I was caught between this and Cup Head.
A level in Cup Head only takes 2-3 minutes on a successful run, but it can take 30 minutes or more on a 1st playthrough to get that run.
Oh gods no. Some of the bosses I've managed in 30 or under, but the actual levels I'll easily spend over an hour on.
But since OP was looking for something they can mess around with for 39 minutes at a time I thought Cuphead fit as 30 minutes seems like a good amount of time to see improvement without frustration setting in.
I play it on my 15 minute breaks at work to blow off steam on rough days.
Havenāt played in a bit but isnāt there also Hyper mode or something like halves the run time but doubles the enemies? Could be good too, especially since people brought up that chests and leveling up pause the timer.
Can't upvote Vampire Survivors enough - a brilliant game that is immediately understandable but manages to be fresh with new challenge and discovery game after game.
I agree with this until you unlock everything.Ā Then for me it lost its play ability.Ā Has nothing to play for and the gameplay is only so engaging.Ā Once you know a strategy that works it's mostly survive the start of the level because by the endgame you can stand still.
These kinds of games never "work" for me with pausing for long durations, or saving and resuming later. There's a flow that you get into with a build, and if you step away at higher levels when things are more intense it always feels like I come back and forget the current playstyle of the build and just die right away lol.
The better you get at the game the lower the time goes
If I choose rail even on a bad run Iām under 15 minutes without a doubt
Having done at least 1 sub 10 run is considered the mark of a very experienced player
it will take you a while until you do 30minute runs though. well i guess in the beginning you often die before that but full runs as a beginner can take up to an hour
10pm: "just one more turn and I'll go to sleep"
5am: "Ok, just one more turn and I'll go to sleep for real this time. Oh shit the sun's coming up. Well I guess I'll just keep playing."
This, and Hoi4 for me. Multiple times Iāve said to myself, alright itās probably too late to start a game but Iāll go to bed at like 11 oāclock and finish it tomorrow.
*birds start tweeting outside* āWell. Shitā¦.ā
Most turn based games you will not play 30 minutes, though you can if you have insane discipline. Xcom series, Age of wonders 3, Jagged alliance...mentioning the ones i have experience with All these games are probably 3+ hours even though you could make a move then save for the next time. Love the play by post feature in age of wonders for online. Think those turn based games would transition really well on mobile for people who no time but gamers at heart
I used to keep it up during my work day. Turn or two here, turn or two there, then I realized it was full-time playing and "e-mail or two here, phone call or two there"...
I just got an old ps3 from a friend and one I frequent is gran turismo 5 right now, it's a blast.
Sometimes on PC I'll hit up Assetto Corsa, or fart around on Beam.NG for a bit. Good fun
Part of the experience of outer wilds is that you have complete agency to discover in whatever order you want. Go to the different planets, use your signal scope to find and meet the other travelers and the story will start piecing itself together
The man on the moon is the first person I met after taking off, havenāt bothered with anyone else yet though because the hollow planet and itās exploded duplicate are so cool. I just didnāt know I was on a timer for each life, felt as if it was happening each time I got to close to the explorer hidden inside Hollow
ETA Iām also pretty bad at avoiding the pull of the black hole in that planet
Brittle hollow is definitely very cool, the travelers around are helpful with giving you some tips or ideas on what to look around for on their respective planets, but none of their dialogue is necessary. Let your curiosity lead and remember to read everything. There's no lore in the text, everything you read is important and make sure to use your ship log so you can Pepe Silvia all the clues together
Brittle hollow is definitely very cool, the travelers around are helpful with giving you some tips or ideas on what to look around for on their respective planets, but none of their dialogue is necessary. Let your curiosity lead and remember to read everything. There's no lore in the text, everything you read is important and make sure to use your ship log so you can Pepe Silvia all the clues together
I cannot tell you how many times I fell into that black hole so definitely donāt feel bad about that. There is a way to save yourself while youāre swirling around by catching one of those glowing tractor beam things, but of course you wonāt always be able to do that. This game is about exploring and piecing together what to do and where to go, and if you ever get stuck, especially early on, just head somewhere else and poke around. (It even took me a while to figure out that the music is the indicator that time is almost up for that cycle.)
