One of the unexpected consequences of growing older as a video game fanatic is that you have less time to dedicate to your favorite hobby, limiting your access to certain games.
As much as I love role-playing titles with vast mythology or open worlds where you can have a second life, time’s passage has made me appreciate those games that offer a more focused experience.
While I’d venture to say it’s unusual for a short title to have as much impact on the community on average as a lengthy campaign, I do think some exceptions have managed to leverage their brevity.
So, from walking simulators that explore free will in an interactive world to puzzle games about portals, these are ten highly reviewed games you can beat in five hours or less.
The games’ length has been estimated according to HowLongToBeat, and I’ll only consider titles with an average score of 85 or higher on Metacritic.
10 A Short Hike
A Mountain of Emotions
I admit cozy games aren’t usually my style, but A Short Hike has such a commendable aura that it’s impossible not to feel warm within its confines.
Even though this exploration and adventure game tasks us with the simple job of climbing a mountain, it manages to connect strongly with the player thanks to its charismatic and relatable characters, as well as its spontaneity.
The beauty of its world and its conversations invite you to see everything, to meet every inhabitant of this small island, and to exchange some words to connect, ultimately becoming a beautiful reflection on the fleeting nature of life and how important it is to live.
It’s beautiful to use its gliding mechanics to discover the full extent of its gorgeous pixel art, but believe me when I say it’s even more appealing when you know that what awaits you behind each encounter is human dialogue that brings an effortless smile to your face.
9 Despelote
For Football Fans
As a Latin American and soccer football lover, I’m biased when it comes to talking about Despelote, but it makes perfect sense that it’s among the highest-rated games of 2025.
This Ecuadorian title captures the essence of the 2000s through a unique art style and an even more unique narrative, taking us back to early-20th-century Ecuador to see the progress of its World Cup qualification.
The result is a mechanically simple but narratively powerful game, presenting a story packed with cultural, political, and social elements that help you understand not only part of the country’s history but, by extension, that of the entire subcontinent.
Kicking glass bottles with your friends while your mom scolds you for not being home on time, or searching for a lost ball while real Ecuadorian national soccer matches play in the background, was a transcendental experience that reminded me of video games’ ability to go beyond mere entertainment.
8 Jusant
Climbing Over a Civilization
I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that another indie title about mountain climbing is on the list, but what I do know isn’t a matter of luck is Jusant‘s immeasurable quality.
In the last decade, few titles have managed to connect me with a universe on this level, mainly because few adventures use environmental narrative in such a powerful and communicative way.
To be honest, discovering the vestiges of a civilization through its architecture and scribbled notes while climbing over its corpse is truly moving, aided by a magnificent audiovisual component that makes it impossible not to feel immersed.
Even if I were to evaluate Jusant solely as a puzzle platformer, my conclusion still points to an extraordinary experience, one that becomes absolutely magical when we consider everything else.
7 Mullet Madjack
The Magic of Bullets and Intense Colors
If there’s one genre that benefits from short but intense campaigns that prioritize quality over quantity, it’s FPS, as the magnificent Mullet Madjack demonstrates.
In three hours, it manages to make you experience adrenaline-pumping, vibrant sequences many AAA titles would envy, with a story that mocks gamers’ eternal desire for hyperconsumption while giving you precisely what you want: three million stimuli per second.
The title features numerous game modes that further fuel your need to justify your monetary investment in buying it, but if you’re like me and don’t mind, you’re left with an experience as short as it is unforgettable.
I don’t think it’s a game for everyone because you have to be able to tolerate the headaches of its loud music and blinding aesthetics, but they’re more than worth it when it comes to a game as exciting as Mullet Madjack.
6 Mouthwashing
An Unforgettable Story
I played Mouthwashing just after the title’s remarkable impact on the gaming community, and it was pretty easy to understand why it was such a hit.
While I’m bothered by its stubbornness in making you go around in circles (a mechanical linearity would have suited it much better), I’d never deny that it has an astonishing atmosphere with incredible dialogue and a truly remarkable ability to instill tension.
Every step you take on the Tulpar is both a critique of capitalism and a consequential dark psychological delirium, introducing us to an overwhelming story that’s difficult to let go once you’ve grasped it.
