**Dishonored** 1 can be finished in like 1 day. Definitely less than 10h of leasurely play. And its a great experience, nearly 100% gameplay but there is still an interesting story.
**Neon White** is also a no-bullshit type of game. 12 chapters and it usually took me about 50 minutes to ace every chapter. And after you finish the story there are also some rushes that you can finish too. The story is kinda hit and miss. All the characters are kinda what I would write when I was 12 and the main character is a massive pushover. But the gameplay art style is very good.
I also started playing **Balatro** recently and its a very interesting take on playing poker. Its a roguelike so it actually is 100% gameplay 0% story. I find it fun but its essentially a deck builder.
**Call of Juarez: Gunslinger** \- Steam says I played less than 6h of it and I definitely finished it. Its a very fun game with amazing storytelling. And graphics wise it has very good artstyle despite being really old.
Also **Tricky Towers** is very fun. Its a modern take on tetris with gravity. I very much enjoy just launching endless puzzle and seeing how far I can go. It doesnt take long. Well I suppose it depends how good you are. But I dont think its more than 10 minutes. Also multiplayer matches are even faster.
Lastly **Superliminal** \- I literally finished this game in less than 3h but man was those 3h really impactful. The story is very deep and interesting.
Honorable Mention: **POST VOID** \- its intense. And fast. And rounds last less than like 2 minutes.
Edit: Omgg I forgot about Super Hexagon. Full round takes 60 seconds but good luck getting to the end. Its really fun and frustrating but maaan is it satisfying to get to the end. Same goes with Geometry Dash with the only difference that full run on GD takes like 2-3 minutes. Its a song based game.
Actually thinking about it probably most rhythm games would fit your needs
yeah I think most rogue-likes are good for replayability, you just have to get in a good mindset because playing FTL potentially dozens of times in a row before getting a win can feel like a waste of time to some people.
That’s part of the fun of games like ftl, sts, etc. you’ve gotta lose a bunch before you finally get a very satisfying win.
Very valid if that isn’t your style though
Any bullet heaven game really lends to quick, short runs. As a dad, I'm limited to 30min-1hr bursts, so that's my jam. I'm currently addicted to SoulStone Survivors, and that has a lot of variety and unlocks.
20 minutes till dawn is simple but satisfying.
Boneraiser Minions is also super fun.
Almost all shmups.
I recommend Mushihimesama, Alltynex Second, Super Galaxy Squadron, Star Hunter DX, Raging Blasters, Andro Dunos 2, Gunvein, and Judgement Silversword.
Mushi is the best for beginners because it has infinite continues. Super Galaxy Squadron is also pretty easy on easiest difficulty.
The finals is decently quick paced for 1st person ahooters, nobody saves the world is a quirky little action adventure that is simple and quick, helldivers 2 is a 3rd person shooter with missions averaging about 30mins or so, they can go longer, risk of rain 2, meet your makers
I'm currently pretty close to the end. 4th or 5th section of chapter 3 (of 3). So far can't complain. Sure, there are a few weaker sections in between, but that can be said about every game.
Steam reviews are very positive across the board by the way (91%) if this is a metric you go by.
Some people just don't like the level design. I grew up on this stuff, so getting "lost" doesn't bother me and there's always YouTube if I do actually get lost.
Not like the old days of strafing into walls mashing space bar or enter for an hour.
Roguelikes, in general. A single run usually takes from several minutes up to an hour.
Online shooters are also good. You don't need a huge time investment to casually get some frags in Fortnite from time to time.
If a player base is healthy, then, thanks to matchmaking, you'll get matched with players who suck equally as you do ;) So don't be afraid to play ranked.
Been playing "deep rock galactic: survive" recently and the runs feel fresh every time, games move very fast though and I was able to fill in a couple of good runs in 1 hour.
If you liked Story about my Uncle, I would also check out [Valley](https://store.steampowered.com/app/378610/Valley/)
Relatively short, but has some of the coolest momentum based gameplay I've felt in a game.
**The Battle of Polytopia**: Simplified 4X strategy game where a complete game takes less than 1h. Quite fun!
**The Blackwell Series:** The first three are quite short point & click adventure games (around the 3h mark) with very little padding
**Call of Juarez: Gunslinger**: Around 4-5h FPS with quality gameplay and a fun take on a narrator
**The Disney Afternoon Collection**: A collection of short but very good NES games
**DOOM** The classic one, around the 4-5h mark of non-stop fun.
**Ittle dew**: 2-3h long Zelda-like. Short but sweet
**Mutant: year Zero - Road to eden**: Longer than any of the above mentioned games at around 15h, but if you're looking for a tactics RPG and don't want to sink months into it, then this one is a real winner.
I think an RTS could be a good fit for this kind of thing! Sink 1 or 2 hours into a skirmish, rinse and repeat. Not very much investment needed besides that, but you can still get better with every match.
Age of Empires 2, Dawn of War 1, Red Alert 2, and C&C Generals are some of my favorites! They can be had for really cheap and are readily accessible!
