The time it takes to complete a game is something almost every player considers before throwing money at a new title. Even in exclusively multiplayer games, the time it takes for a match to finish is crucial to the average gamer's daily schedule. Games are often praised for having deep run times, hours upon hours of content, and a long term story to tie all of it together.
Often times, though, gamers find themselves in a pinch. Some days, it's unfavorable to risk getting sucked into an RPG for hours when work starts in 30 minutes. Many MOBA games can hit an hour or more in any given lobby. Sometimes all players want is a quick, satisfying gaming experience that they can be over and done with in a pinch.
10 Super Jacked Up Tomato Face Johnson
Super Jacked Up Tomato Face Johnson is a speedy little platformer starring Tomato Face Johnson. Tomato Face is desperate and needs to get jacked, and luckily for him a new protein shake is on sale for a limited time only.
This shake is normally on the more expensive side, so Tomato Face must collect coins from each level as quickly as he can if he hopes to earn enough stars to progress forward, and eventually, bask in the glory of his own gains. Super Jacked Up Tomato Face Johnson is available on itch.io.
9 Sayonara Wild Hearts
Sayonara Wild Hearts is an arcade game with a beautiful soundtrack and fun, fast-paced gameplay. Players will ride motorcycles and skateboards through beautiful neon highways, along with some rhythm games, and even some swordplay.
There is a narrative at play here as well, as the main character has her heart broken she is taken on a journey through the universe. Plenty of replay ability is present in Sayonara Wild Hearts as well, and a shiny new high score could always be around the corner.
8 The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable is available on Steam and hit the store back in 2013. The game focuses on the player/developer relationship. The player is faced with diverging pathways, and must decide to either follow the instructions of the narrator or take a different route.
The more the player disobeys instructions, the more the story of The Stanley Parable shifts. The story can lead to several endings that depend on the player's choices. It doesn't take long at all to help Stanley meet his fate in his abandoned office building, but unraveling the whole story through multiple runs of the game could take more time.
7 Star Fox 2
After 22 long years of waiting, Star Fox 2 was finally released to the Super NES Classic Edition in 2017. Though it was a short run, it has received solid reviews from dedicated Star Fox fans. Star Fox 2 offers plenty of updates to its decades old predecessor, and Emperor Andross is back as Fox McCloud's dastardly space adversary.
The game adds new ship types, familiar characters from the franchise, and new 3D engine. It also adds small elements of real-time strategy, with enemy ships and missiles advancing with the player each time they move their ships in the map screen.
6 Nymph's Tower
Available for free on itch.io, Nymph's Tower is a platformer centered around exploring and ascending a tower filled with hidden secrets. The player controls a girl with a jetpack strapped to her back, and the controls are tight and flow nicely from screen to screen.
There are a few boss fights in Nymph's Tower as well, with the final boss truly being a test of the player's backpack-based aerial combat. The game can take a few runs to get used to, but once the player nails down the physics, it can easily be cleared in around 60 minutes.
5 Franken
Franken is an RPG from itch.io and can take anywhere from half an hour to a full hour to complete, though each minute is spent in absolute joy. The game pokes fun at many classic RPG tropes and features some of the most interesting NPCs around, especially in the small game category.
Franken is full of bright colors, small fights, and fun dialog that will keep the player pleasantly amused. Fans of classic Zelda that run on a tight schedule should add Franken to their daily routine as soon as they get the chance.
4 Speed Dating For Ghosts
Players seeking deep emotional conversations with members of the afterlife should check out Speed Dating For Ghosts. The game places the player in a speed dating hall where there are given a short amount of time to speak with ghosts with various pasts, personalities, and motivations.
After the player finishes the speed round, they choose which ghost they would like to go on a date with to learn more about their story. Speed Dating For Ghosts has a huge cast of interesting ghost bachelors and bachelorettes, so it can take some time to learn all of their lore. However, a single run through of this dating simulator can easily be finished in under an hour.
3 Donkey Kong
While the original launch of Donkey Kong was designed for arcade play, the game was ported to many systems, including the Game Boy Advance. With these ports, players can maneuver the infamous Jump Man around Donkey Kong's treacherous barrels without spending a small fortune in quarters.
Donkey Kong is 41 years old at this point, but anyone who appreciates video games needs to do themselves a favor and give it a try. Fans can clear the game in 30 minutes to an hour, and experience one of the most monumental titles in history just before they strap on their work shoes.
2 Kirby's Dream Land
Kirby began causing mischief and filling hearts with joy in 1992, when Nintendo released Kirby's Dream Land on the Game Boy. Kirby's Dream Land offered a wealth of fun mechanics that would later become staples of the series, with Kirby sucking up foes just to spit them back out as cute little stars of destruction at other enemies.
There are just 5 levels in the game, with each one just being a series of rooms for Kirby to clear and navigate through. Doors are checkpoints, and each level has a boss for Kirby to enter supreme combat with at the end. Players can pick up this little piece of pink history and put it back down with satisfaction after about 45 minutes.
1 The Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game
Available on Steam, The Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game is an immensely fun ride through a wacky world of animal characters. The player is placed in the shoes of a frog detective, and the mission is to figure out why a local sloth is being haunted by forces that no one else can see.
The gameplay in The Haunted Island: A Frog Detective Game largely consists of dialog. The player must put their detective skills to the test as they question and press every town member. Fans can help this sloth get some peaceful rest through the eyes of a tall, intuitive frog in about an hour's time.