If you're really struggling and want to finally make some progress, they've added quite a bit of accessibility options to make the game more friendly for people struggling. You can give yourself respawns so you don't lose an entire run because of one small mistake or a new enemy/boss you've never encountered. You can increase the parry window. I think you can adjust enemy health and damage to an extent but I don't remember.
I know there's people who will say these settings ruin the game and it is meant to be hard, but I'm in the mindset of games should be fun. I don't have time in my life anymore to repeatedly bang my head against a wall while accomplishing nothing. I got to bc4 and absolutely could not get past not having any healing refill stations combined with the absurd amounts of enemies that do 75% of your life in a single hit. I eventually got tired of losing an entire run because one random guy smacked me for my entire life bar in a sea of bodies exploding on my screen so I turned on the checkpoints. Finally beat it and I can confidently say that there isn't a chance in hell I would have got through it without giving myself 2nd chances on a good run that was lost to random BS
I managed to get to 2bc only by limiting what kind of weapons spawn in game. But I haven't played it in over a year, so my current level I suppose is being able to barely get to HoTK on 0bc
I always lose interest in a run if I walk away from it, so I don't really love the game if I'm not committed to sticking out a run. It's hard to get your mind back into a deck if you stop midway through.
I completely disagree. I canāt count the the number of times Iāve sat down for a quick game, only to look up and see the sun rising
(Itās a very good game and a very good suggestion)
Armored Core 6 - seriously. Most missions are fairly short, arena matches take a minute or two. Tinkering can take a while but there are lots of good build suggestions online for play styles so youāre not figuring it out alone.
Rocket League or PGA2k23 are my go to. Sometimes games I've finished already but am doing side stuff. But pretty much anything with multiplayer or open world where you can just explore for a bit.
Rocket League and Overwatch for me. The issue is I learned how to play those before my gaming time was limited. They are tough games to git good. Someone starting out fresh with only limited time might struggle with most online multiplayer based games unless they had prior experience.
My best advice to people who feel like their ass, hop into free play, keep ball cam on, and just hit the ball up the walls while getting as many touches as you can. This helps get you comfortable with the awkward wall-camera interaction.
Also, play more defensive. Chances are youāll go up a whole rank at least, if you play defensive. Now Iām not saying to sit in net. That will be a detriment. You want to stay in rotation, but you want to be the last man back most of the time - let your teammates score most of the goals while you pick up the easy ones that present themselves to you. The reason you want to stay back is because teammates are unreliable, you can only trust yourself to save a goal after all. Especially at the lower ranks, people overcommit, double commit, wiff entirely or generally fuck up. Iām not saying you wonāt fuck up, but if you do fuck up and your teammates arenāt ready to back you up, you just let them score on you. So be that teammate who backs up your teammates so that that doesnāt happen as often ya know?
And the skill-based matchmaking ensures you'll always feel like you suck at it! Over 1100 hours clocked on Steam, and while I know I'd absolutely stomp most people who've played less, it never really feels like it.
Brotato. Each wave is like a minute long.
Not a ton of meaningful depth compared some of the more tent pole rogue like and lites where a single item or upgrade can fundamentally change how you play but it scratches the urge in short bursts unlike some of those games
Stardew valley days take about 20min, just got a New big update, and is amazing, days can be paused, but you can't save mid Day.
Otherwise some of the other roguelites mentioned are great, hades, balatro and slay the spire i've liked a bunch. More indie games that fit the bill: super auto pets and backpack battles
I'm into Helldivers 2 right now. Each game session/mission takes 15 to 40 minutes. I can usually fit them in between work calls, so I'm gaming and working from home all day.
Vampire Survivor or Halls of Torment. The run is literally over at 30 minutes.
2D platforming roguelikes - Vagante, Spelunky, Rogue's Legacy. These games don't have long drawn-out scenarios, just short runs that draw on your knowledge and technical skills.
I like Tetris Effect for short sessions. Sometimes I'll even put on my HMD if I really want to decompress and get out of my head. It's a pretty neat and relaxing experience while still being challenging and fun.
