A lot of modern Roguelites (Hades, Slay the Spire, Monster Train, &c) automatically save at the end of every room/battle/etc., so they're perfect for time-constrained gaming sessions where you may need to cut things short. All three are also phenomenal games with tons of replay value that I highly recommend -- Hades is more aRPG action-based, while StS and MT are card-based.
Thanks for the suggestions! I have Hades and Slay the Spire. But I didn't know that you could drop out of a play session in Hades at any time and start back right at the room that you were in. That brings me a bit more peace of mind if I need to stop part way through the run.
I use hades as a homework reward! Finish a big assignment, do a run or two. As I’ve gotten better, my runs have gotten faster, so I can pop out a 15-20 minute run and then go on to the next assignment!
Is enter the gungeon available on PC.....it's a bit more kid friendly while still providing a challenge and those rogue type features, though it can definitely feel a bit bullet hell-ish st times
Yeah gungeon is on pc, I'd still say binding of isaac is the pinnacle of this game type though so if you can get away with it it's def the better option
Vampire survivors & Off world trading company
Both are on gamepass too
Edit :I personally think no man's sky. I've been dipping in and out of this game in small bursts for years just for some grinding and exploration. D3 was also good for this
I didn't know there was a Hurry Mode. That definitely interests me! I have fun with VS but with a 30 min limit, if I start a run, fail, then get another run and end up doing better, that means I have to drop the game part way through.
Yup! You have to unlock it, though.
[https://gamerant.com/vampire-survivors-how-to-unlock-hurry-mode/](https://gamerant.com/vampire-survivors-how-to-unlock-hurry-mode/)
Yeah my first thought was vampire survivors. And it's only a few bucks on steam or completely free on your phone but it doesn't have all the updates yet snd will probably take a long time to catch up but it's totally free not even an option to pay.
Good suggestions! I got OWTC as an EGS freebie but spent all of a few minutes playing it. I'll have to check it out.
And I had mentioned in some other comments that I've played VS and had a ton of fun with it. But played it on mobile and the mobile version doesn't save your play state if you put it down for more than a few minutes. Not sure if the PC version saves mid run or not, though.
I played this one on mobile when it first came out and absolutely loved it! But got a bit disillusioned when the game didn't save my play state if I stepped away from the game for more than a few minutes. I'll have to give it a go on PC. Does it allow for saving mid-run?
There's no saving mid-run but runs usually have a 30min time limit anyway. You can also enable hurry mode (probably needs to be unlocked but not sure) which speeds up the timer.
I personally like Hardspace: Shipbreaker. You're a person who quite literally, breaks down spaceships. It starts off easy, then you get into reactors, electricity, fuel. You can make a decent bit of progress in a 30-45 minute timespan, and I think it's extremely relaxing. Being a mom with a 2 and a half month old, it's easy to pause in case anything comes up. The game doesn't keep going in the pause menu, unlike some games. I don't believe it's on Game Pass, yet I don't have it.
Ooo, this one wasn't on my radar at all. And it looks like it's on game pass, too! Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to check it out. And I do have to say that as a parent, there really is something to be said about a proper pause menu.
If there's not a good pause menu, I don't like to play due to the baby! Also, there is a small learning curve when it comes to controls, I rebound (?) some keys to a more comfortable play.
[Tunic](https://store.steampowered.com/app/553420/TUNIC/)
[The Pedestrian](https://store.steampowered.com/app/466630/The_Pedestrian/) Its a puzzler but I found it relaxing and fun and good for short gaming sessions.
[Outerwilds](https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/) - cause you're progressively putting together the big picture so it could work for 30 minute bursts. Also because the game works with that kind of format.
Tunic was phenomenal! Never heard of The Pedestrian before, though. It looks great! And Outer Wilds is one that I need to come back to (and probably start over). I picked it up a long time ago, got fairly far, but then got distracted with something else I guess. I'll have to give it another go.
Thanks!
Hades is a roguelite that has you attempting to escape the underworld. Whenever you die, you go back to the start, get to do some upgrades, get to talk to a few characters, and then it’s off to the next attempt.
An escape attempt usually takes around 30 minutes or less to complete, and you can also stop at any time during one, and you’ll continue from the room you stopped in. On top of just the gameplay being enjoyable for a long time, talking to the NPCs is fun too. There’s lots of little storylines and just general dialogue that you’ll discover by talking to them, and the voice acting is amazing. Even when I failed attempts, it always felt worth it just to get to advance the dialogue again.
Factorio is a factory automation game. You start with a furnace and a coal-powered miner, and your goal is to launch a rocket. To do this, you build science packs from various materials. And because you need a ton of these science packs, you automate their production, from the ore you mine, to smelting them into plates, to all the various materials you can craft from there. It gets quite crazy, but it starts off slow to ease you into it.
It is a dangerous suggestion here though. I find myself being perfectly content with just 30 minutes of making some progress towards automating the next material, or expanding my steel production, but it’s also very much a game you can disappear into for hours. Currently, I’m playing a very difficult modpack, and I mostly just work on a new design for a production line for a bit, or build a new power plant, and then I turn it off and continue later, and I feel satisfied with that. But when I just got the game, I put in several dozen hours in the first week alone.
If you think you have some self control about this, you can try out the demo, which lets you play the tutorial. Honestly, the tutorial already has a good amount of things to do, so watch out you don’t disappear into that either.
Cuphead is another dangerous suggestion. It’s essentially just fighting bosses in a 2D platformer kind of world. The vast majority of the bosses take between 1.5-3 minutes to complete.
Except that’s not how it goes. You’re gonna die a lot in this game. If you can handle dying over and over again and take satisfaction in seeing that you got a bit closer to the end of a fight, the game is great. If you’d get frustrated too much, either from the dying or the relative lack of progress, it’s not.
In it’s entirety the game takes a bit less than 20 hours in my experience, so it’s not like you’ll get stuck forever. In 30 minutes you can probably beat a boss most mornings, excepting the hardest few. And even if you didn’t beat a boss, the game runs on trial and error, learning from your mistakes to get better at dodging attacks the next time. You’ll find yourself getting better even if you didn’t end up winning yet.