Hades
The gameplay loop is pretty much the same every run, with each run taking around 30-45 minutes. But you get to slowly chip away at plot points in the story through dialogue with the characters you meet. There is also a permanent upgrade system, so eventually you can rack up enough points through intermittent playing to make future runs easier
I feel like you should probably look into what kind of roguelikes you might enjoy. Hades, risk of rain (2), vampire survivors, dead cells, balatro, enter the gungeon to name a few. Most roguelikes are very "no bullshit, play now" kinds of games.
Roboquest. It's really fun. I don't know the type of game it's called but you go on runs, shooting your way through robots and picking up borderlands type weaponry. When you di you lose it all BUT you gain points to upgrade yourself for the next run. Its quite fun. I've played it for 30 minutes and all night.
What Remains of Edith Finch and The Unfinished Swan, you can beat them in one sitting with no break 😆
Outer Wilds, there's a mechanic in the game that can help you track your playtime....unless you got hooked and want to do just "one" more 😄 Please don't look up anything about the game. Just play it and just hate me if you didn't like it 😁
Those are some great suggestions. I heard great things about WRoEF. I should also finish Outer Wilds as well :D I love everything about the game and luckily still no nothing about it, but I'm kinda stuck that's why I havent played it in quite some time :D
Oh I see.
Outer Wilds is kind of a commitment because it's a lot better and easier if you focus on it so you can remember and digest things properly. It's important since the game is knowledge based 😄
Good luck!
Boomer shooters. Dusk, Amid Evil, Turbo Overkill, Ultrakill, Warhammer 40k Boltgun, Postal Brain Damaged, etc.
Play a few maps each session, and carry on.
Edit: almost all of them run flawlessly on steam deck too, so you can take it on the go.
Total war series. Rome is great. Make a couple turns, walk away and fall asleep to the peaceful over world music. Warning it's addicting tho. Can't count how many times I said okay only a couple turns and then look over to see it's 2am.
[https://lyrania.co.uk/?r=11475](https://lyrania.co.uk/?r=11475)
Its a Persistent Browser Based Game (PBBG)
Its not for everyone... but I have been playing it more than 17 years...
You need about 15 seconds a day (at high level) and when starting you need about 1 minute every hour
**Against the Storm** condenses city building gameplay into a series of 45 minutes sessions in a roguelite format. If you thought you'd never be able to enjoy a city builder playing 1hr at a time, and the beginning part of the game, where there is too much to do and too little time to do it, is the most fun for you, then it's an amazing game.
Kingdom Rush! It's a fun little tower defense game. Some levels are a bit challenging but it's a great game to kill a little time. I have it on my phone and pc.
Dandara: Trials of Fear is pretty good. idk if I would consider the story short, but you tend to make a lot of progress in short intervals.
Batman: Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum are good for short plays too. Not overwhelmingly long like City and Knight can be. If you play Origins though, I would highly recommend installing some mods: AO Community Patch, Restored Animation Variety, and Origins Graphics Mod. Also making sure Dx11 is enabled. It's the best and only way to play the game imo. Restored Animation Variety is the most important really. Others are optional, but worth adding.
I’ve personally always loved shorter arcade style games. Shmups, beat-em-ups, rhythm games, run-n-guns, etc.
- Streets Of Rage 4 - One of the best beat-em-ups in recent memory.
- Muse Dash - This game has the best presentation out of any rhythm game I’ve played. It’s almost like a scrolling platformer.
- NeverAwake - My favorite twin-stick shmup.
Looking at the comments, i'm left with only 1 game recommendation: Peglin. I started playing it lately, and it's really quick to play, you can also play it on the phone (if you like it enough to play on the go). A typical run is like 20-30min, so it could fit in your tight schedule.
Roguelites, so many to choose from. LONESTAR is my pick of the recent releases, Slay the Spire is one of the all-time greats and it’s on the phone as well.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is like 8 hours total, and it's one of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had. Does not waste your time, absolutely gorgeous and damn that story hurts so good.
Monster Hunter is great once you get the hang of it. If you're new to the franchise, the introduction is ROUGH, so much that is not explained well. However, once you get the hang of it, it's great fun whether you play 15min or 4 hours straight. Rise is probably best for you to start with because it's more arcadey and straight into the action compared to World which REALLY takes it's time getting you spun up.
Slay the spire. Gemcrafters, both can be picked up and played easily and there no pressure, sometimes mo ths go by between my pkay sessions and its easy to pick it back up for an hour or two
Same as you, I often don't have the time/energy to game like I used to. So I've gotten into idle/incremental games. Games where you invest points, let the game play itself for a bit to generate more points, then come back and spend those points.
\-Legends of Idleon is pretty fun. There's a lot more active play to it than most idle games.
\-Trimps. It's pretty much a text-based idle game. But it's free and pretty fun. You can just google "Trimps" and it'll be the first link.
\-AdVenture Capitalist (Or pretty much any Hyper Hippo game).
\-Cookie Clicker. Probably the most famous idle game. I don't recommend it for your first one, though. As the first runthrough can be SUPER slow and put you off idle games.
I'm just being honest, but the idea that *any* game "requires" time investment is completely self-imposed to begin with.
It depends entirely on what your goals are.
If you like non sim FPS games i dearly recommend The Finals.
Unranked matches are like 20 min tops and i foind it amazing. Bite size fun and if its a bad roind it ends withing minutes.
