3 days ago
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There are only so many hours in a day. As best as one might try, it can be difficult to keep up with the deluge of new titles that are released every month, let alone the latest hundred-hour action RPG or always-online service game. Luckily, there’s just as many fun — and most importantly, short — games out there to choose from whether you prefer playing on your mobile device, console, or computer.
We’ve polled the collective brain trust of Polygon’s most ardent short-game enthusiasts to bring you a selection of the best games you can play and enjoy in under five hours. From recent indie hits to critically acclaimed classics, there’s a ton of great games you can lose yourself in without eating up all your free time.
$10
Where to play: Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One
You’re an inquisitive ducklike creature who picks up a nifty sword that washes up on the shore next to your house. Unfortunately for you, the sword is cursed, causing you to die and be resurrected back at your home every 60 seconds. Minit is a whimsical time-loop twist on a Zelda-like adventure that’s perfect to play on a lazy weekend afternoon. —Toussaint Egan
$8
Where to play: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC
A Short Hike is the epitome of a “cozy” game, putting players in the role of a young bird girl named Claire enjoying her summer vacation in a beautiful provincial park filled with interesting characters and loads of fun activities to do. Collect golden feathers in order to reach the peak of a nearby mountain, or play volleyball, collect seashells, or race a speedboat across the ocean. —TE
$4
Where to play: Android, iOS, Windows PC
Ustwo Games’ 2014 puzzle game takes a page out of M.C. Escher’s playbook, immersing players in a fantastical world of optical illusions and impossible objects as a pointy-hatted princess on a journey of discovery. If you enjoy similar mind-bending games like Portal or Manifold Garden, you’ll absolutely love Monument Valley. —TE
$20
Where to play: iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
What Remains of Edith Finch was released seven years ago, but it’s still one of the games I think about often. It’s like a benchmark for storytelling; it’s a bittersweet, haunting story that’s told through the eyes — and hands — of one woman exploring a strange old house. The BAFTA-winning game from developer Giant Sparrow does all this in just three hours, all spent wandering from room to room (and memory to memory) in search of answers to Edith’s questions about her family’s history. It’s the sort of game that you’ll want to indulge in through one straight session, as if it were a movie. Though What Remains of Edith Finch is no longer than a few episodes of House of the Dragon, you’ll likely spend a lot of time, like me, thinking about it after. —Nicole Carpenter
$5
Where to play: Mac, Windows PC
If you really want a short game, how about an epic, multilayered spy caper packed into 15 minutes? This is the stunning achievement of Brendon Chung’s 2012 miniature masterpiece Thirty Flights of Loving, a hectic, surreal, hilarious, and even moving narrative game experience that won’t outlast a cup of coffee. It’s a first-person narrative game — like a walking simulator played on fast-forward, punctuated with startling elisions and jump cuts. And car chases. And magical-realist hallucinations. And a wedding.
Chung’s genius is to realize that his very basic graphics engine — the characters are textures wrapped around basic blocks, like in Minecraft — is so fast that it enables film-like editing techniques, with instant smash cuts from one scene to the next. He employs these to brilliant comic and dramatic effect, including a sudden jump from the preparation of a heist to its aftermath that’s worthy of Tarantino. Someone should try using those fancy SSDs in modern consoles to do something similar. —Oli Welsh
$18
Where to play: Mac, Windows PC
Honestly, the less you know about horror visual novel Slay the Princess before you go in, the better. But if you need something: Your player character is instructed by an enigmatic narrator to kill a princess. If you don’t, says the mysterious narrator, the world will end. How you kill the princess (or not!) has a huge domino effect on what happens next. It’s a game that takes into account every little decision you make, no matter how seemingly trivial, and ultimately builds into an incredibly thought-provoking and poignant story — all done through the basic framework of walking through the woods on the way to kill a princess. Even though you can finish the game in just a few hours, it’ll sink its teeth deep into your psyche and reverberate for a very long time. —Petrana Radulovic
$13
Where to play: iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC
Sayonara Wild Hearts isn’t just a visually inspired rhythm game. It’s also a kickass synth pop album (truly, every track’s a banger). And an exhilarating action spectacle (you fight giant wolves while riding a motorcycle with miniguns). And a deliriously surreal acid trip (provided you have a good sitter). But the main draw here is how Wild Hearts conveys a story without a single word: of the youthful yearning for lost love, of the scars one bears because of it, and of the newfound strength one can earn through unimaginable, unforeseen tumult. Heavy stuff for 90 minutes flat! —Ari Notis
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