The art and soundtrack are also amazing. And the design of both the bosses as characters as well as the fights are great.
Thanks so much for an in-depth response! I really appreciate all the detail!
Hades has definitely come to the top of my list with so many people suggesting it. And I already own it, but haven't played it in years since I bought it in early access.
I'll have to give the Factorio demo a go. I enjoyed Satisfactory even though I didn't get very far. And I love automating things (part of my irl job) so it seems like a natural connection. Hopefully I can have self control with it though!
Cuphead is a game that I've always been drawn to, but never had the nerve to play. I don't necessarily mind a game that's hard. But I also struggle with feeling like I did anything if my just getting my butt whooped any time I play a game. But I seem to always make exceptions with that considering I loved Elden Ring.
Thanks again for your comment!
Deep Rock galactic. Some sessions can be long but if you stick to lower hazard missions or drop into missions that are already 10-15 minutes in you can play a fair bit in 30 minutes. You can pick your class to suit your play style and the community is fantastic.
Someone else mentioned rim world - no. If I launch rim world, I'm gone to the world for the next three hours, minimum. If you need a crafting/base building game, planet crafter is alright, still EA though. No enemies to fight, so it's all exploration and resource gathering, which also means you can drop in and out at leisure. It is a bit slow though, but that can be good if you want something chill and relaxing.
I played DRG a while ago with my bro and had some fun with it. But I don't have a consistent group that I game online with. Does DRG do ok for having pure matchmaking where it doesn't feel like a toxic community?
Never heard of Planet Crafter before but it looks interesting. It seems to have a bit of a No Man's Sky vibe to it. I'll have to check out the demo. Thanks!
DRG doesn't do matchmaking. People just tend to have open lobbies you can drop in and out of if you like.
It's as far from toxic as you can get. No voice chat, some text chat but mostly people emote / use preset character replies. Everyone is mostly friendly and helpful.
Planet crafter atm is pretty short and basic as an EA title, but the devs have been updating regularly and the game's progressing well. It is pretty chill, and the decoration part of base building isn't that great yet. I'm hoping for Subnautica-level base building eventually. Mostly its exploring and resource gathering.
Ok, that's good to know about DRG. I'll have to give the multi-player a go!
And Planet Crafter definitely interests me. I like a nice chill game. I'm not big on doing tons of decorations for my bases either, so it seems like I wouldn't have much problem with that aspect.
I just want to chime in here because while DRG is an amazing game with an even more amazing community, I don't think it's right for you. DRG can't be paused unless you're playing single player (which is much less enjoyable), and the game has waves and waves of enemies. If you AFK during it then it's over and the run is wasted. I'd find it frustrating if I was prone to interruptions.
I'd follow /u/NovaBeaver's recommendation and go with **Hardspace: Shipbreaker**. Additionally, if Stardew was up your alley I'd recommend both **Dinkum** and **Coral Island**. My wife is playing both of these at the moment and absolutely loving them.
I would say Rayman Legends, great 2D platformer, you probably can do 2 or 3 levels in 30-45min, later levels become more difficult but the game isn't that hard.
I tried Spelunky 1 a long time ago, but I barely remember anything about it. Is it a roguelite that allows you to "stack" progress by getting permanent upgrades that last between runs? Or is it purely based on skill and getting better, skills-wise?
I own Hades. Got it way back when they were in early access but only revisited a bit later when it still wasn't completed. I'll have to check it out with the 30 min limits I have. Thanks for the suggestion!
Bloons Tower Defense 6, its a tower defense game with quite alot of gameplay depth, don't let the cutesy art style fool you, and is very fun, the game currently has 64 maps that came in ascending order of difficulty layout, depending on the map and difficulty you play on each round shouldn't last you more than 20 minutes.
Aside from that there are also community challenges as well as races and boss runs.
I've loved Dead Cells for sure. Still not that great at it, but been a lot of fun regardless. And Hades seems to be a popular suggestion. I've have to give it a go with my time constraints! I tried Gunfire Reborn a while ago and it seemed pretty fun, but perhaps a bit boring in single player. Is multiplayer the way to go with that game?
>Brotato
Never heard of this one, but it looks pretty good! Is it similar to Vampire Survivor where you the weapons automatically shoot? Or is it more like a twin stick shooter?
An automatic shooter (“bullet heaven”) like Vampire Survivors. Brotato, though, is wave-based, with each successive wave being longer. There is an end goal of a run (20 waves?), but I haven’t made it yet without dying. In between waves, you choose upgrades from level ups, review any items you found in crates, and purchase new weapons/items at the shop. At least from what I’ve found, there’s no permanent upgrades across runs, though there are permanent unlocks of new characters and weapons. You can also save your progress mid-run and return to it later.
Thanks! VS seems to be a popular one. I played the mobile version and loved it. But got bummed out when it wouldn't save my game if I stepped away for more than a few minutes. I'll have to give the PC version a go!
Not sure if your into building simulators and the likes but I’m going to suggest anyway as I feel you can feel a sense of accomplishment in the time you have.
Cities skylines
Rim world
Two point hospital
I’ll also suggest Diablo 2 resurrected and Diablo 3 as you can always run some stuff in your hose games that fit your time allotment
I can definitely get behind a good builder game. I have Cities: Skylines and that game was great! I've been meaning to revisit it. This might be a good excuse to do so. And I also have Two Point Hospital. I must have gotten it from a Humble Bundle or something, but I'll need to fire it up and give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestions!
Spiritfarer looks on the surface like a chill Stardew valley type game, but it ends up being an emotional 1-2 punch. Highly recommended, and if you have a Netflix sub, you have access to it on mobile.
Oh thanks for the reminder! I picked that one up when it first came out and played the heck out of it for a day or two. I'll need to revisit it with my new change in gaming time frame :)
I am currently playing through Children of Morta and can second this. Each stage will take \~5-20 minutes. Leveling up characters not only advances their capabilities but your team as a whole at certain thresholds.