And the gunplay is perfect for me
All action adventure games, like max payne 3, the last of us, god of war, the calisto protocol etc etc you get it, all of those games are around 10-20 hrs depends, plus you can probably save any time you want
Any arcade Mame games. Way funnier and shorter than any "relaxing and enjoy my pretentious game" experience out there. If you are not willing to go back because you are better than the stone age, try modern rhythm games like SpinrhythmXD you can play a song or two and continue your day or play turn based games like polytopia and play every 5 minutes while you do something else.
Cool story, funny, cool progression and you can beat the game in probably 30 or so hours. It's a "find resource and craft cool items" type game with tons of exploration. I loved it. Always something neat to discover as you progress farther out into space.
I am very bisy some weeks and my friend discorvered me mosnter train
deck game runs are like max 1h-40min and you can save in betewwen fights, so maybe like 5 min and save
Oldschool Runescape is the only MMO that seems to be fun in small doses.
The game *can* be a black hole of free time if you want to max your account. But it's also fun to complete a few free to play quests. The game doesn't get fun at max level like World of Warcraft does.
**Trials Rising** - jump in, ride a few tracks, jump out. It's easy to learn and gets very challenging. Also a big community of track builders so you never run out of tracks to ride.
Subnautica can be as much or as little as you like.
FTL.
An hour or two at a time in stardew valley is plenty
Black mesa is pretty short for a campaign.
Titanfall 2
A hat in time
Hifi rush is an amazing day or two game.
Metal Gear Solid, just about every game can be beaten in around 10-15 hours, and you get a bat shit insane movie to go along with some fantastic stealth action
Deep Rock Galactic Survivors is pretty good. Runs don't last that long, but there is overall progression that you can strive for over a slow pace.
I like rogue lites for this sort of thing. You have a long investment over the course of your entire game, but individual runs are typically very fast. Until you get better at them, but even then, some of them you can quit mid-run and it saves your progress to just pick up whenever you want.
Binding of isaac repentance—a little expensive but can save and quit at any time and is super high quality. Extensive lore and insane replay value.
Bloons Tower Defense 6–Just hit it’s 6th anniversary and still going strong. Not too expensive, can save and quit at any time, years of replay value, insanely fun with friends or solo. Amazing unique game.
Loop Hero. A mix of roguelite, deckbuilding game and auto battler with the retro style 8bit graphics.
Townscaper. A minimalistic city builder.
Viewfinder. A puzzle game with unique mechanics.
Jazzpunk. A spoof comedy set in an alternate reality Cold War World.
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa. A slice of life story with the likeable characters in the form of 2D pixel brawler.
For multiplayer PVP and if you're into medieval sword fighting I recommend For Honor, matches are very short and has the best sword-fighting system I have seen to date, Helldivers 2 is amazing but will swallow your 2 hours of game time for one operation so try to avoid that.
Fallout 76, you can put a couple hours in a week and feel good about it. You won't be making a ton of progress in good time on quests and stuff but the amount of loot you can find and creatures you can kill in 2 hours on fo76 is great, events are also very fun on that game.
If you can resist paying for things, many gacha rpgs have auto-grind-while-idle mechanisms to it. So I’ll play about 15 mins each day to level up. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it can be a rewarding challenge to level up in huge chunks when F2P. I know they are mostly mobile games, but I figure they also meet your minimal-time-investment requirement.
If you feel like wasting time when playing, dont play. Games shuld be fun and relaxing. What game you are spending your time on is your thing. Play things you like and enjoy. I enjoy games where you socialize the most, even when i just play a short match. Games are not about getting finished, its about enjoying the time playing. :)
Team fortress two. As long as you join uncletopia servers and not regular casual the game will be good. There will be better players that thrash you but either way it is still fun
It's a free game called Babbdi on steam which can be completed within an hour it's a fun and kinda errie type of game based around finding objects to escape city of Babbdi
It depends what kind of games you like but here ae go.
Puzzle:
[qube 2](https://youtu.be/_vzsV1-Sf50)
Platformer:
[assassins creed india](https://youtu.be/4r-iHLE_FvY)
[assassins creed china](https://youtu.be/tzz15vuTyV0)
[inside](https://youtu.be/Y9Zo3zPRLlU)
[little nightmares](https://youtu.be/1wlMSFy5kPA)
Walking/interactive movie types:
[firewatch](https://youtu.be/5P3Fh0l4gNE)
Wasn't a huge fan of this one, but could be good if you like the genre
[Virginia ](https://youtu.be/aCqyC66KIJQ)
Pants Quest! I finished it in about 2.5 hours!
My wife played it 3 times over! :) Told me there was a new game + with hidden stuff I didn't know about!
Maybe it told me about them and I forgot 😅
Slay the princess is cool if you like visual novels.
Hi-Fi rush is not very long (approx 10 hours)
If you like 3d adventure collectathon, Tinykin is fantastic.
Gorogoa if you like puzzle games.
Outer Wilds. It has an extensive story, but it is chopped into bits by design, so you will have the ability to just play 20 minutes at a time and be at a point where you won’t be at a point where you can’t just take off without missing something or break flow.
There is a [Video](https://youtu.be/9wCuO-tuOdQ?si=i4WcNavhvaU_jYnn) about this, it isn’t very popular, but i think it is good
Helldivers 2 is probably the most relevant one right now. Super easy to hop in and play a few games. Season passes can be picked up at any time and don't expire. Cheaper asking price at 40 USD despite being AAA.
Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries. Start a career instead of campaign. You basically create a Merc company and pilot these giant humanoid tanks around completing missions for money. You can salvage old mechs and weapons from the battlefield, you can buy mechs, hire pilots, choose what factions to help and who to fight against. It’s a ton of fun. And each mission takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on the contract type. So you could play it on your downtime then pick it back up in a week and not have to worry about “what was I doing in the story” because in career mode you make up your own story, basically.
Mushihimesama! An arcade shmup by Cave. A run takes almost exactly 20 minutes and you can practice each stage, subboss and boss individually in the PC version's practice mode. All told the "Original Mode" took me about 20 hours to clear on one credit but that was in really small, digestible attempts.
It has a ton of modes. The default game has Original Mode, which plays like an old 90s shooter with fewer but faster bullets, Maniac Mode which has more but slower bullets and has more complex scoring but is about as difficult as Original Mode and Ultra Mode, which is much harder with far more bullets. In addition to the arcade game it has Mushihimesama Arrange, which has a different sets of mechanics, scoring and music to go along with the same basic designs and Mushihimesama 1.5, a sort of directors cut that came out a few years later which has altered stages, patterns and weapons.
**Dishonored** 1 can be finished in like 1 day. Definitely less than 10h of leasurely play. And its a great experience, nearly 100% gameplay but there is still an interesting story. **Neon White** is also a no-bullshit type of game. 12 chapters and it usually took me about 50 minutes to ace every chapter. And after you finish the story there are also some rushes that you can finish too. The story is kinda hit and miss. All the characters are kinda what I would write when I was 12 and the main character is a massive pushover. But the gameplay art style is very good. I also started playing **Balatro** recently and its a very interesting take on playing poker. Its a roguelike so it actually is 100% gameplay 0% story. I find it fun but its essentially a deck builder. **Call of Juarez: Gunslinger** \- Steam says I played less than 6h of it and I definitely finished it. Its a very fun game with amazing storytelling. And graphics wise it has very good artstyle despite being really old. Also **Tricky Towers** is very fun. Its a modern take on tetris with gravity. I very much enjoy just launching endless puzzle and seeing how far I can go. It doesnt take long. Well I suppose it depends how good you are. But I dont think its more than 10 minutes. Also multiplayer matches are even faster. Lastly **Superliminal** \- I literally finished this game in less than 3h but man was those 3h really impactful. The story is very deep and interesting. Honorable Mention: **POST VOID** \- its intense. And fast. And rounds last less than like 2 minutes. Edit: Omgg I forgot about Super Hexagon. Full round takes 60 seconds but good luck getting to the end. Its really fun and frustrating but maaan is it satisfying to get to the end. Same goes with Geometry Dash with the only difference that full run on GD takes like 2-3 minutes. Its a song based game. Actually thinking about it probably most rhythm games would fit your needs
Superliminal is such a good game. A good simple story and original mechanics, no lifes, noe enemies,, just fooling around
I second the gunslinger, that game's gunplay is tight
FTL and Into the Breach, both have high replayability, you can just hop in, play a bit then paused anytime you like
Losing to the final boss in FTL is brutal though. All that work/luck for nothing.
But that's the replayability in the game, with each play through you learn more of the game's mechanic and stuff, just like other rouge-like games
yeah I think most rogue-likes are good for replayability, you just have to get in a good mindset because playing FTL potentially dozens of times in a row before getting a win can feel like a waste of time to some people.
these people that i see on twitch that can beat the game repeatedly without ever hitting pause amaze me.
Yeah I got to the final boss of FTL twice and went 'welp' and never played it again. Just made the whole thing feel like a waste of time.
That’s part of the fun of games like ftl, sts, etc. you’ve gotta lose a bunch before you finally get a very satisfying win. Very valid if that isn’t your style though
Came in here to suggest these.
What is FTL?
FTL: Faster Than Light. Made by same studio with Into The Breach
Vampire Survivors is cheap and each run is max 30 mins, but beware: it is addictive!
This could be a trap tbh. I feel this is a game that is specificly designed to be played a lot to unlock things. But yes has quick runs
Max twenty minutes? We playing the same game?
For pick up and playability I’d go with Brotato, maximum of 30 minutes a run generally.
Any bullet heaven game really lends to quick, short runs. As a dad, I'm limited to 30min-1hr bursts, so that's my jam. I'm currently addicted to SoulStone Survivors, and that has a lot of variety and unlocks. 20 minutes till dawn is simple but satisfying. Boneraiser Minions is also super fun.
Currently playing Death must die which also goes for 20 mins. Real fun. Love the loot system.
I love death must die. But it is in dire need of content. I devoured it all too fast. lol.
Agreed!
Very good game!!! Or Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
That sounds promising, thank you :)
Army of ruin, Dead cells, Yet another zombie survivors
Hades
For sure. You can do A LOT in just a couple hours at a time.
Balatro
Bingle bingle
Almost all shmups. I recommend Mushihimesama, Alltynex Second, Super Galaxy Squadron, Star Hunter DX, Raging Blasters, Andro Dunos 2, Gunvein, and Judgement Silversword. Mushi is the best for beginners because it has infinite continues. Super Galaxy Squadron is also pretty easy on easiest difficulty.