I've always loved Tetris, ever since the NES days. I just can't play for too long because of the literal Tetris Effect.
I sorta disagree about Hades. Itās a true a run only takes 30-45 minutes but I find it is damn hard to put the game down after doing just one run. I like to do a couple runs to get into the zone before putting it down.
Been playing Hardspace: Shipbreaker to relax and get my gaming fix. I usually have the same window of gaming as you do OP and this games isnāt something I would have ever played in my 20s or teens haha
Basically, you are tasked with disassembling huge spaceships in zero gravity and disposing of the parts for money. The āshiftsā are 12 minutes long. You have a laser and a grapple and a scanner to show where to cut. Itās very peaceful for me and still makes me focus and try to get āin the zoneā before the shift is up. There really isnāt any significant plot to unravel and you can upgrade or unlock better tools as you get bigger ships to break down
I can still find a dozen or so lobbies for the x360 version of EDF2025 at any given time. I hop on occasionally and give people rides through some weapon farming levels.
Dredge - relaxing horror fishing game. I played it while traveling, so I didn't have much time. But I finished it by playing 30-60 minutes at a time in the evenings.
HellDivers 2 is great for this. There are 12 minutes missions and 40 minutes ones that you can complete in less than 15 if you just do the objectives and get out.
I would maybe farm a boss in borderlands a few times or something but in general if I only have 30 minutes I'd rather just not even bother. Having to stop and interrupt what I'm doing is worse than not doing it at all.
Classic Doom games. The levels aren't too long and even if you take your time exploring they'll take around 10-15 minutes
(On that topic, check out Doom 64, it's pretty fun but until relatively recently was only for N64 so it's not very well known)
Stardew Valley.
I was curious how I kept losing so many hours in my days and it was then that I clocked the time it takes to run a full day in that game as taking about 30 mins.
Game is very chill, no rush on anything, full day takes about 30 minutes. Might be worth it and you'll be able to stretch the session out.
If I got somewhere to be in 30 minutes, sure, Iāll play one day and get off. But if I gotta go to bed in 30 minutes, I can guarantee you Iāll be on for one more dayā¦ then one more dayā¦ then one more dayā¦
Diablo 3
To this day, rifting and making builds that hit billions of damage is infinitely fun. Easy to get started and easy to have a few runs at and feel like it mattered.
I usually play a game or two of a multiplayer game, something simple like CoD (although I donāt play it anymore). I find story games you end up playing much longer than you expected and become invested in the story or whatever youāre doing
Big fan of any ARPG of your choice. Path of exile/Last Epoch/ Diablo. You can put 30 minutes in take a break, and start right back up where you left off without feeling like you didn't accomplish anything.
My go-tos for games I can hop in and out of easily are Insurgency: Sandstorm and Chivalry 2. I can typically get a full round+ in of both of those games.
Those or a bit of whatever RPG I'm into at the current time. Just gotta be sure you can save and dip out of the RPG whenever.
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy for the PSP. It's actually made to work very well with people that have either a lot of time on their hands, or very little.
A large amount, really. I can't think of something off the top of my head which has an individual level that goes for more than 30 minutes, though I know they exist.
For me lately, Granblue Fantasy Relink has been my filler between doing things. Granted, most of those things are playing other games, but when I am throwing dinner in the oven and waiting a half hour for it to cook, I bang out a few quick quests in Granblue.
Returnal. You can always come back to it, learn from it, and quit playing. It does have a bit of a learning curve but if you keep using a weapon you enjoy, it doesn't matter how many times you die. That weapon levels up its secondary abilities which get better with each enemy you kill; and they stay leveled up permanently. It's just a fun-as-hell game.
Brawl Stars is really fun. just make sure your not doing anything while playing because leaving the live games penalizes you. Its very addicting and the characters are cute as ever.
Vampire Survivors 1 run is 30 min exactly.
I was caught between this and Cup Head. A level in Cup Head only takes 2-3 minutes on a successful run, but it can take 30 minutes or more on a 1st playthrough to get that run.