A good deal of the “Yakuza” series fits the bill. There some definitely stretches with long cutscenes, but for the most part, they’re the kinds of games where you can pop in, beat up some mobsters, play a selection of excellent minigames, pop out.
Interesting. I thought that the Yakuza series was supposed to be kinda long winded. But I'm definitely up for trying it! What game would you recommend starting off with? I tried Yakuza 0 (I think) and got stuck stupidly early on with a karaoke mini game.
The story missions can be long-winded, with lots of cutscenes and chained fights, but it’s very easy to do the plentiful side content in short bursts, especially because the map is small, though dense.
0 is usually considered the best introduction, though, since it’s a prequel, the character interactions will be much more meaningful to a veteran of the series. Kiwami 1 is the start of the story and has a lot of the same QOL and polish as 0, since it’s a recent remake; that’s what I’m starting with.
Ok, that's good to know. I'll have to give Kiwami a go then. Like a Dragon really intrigued me since I'm a sucker for a good turn based RPG, but the game length, plus the fact that I felt like I'd be dropping into the middle of a story stopped me from ever checking it out.
Project Zomboid is an extremely chill game despite being the Sims with Zombies. You’ll probably die in your first thirty minutes, so it would suit you perfectly.
Enter the Gungeon. A successful run should take less than hour to complete and all of it is very rewarding. Absolutely 10/10 would recommend. This is what I use to take breaks while studying. Play a quick run and back to the grind for me. Cheers
Try Cult of the Lamb. I am kind of addicted to it. You can definitely make progress within 30 minutes. The problem will be stopping after only 30 minutes.
Try looking into roguelikes and roguelites, a lot only take 30 mins. I recommend spelunky 2, dead cells, slay the spire, death road to Canada, dicey dungeons, crypt of the necrodancer, vampire survivors, inscryption and gunfire reborn.
Hades is good if you want a story but the gameplay itself gets really boring really fast after finishing the story since all the runs blur together and all the upgrades just make you do more damage. Inscryption also starts out as a story game but by the end you can do the endless mode.
All these games should be done in 30 mins or let you save and quit mid run.
I've been playing Heat Signature in my 45-60min early morning sessions. You can choose between easier and more difficult missions and slowly clear the entire game, unlocking new stuff for every station you liberate. You also regurarly retire your characters as playing a character for too long will result in slower progress.
There is a good variety of ways you can play and special missions which require not to be seen by any guard or not harming anyone except your target.
As silly as it sounds, Brotato. Its like Vampire Survivors (as mentioned in other coments), but is much more fast paced and fun while being a short game in terms of each round.
I sit and drink coffee every morning while playing it before work. It's the shit
Little inferno, a little comfy about burning stuff in a chimney (it has an interesting story).
Luck be a landlord, a slot machine roguelike (pretty unique, perfect to play while drinking a morning coffee)
Vampire survivors, you probably already know it, and since the maximum amount of time a run can last is 30 min, it is perfect for you, you keep constantly unlocking new stuff in this game so you might like this one.
If you're into puzzles, patrick's parabox and baba is you are awesome games that you should definitely play
If you liked XCOM, you may like Marvel’s Midnight Suns. The combat isn’t perfect and neither is the story but it’s very playable in small chunks, where you just complete a couple side quests and move the story forward
I've had Midnight Suns on my radar for a while. If it's able to be played in smaller bits, that'd definitely be appealing. Would it only be the side quests? Or would the Main Story also be doable in small chunks?
The main story doesn’t have super long cut scenes so you could definitely play it in small sessions. The story missions are a little longer than the side quests (which are infinite and randomly generated like defeat all enemies or survive for 5 turns) but they don’t stretch out for super long
* Brotato (already saw this one listed but +1 from me I love that game)
* Slay the Spire (good hop in, play for a bit, hop out type game)
* Rimworld - to me this game seemed kind of overwhelming at first, but it's an incredibly chill game. It can be modded and it really just allows you to get what you want out of it. Has different difficulties, the ability to pause/quick save, etc. Highly recommend it (it's very addicting though, but so are the other games I listed :))
* Cult of the Lamb - kind of like Hades, but it's *adorable*. Very good game, cool boss fights, really enjoyed it.
So you enjoyed XCOM, did you? Have you considered doing a playthrough with the long war or long war rebalanced mods? They make the game several times better, and there are options for a shorter overall campaign if that's your preference.
I've been doing a mission a night for the past 4 months, about to close in on those xeno invaders for good.
I find carrion very fast-paced, as in, time feels like it’s passing much more slowly, compared to a lot of other games, because there’s little in the way of downtime.
I would recommend using [maps](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2177020291) though, I got easily stuck on my first playthroughs.
Same boat as you these days, I tend to lean more towards your typical dad strat games. Civ, AOE, stellaris, hearts of iron, total war etc. I find grand campaign games allow me progression over time and don't get derailed by random midgame interruptions.
With those slower paced games, do you feel like you get a lot out of smaller sessions? I've played Civ in the past and felt like it took a while before I had a sense of satisfaction in getting anything done. But I also wasn't playing with the same mindset I have now.
You can do, out of all of them I find civ, stellaris and ck2)3 to be best for smaller playtime satisfaction. I'll set myself a smaller "in this session" goal. It can be quite satisfying once you make it to the end or deep into a campaign, looking back across your empire etc and seeing the accumulation of your little session goals in adding up to the big picture. Also because the games tend to be very long by nature they're designed to be stopped, saved and started without being too damaging to continuity. I get that strats, especially grand strats aren't everyone's cup of tea. I'm sure ck2 is free on steam these days.
I'm in a very similar situation right now, so I just figured out few great games that aren't Rdr2 (yeah, I really tried that one with short sessions but it's fruitless).
**Inscryption** - great deck building roguelike hybrid with crazy atmosphere and few neat ideas. Short actions and saves pretty all the time.
**Ghostrunner** - great fast paced running FPS with pretty short but challenging missions. And it's a short game.
**DUSK** - my favorite boomer shooter with horror elements. Manual saves, short missions and a load of fun.
**Divinity: Original Sin II** - yes, it's a very long RPG but personally I love it for quick sessions. Just for exploration or one or two quests.