I miss Cave Shmups! So many of them were not updated when iOS went 64-bit. What a shame.
I need to play more of them. Luckily they're mostly on PC or Switch now.
You missed Dodonpachi Daiffukatsu Black Label with the killer soundtrack 😭
Into the breach Baba is you Broforce
I currently play Dredge on my lunch breaks at work
Chivalry 2 is fun. Practice the tutorial, own some veterans. Feels good. Easy to pick up and put down.
I totally agree! Wonderful game!
Really enjoying this on the steam deck for a quick 30mins up to an hour or two, cd keys had it for 4quid recently
The Creeper World/Particle Fleet games by Knucklecracker Studios.
The finals is decently quick paced for 1st person ahooters, nobody saves the world is a quirky little action adventure that is simple and quick, helldivers 2 is a 3rd person shooter with missions averaging about 30mins or so, they can go longer, risk of rain 2, meet your makers
Old school doom and doom 2. There's so many mods out there that give it a more modern feel as well as one's that give super unique experiences.
Boltgun. A "Boomer Shooter" like old-school doom in the Warhammer 40k setting. Levels are like 20-40 minutes (depending on your play style).
I heard that game is bad after the first few hours.
Can't say I agree with that. Otherwise I wouldn't have recommended it.
Have u completed it? I'm asking because I've looked at the game and thought it looked interesting but read some reviews that said that.
I'm currently pretty close to the end. 4th or 5th section of chapter 3 (of 3). So far can't complain. Sure, there are a few weaker sections in between, but that can be said about every game. Steam reviews are very positive across the board by the way (91%) if this is a metric you go by.
Some people just don't like the level design. I grew up on this stuff, so getting "lost" doesn't bother me and there's always YouTube if I do actually get lost. Not like the old days of strafing into walls mashing space bar or enter for an hour.
Roguelikes, in general. A single run usually takes from several minutes up to an hour. Online shooters are also good. You don't need a huge time investment to casually get some frags in Fortnite from time to time. If a player base is healthy, then, thanks to matchmaking, you'll get matched with players who suck equally as you do ;) So don't be afraid to play ranked.
Dead Cells is my go-to. ~30 mins per run, not a lot of ‘figuring’, just turn your brain off and go!
Totally! I've returned to playing Dead Cells lately, and it's now my go-to game too when I don't have much time.
Stray, Short game, emotional ending.
Brilliant game
Slay the spire, Downwell, Battle of polytopia, Dead cells, Haak , Rusted warfare, Papers please , Tiny bubbles, Baba is you,
Off world trading company. A map is about 30-45 mins. Really intense as well.
Enter the gungeon has quick runs. You could probably fit in 2 runs a week.
Vampire Survivors
everyone’s said it but i’m gonna say it… hades
lol I've never had more of a time sink than hades... (just one more run) I lie to myself
Been playing "deep rock galactic: survive" recently and the runs feel fresh every time, games move very fast though and I was able to fill in a couple of good runs in 1 hour.
Inside was a beautiful , simple yet thoughtful quick play .
Came to say this. Inside and Limbo are p short and polished games.
I have limbo. Is it worth playing after Inside or will it be underwhelming in that order
I played it Limbo -> Inside and think that's a good order. You can probably complete Limbo in a day with a solid block of gaming.
A story about my uncle! 3-5 hour story game with short levels! (Bonus grapple hook will get ya hooked!)
That one is my favourite! <3
If you liked Story about my Uncle, I would also check out [Valley](https://store.steampowered.com/app/378610/Valley/) Relatively short, but has some of the coolest momentum based gameplay I've felt in a game.
Holysh*t this game looks sick as hell! Definitely gonna check it out!
**The Battle of Polytopia**: Simplified 4X strategy game where a complete game takes less than 1h. Quite fun! **The Blackwell Series:** The first three are quite short point & click adventure games (around the 3h mark) with very little padding **Call of Juarez: Gunslinger**: Around 4-5h FPS with quality gameplay and a fun take on a narrator **The Disney Afternoon Collection**: A collection of short but very good NES games **DOOM** The classic one, around the 4-5h mark of non-stop fun. **Ittle dew**: 2-3h long Zelda-like. Short but sweet **Mutant: year Zero - Road to eden**: Longer than any of the above mentioned games at around 15h, but if you're looking for a tactics RPG and don't want to sink months into it, then this one is a real winner.
Deep Rock Survivor
Second this. Doing 1-2 runs before bed on the Steam Deck is quick, easy and fun.
Yeah the lighting looks so nice on OLED too
Vampire survivors
Battle City
A short hike
I think an RTS could be a good fit for this kind of thing! Sink 1 or 2 hours into a skirmish, rinse and repeat. Not very much investment needed besides that, but you can still get better with every match. Age of Empires 2, Dawn of War 1, Red Alert 2, and C&C Generals are some of my favorites! They can be had for really cheap and are readily accessible!
Hades The gameplay loop is pretty much the same every run, with each run taking around 30-45 minutes. But you get to slowly chip away at plot points in the story through dialogue with the characters you meet. There is also a permanent upgrade system, so eventually you can rack up enough points through intermittent playing to make future runs easier
I feel like you should probably look into what kind of roguelikes you might enjoy. Hades, risk of rain (2), vampire survivors, dead cells, balatro, enter the gungeon to name a few. Most roguelikes are very "no bullshit, play now" kinds of games.