Just for its plot’s last 30 minutes, Mouthwashing has to be forever on the list of the decade’s most captivating story-driven games, because it’s quite difficult to find a game where all the audiovisual and narrative elements work so well together to make you feel so many emotions.
5 INSIDE
Escaping Oppression
However, when it comes to creating a memorable atmosphere whose sensations you won’t forget in a million lifetimes, INSIDE rises to a standing ovation.
From the first minute to the last, Playdead’s ability to make you feel oppressed, vulnerable, and fearful is out of this world, beyond the reach of hyperrealistic graphics and advanced technologies.
Through its body horror, grayscale, and silent story that never tells you what’s happening, each ingenious cognitive and physics-based puzzle feels even more powerful, as if the smallest mistake could lead to your demise.
With tension at its peak and immersion even higher, INSIDE is an immeasurable gem that the passage of time has only cemented as a masterpiece, and part of the reason I’m afraid of dogs.
4 The Stanley Parable
The Paradox of Freedom
While the number of hours The Stanley Parable offers varies depending on your determination to find all the possible endings, the truth is that the experience’s core is quickly found.
The game makes no bones about introducing you to its main ideas, completely questioning the truth of the video games’ claims of granting players freedom when, in reality, said word is limited by the lines of code available.
Putting ourselves in Stanley’s shoes not only allows us to deal with one of the most iconic and hilarious storytellers in the industry, but also to acknowledge the creative and communicative limits of the medium and, by extension, to question whether our own lives aren’t subject to the same invisible barriers.
The Stanley Parable is glorious both as a video game and as a reflection, reaching a depth of analysis through interaction that, to this day, I don’t know if any other title has achieved.
3 Journey
Two Hours to Remember
You know you’ve experienced a transcendental couple of hours when they’ve impressed you more than open worlds with fifty times the amount of content, and that’s precisely the feeling Journey gives you.
It’s tough to find someone who’s played thatgamecompany’s masterpiece and hasn’t been completely moved by its audiovisual sequences, especially because its musical and aesthetic grandeur leaves no one indifferent.
Speeding down the dunes of a forgotten society while communicating with other players only through sounds and movements generates immaculate vibes I could easily define as unrepeatable.
Considering it came out more than 10 years ago, Journey was not only a turning point at its time, but its legacy remains unscathed. While there are titles that manage to offer more vibrant art or more memorable songs, none can compete with the naturalness of this little titan.
2 Portal
The King of Puzzles
Since I love video games that combine seemingly opposing genres, I find Portal‘s fusion of FPS and puzzles a tremendous concept, but even better in execution.
Valve has many masterpieces to its name, and as a result, we tend to forget how impressive this marvel of physics and mental challenges was, because it’s the kind of title that gets stuck in your favorites and never leaves.
For its perfect gameplay, creative levels, unforgettable GLaDOS, and its pioneering use of environmental storytelling, Portal is indisputably among the century’s most influential and notable video games, even though you can easily complete it in three hours at most.
Although its sequel is vastly superior, this marvel’s simplicity must also be praised, because I’m sure it can’t be easy to make a masterful creation of this magnitude look like a simple game.
1 What Remains of Edith Finch
Rejoicing in Tragedy
I consider myself a staunch defender of gameplay as the main driver of what video games are, but when a title like What Remains of Edith Finch can break me with barely any gameplay, I truly doubt what I believe.
With over 550 completed titles, I think I’ve cried only about 10 times in my life with a video game, and probably the one that brought the most tears to my eyes is precisely the one that tells the Finch family’s story.
Both because of the sensitive soundtrack and the heartbreaking, ever-changing, and unexpected mechanics and narrative sequences, it’s a walking simulator where the adjective “art” isn’t enough to describe it, since I feel it’s downright magical.
It’s three hours long, but those 180 minutes are more than enough to make you feel such a great emotional impact that just hearing the first few strains of its main theme will automatically make you feel devastated.
Full of nostalgia and melancholy, but also with a small shred of hope for better futures, What Remains of Edith Finch is humane, splendid, and depressing, with more than enough arguments to top a list of such wonders.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