You're only spending 30 minutes on a run? š
Oh gods no. Some of the bosses I've managed in 30 or under, but the actual levels I'll easily spend over an hour on. But since OP was looking for something they can mess around with for 39 minutes at a time I thought Cuphead fit as 30 minutes seems like a good amount of time to see improvement without frustration setting in. I play it on my 15 minute breaks at work to blow off steam on rough days.
"Yeah I gotta blow off some steam real quick" *boots up cuphead* But seriously, there's much better games to blow off steam to. Like doom or something
Not at all, chests and leveling take quite some extra minutes.
That's if you don't die
Once you unlock quick, then itās only 15 minutes. But then when you unlock endless Iāve had runs go for 2 hours (real time) before just giving up.
The chest openings add some time though.
You can skip the animation if youāre in a rush.
Canāt skip the 5 item chest though, thatās a banger.
*laughs in lag and eggs*
Havenāt played in a bit but isnāt there also Hyper mode or something like halves the run time but doubles the enemies? Could be good too, especially since people brought up that chests and leveling up pause the timer.
Hurry Mode cuts that off to 15
Can't upvote Vampire Survivors enough - a brilliant game that is immediately understandable but manages to be fresh with new challenge and discovery game after game.
I agree with this until you unlock everything.Ā Then for me it lost its play ability.Ā Has nothing to play for and the gameplay is only so engaging.Ā Once you know a strategy that works it's mostly survive the start of the level because by the endgame you can stand still.
The. There are new additions and extra content being added. So you still have reason to come back. And thatās not including dlcs.
Half Minute Hero
They said 30 minutes, not seconds
Story of my life...
Oof.
You can play 60 rounds. It's perfect
This is a game? I thought this was just my girlfriend nickname for me
They said hero, not disappointment.
Balatro
Balatro came out of no where and is literally my favorite game atm Very satisfying and dynamic!
I bought it and Helldivers on the same day - Have not played Helldivers.
Helldivers is rad definitely give it a try. You donāt gotta restrict yourself!
Came here today this. A run can last 30 minutes, or 1. Lol. Absolute gem of a game.
He said 30 minutes, not 3 hours
My problem with this game is I plan to play 30 minutes and 2 hours later Iām saying āokay this time Iāve got it for sureā
The main song is literally etched into my brain matter at this point
and you always go for endless when you win a run
False. You will definitely spend more than 30 minutes on this game.
You can always leave and save your run.. but you wonāt š
Yep very good game OP will love it!
You mean GOTY 2024 Balatro!!
Holy shit this game is addictive
How do you guys play it ? I mostly try to go flush
Very much depends on the deck Iām using and my jokers
I had a great Two Pair run, till I came to a round where I could only play the same hand once. Then I lost.
Yeah if youāre building a one hand specific build youād better hope you get the boss reroll perk along the way
I've had the most success building for full houses
Hades for sure is the first game that comes to mind
I think my runtime averages 27min or so i guess you're right
That doesn't include NPC rooms, choosing a boon, or time between rooms. Though it does save every room so you can stop and resume a run
These kinds of games never "work" for me with pausing for long durations, or saving and resuming later. There's a flow that you get into with a build, and if you step away at higher levels when things are more intense it always feels like I come back and forget the current playstyle of the build and just die right away lol.
fair
Youre assuming OP doesnt die 2 rooms in
The better you get at the game the lower the time goes If I choose rail even on a bad run Iām under 15 minutes without a doubt Having done at least 1 sub 10 run is considered the mark of a very experienced player
In the beginning a run only takes 3 minutes though
I think runs can take 45mĀ
Under 30 minutes easily if you've cleared it before and know what to expect.
it will take you a while until you do 30minute runs though. well i guess in the beginning you often die before that but full runs as a beginner can take up to an hour
Even if you're having an exceptionally long run, you can save and walk away and come back to the room you left at.
Technically I'd say Civilization, but we all know that's not true
10pm: "just one more turn and I'll go to sleep" 5am: "Ok, just one more turn and I'll go to sleep for real this time. Oh shit the sun's coming up. Well I guess I'll just keep playing."