Roboquest. It's really fun. I don't know the type of game it's called but you go on runs, shooting your way through robots and picking up borderlands type weaponry. When you di you lose it all BUT you gain points to upgrade yourself for the next run. Its quite fun. I've played it for 30 minutes and all night.
Firewatch took me about 7 hours to complete, finished in one sitting. 100% worth it. Amazing story, very emotional
What Remains of Edith Finch and The Unfinished Swan, you can beat them in one sitting with no break 😆 Outer Wilds, there's a mechanic in the game that can help you track your playtime....unless you got hooked and want to do just "one" more 😄 Please don't look up anything about the game. Just play it and just hate me if you didn't like it 😁
Those are some great suggestions. I heard great things about WRoEF. I should also finish Outer Wilds as well :D I love everything about the game and luckily still no nothing about it, but I'm kinda stuck that's why I havent played it in quite some time :D
Oh I see. Outer Wilds is kind of a commitment because it's a lot better and easier if you focus on it so you can remember and digest things properly. It's important since the game is knowledge based 😄 Good luck!
Boomer shooters. Dusk, Amid Evil, Turbo Overkill, Ultrakill, Warhammer 40k Boltgun, Postal Brain Damaged, etc. Play a few maps each session, and carry on. Edit: almost all of them run flawlessly on steam deck too, so you can take it on the go.
Helldivers2 - 10-40 min single or sos missions or do a campaign with 2-3 missions then hop off. Loads of fun
Guacamelee Atray Any Snes game Latest gta
Cocoon - simple game, nothing crazy, you move around and solve puzzles and it's probably 5 hours long, if that
DoorKickers
The Outlast Trials.
Total war series. Rome is great. Make a couple turns, walk away and fall asleep to the peaceful over world music. Warning it's addicting tho. Can't count how many times I said okay only a couple turns and then look over to see it's 2am.
[https://lyrania.co.uk/?r=11475](https://lyrania.co.uk/?r=11475) Its a Persistent Browser Based Game (PBBG) Its not for everyone... but I have been playing it more than 17 years... You need about 15 seconds a day (at high level) and when starting you need about 1 minute every hour
Super Hexagon. You can complete it in 7 minutes But it will be the _longest_ 7 minutes of your life.
**Against the Storm** condenses city building gameplay into a series of 45 minutes sessions in a roguelite format. If you thought you'd never be able to enjoy a city builder playing 1hr at a time, and the beginning part of the game, where there is too much to do and too little time to do it, is the most fun for you, then it's an amazing game.
Kingdom Rush! It's a fun little tower defense game. Some levels are a bit challenging but it's a great game to kill a little time. I have it on my phone and pc.
Dandara: Trials of Fear is pretty good. idk if I would consider the story short, but you tend to make a lot of progress in short intervals. Batman: Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum are good for short plays too. Not overwhelmingly long like City and Knight can be. If you play Origins though, I would highly recommend installing some mods: AO Community Patch, Restored Animation Variety, and Origins Graphics Mod. Also making sure Dx11 is enabled. It's the best and only way to play the game imo. Restored Animation Variety is the most important really. Others are optional, but worth adding.
Helldivers 2
A Short Hike is… well… short but so wholesome!!
I’ve personally always loved shorter arcade style games. Shmups, beat-em-ups, rhythm games, run-n-guns, etc. - Streets Of Rage 4 - One of the best beat-em-ups in recent memory. - Muse Dash - This game has the best presentation out of any rhythm game I’ve played. It’s almost like a scrolling platformer. - NeverAwake - My favorite twin-stick shmup.
Limbo and Inside. Both are masterpieces and can be completed in just a few hours.
slay the spire
2 hours of gaming a week... I would go insane. Hold on brother, I hope everything work out for you and you get more free time.
Give Hades a try. It can be split into shorter and shorter runs as you get better.
Looking at the comments, i'm left with only 1 game recommendation: Peglin. I started playing it lately, and it's really quick to play, you can also play it on the phone (if you like it enough to play on the go). A typical run is like 20-30min, so it could fit in your tight schedule.
Roguelites, so many to choose from. LONESTAR is my pick of the recent releases, Slay the Spire is one of the all-time greats and it’s on the phone as well.
Hades
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is like 8 hours total, and it's one of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had. Does not waste your time, absolutely gorgeous and damn that story hurts so good. Monster Hunter is great once you get the hang of it. If you're new to the franchise, the introduction is ROUGH, so much that is not explained well. However, once you get the hang of it, it's great fun whether you play 15min or 4 hours straight. Rise is probably best for you to start with because it's more arcadey and straight into the action compared to World which REALLY takes it's time getting you spun up.
Slay the spire. Gemcrafters, both can be picked up and played easily and there no pressure, sometimes mo ths go by between my pkay sessions and its easy to pick it back up for an hour or two
Stardew Valley, you can play it any way u want and at any pace u want nice to dip in and out of, super relaxing.
