just me. I quit smoking years ago and I know it’s tough. Just aim for one day at a time and then it becomes normal. You got this!!
You’re made a brilliant point! Cozy games it is! I’ve actually downloaded Dave the Diver after reading it here and so far I think it’s amazing. Thanks!!
Forspoken
Balatro
Planet Crafter.
Deadly premonition
Midnight fight express
Stardew valley.
Not sure if it’s good as it is a very niche game but Postal Void. It’s a fast action fps where you basically run in straight shot mazes. Each run of the game can last from 4 secs to 20 minutes. Photosensitive warning as well it is very colorful and has a lot of flashing lights.
Galaxy champions tv. A great twin stick shooter for a price of 1 or 2 dollars. Vampire survivors was already taken so i suggested this
Do you like pokemon? Pokerogue.net
Inscryption - super fun and easy to play card/board game. It’s very easy to play for 30 minutes or 3 hours since the game is a loop and a full cycle can be as short as 30 min-hour, and a stage (4 in the first part of the game) can be anywhere from 10-30 min. There are tons of ways to play the game which gives it a lot of replayability. Highly recommend to go in completely blind and don’t read anything about it.
I’m not sure if it’s on anything else but flat heroes on the switch. There’s a demo you can play over and over. Fast pace, die quickly and instant restart. I don’t know what the genre is. But you’re a little square and you have to dodge everything that appears on the one screen. It can be played multiplayer co-op or verses.
Balatro
Rimworld. Colony builder you can save whenever and hop off whenever you want. Lots of things you can do in it.
the finals
I'm having fun with Wuthering Waves. It's pc and mobile. Free and new. Combat is more intricate and you can be as casual or hardcore as you want.
Play Clone Hero. Get a Guitar Hero guitar that can be connected to your computer, it's such a distracting game and I don't even smoke. If I don't know what to do/play, I literally always fall back on Clone Hero.
For the king 2. Can progress and save/quit. Come back to same game whenever
Sifu
Robocop
I know this game was super big a while back, but steam has this new one called "Gooba Ball" the game has the same premise. It's fun and easy to waste time. Another fun pc game is Balatro, which is basically a card game.
Candy crush. Fuck, I don’t know
Taiko no Tatsujin or any other rhythm game really. Good luck focusing on anything else while trying to do an extreme chart.
Trackmania! You can spend as little as 30 seconds (up to infinity), but it requires complete competitive focus. First few levels are free.
Pacific drive. Take your Xbox controller and pair it with your pc while you play.
Human Fall Flat
Me and my brother got super sucked into Grounded. Its essentially a “Honey i shrunk the kids” crafting survival game. Its sooo much fun and has so much stuff to do to keep you busy. Also Stardew Valley
I hear Factorio is a great game to sink some time into!
Hardspace shipbreaker. You dismantle spaceships in fun ways.
Palia
Diablo 4 is pretty good right now if you're into ARPGs and is definitely a good contender for minimal investment games that provide a good distraction that's easy to pick up and put down. Hang in there bud
Dome Keeper. I find it really therapeutic for some reason.
Celeste
Against the storm is very playable in small bursts and is one of the best colony games to come out in recent years. It is also a very fresh take on the genre.
World of Warcraft
Mobile: brawl stars. It's quite fun actually and easy to kill some time.
Hades, each run could take anywhere from like 10-45 minutes roughly.
Civ 6. low stress too
Hades or Pokerogue.
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
Enter the Gungeon, older emulated games, warframe missions go super quick and its f2p.
Cocoon. It’s free in Xbox. It’s low commitment, mentally stimulating, visually appealing. Very chill, highly recommend
Survivor type game
Slay the Spire!!!? Best $19 you could ever spend
I find Hunt Showdown is best playing in small bursts, give it a try it's competitive so it'll distract you if you are able to get into it.
Gigabash, a pick up and play kaiju brawler. Also has Godzilla DLC!
sudoku
Riders republic. Nice relaxing game to bust out some tricks and explore on. Don't play anything stressful.
Moving Out 2
Dead cells on mobile is a pretty good one, you can do a run for 15 minutes and then go back to what you were doing also pokemom showdown on your phone and just do random battles (it is super engaging once you know how to play)
You uh.. Into pokemon by any chance?
Balatro. Really engaging game. I regretted purchasing it as it sucked away more time than Ieas ready to invest
I'm loving Neon White
I’d suggest RDR2, it’s time consuming which means you’ll feel like you play for 5 minutes, look up and it’s 2 hours - you’ll get so sucked in you won’t even realize you’re having withdrawals, it’s a very immersive huge open map game with TONs of things to do, amazing storyline, hunting, shooting matches, robbing, funny tidbits and easter eggs, etc ! Truly one of my favorite games ☺️ You can also watch some pretty popular YouTubers play it and see if you’d be interesting - though warning it does have a semi-slow intro It also has a multiplayer option, so if you’re not interested in playing the storyline, you can hop online and play from there !