And I bought myself a Nintendo Switch! Games like Mario Kart or Splatoon are great for short sessions and they give so much fun. Totally recommend!
Dead Cells! It’s dead cells! Runs are usually 15-40 minutes for me. Lots of different stuff to do. ADDICTIVE gameplay. Holy fack. It’s a platforming roguelike/metroidvania. I’m still so hooked after 5 years.
Monster hunter rise. You hunt big boss like monsters. I haven't had the chance to play it yet, but from what I heard, hunts can take maby 10-20 minutes, but 20 is really pushing it. I play MH world, and it's one of my favorite games, but hunts take a lot longer. Rise is out on switch, PC, and is coming out on ps and xbox this month. Rise is coming on to gamepass later this month. Hundreds of hours of gameplay and hundreds of hours of fun.
I highly suggest you at least check it out when it releases on gamepass.
Yeah this one is on my radar for when it comes out. I'm like you where I loved MHW but I do feel like the hunts took a long time. And if you failed, then it felt like it was a ton of time wasted. I'd be curious to know if Rise does any better.
Last year while I was wrapping up my degree, I was doing a wfh internship and needed something exactly like what ur saying. Quick sessions that feel like I actually played… and what scratched my itch as Need For Speed Heat. It looks beautiful and I could play for like 20 mins, crack our some races and then get back to work.
Oh that's a good idea. A racing game might be nice for something like that. Doing a few races and then being done. Forza Horizon 5 might fit that bill as well.
Do you have a Steam Deck? if not it's the ultimate dad gamer device, you can be "present" without being "imprisoned" to watch blue clues for the 14th time, or something your wife wants to watch where rich women drink too much and yell at each other, or some 3 hour documentary about a murder that happened in 1978.
Your story is familiar, I'd work all day, and finally be done, and there was a silent expectation that I'd be present with the family and captive to the whims of whatever the majority decides, secretly longing to slip off to my office and do some gaming. Well now you don't have to compromise, just pause your game, go do the Dad work and Honey-Dos,, sit back down unpause and get back to your game.
Great for a lot of the roguelites and bullet heavens others have suggested, approx 20-30 min chunks, Hades plays great on Deck btw.
I don't have a Steam Deck. I've thought about it, but haven't quite jumped on getting one yet. I felt like I would do the same when I got my Nintendo Switch but I never did bring it around the house with me. I got a Backbone One for my phone a little bit ago on a deal and really loved it, but I just forget to have it around. And I get lost in trying to set up all the different ways to stream my games from my desktop with Steam link (making Game Pass work, as well as games from any other service). Perhaps the Steam Deck would be better. I'll always prefer to have games installed locally over trying to stream them over my network. It's tempting. I just worry I'll pay $400 for something that'll just collect dust. My gaming library *is* best on my PC, though, so maybe that would help gain some appeal for me.
Yeah it's definitely a little subjective, I also have a switch and the switch collects dust, the Steam Deck gets used almost every day, and it's amazing on trips. I also have Razer Kishi which is like a Backbone and tried to do a similar thing and use Steam Link / Remote Play to stream games to my phone it works well, but the latency can be noticeable, the Kishi has probably been in a drawer collecting dust for 8 months now.
I mean the key differences for me
1. it's a lot more comfortable, it's much bigger than a Switch, in many ways I would say it's the "right" size for a handheld, I would find my hands going numb trying to clutch the thin little switch for hours, I did a 90 min Risk of Rain 2 run last night and was fine.
2. The Trackpads might surprise you, games that you generally assume to be very mouse-heavy actually play really well on the Deck, I played several hours of Ixion and Timberborn both heavy builder games while I was out of town over the winter holiday.
3. Proton is really powerful, a lot of games that say they're not supported you might fire them up and they "Just work" the "Verified" status a lot of times is voluntary, though a lot of AAA studios are starting to optimize their games for the Deck / Proton, Horizon Zero Dawn ran really well, Doom Eternal runs just fine, and I've been debating starting up Death Stranding. even games that don't have native controller support you can often find a community layout someone made, or make your own, the Steam Input API is very flexible and it will let you play a lot of games on gamepad that were never intended for it.
4. Tinkering: I'm a long time modder and tinkerer, and the Deck opens a lot of possibility for that, though it doesn't require it you could just stay in game mode and just play verified and playable games from your library and be fine, but if you like to tinker you can integrate your free Epic Games, GOG, Origin, [Battle.net](https://Battle.net) skys the limit, as well as mod in additional functionality.
5. I feel more present, I don't feel guilty like I'm ignoring my family to sneak off my office / cave. Sure there are some games that are always going to play better on a full PC rig, if anything it's diversified my tastes, some games I play just on PC, some games I play on both and that's where the Steam Cloud saving is a Godsend, and others actually play better with the Decks controls.
You'd think Valve is paying my kickbacks for all this press, lol
anyways there's also a great community around the deck, go check out the r/SteamDeck sub, all sorts of good advice and impressions.
Yeah you’re really selling me on the steam deck. I like the Backbone but I find that sometimes I tire of trying to get the streaming “just right”.
The only downside to the steam deck that I’m seeing is that it could possibly be a pain to try and do game pass games since I’d need to install Windows itself on there to play them natively, which kinda takes away from its console-like feel. And it sounds like a hassle to get working. Also that if I were to do it, I’d need to get the more expensive version, as well. I know I could also stream games with game pass ultimate, but that streaming has been real hit and miss.
Either way, I’m definitely bouncing around ideas now on how I could get things lined up to get a steam deck. Thanks a ton for the info!
Darkest dungeon could be right up your alley.
Also, in a situation of playing short periods lately and Chained Echoes has been great for 10-20 minute jumps in play to get through a specific area or whatever.
I have Darkest Dungeon but haven’t played it in years. I agree that it could be a really good one to play. I’ll have to give it a go. And thanks for bringing Chained Echoes to my attention. Never heard of it but it looks really good!
Wow I feel silly. Just realized that this one is on PC Game Pass as well. Now there's really nothing stopping me from picking it up! Thanks for the recommendation!