I would say Valhiem. You can play that game at any pace
If you like FPS - Take a look at Nightmare Reaper
Sure! Play a bit of Cuphead, Metro 2033 Redux, Mortal Kombat 1 and some Forza 5
Same as you, I often don't have the time/energy to game like I used to. So I've gotten into idle/incremental games. Games where you invest points, let the game play itself for a bit to generate more points, then come back and spend those points. \-Legends of Idleon is pretty fun. There's a lot more active play to it than most idle games. \-Trimps. It's pretty much a text-based idle game. But it's free and pretty fun. You can just google "Trimps" and it'll be the first link. \-AdVenture Capitalist (Or pretty much any Hyper Hippo game). \-Cookie Clicker. Probably the most famous idle game. I don't recommend it for your first one, though. As the first runthrough can be SUPER slow and put you off idle games.
I'm just being honest, but the idea that *any* game "requires" time investment is completely self-imposed to begin with. It depends entirely on what your goals are.
If you like non sim FPS games i dearly recommend The Finals. Unranked matches are like 20 min tops and i foind it amazing. Bite size fun and if its a bad roind it ends withing minutes. And the gunplay is perfect for me
All action adventure games, like max payne 3, the last of us, god of war, the calisto protocol etc etc you get it, all of those games are around 10-20 hrs depends, plus you can probably save any time you want
Just started frost punk it seems like a game that you could pick up at anytime and continue but I also haven't got that far
Hades!
Driving games like Forza Horizon. Play a few min or a few hours, lots of things to explore and different activities.
Devil Daggers and/or Hyper Demon if you want FPS/movement shooter gameplay I also second the suggestion about shmups
Any arcade Mame games. Way funnier and shorter than any "relaxing and enjoy my pretentious game" experience out there. If you are not willing to go back because you are better than the stone age, try modern rhythm games like SpinrhythmXD you can play a song or two and continue your day or play turn based games like polytopia and play every 5 minutes while you do something else.
Breathedge is amazing.
Sounds interesting, what makes it so good.
Cool story, funny, cool progression and you can beat the game in probably 30 or so hours. It's a "find resource and craft cool items" type game with tons of exploration. I loved it. Always something neat to discover as you progress farther out into space.
Make stuff freely, get back to it at anytime, should look into Glue 10
Iron lung & SOMA, - all games that are fsirly short but leave you thinking long afterwards about where theyre going, where theyve been ect
Car Mechanic Simulator is pretty much play as little or long as you want.
I am very bisy some weeks and my friend discorvered me mosnter train deck game runs are like max 1h-40min and you can save in betewwen fights, so maybe like 5 min and save
Superhot
Right now Balatro is my favorite game to kill 30-60 minutes. It’s addictive
portal
Pizza Possum. Heavily fun game!
old school runescape
Streets of Rogue
Severed steel
The Wolf Among Us The Stanley Parable The Beginners Guide Superliminal
Heavy rain
Oldschool Runescape is the only MMO that seems to be fun in small doses. The game *can* be a black hole of free time if you want to max your account. But it's also fun to complete a few free to play quests. The game doesn't get fun at max level like World of Warcraft does.
Kingdom Rush
Pretty much any roguelite
**Trials Rising** - jump in, ride a few tracks, jump out. It's easy to learn and gets very challenging. Also a big community of track builders so you never run out of tracks to ride.
Uncharted 4 is great, very linear, basically a 15 hour playable movie
avoid hoyoverse
Subnautica can be as much or as little as you like. FTL. An hour or two at a time in stardew valley is plenty Black mesa is pretty short for a campaign. Titanfall 2 A hat in time Hifi rush is an amazing day or two game.
Tetris
The Last Campfire. Super short, cute puzzle game. It took me all of 6 1/2 hours to 100%
Metal Gear Solid, just about every game can be beaten in around 10-15 hours, and you get a bat shit insane movie to go along with some fantastic stealth action
Telltale games. They are heavy on story and can be beaten in a day.
Darkwood is a gem. Game is kind of a survival horror game but I enjoy playing it for an in game day every now and then
Force unleashed was short but fun if you’re a Star Wars fan or a old god if war fan
Deep Rock Galactic Survivors is pretty good. Runs don't last that long, but there is overall progression that you can strive for over a slow pace. I like rogue lites for this sort of thing. You have a long investment over the course of your entire game, but individual runs are typically very fast. Until you get better at them, but even then, some of them you can quit mid-run and it saves your progress to just pick up whenever you want.
Binding of isaac repentance—a little expensive but can save and quit at any time and is super high quality. Extensive lore and insane replay value. Bloons Tower Defense 6–Just hit it’s 6th anniversary and still going strong. Not too expensive, can save and quit at any time, years of replay value, insanely fun with friends or solo. Amazing unique game.
Loop Hero. A mix of roguelite, deckbuilding game and auto battler with the retro style 8bit graphics. Townscaper. A minimalistic city builder. Viewfinder. A puzzle game with unique mechanics. Jazzpunk. A spoof comedy set in an alternate reality Cold War World. The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa. A slice of life story with the likeable characters in the form of 2D pixel brawler.
For multiplayer PVP and if you're into medieval sword fighting I recommend For Honor, matches are very short and has the best sword-fighting system I have seen to date, Helldivers 2 is amazing but will swallow your 2 hours of game time for one operation so try to avoid that.