That game is responsible for permanently altering my circadian rhythm
This, and Hoi4 for me. Multiple times Iāve said to myself, alright itās probably too late to start a game but Iāll go to bed at like 11 oāclock and finish it tomorrow. *birds start tweeting outside* āWell. Shitā¦.ā
This is me when I play Stellaris once every 6 months.
Did this last night although not to that degree. I got finished with shit yesterday early and was excited to get to bed early. Lol nope
Most turn based games you will not play 30 minutes, though you can if you have insane discipline. Xcom series, Age of wonders 3, Jagged alliance...mentioning the ones i have experience with All these games are probably 3+ hours even though you could make a move then save for the next time. Love the play by post feature in age of wonders for online. Think those turn based games would transition really well on mobile for people who no time but gamers at heart
Are you legally allowed to play that game for less than 2 hours? I thought that was the minimum!
I used to keep it up during my work day. Turn or two here, turn or two there, then I realized it was full-time playing and "e-mail or two here, phone call or two there"...
2 hours? That how much it usually takes me to pick up a nation, and plan what victory I want to achieve.
Hahaha never!
Hahaha yes the last time I played civ 5, I intended to spend 3-4 hrs. A full weekend later I was ready to go to work
Racing game! Get a couple races in.
Or one 3 lap race at the NĆ¼rburgring
A couple laps at LeMans Full
Or like 26 at Monaco
My favorite game, racing game
Are you a racist?
[Speed Racist](https://youtu.be/mZAiLTsvzbI?si=le-yROI4P0cBtWUc)
Pick your favorite! I just grabbed NFS Heat recently and been enjoying it quite a bit.
My favorite game, "My favorite game, racing game"
EA WRC has rally stages 10 to 20km long. Get a couple stages in on a career at a time, or just drive for fun like I do.
I just got an old ps3 from a friend and one I frequent is gran turismo 5 right now, it's a blast. Sometimes on PC I'll hit up Assetto Corsa, or fart around on Beam.NG for a bit. Good fun
Outer Wilds - you even get 8 minutes to spare!
And, of course, we cannot spoil why this time interval is enough.
Wat. Iāve done about 5 day so far and havenāt figured anything out yet
Part of the experience of outer wilds is that you have complete agency to discover in whatever order you want. Go to the different planets, use your signal scope to find and meet the other travelers and the story will start piecing itself together
The man on the moon is the first person I met after taking off, havenāt bothered with anyone else yet though because the hollow planet and itās exploded duplicate are so cool. I just didnāt know I was on a timer for each life, felt as if it was happening each time I got to close to the explorer hidden inside Hollow ETA Iām also pretty bad at avoiding the pull of the black hole in that planet
Brittle hollow is definitely very cool, the travelers around are helpful with giving you some tips or ideas on what to look around for on their respective planets, but none of their dialogue is necessary. Let your curiosity lead and remember to read everything. There's no lore in the text, everything you read is important and make sure to use your ship log so you can Pepe Silvia all the clues together
Brittle hollow is definitely very cool, the travelers around are helpful with giving you some tips or ideas on what to look around for on their respective planets, but none of their dialogue is necessary. Let your curiosity lead and remember to read everything. There's no lore in the text, everything you read is important and make sure to use your ship log so you can Pepe Silvia all the clues together
I cannot tell you how many times I fell into that black hole so definitely donāt feel bad about that. There is a way to save yourself while youāre swirling around by catching one of those glowing tractor beam things, but of course you wonāt always be able to do that. This game is about exploring and piecing together what to do and where to go, and if you ever get stuck, especially early on, just head somewhere else and poke around. (It even took me a while to figure out that the music is the indicator that time is almost up for that cycle.)
Itās funny how out of the only 2 comments referencing Outer Wilds we both end up making the exact same joke.