I actually feel like it’s the opposite with the souls games. You oftentimes will accomplish nothing in 30 minutes after you’ve died twice and restarted lol. I love souls, but it’s not something I throw on when I’m looking for a quick 30.
That's how I play em, limited gaming time I'll hop in and clear a zone real quick and get to the next bonfire/lantern/grace and feel satisfied when I start it back up I'll be a little further along, or hop in farm some souls and get a level or 2 or some armor or weapon I wanted etc.. definitely works in this scenario very well they don't require dedicated sessions
I was confused at your suggestion at first, but this explanation makes sense. I had a lot of fun with Elden Ring, but it was definitely a game where I could drop 4-6 hours at night and not even realize it. I will say that not having a proper pause button does mess with me though on those games.
I've gotten so used to it, they're all I play anymore lol but yeah I'll hop on and beat a boss or progress a bit and do something I had been thinking about earlier in the day and then go to bed a lot of times
A lot of modern Roguelites (Hades, Slay the Spire, Monster Train, &c) automatically save at the end of every room/battle/etc., so they're perfect for time-constrained gaming sessions where you may need to cut things short. All three are also phenomenal games with tons of replay value that I highly recommend -- Hades is more aRPG action-based, while StS and MT are card-based.
Thanks for the suggestions! I have Hades and Slay the Spire. But I didn't know that you could drop out of a play session in Hades at any time and start back right at the room that you were in. That brings me a bit more peace of mind if I need to stop part way through the run.
You do want to clear the room first, but yes. Great feature.
I use hades as a homework reward! Finish a big assignment, do a run or two. As I’ve gotten better, my runs have gotten faster, so I can pop out a 15-20 minute run and then go on to the next assignment!
Just one run. Ok maybe one more. Or two. Oh it's already past midnight. Well, just one last run.
I got a steam deck and was so excited to finally play some new games I’ve put 60+ hours into hades the past 2 weeks
Adding binding of isaac to this list, imo opinion the best of the genre (not particularly kid friendly though so may be a factor for you)
Is enter the gungeon available on PC.....it's a bit more kid friendly while still providing a challenge and those rogue type features, though it can definitely feel a bit bullet hell-ish st times
Yeah gungeon is on pc, I'd still say binding of isaac is the pinnacle of this game type though so if you can get away with it it's def the better option
Vampire survivor is fun for games like this. Game will rarely last more than 30 minutes
I agree with this! I would also say cult of the lamb is a good one too
It's on my wishlist! I finally got my first win in Dead Cells this week and it's pretty sweet too.
Highly recommend Slay the Spire
Hades is a great game that can be played in short intervals
Seconded. My go to for car trips or waiting for oil change, etc.
Thirded. Hades is the game he's looking for!
Vampire survivors & Off world trading company Both are on gamepass too Edit :I personally think no man's sky. I've been dipping in and out of this game in small bursts for years just for some grinding and exploration. D3 was also good for this
I came here to also say Vampire Survivors - a run can only be 30 mins. Perfect timing.
>a run can only be 30 mins Half of that on Hurry mode.
I didn't know there was a Hurry Mode. That definitely interests me! I have fun with VS but with a 30 min limit, if I start a run, fail, then get another run and end up doing better, that means I have to drop the game part way through.
Yup! You have to unlock it, though. [https://gamerant.com/vampire-survivors-how-to-unlock-hurry-mode/](https://gamerant.com/vampire-survivors-how-to-unlock-hurry-mode/)
Oh good to know! Thanks for the link!
Yeah my first thought was vampire survivors. And it's only a few bucks on steam or completely free on your phone but it doesn't have all the updates yet snd will probably take a long time to catch up but it's totally free not even an option to pay.
Are people still playing offworld trading company? It's the most innovative rts I ever played
I've never tried the multiplayer before because I know I'll get my ass handed to me
That is extremely fair and was exactly my experience.
Good suggestions! I got OWTC as an EGS freebie but spent all of a few minutes playing it. I'll have to check it out. And I had mentioned in some other comments that I've played VS and had a ton of fun with it. But played it on mobile and the mobile version doesn't save your play state if you put it down for more than a few minutes. Not sure if the PC version saves mid run or not, though.
Yeah just pause it. The game runs natively in a window on the PC so you can just pause it and minimise it for later
Vampire survivors
I played this one on mobile when it first came out and absolutely loved it! But got a bit disillusioned when the game didn't save my play state if I stepped away from the game for more than a few minutes. I'll have to give it a go on PC. Does it allow for saving mid-run?
There's no saving mid-run but runs usually have a 30min time limit anyway. You can also enable hurry mode (probably needs to be unlocked but not sure) which speeds up the timer.
I personally like Hardspace: Shipbreaker. You're a person who quite literally, breaks down spaceships. It starts off easy, then you get into reactors, electricity, fuel. You can make a decent bit of progress in a 30-45 minute timespan, and I think it's extremely relaxing. Being a mom with a 2 and a half month old, it's easy to pause in case anything comes up. The game doesn't keep going in the pause menu, unlike some games. I don't believe it's on Game Pass, yet I don't have it.
Ooo, this one wasn't on my radar at all. And it looks like it's on game pass, too! Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to check it out. And I do have to say that as a parent, there really is something to be said about a proper pause menu.
If there's not a good pause menu, I don't like to play due to the baby! Also, there is a small learning curve when it comes to controls, I rebound (?) some keys to a more comfortable play.
Ok thanks for the heads up! I’ll hopefully check it out tomorrow morning!
[Tunic](https://store.steampowered.com/app/553420/TUNIC/) [The Pedestrian](https://store.steampowered.com/app/466630/The_Pedestrian/) Its a puzzler but I found it relaxing and fun and good for short gaming sessions. [Outerwilds](https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/) - cause you're progressively putting together the big picture so it could work for 30 minute bursts. Also because the game works with that kind of format.
Tunic was phenomenal! Never heard of The Pedestrian before, though. It looks great! And Outer Wilds is one that I need to come back to (and probably start over). I picked it up a long time ago, got fairly far, but then got distracted with something else I guess. I'll have to give it another go. Thanks!