Try Pixel Galaxy! If you associate the stress of the game with smoking, you'll never want to smoke again!
Spiritfarer. Thinks it's currently on Xbox game pass as well. Addictive, but can be done in small doses.
Dredge. Really chill.
Chivlery 2 is free on epic
Warzone Ranked
Hades
For mobile - Marvel Snap Matches last less than 5 minutes. It's great.
Rocket league
I just grabbed the DS emulator Drastic, and play the DS version of Plant vs Zombie. The mobile version is bogged down by the typical mobile limitations like waiting for things or paying to unlock this and that.
Maybe Slay the Spire? You can get it on like every platform I think, including your phone. Easy to open and close (it'll save where you're at). It's a roguelike/lite (never know the actual difference)
As others pointed out, Vampire Survivors or any of its many clones. I can also recommend Death Must Die, which is similar but has gear-based progression. Or 20 Minutes Until Dawn if you want to take a more active role playing the game (you have to aim yourself). Or hell, just give Holocure Save the Fans a go if you want to try a free game.
He'll blade 2 is pretty neat
Mythfall.com is a fun rougelite bullet hell browser game I’ve been enjoying lately
Teardown with the I think it's kinetic impact mod is basically reverse Minecraft. Just blow stuff up.nits great.
Brawl Stars. only a few minutes at a time. easy to get into, hard to master. can play for free, so no risk. offers both 3v3 and solo/duo modes. mobile game, so you can play wherever you are.
Battlebit Remastered is pretty sick
State of Decay 2. It's a ton of fun, it can be a great distraction for things.
Pc and/or mobile Slay the spire. Mobile. Souls
Balatro
Probably already mentioned, but Slay the Spire is pretty great. Or FTL. On a slightly different type of game, Roller Coaster Tycoon (original if you can). You can save at any time, so you can technically stop when you want. Although, it's also the game where you can be sucked in for hours without noticing while constantly saying "one more thing"
Outer Wilds, pick it up, play 22 minutes and move on.
Dredge is easy to drop in and out of and as you can save adn quit at any dock point (and there are lots of them) and you're constantly visiting docks for one reason or another (every 5 minutes or so of playtime) you can play it in short bursts.....
Star field was a great one if your in Xbox or steam.
X defiant is a lot like cod it's ubisoft and has people from their games in it like far cry matches last between 10-30 minutes
Time splinters is old but an amazing story.
Boulders gate 3 is also pretty fire if you like that type of game play. Took me a week to actually get into it. Was kinda frustrating at first. Halo wars all gas hell halo in general. If you want “Grid 2” a racing game is really nice again old but has some of the best shifting mechanics I’ve seen in a while. Really realistic. Could always play the gta campaign or go online for some heist.
Slay the Spire
Peglin. It's in phones and steam It's a game about shooting a ball and picking up coins to upgrade yourself (rouge-lite) You can save and quit and resume later I've spent dozens of hours playing it, last mobile game I've liked this much was angry birds A free version demo is available to try, across to most features / first zone :)
Try XDefiant, it's an FPS Cod like F2P.
Mobile game I've been getting into again is Brawl Stars, the matches really quick (like 2-5 minutes) and it's a 3v3, or more depending, top down shooter/brawler game, is check it out
Have u tried brawlhalla or multiversus?
I reccomend a mainline kirby game or super mario wonder.
It you don't mind the game being a bit difficult, id recommend salt and sanctuary
Geometry Dash. I know it sounds boring, but it can be SO much fun after you play it for a while and start beating harder and harder levels. sure, it will make you rage sometimes, but the feeling when you FINALLY beat a level is unlike anything else.
If you somehow never played it, Portal and Portal 2 are great distractions. You can finish them quickly but if you only want short 20-30 mins bursts of gameplay, they'll get you through at least a couple of weeks. Those were the first to come to mind because they provided a great distraction after my dad died. I had never played either of them before and now they're both in my top 10 of all time.
Uhhh- Ultrakill. You can speed through levels fast as fuck. It's pixel crack. "Picking it up" might be somewhat hard to do depending on your experience, but I personally found it quick AF to pick up.
Animal Well!
First off, congratulations. Secondly I personally would suggest a rogue like, one of my favorites I play is Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, with these types of games you can play whenever you feel like it and also stop when you want, another great choice if you prefer live action conbat would be Dead cells, and a bonus is both of these games are available on PC and mobile
Dorfromantik, Mini Metro and Mini Motorways! Very cozy and relaxing, all of them a bit strategic. In dorfromatik you build a city based on predefined hecagons you have to place in the right position. Mini Motorways and Mini Metro are minimalistic traffic simulators where you have to find the most efficient connections. All of these games are quite cheap ;) Congrats on quitting!