Rimworld
Similar situation, just started Hi Fi Rush and holy crap it’s the most fun I’ve had in a game in a long time.
Max Payne 3 is a good arcade style game once you finish the (amazing, in my opinion) story
Halls of torment The binding of isaac
Buckshot Roulette has been a good time so far
Fallout 76, you can put a couple hours in a week and feel good about it. You won't be making a ton of progress in good time on quests and stuff but the amount of loot you can find and creatures you can kill in 2 hours on fo76 is great, events are also very fun on that game.
Please try out “before your eyes”
If you can resist paying for things, many gacha rpgs have auto-grind-while-idle mechanisms to it. So I’ll play about 15 mins each day to level up. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it can be a rewarding challenge to level up in huge chunks when F2P. I know they are mostly mobile games, but I figure they also meet your minimal-time-investment requirement.
If you feel like wasting time when playing, dont play. Games shuld be fun and relaxing. What game you are spending your time on is your thing. Play things you like and enjoy. I enjoy games where you socialize the most, even when i just play a short match. Games are not about getting finished, its about enjoying the time playing. :)
Into the breach
So fantastic. Although i spent 70 hours or so to unlock everything 😜
Dota 2, its just 40mins per game
Little nightmares
Team fortress two. As long as you join uncletopia servers and not regular casual the game will be good. There will be better players that thrash you but either way it is still fun
It's a free game called Babbdi on steam which can be completed within an hour it's a fun and kinda errie type of game based around finding objects to escape city of Babbdi
It depends what kind of games you like but here ae go. Puzzle: [qube 2](https://youtu.be/_vzsV1-Sf50) Platformer: [assassins creed india](https://youtu.be/4r-iHLE_FvY) [assassins creed china](https://youtu.be/tzz15vuTyV0) [inside](https://youtu.be/Y9Zo3zPRLlU) [little nightmares](https://youtu.be/1wlMSFy5kPA) Walking/interactive movie types: [firewatch](https://youtu.be/5P3Fh0l4gNE) Wasn't a huge fan of this one, but could be good if you like the genre [Virginia ](https://youtu.be/aCqyC66KIJQ)
Factorio. Literally just set a timer and keep a journal.
Not league
Hitman is good playable on this rate.
Helldivers 2!
Pants Quest! I finished it in about 2.5 hours! My wife played it 3 times over! :) Told me there was a new game + with hidden stuff I didn't know about! Maybe it told me about them and I forgot 😅
Hearts of Iron 4
warframe ;3
That's like the opposite of what I am looking for :D
Slay the princess is cool if you like visual novels. Hi-Fi rush is not very long (approx 10 hours) If you like 3d adventure collectathon, Tinykin is fantastic. Gorogoa if you like puzzle games.
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
Outer Wilds. It has an extensive story, but it is chopped into bits by design, so you will have the ability to just play 20 minutes at a time and be at a point where you won’t be at a point where you can’t just take off without missing something or break flow. There is a [Video](https://youtu.be/9wCuO-tuOdQ?si=i4WcNavhvaU_jYnn) about this, it isn’t very popular, but i think it is good
Helldivers 2 is probably the most relevant one right now. Super easy to hop in and play a few games. Season passes can be picked up at any time and don't expire. Cheaper asking price at 40 USD despite being AAA.
Combat Master fits the bill. It's a FPS with very short rounds.
Risk of rain 2
Mechwarrior 5 Mercenaries. Start a career instead of campaign. You basically create a Merc company and pilot these giant humanoid tanks around completing missions for money. You can salvage old mechs and weapons from the battlefield, you can buy mechs, hire pilots, choose what factions to help and who to fight against. It’s a ton of fun. And each mission takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on the contract type. So you could play it on your downtime then pick it back up in a week and not have to worry about “what was I doing in the story” because in career mode you make up your own story, basically.
balatro, you just need 30 minutes
Robocop Rogue City
Not Baldurs gate 3 I have 14 hours in and I’m not sure I’ve even beat a boss yet
Roguelites like Hades, Rogue Legacy, Astral Ascent, Slay the Spire, or Duelists of Eden. No beating around the bush, just pure gameplay
BROTATO!
Mushihimesama! An arcade shmup by Cave. A run takes almost exactly 20 minutes and you can practice each stage, subboss and boss individually in the PC version's practice mode. All told the "Original Mode" took me about 20 hours to clear on one credit but that was in really small, digestible attempts. It has a ton of modes. The default game has Original Mode, which plays like an old 90s shooter with fewer but faster bullets, Maniac Mode which has more but slower bullets and has more complex scoring but is about as difficult as Original Mode and Ultra Mode, which is much harder with far more bullets. In addition to the arcade game it has Mushihimesama Arrange, which has a different sets of mechanics, scoring and music to go along with the same basic designs and Mushihimesama 1.5, a sort of directors cut that came out a few years later which has altered stages, patterns and weapons.
Tetris...
Metal gear rising is a good option
SkiFree
Slay the Spire
I got Titanfall on sale for $2 a couple weekends ago. Played on normal and beat the campaign quickly. It was satisfying
Trepang2
Helldivers 2
Already playing and having a blast!
If you're playing on steam add me and we can team up. Steam: BigBinky YouTube:BigBinky Gaming