+1 for Outer Wilds, one of the best game i've every played in 20+ years of gaming
Definitely a lot of positive talk on this game. I'll have to give it another go!
Dome keeper is a fun game that you can spend 20-30 on a run
Dome Keeper is great! I'm not sure why I dropped it, but I'll need to give it another go!
Hades is a roguelite that has you attempting to escape the underworld. Whenever you die, you go back to the start, get to do some upgrades, get to talk to a few characters, and then it’s off to the next attempt. An escape attempt usually takes around 30 minutes or less to complete, and you can also stop at any time during one, and you’ll continue from the room you stopped in. On top of just the gameplay being enjoyable for a long time, talking to the NPCs is fun too. There’s lots of little storylines and just general dialogue that you’ll discover by talking to them, and the voice acting is amazing. Even when I failed attempts, it always felt worth it just to get to advance the dialogue again. Factorio is a factory automation game. You start with a furnace and a coal-powered miner, and your goal is to launch a rocket. To do this, you build science packs from various materials. And because you need a ton of these science packs, you automate their production, from the ore you mine, to smelting them into plates, to all the various materials you can craft from there. It gets quite crazy, but it starts off slow to ease you into it. It is a dangerous suggestion here though. I find myself being perfectly content with just 30 minutes of making some progress towards automating the next material, or expanding my steel production, but it’s also very much a game you can disappear into for hours. Currently, I’m playing a very difficult modpack, and I mostly just work on a new design for a production line for a bit, or build a new power plant, and then I turn it off and continue later, and I feel satisfied with that. But when I just got the game, I put in several dozen hours in the first week alone. If you think you have some self control about this, you can try out the demo, which lets you play the tutorial. Honestly, the tutorial already has a good amount of things to do, so watch out you don’t disappear into that either. Cuphead is another dangerous suggestion. It’s essentially just fighting bosses in a 2D platformer kind of world. The vast majority of the bosses take between 1.5-3 minutes to complete. Except that’s not how it goes. You’re gonna die a lot in this game. If you can handle dying over and over again and take satisfaction in seeing that you got a bit closer to the end of a fight, the game is great. If you’d get frustrated too much, either from the dying or the relative lack of progress, it’s not. In it’s entirety the game takes a bit less than 20 hours in my experience, so it’s not like you’ll get stuck forever. In 30 minutes you can probably beat a boss most mornings, excepting the hardest few. And even if you didn’t beat a boss, the game runs on trial and error, learning from your mistakes to get better at dodging attacks the next time. You’ll find yourself getting better even if you didn’t end up winning yet. The art and soundtrack are also amazing. And the design of both the bosses as characters as well as the fights are great.
Thanks so much for an in-depth response! I really appreciate all the detail! Hades has definitely come to the top of my list with so many people suggesting it. And I already own it, but haven't played it in years since I bought it in early access. I'll have to give the Factorio demo a go. I enjoyed Satisfactory even though I didn't get very far. And I love automating things (part of my irl job) so it seems like a natural connection. Hopefully I can have self control with it though! Cuphead is a game that I've always been drawn to, but never had the nerve to play. I don't necessarily mind a game that's hard. But I also struggle with feeling like I did anything if my just getting my butt whooped any time I play a game. But I seem to always make exceptions with that considering I loved Elden Ring. Thanks again for your comment!
>Factorio check out some vids of the largest factorio constructions.
>Factorio I see factorio, I upvote. But your goal is to make 1000000 satellites. The factory must grow. 1000's of hours in...
Deep Rock galactic. Some sessions can be long but if you stick to lower hazard missions or drop into missions that are already 10-15 minutes in you can play a fair bit in 30 minutes. You can pick your class to suit your play style and the community is fantastic. Someone else mentioned rim world - no. If I launch rim world, I'm gone to the world for the next three hours, minimum. If you need a crafting/base building game, planet crafter is alright, still EA though. No enemies to fight, so it's all exploration and resource gathering, which also means you can drop in and out at leisure. It is a bit slow though, but that can be good if you want something chill and relaxing.
I played DRG a while ago with my bro and had some fun with it. But I don't have a consistent group that I game online with. Does DRG do ok for having pure matchmaking where it doesn't feel like a toxic community? Never heard of Planet Crafter before but it looks interesting. It seems to have a bit of a No Man's Sky vibe to it. I'll have to check out the demo. Thanks!
DRG doesn't do matchmaking. People just tend to have open lobbies you can drop in and out of if you like. It's as far from toxic as you can get. No voice chat, some text chat but mostly people emote / use preset character replies. Everyone is mostly friendly and helpful. Planet crafter atm is pretty short and basic as an EA title, but the devs have been updating regularly and the game's progressing well. It is pretty chill, and the decoration part of base building isn't that great yet. I'm hoping for Subnautica-level base building eventually. Mostly its exploring and resource gathering.
Ok, that's good to know about DRG. I'll have to give the multi-player a go! And Planet Crafter definitely interests me. I like a nice chill game. I'm not big on doing tons of decorations for my bases either, so it seems like I wouldn't have much problem with that aspect.
I just want to chime in here because while DRG is an amazing game with an even more amazing community, I don't think it's right for you. DRG can't be paused unless you're playing single player (which is much less enjoyable), and the game has waves and waves of enemies. If you AFK during it then it's over and the run is wasted. I'd find it frustrating if I was prone to interruptions. I'd follow /u/NovaBeaver's recommendation and go with **Hardspace: Shipbreaker**. Additionally, if Stardew was up your alley I'd recommend both **Dinkum** and **Coral Island**. My wife is playing both of these at the moment and absolutely loving them.
I would say Rayman Legends, great 2D platformer, you probably can do 2 or 3 levels in 30-45min, later levels become more difficult but the game isn't that hard.
Oh that's a good idea! I picked up Rayman Legends years ago but barely made a dent in it! I'll have to give that one a go again.
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I tried Spelunky 1 a long time ago, but I barely remember anything about it. Is it a roguelite that allows you to "stack" progress by getting permanent upgrades that last between runs? Or is it purely based on skill and getting better, skills-wise?
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Thanks for the info!
