Some gamers find it difficult to devote a lot of time to their favorite pastime, so short games for an evening or two are a real gift.
It is impossible to fit all the many high-quality and short games that have ever been released in one article, so I have selected only 15 projects that are particularly interesting in my opinion. They are completed in less than 10 hours, and most of the list can be completed in 5 hours. Among them are both novelties of the gaming industry and projects that have become classics.
Twelve Minutes
- Average travel time: 4.5 hours.
Twelve Minutes is entirely tied to time loops. Its gameplay is quite simple – you can only click on some objects in an attempt to change the course of events. The plot, which unfolds with each new loop played differently, forces you to continue playing the game and explore the scene. One of those games when after the finale you have to remember the details in order to get a complete picture, although the outcome itself can be predictable. Despite the fact that this is an indie game, several famous actors took part in its creation: Willem Dafoe, James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, so the voice acting of the characters here is at a high level.
🎮 Buy Twelve Minutes on Steam (600 rubles)
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
- Average travel time: 9.5 hours.
Quite fresh Kena: Bridge of Spirits is, if not the best game of this year, then definitely a high-quality and well-assembled project. A small but exciting action adventure immerses you in a colorful world from the very beginning. Behind the beautiful graphics is a simple but interesting combat system, and many challenging bosses with multiple waves. Battles with opponents and exploration of the big world are interrupted by high-quality animated cutscenes that narrate the plot and explain the main character’s goal.
🎮 Buy Kena: Bridge of Spirits from the Epic Games Store ($ 49)
GREY
- Average travel time: 3.5 hours.
A short GRIS with relatively intuitive puzzles and jigsaw puzzles proves that games can be art, too. The greatest value in GRIS is the stunning visuals, as if painted with watercolors, and the precisely fitting instrumental melodies. This is the case when the project can really be called meditative and even emotional. A kind of silent adventure with a bunch of metaphors in which you get pleasure from the form, not just the content.
🎮 Buy GRIS on Steam (392 rubles)
Firewatch
- Average travel time: 4 hours.
This first-person adventure game tells players a touching story of human relationships intertwined with the mystery of the Wyoming forest. The gameplay is all about exploring the world – yes, it’s kind of a walking simulator, spiced up with dialogues with other observers from the forest towers. Despite the primitive graphics, the developers were able to create breathtaking landscapes, screenshots of which can be selected as wallpaper. Colors and art style play a big role in the visuals of the game. The atmosphere is complemented by an instrumental soundtrack, further immersing the player in the environment.
🎮 Buy Firewatch on Steam (419 rubles)
Katana Zero
- Average travel time: 4.5 hours.
The spiritual heir to Hotline Miami (which, by the way, would also fit into this list) with bright neon locations, diluted with energetic music, and pixel graphics, which cannot be called primitive. The platformer stands out for its rehearsal gameplay, challenging levels and multiple boss fights. It differs from the aforementioned Hotline Miami not only in the side view, but also in new mechanics: there is time dilation and fast movement. The picture is complemented by an initially unobvious plot with an unexpected denouement.
🎮 Buy Katana Zero on Steam (360 rubles)
Superliminal
- Average travel time: 2.5 hours.
The first-person puzzle flirts with perspective and makes you look at all game situations from different angles. The graphics are simple in themselves, but well-designed lighting and interiors hide all the flaws. Melodic instrumental melodies are relaxing and memorable. Most of the jigsaw puzzles are quite simple and do not stop the player for half an hour or an hour, but there are also a few moments that make you do your best to solve.
🎮 Buy Superliminal on Steam (435 rubles) | Buy Superliminal from the Epic Games Store ($ 9.99)
INSIDE
- Average travel time: 3.5 hours.
The dark platformer from the creators of Limbo continues the work of its predecessor, confusing players with riddles with similar mechanics. An uncomfortable and oppressive atmosphere haunts all the time, and there is even more mysticism than in Limbo. The monochrome art style with occasional blotches of flowers perfectly emphasizes the mood of the game, and the finale leaves you in thought for a few more hours.
🎮 Buy INSIDE on Steam (739 rubles) | Buy INSIDE on the Epic Games Store ($ 9.99)
Antichamber
- Average travel time: 6 o’clock.