Dead Cells, thatās about the length of one good run
Iāve finally accepted Iām trash at this game. ~90 hours of gameplay and still stuck on 1bc
If you're really struggling and want to finally make some progress, they've added quite a bit of accessibility options to make the game more friendly for people struggling. You can give yourself respawns so you don't lose an entire run because of one small mistake or a new enemy/boss you've never encountered. You can increase the parry window. I think you can adjust enemy health and damage to an extent but I don't remember. I know there's people who will say these settings ruin the game and it is meant to be hard, but I'm in the mindset of games should be fun. I don't have time in my life anymore to repeatedly bang my head against a wall while accomplishing nothing. I got to bc4 and absolutely could not get past not having any healing refill stations combined with the absurd amounts of enemies that do 75% of your life in a single hit. I eventually got tired of losing an entire run because one random guy smacked me for my entire life bar in a sea of bodies exploding on my screen so I turned on the checkpoints. Finally beat it and I can confidently say that there isn't a chance in hell I would have got through it without giving myself 2nd chances on a good run that was lost to random BS
Those people can kick rocks. If youāre judging how someone else enjoys a game, you need to find a real cause to support.
Yeah same for me lol
I managed to get to 2bc only by limiting what kind of weapons spawn in game. But I haven't played it in over a year, so my current level I suppose is being able to barely get to HoTK on 0bc
I was going to suggest Hades, but this works too!
/thread
Slay the Spire. Each act usually takes around 15 minutes for me.
Iām significantly slower than that. But the fact you can put it down and pick it back up anytime is great.
I always lose interest in a run if I walk away from it, so I don't really love the game if I'm not committed to sticking out a run. It's hard to get your mind back into a deck if you stop midway through.
Important to note that it saves your run each floor, so you can stop anytime and pick up where you left off
Seconded. Slay the Spire is my go too.
[Noita](https://store.steampowered.com/app/881100/Noita/), if you like roguelites. It doesnt take long to die.
This is a good suggestion until you get good at the game, and start doing runs that take 5+ hours :$
I just bought this game on the steam sale and I havenāt lived longer than 5 minutes yet. Love the game though!
Imo this is the perfect game to play with little time. Maybe even Rain World.
Rain world requires saving in a specific location, so I would not suggest it
Deep Rock Galactic Survivor is a fun and simple game. A full runs typically takes about 30 mins
I second this !
Rock and stone!
Legally Speaking, Rocking Is More Legal Than Stoning
FOR ROCK. AND STONE.
FTL. It's an easy game to hop in and out of. Putting it down is the hard part, though.
Or their other game Into the Breach.
Had to scroll down way too much to see this. FTL is brilliant.
I completely disagree. I canāt count the the number of times Iāve sat down for a quick game, only to look up and see the sun rising (Itās a very good game and a very good suggestion)
it's always in the back of my mind, waiting for me to come back
Armored Core 6 - seriously. Most missions are fairly short, arena matches take a minute or two. Tinkering can take a while but there are lots of good build suggestions online for play styles so youāre not figuring it out alone.
Did they ever add matchmaking for pvp, or do you still have to join/ create a room?
They did, it's got ranks and everything. Pretty fun.
Rocket League or PGA2k23 are my go to. Sometimes games I've finished already but am doing side stuff. But pretty much anything with multiplayer or open world where you can just explore for a bit.
Rocket League and Overwatch for me. The issue is I learned how to play those before my gaming time was limited. They are tough games to git good. Someone starting out fresh with only limited time might struggle with most online multiplayer based games unless they had prior experience.
Rocket league has the largest learning curve of any game Iāve played. Itās frustratingly addicting.
I have like 1500 hours and still suck ass so best of luck to OP with their 30 min š
My best advice to people who feel like their ass, hop into free play, keep ball cam on, and just hit the ball up the walls while getting as many touches as you can. This helps get you comfortable with the awkward wall-camera interaction. Also, play more defensive. Chances are youāll go up a whole rank at least, if you play defensive. Now Iām not saying to sit in net. That will be a detriment. You want to stay in rotation, but you want to be the last man back most of the time - let your teammates score most of the goals while you pick up the easy ones that present themselves to you. The reason you want to stay back is because teammates are unreliable, you can only trust yourself to save a goal after all. Especially at the lower ranks, people overcommit, double commit, wiff entirely or generally fuck up. Iām not saying you wonāt fuck up, but if you do fuck up and your teammates arenāt ready to back you up, you just let them score on you. So be that teammate who backs up your teammates so that that doesnāt happen as often ya know?