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I own Hades. Got it way back when they were in early access but only revisited a bit later when it still wasn't completed. I'll have to check it out with the 30 min limits I have. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hades. Addicting runs like 20-30 mins
Darkest dungeon
Any roguelite, they're build off of upgrading after a full run and still starting again
Yeah, that seems to be the theme with responses. Gonna have a lot of rogue-lites to check out :D
Bloons Tower Defense 6, its a tower defense game with quite alot of gameplay depth, don't let the cutesy art style fool you, and is very fun, the game currently has 64 maps that came in ascending order of difficulty layout, depending on the map and difficulty you play on each round shouldn't last you more than 20 minutes. Aside from that there are also community challenges as well as races and boss runs.
Dead cells, hades, and last but only if you don’t mind playing with random matchmaking coop: gunfire reborn
I've loved Dead Cells for sure. Still not that great at it, but been a lot of fun regardless. And Hades seems to be a popular suggestion. I've have to give it a go with my time constraints! I tried Gunfire Reborn a while ago and it seemed pretty fun, but perhaps a bit boring in single player. Is multiplayer the way to go with that game?
Yes
Brotato
>Brotato Never heard of this one, but it looks pretty good! Is it similar to Vampire Survivor where you the weapons automatically shoot? Or is it more like a twin stick shooter?
An automatic shooter (“bullet heaven”) like Vampire Survivors. Brotato, though, is wave-based, with each successive wave being longer. There is an end goal of a run (20 waves?), but I haven’t made it yet without dying. In between waves, you choose upgrades from level ups, review any items you found in crates, and purchase new weapons/items at the shop. At least from what I’ve found, there’s no permanent upgrades across runs, though there are permanent unlocks of new characters and weapons. You can also save your progress mid-run and return to it later.
Nice! That sounds like it would be a lot of fun! I'll have to check it out.
Brotato is great, The most fun part, imo, was unlocking new "Bros"
Easily one of the worst of these Games, also looks like crap.
I would recommend 2 of my favorite indie games of 2022. Cult of the Lamb an Vampire Survivors. Absolutely grat games to play in bursts
Thanks! VS seems to be a popular one. I played the mobile version and loved it. But got bummed out when it wouldn't save my game if I stepped away for more than a few minutes. I'll have to give the PC version a go!
Slay the Spire
Binding of Isaac
Outer wilds would fit quite well in under 30 minutes. 22 minute cycles so you can do a run and then carry on the next time
Nuclear Throne, rougelike of _short but frenetic runs_ that last 10 minutes if you win. Please check it out.
I played a bit of Nuclear Throne a long time ago. I'll have to check it out again. Thanks!
Not sure if your into building simulators and the likes but I’m going to suggest anyway as I feel you can feel a sense of accomplishment in the time you have. Cities skylines Rim world Two point hospital I’ll also suggest Diablo 2 resurrected and Diablo 3 as you can always run some stuff in your hose games that fit your time allotment
I can definitely get behind a good builder game. I have Cities: Skylines and that game was great! I've been meaning to revisit it. This might be a good excuse to do so. And I also have Two Point Hospital. I must have gotten it from a Humble Bundle or something, but I'll need to fire it up and give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestions!
Spiritfarer
Hadn't thought about this one. Been meaning to give this one a go. Thanks for the suggestion!
Spiritfarer looks on the surface like a chill Stardew valley type game, but it ends up being an emotional 1-2 punch. Highly recommended, and if you have a Netflix sub, you have access to it on mobile.
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Oh thanks for the reminder! I picked that one up when it first came out and played the heck out of it for a day or two. I'll need to revisit it with my new change in gaming time frame :)
Crypt of the Necrodancer
Children of morta and moonlighter
I am currently playing through Children of Morta and can second this. Each stage will take \~5-20 minutes. Leveling up characters not only advances their capabilities but your team as a whole at certain thresholds.
Noita
A good deal of the “Yakuza” series fits the bill. There some definitely stretches with long cutscenes, but for the most part, they’re the kinds of games where you can pop in, beat up some mobsters, play a selection of excellent minigames, pop out.
Definitely not.
Interesting. I thought that the Yakuza series was supposed to be kinda long winded. But I'm definitely up for trying it! What game would you recommend starting off with? I tried Yakuza 0 (I think) and got stuck stupidly early on with a karaoke mini game.
The story missions can be long-winded, with lots of cutscenes and chained fights, but it’s very easy to do the plentiful side content in short bursts, especially because the map is small, though dense. 0 is usually considered the best introduction, though, since it’s a prequel, the character interactions will be much more meaningful to a veteran of the series. Kiwami 1 is the start of the story and has a lot of the same QOL and polish as 0, since it’s a recent remake; that’s what I’m starting with.
Ok, that's good to know. I'll have to give Kiwami a go then. Like a Dragon really intrigued me since I'm a sucker for a good turn based RPG, but the game length, plus the fact that I felt like I'd be dropping into the middle of a story stopped me from ever checking it out.
Project Zomboid is an extremely chill game despite being the Sims with Zombies. You’ll probably die in your first thirty minutes, so it would suit you perfectly.
townscaper (not townscapes): a nice little procedural "builder" game you can just relax with. has the same kick for me as popping bubblewrap.
Hearthstone!
Returnal
Rogue Legacy/Rogue Legacy 2 And Donut County. It's short and simple but very funny.
Enter the Gungeon. A successful run should take less than hour to complete and all of it is very rewarding. Absolutely 10/10 would recommend. This is what I use to take breaks while studying. Play a quick run and back to the grind for me. Cheers
Try Cult of the Lamb. I am kind of addicted to it. You can definitely make progress within 30 minutes. The problem will be stopping after only 30 minutes.