“Breaking” the brain Antichamber, like Superliminal, makes you look for atypical ways of solving problems, but unlike the second, it is more prolonged and illusory. Instead of a calm palette, here are acid-neon colors, instead of riddles that are solved according to the same mechanics, there are unique puzzles. Antichamber is full of surprises and paradoxes, besides, it is not just a difficult puzzle – the game has a philosophy that gamers will have to understand during the passage.
🎮 Buy Antichamber on Steam (399 rubles)
Essays on Empathy
- Average travel time: 2.5 hours.
Essays on Empathy is a collection of 10 projects from a single indie studio. The games were created as part of a development competition, so they don’t have saves and some of them are technically raw. But at the same time, they tell interesting and soulful stories, place them in different settings and connect what is happening on the screen with the narrative. All mini-projects have a corporate identity and clear ideas embedded in the plot. The set is complemented by special materials about the creation process, which are not in the version on itch.io and which turn the collection into a “personal diary” of developers.
🎮 Buy Essays on Empathy on Steam (349 rubles)
Journey
- Average travel time: 2:00.
A short but emotional journey through the desert is aesthetically pleasing with its minimalistic yet pleasing visuals. The game can be played in co-op with another player, however, you will not be able to communicate with him in any way, and his nickname will be hidden – this feature makes you look for ways of joint passage, using only in-game mechanics.
🎮 Buy Journey on Steam (390 rubles) | Buy Journey from the Epic Games Store (399 rubles)
Flower
- Average travel time: 2:00.
A beautiful and relaxing game from the same studio that created Journey, lets the player control a petal in the wind and fly through vast grassy fields picking flowers. The gameplay is as simple as possible, because Flower was not created to challenge. The studio wanted to release a game that would give gamers positive emotions – and the developers coped with it.
🎮 Buy Flower on Steam (175 rubles) | Buy Flower in the Epic Games Store (175 rubles)
What Remains of Edith Finch
- Average travel time: 2:00.
Purebred and linear walking simulator carries a mysterious and at the same time graceful story about one family. Literally every part of it touches on the topic of death, but it does not do it cruelly or frighteningly. The storytelling is neatly woven into the gameplay, so the game feels like one whole. What Remains of Edith Finch isn’t so much about playing as you are watching a leisurely exploration of a lonely house and changing visuals from one mini-story to another.
🎮 Buy What Remains of Edith Finch on Steam ($ 6.99) | Buy What Remains of Edith Finch from the Epic Games Store (449 rubles)
Oxenfree
- Average travel time: 4.5 hours.
Oxenfree is an adventure thriller about teenagers stranded on an island and confronted with a mysterious anomaly. The study of a supernatural phenomenon is accompanied by ironic and natural dialogues that give “liveliness” to the heroes. By the way, the choice of the phrase ultimately affects the plot – the variability in such a story-driven game would be a big plus. Despite the fact that the game is two-dimensional, it has an amazing audiovisual component.
🎮 Buy Oxenfree on Steam (259 rubles) | Buy Oxenfree in the Epic Games Store (199 rubles)
Gone Home
- Average travel time: 2:00.
Another game in which the entire gameplay is built around the exploration of the scene in an attempt to unravel the mystery. But like all the other projects on the list, Gone Home is unique in its own way and touches on non-trivial themes, revealing the plot through the elements of the environment and leading through the whole game to the laid down ideas. The first-person game perfectly conveys the feeling of loneliness in an abandoned house, not forgetting all the details that remind you that the action takes place in the 90s.
🎮 Buy Gone Home on Steam (349 rubles) | Buy Gone Home in the Epic Games Store (349 rubles)
Sable
- Average travel time: 7 o’clock.
Akin to Journey, this game opens up for the player a huge and deserted desert, through which you have to move and complete simple but exciting quests. What makes Sable so different is its more varied gameplay and a completely different art style. Although the project is three-dimensional, it looks more like a drawing. If Journey carried a certain philosophical message, then Sable is simpler and gives a different, but no less memorable experience.
🎮 Buy Sable on Steam (495 rubles) | Buy Sable in the Epic Games Store (549 rubles)
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