Gaming hours are precious; you can't always commit to a 20-hour campaign. If you have an extra day off of work or even just a few extra hours to spare, here are some games that you can fully complete that don't suck. I promise.
Fort Solis is a cinematic ride. The game features two all-star actors sharing the screen- Red Dead Redemption II's very own Arthur Morgan, Roger Clark, and A-List Gaming Actor Troy Baker. The story takes a sci-fi tour of a Mars colony where a mysterious SOS signal leads us into the unknown. The full game takes about two and a half to three hours, even if the player takes their time to really explore the scenery or gets stuck with puzzles. The atmosphere is delightfully eerie without leaning on jumpscares or cheap thrills. While the protagonist is often isolated, the world still feels full, thanks to discoverable videos, emails, and signs of life. It is, admittedly, a walking simulator, but it's an incredible three-hour walk that leads the player down a road with two possible endings.
Fort Solis was the first title from the UK-based Fallen Leaf Studios and is currently available on PS5 and PC.
Donut County is the passion project of indie game extraordinaire Ben Esposito. Esposito is one of the masterminds behind Anna Purna's What Remains of Edith Finch and part of the small team behind the criminally underlooked Tattletail. While those two titles dabble in being creepy, Donut County is a brightly toned delight. Clocking in at around two hours, Donut County is a delightful puzzle sprint that shoots off serotonin with each level.
The premise is simple- launch a hole and drop things down into the hole. The plot, however, is a case study of greed and what a community owes to each other. The characters are equally adorable and well-written, with true voices (despite there being no voice acting in the game). Donut County's beautiful backdrop is the real-world Los Angeles, the city where raccoons once terrorized Esposito. This is a family-friendly, satisfying short game that will fill the hole in your heart reserved for cute games that tackle the topic of gentrification.
Donut County is available on consoles, PC, and mobile.
Portal is perhaps one of the most iconic puzzle games of all time from the video game juggernaut Valve. Portal was initially released as a part of Valve's game bundle, The Orange Box. The Orange Box was primarily a vehicle for Half-Life 2 and its DLC and multiplayer functions, but it also included Team Fortress 2 and of course, Portal. Portal introduced the world to Aperture Science and GLaDOS, a robot that reads the protagonist to filth. Portal became a fan favorite within The Orange Box and warranted its sequel, Portal 2, to follow just a few years after its release. The first Portal game is significantly shorter than its sequel, coming in at around three or four hours (depending on how puzzle-savvy you are). While Portal 2 is a more full-bodied experience, the first installment maintains an enjoyable experience with satisfying solutions to puzzles.
Portal is available on consoles and PC.
Oxenfree is the darling debut from Night School Studio, an indie developer made up of Telltale and Disney alums. Oxenfree is a story about teens exploring an island with an eerie secret - equal parts The OC and Stranger Things. The teens have a complicated history and find themselves alone on an island with an even more complex history. They are true haunts that don't rely on jumpscares and compelling relationships that get the player invested quickly. The dialogue is excellent, the art is dreamy, the audio is haunting, and the dialogue is absolutely amazing. Interestingly, the dialogue trees do show the stills of the former Telltale talent and pay off to offer multiple potential endings.
Oxenfree is available on consoles, PC, mobile, and Netflix.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is literally a joke. The game was released as a prank on April Fool's Day, 2023, by the mighty SEGA for free. The joke is on us, though, because this game is as fun as it is charmingly cute. Sonic's social media team developed the title, which was initially meant to be a tie-in to the live-action 2020 movie. However, the game got shuffled a bit and became a stand-alone experience. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is clickbait- of course, our favorite blue hedgehog isn't really dead, but the game is a murder mystery set on a train. It's an Agatha Christie mystery set in the world of Sonic. The point-and-click game is only around two hours long, but when you gotta go fast, you gotta go Sonic.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is available on PC.
The massively talented Machine Games team released a DLC game in support of 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order with the 2015 title Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. The game follows B.J. Blazkowicz about three months before the events of Wolfenstein: The New Order as he navigates the franchise's namesake, Castle Wolfenstein, as well as two German villages. Just past the midpoint of the first-person shooter extravaganza, the genre takes a hard turn from action adventure into classic horror. The title can be done in five hours, but if you take a little longer because of the ass-kicking boss battles and waves of enemy onslaughts, no one will judge you for it. Promise.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is available on consoles and PC.
What's your favorite short game? Let us know in the comments!