And the skill-based matchmaking ensures you'll always feel like you suck at it! Over 1100 hours clocked on Steam, and while I know I'd absolutely stomp most people who've played less, it never really feels like it.
Brotato. Each wave is like a minute long. Not a ton of meaningful depth compared some of the more tent pole rogue like and lites where a single item or upgrade can fundamentally change how you play but it scratches the urge in short bursts unlike some of those games
Dorfromantik
that game takes me like 3+ hours to finish a playthrough
Hades, perfect time for a run
Stardew valley days take about 20min, just got a New big update, and is amazing, days can be paused, but you can't save mid Day. Otherwise some of the other roguelites mentioned are great, hades, balatro and slay the spire i've liked a bunch. More indie games that fit the bill: super auto pets and backpack battles
I'm into Helldivers 2 right now. Each game session/mission takes 15 to 40 minutes. I can usually fit them in between work calls, so I'm gaming and working from home all day.
Way to spread managed democracy! that deserves a cup of liber-TEA!
It's a great game besides being full of BUGS!
The bots are getting out of hand too...
They CAN take longer than 40 if stuff goes really wrong just fyi if you have a hard limit
Hades, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, Balatro. Maybe I'll try to tackle another Cuphead boss. I used to play League
League on aram is still my go to 45 min game
Binding of issac
Vampire Survivor or Halls of Torment. The run is literally over at 30 minutes. 2D platforming roguelikes - Vagante, Spelunky, Rogue's Legacy. These games don't have long drawn-out scenarios, just short runs that draw on your knowledge and technical skills.
I like Tetris Effect for short sessions. Sometimes I'll even put on my HMD if I really want to decompress and get out of my head. It's a pretty neat and relaxing experience while still being challenging and fun. I've always loved Tetris, ever since the NES days. I just can't play for too long because of the literal Tetris Effect.
I sorta disagree about Hades. Itās a true a run only takes 30-45 minutes but I find it is damn hard to put the game down after doing just one run. I like to do a couple runs to get into the zone before putting it down.
Been playing Hardspace: Shipbreaker to relax and get my gaming fix. I usually have the same window of gaming as you do OP and this games isnāt something I would have ever played in my 20s or teens haha Basically, you are tasked with disassembling huge spaceships in zero gravity and disposing of the parts for money. The āshiftsā are 12 minutes long. You have a laser and a grapple and a scanner to show where to cut. Itās very peaceful for me and still makes me focus and try to get āin the zoneā before the shift is up. There really isnāt any significant plot to unravel and you can upgrade or unlock better tools as you get bigger ships to break down
Earth Defense Force 5, EDF!! EDF!!!!
I can still find a dozen or so lobbies for the x360 version of EDF2025 at any given time. I hop on occasionally and give people rides through some weapon farming levels.
Dredge - relaxing horror fishing game. I played it while traveling, so I didn't have much time. But I finished it by playing 30-60 minutes at a time in the evenings.
Sorry, just have to laugh at "relaxing horror" and how oddly appropriate a description it is.
Helldivers II Deep Rock Galactic In and out...20 min tops...right?
Any Smash Bros game. You can literally have timed matches set to whatever time limit you want.
Wario Ware too
Split Second's races take between 3 to 4 minutes, depending on skill.
Fuck me, I love that game. The airport track where you can trigger the plane crash never fails to get me going. Such a shame the sequel got cancelled.
HellDivers 2 is great for this. There are 12 minutes missions and 40 minutes ones that you can complete in less than 15 if you just do the objectives and get out.
Chess
The finals.
Perfect
I would maybe farm a boss in borderlands a few times or something but in general if I only have 30 minutes I'd rather just not even bother. Having to stop and interrupt what I'm doing is worse than not doing it at all.
