Video games have always been timesinks, but we're living in an era where overwhelming quantity is frequently mistaken for quality by developers.
A lot of games these days simply don’t respect your time all that much, and it can be frustrating.
But thankfully, there are also countless brilliant games with very modest runtimes that leave you both feeling satisfied and free to do something else afterwards.
So, if you’re planning a weekend on the sofa and are looking for a game you can play through from beginning to end long before the dreaded Monday morning alarm sounds, I have three suggestions for you.
Skate Story
We’ve been spoiled for choice with skateboarding games recently, with everything from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater remakes to live-service reboots of the Skate franchise to choose from for your virtual skating fix. But my advice is to ignore all of them in favour of this wildly inventive, narrative-driven grind through hell…
In Skate Story, you play as a demon who makes a pact with the devil to consume the moon in exchange for their freedom. The only catch is they have to complete their quest on a skateboard, and they’re (really rather cruelly) going to be made entirely of glass while they do it.
Gameplay in Skate Story lands somewhere between the over-the-top arcadiness of THPS and the more simulation approach of some of its contemporaries – skewing towards the latter, in fact.
But while the controls aren’t immediately intuitive, it feels fantastic to play once you’ve worked out the button combinations.
Skate Story goes to some truly bizarre places in its eight-hour runtime, elevated by its psychedelic aesthetic and incredible soundtrack. Play it.
Keeper
In an industry ruled by safe sequels and remakes, you can always rely on Double Fine to keep things interesting.
The Psychonauts 2 developer’s latest game is an ambiguous wordless adventure in which you play as a lighthouse on legs exploring a mysterious realm with only a seabird for company.
There admittedly isn't as much in the way of gameplay mechanics as you might find in one of the studio’s other games, with Keeper often feeling more like an interactive tour of someone’s particularly vivid imagination than a video game. There are platforming(ish) bits and puzzles to solve, but it’s more of a vibe than anything you really play.
What a vibe, though. Stunning visuals and a beautiful score make this the kind of game you’ll see through in a couple of days but think about for years to come.
Just make sure you remember to put on some headphones before you dive in.
Inside
It’s been over 10 years since Playdead released Inside, and none of its subsequent imitators have managed to surpass it. You don’t even need a full weekend to play through this one, provided you’re a capable side-scroller and don’t need games to hold your hand at every turn.
Inside drops you into a near colourless world with no context and no explanation of what you’re supposed to do. You assume control of a boy lost in a dangerous factory complex, and it soon becomes clear that progress is as straightforward as moving forward and trying to survive.
There are so many reasons why this game is regarded as an indie classic. It’s the unrelentingly tense atmosphere, the minimalist presentation, the ingenious puzzles and perfectly tuned platforming set pieces.
You’re going to die, a lot, with everything from vicious dogs and deeply unfriendly mermaids, to more manmade hazards out to get you. But you’ll be so busy marvelling at the intricate design of it all that the trial and error gameplay loop won’t put you off.
Then there’s the truly thrilling finale, which I won’t talk about, but will guarantee every single person reading this should experience at least once.
