Are you limited in free time to enjoy your favorite hobby? Don’t worry! I’ve found a collection of games, divided into eight types, that are perfect for quick gaming sessions. All of these games are primarily single-player experiences, and some also offer multiplayer modes.
1 Racing games
Most racing games, with the exception of hardcore racing simulators, are by nature designed to be enjoyed in bite-sized sessions. You can do some races, maybe upgrade your car, check out what you’ve unlocked, and be out in less than an hour or so. And while some racers have expansive career modes, even those games allow you to enjoy that great feeling of progression by participating in a few races each session.
As someone who has less free time to enjoy my favorite hobby, I’ve started playing more racing games in the past year specifically because I can finish a race or two, unlock some new events, buy a few cars, and then call it a day while you’re able. To experience this nice feeling of making some progress and unlocking new content within the game.
Debris Festival It’s a great example of a racing game suitable for short play sessions. Although it has a huge career mode, you don’t have to finish every tournament to unlock the next level of career events. The tournaments themselves consist of relatively short events, with each event only taking about 10 minutes to complete.
Despite the huge open world map, Forza Horizon 5 It’s another racing game where you can do a lot in an hour or less. You can check some codes off your career checklist by simply wandering across the map and doing open world activities like speed zones. Better yet, the game features short races, with the average race taking about 10-15 minutes to complete. The live service aspect of the game also respects your time; You can finish all the weekly events in about three hours.
If you’ve got them in your library, the first three Dirt Games from Codemasters are perfect for time-strapped gamers. I just finished the first one Colin McRae: Dirt game, and I loved how short each tournament was and how compact but fun the rally stages were. Dirt 5 Good, but not as good as the original trilogy.
While we’re talking about rally games, check this out The art of gathering. The bite-sized rally racer is another toy suitable for short gaming sessions. Before I go any further, I would also like to make a recommendation grandchildrenis a mountain bike game built around roguelite-like rounds, with each round taking less than half an hour to complete. Perfection.
2 Roguelites and Roguelikes
Most well-designed roguelites and roguelikes respect your time and allow you to complete a run in under an hour, which is perfect for a daily gaming session when you don’t have a lot of time to play. After all, if the game is good, you’ll crave more, and one run a day will turn into a bunch of runs over time.
Personally, I love it Slay the spire I cannot recommend it enough. Each tour takes about an hour, but the great thing is Slay the spire is that you can only play several floors at a time because the game saves your progress after each encounter, making it an ideal game to play during breaks. Then you’ve got it Balatroa highly addictive roguelike optimized for short and small gaming sessions.
The nuclear throne It is another great roguelite game with very short rounds, sometimes taking 15 minutes or less to complete. Hades Unsurprisingly, it’s another great option with the longest tours taking around an hour to complete. If you end up liking this stuff, you shouldn’t sleep on the king of this type of music; The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.
If you’re okay with a very hard difficulty, check it out Spelunky 2. I played the game for about 30 hours in total, but I don’t remember playing it for longer than half an hour. If you want to shoot your way through roguelite, Robot Quest It is a fast-paced first-person roguelite game Border areas-Such as visual images that provide tours that take between 15 minutes and half an hour.
3 Boomer shooters
I love boomer shooters not only because of their retro visuals but also because of their compact, retro level design. This allows you to finish most levels in 15 minutes and have fun doing so. The average shooter takes less than 10 hours to complete, which is much better than bloated open-world direct shooters that try to take up all your free time.
My favorite is duskwhich has all the hallmarks of a quality shooter: short levels filled with adrenaline-pumping set pieces, great retro visuals, an arsenal of weapons that are fun to use, and a story that’s right there. I ran away It’s another good shooter set in Czechoslovakia and has a dark and gritty Soviet atmosphere.
If you like Warhammer 40K, you should give it a try Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun; Just increase the difficulty level above normal because I found the game to be too easy on the default difficulty setting (on PC at least). Sci-fi fans will enjoy Produceand if you want to experience HP Lovecraft shooting, give it a try Forgive me, father.
4 Short relaxing games
Comfortable or soothing toys are becoming increasingly popular, and my favorite comfort toys are the ones you play with Short walk: Quiet adventures without fighting, perfect for unwinding after a long day.