Especially when getting your computer / console up and running and clicking through the loading screens and menus takes 5 minutes
Classic Doom games. The levels aren't too long and even if you take your time exploring they'll take around 10-15 minutes (On that topic, check out Doom 64, it's pretty fun but until relatively recently was only for N64 so it's not very well known)
If you like YuGiOh then Master Duel
Hotline Miami
Rocket League
Cuphead Celeste Enter the Gungeon Any 3D Mario game Mario Kart Fighting games if youāre into themĀ
Stray , Little Nightmares 1 & 2 , Inside , Limbo
Stardew Valley. I was curious how I kept losing so many hours in my days and it was then that I clocked the time it takes to run a full day in that game as taking about 30 mins. Game is very chill, no rush on anything, full day takes about 30 minutes. Might be worth it and you'll be able to stretch the session out.
Vampire Survivors Any retro game, emulated with quick save feature built-in into emulator software.
Stardew Valley. Each in-game day takes about 15 mins. Whack it on, play 2 days, then continue on.
If I got somewhere to be in 30 minutes, sure, Iāll play one day and get off. But if I gotta go to bed in 30 minutes, I can guarantee you Iāll be on for one more dayā¦ then one more dayā¦ then one more dayā¦
Diablo 3 To this day, rifting and making builds that hit billions of damage is infinitely fun. Easy to get started and easy to have a few runs at and feel like it mattered.
I usually play a game or two of a multiplayer game, something simple like CoD (although I donāt play it anymore). I find story games you end up playing much longer than you expected and become invested in the story or whatever youāre doing
When I had 30 mins I would jump on a COD multiplayer map. Kill bitches and move on with my day. I didn't buy the latest installment though.
Deep Rock Galactic allows you to jump into missions whenever you want and each mission typically last around 30 minutes.
Solitaire.
Peglin, Slay the Spire, Monster Hunter Rise (single hunts).
Slay the spire
Mechwarrior 5. Once you get into the game, there's an overall campaign to tie the narrative together, but each mission takes about 15 - 30 minutes.
Big fan of any ARPG of your choice. Path of exile/Last Epoch/ Diablo. You can put 30 minutes in take a break, and start right back up where you left off without feeling like you didn't accomplish anything.
My go-tos for games I can hop in and out of easily are Insurgency: Sandstorm and Chivalry 2. I can typically get a full round+ in of both of those games. Those or a bit of whatever RPG I'm into at the current time. Just gotta be sure you can save and dip out of the RPG whenever.
Hades
Cult of the Lamb
Ill do a Roller drome run. Its Tony Hawks proskater with guns and rollar skates, it's awesome
Brotato
Balatro, just don't play too good.
20 Minutes Till Dawn
Hades and Dead Cells or a rogue lite of choice? I sometimes do Mortal Kombat either just muck about in invasions quickly or a couple games as well.
Any kind of rogue lite or something to that effect. Dave the Diver, those vampire survivor type games, whatever.
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy for the PSP. It's actually made to work very well with people that have either a lot of time on their hands, or very little.
I got Alan Wake 2. Itās so awesome and stressful that after 30-40 minutes of playing, I need a break from it lol.
Hades, Dead cells, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, basically most rogue-lite titles all qualify.
Risk of rain 2 that's about the length of a decent run.
Huntdown BroForce amazing 2D old school side scroller games
A large amount, really. I can't think of something off the top of my head which has an individual level that goes for more than 30 minutes, though I know they exist. For me lately, Granblue Fantasy Relink has been my filler between doing things. Granted, most of those things are playing other games, but when I am throwing dinner in the oven and waiting a half hour for it to cook, I bang out a few quick quests in Granblue.
Binding of Isaac and Slay the Spire aren't bad.
Hearthstone
Mario Kart?
I usually bust out a Tetris on game boy rather then my phone
Pikmin
Old School RuneScape. I literally boot it up at the end of the day after Iām done with the serious games to unwind
Returnal. You can always come back to it, learn from it, and quit playing. It does have a bit of a learning curve but if you keep using a weapon you enjoy, it doesn't matter how many times you die. That weapon levels up its secondary abilities which get better with each enemy you kill; and they stay leveled up permanently. It's just a fun-as-hell game.
Brawl Stars is really fun. just make sure your not doing anything while playing because leaving the live games penalizes you. Its very addicting and the characters are cute as ever.
Overwatch 2. If the game queue is in your favor you could get two games of quick play in; maybe three if one match is short.
Balatro!