Short walk It’s a clear recommendation, though Lil Gator game Being another. I’ve just finished it, and while it starts out kind of slow, you become very invested once you move to the big island and start meeting new friends every five minutes. If you end up liking these two, check them out Haven Park also.
Little turbo ride It’s great if you want to explore an urban environment rather than the wilderness Thank goodness you are here! It’s a definite recommendation for players who crave quirky British humour. There too Alba: Wildlife Adventure If you want to explore a cozy island in the middle of the Mediterranean and photograph its cute animals.
5 Level-based 2D platforming
While 2D platformers have become popular, many modern 2D platformers follow the metroidvania formula or are 2D action games with huge maps or massive levels. These are not well suited for small-sized gaming sessions.
If you want to play 2D platformers that respect your time, your best bet is to either emulate classic Nintendo platformers or get a Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Online subscription that includes a collection of classic 2D platformers from the 80s and 90s. These games are stage-based, with each level taking only a few minutes to complete.
My personal favorites include Super Mario All Stars, Super Mario World And as a continuation of it, Yoshi’s Islandas well as SNESDonkey Kong Triple. On Switch, you can rewind time so that when you fail, you can make another attempt without having to start the level over (talk about respecting your time).
If you want to play something newer, Kazi and the Wild Masks It’s a stunning throwback to classic 2D Nintendo games. Riemann Origins and Rayman Legends These are my favorite modern 2D platformers of all time. There too Pizza tower For Wario fans Celeste and Bzzzzt For those who like games short and sweet and punishing difficulty.
6 Walking simulators
We cannot talk about games intended for players who have limited free time without mentioning walking simulators. These games are always very short, respect your time and offer the best ratio of enjoyment to time investment, as long as you like this type of game of course.
He went home He’s one of the pioneers of the genre, and I love him. It only takes a few hours to complete and features plenty of ’90s nostalgia. Fire control A little longer, but it was crowned one of the best walking simulators ever for good reason; check it out.
What remains of Edith Finch It is a sad, emotionally charged journey that only takes three or four hours to complete. It’s my favorite walking simulator.
Swimming pools It is the perfect walking simulator for horror fans who don’t want to be haunted by monsters but still want a slightly eerie and unnerving experience that never turns into absolute fear. There too Stanley proverba poster child of its genre, is another must-play walking simulator that you can finish in just a few hours.
7 Old style horror games
The rise of old-fashioned horror games is great news for gamers with limited free time because you can finish most of them in a matter of hours. They usually have old graphics and simplified gameplay, and many are cheap or free to play.
David Szymanski Iron lung It is one of the best games of this genre; Short, weird, weird, and with one of the strangest settings ever in a video game. If you liked this, be sure to check it out Pony factory Made by the same developer.
Descending It’s another gem of a genre in which you dig a deep hole in a USSR experimental facility and have to survive for ten bouts while all sorts of strange things happen around you. Washing the blood It’s ugly and funny, and you can finish it in just a few hours.
If you’re looking for a classic survival horror game that looks like it came out in 1994, Signalis It is one of the best retro horror games on the market. I played it a couple of years ago, and it ended up being one of the best survival horror games I’ve ever played.
If you end up liking these retro horror game recommendations, check them out Rant game list One of the best modern horror games with PS1 graphics.
8 Puzzle games
I’m not talking about hardcore puzzle games that will turn your brain into mush; No, the puzzle games below are lightweight, short adventures designed to be fun and not too difficult.
Above the limit It’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about; A short, colorful and fun puzzle mission where you won’t be stuck for days trying to solve complex puzzles. viewfinder It’s a game in the same vein, a great-looking, light-hearted, mind-bending game that you can finish in a few hours.
Legendary outlet With its built-in levels, it is an ideal puzzle game for players who can only reserve an hour or two to play each day. Portal 2 It’s also a masterpiece, but the sequel is much longer than the first game, so only try it if you’re OK with a game that takes 10+ hours to finish.
Multiple garden It is a combination of puzzle game and walking simulator that impresses with its fractal-like environments. If you’re a fan of environmental storytelling, like to put things in order, and want to play a pixel art puzzle game that you can beat in a few hours, unloading It is just what you are looking for.
Want more bite-sized games? Check out our list of the best Android games to kill time. If you’re a Linux gamer, you’ll appreciate my list of 10 great games that run natively on Linux.
(tags for translation) video games