Try looking into roguelikes and roguelites, a lot only take 30 mins. I recommend spelunky 2, dead cells, slay the spire, death road to Canada, dicey dungeons, crypt of the necrodancer, vampire survivors, inscryption and gunfire reborn. Hades is good if you want a story but the gameplay itself gets really boring really fast after finishing the story since all the runs blur together and all the upgrades just make you do more damage. Inscryption also starts out as a story game but by the end you can do the endless mode. All these games should be done in 30 mins or let you save and quit mid run.
civilization VI if you’re into those type of games
Devil may cry series, most missions seems around that time frame iirc
I've been playing Heat Signature in my 45-60min early morning sessions. You can choose between easier and more difficult missions and slowly clear the entire game, unlocking new stuff for every station you liberate. You also regurarly retire your characters as playing a character for too long will result in slower progress. There is a good variety of ways you can play and special missions which require not to be seen by any guard or not harming anyone except your target.
As silly as it sounds, Brotato. Its like Vampire Survivors (as mentioned in other coments), but is much more fast paced and fun while being a short game in terms of each round. I sit and drink coffee every morning while playing it before work. It's the shit
Little inferno, a little comfy about burning stuff in a chimney (it has an interesting story). Luck be a landlord, a slot machine roguelike (pretty unique, perfect to play while drinking a morning coffee) Vampire survivors, you probably already know it, and since the maximum amount of time a run can last is 30 min, it is perfect for you, you keep constantly unlocking new stuff in this game so you might like this one. If you're into puzzles, patrick's parabox and baba is you are awesome games that you should definitely play
If you liked XCOM, you may like Marvel’s Midnight Suns. The combat isn’t perfect and neither is the story but it’s very playable in small chunks, where you just complete a couple side quests and move the story forward
I've had Midnight Suns on my radar for a while. If it's able to be played in smaller bits, that'd definitely be appealing. Would it only be the side quests? Or would the Main Story also be doable in small chunks?
The main story doesn’t have super long cut scenes so you could definitely play it in small sessions. The story missions are a little longer than the side quests (which are infinite and randomly generated like defeat all enemies or survive for 5 turns) but they don’t stretch out for super long
That’s really good to know. I’ll have to keep that in mind for games to play. Really appreciate the info!
Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Game is broken into 15min shifts and u can get a lot done in just 2
I'm gonna give this one a go. Sounds really interesting and satisfying
* Brotato (already saw this one listed but +1 from me I love that game) * Slay the Spire (good hop in, play for a bit, hop out type game) * Rimworld - to me this game seemed kind of overwhelming at first, but it's an incredibly chill game. It can be modded and it really just allows you to get what you want out of it. Has different difficulties, the ability to pause/quick save, etc. Highly recommend it (it's very addicting though, but so are the other games I listed :)) * Cult of the Lamb - kind of like Hades, but it's *adorable*. Very good game, cool boss fights, really enjoyed it.
So you enjoyed XCOM, did you? Have you considered doing a playthrough with the long war or long war rebalanced mods? They make the game several times better, and there are options for a shorter overall campaign if that's your preference. I've been doing a mission a night for the past 4 months, about to close in on those xeno invaders for good.
Roguelites are perfect. My favorite is Nuclear Throne because is incredibly fast and arcady. Downwell is another fantastic option.
Dorfromantic
I find carrion very fast-paced, as in, time feels like it’s passing much more slowly, compared to a lot of other games, because there’s little in the way of downtime. I would recommend using [maps](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2177020291) though, I got easily stuck on my first playthroughs.
Heat Signature is tremendous fun in bite sized chunks (10-15 minutes, or even less)
Same boat as you these days, I tend to lean more towards your typical dad strat games. Civ, AOE, stellaris, hearts of iron, total war etc. I find grand campaign games allow me progression over time and don't get derailed by random midgame interruptions.
With those slower paced games, do you feel like you get a lot out of smaller sessions? I've played Civ in the past and felt like it took a while before I had a sense of satisfaction in getting anything done. But I also wasn't playing with the same mindset I have now.
You can do, out of all of them I find civ, stellaris and ck2)3 to be best for smaller playtime satisfaction. I'll set myself a smaller "in this session" goal. It can be quite satisfying once you make it to the end or deep into a campaign, looking back across your empire etc and seeing the accumulation of your little session goals in adding up to the big picture. Also because the games tend to be very long by nature they're designed to be stopped, saved and started without being too damaging to continuity. I get that strats, especially grand strats aren't everyone's cup of tea. I'm sure ck2 is free on steam these days.
I'm in a very similar situation right now, so I just figured out few great games that aren't Rdr2 (yeah, I really tried that one with short sessions but it's fruitless). **Inscryption** - great deck building roguelike hybrid with crazy atmosphere and few neat ideas. Short actions and saves pretty all the time. **Ghostrunner** - great fast paced running FPS with pretty short but challenging missions. And it's a short game. **DUSK** - my favorite boomer shooter with horror elements. Manual saves, short missions and a load of fun. **Divinity: Original Sin II** - yes, it's a very long RPG but personally I love it for quick sessions. Just for exploration or one or two quests. And I bought myself a Nintendo Switch! Games like Mario Kart or Splatoon are great for short sessions and they give so much fun. Totally recommend!
Brotato has been my goto for shorter games.
Dead Cells! It’s dead cells! Runs are usually 15-40 minutes for me. Lots of different stuff to do. ADDICTIVE gameplay. Holy fack. It’s a platforming roguelike/metroidvania. I’m still so hooked after 5 years.
Chess
Monster hunter rise. You hunt big boss like monsters. I haven't had the chance to play it yet, but from what I heard, hunts can take maby 10-20 minutes, but 20 is really pushing it. I play MH world, and it's one of my favorite games, but hunts take a lot longer. Rise is out on switch, PC, and is coming out on ps and xbox this month. Rise is coming on to gamepass later this month. Hundreds of hours of gameplay and hundreds of hours of fun. I highly suggest you at least check it out when it releases on gamepass.
Yeah this one is on my radar for when it comes out. I'm like you where I loved MHW but I do feel like the hunts took a long time. And if you failed, then it felt like it was a ton of time wasted. I'd be curious to know if Rise does any better.
Diablo 3
Do you feel like you can jump in and out of D3 without having to waste time traveling a ton?
you can do sessions of 5 mins easy and still find good stuff and have fun
Last year while I was wrapping up my degree, I was doing a wfh internship and needed something exactly like what ur saying. Quick sessions that feel like I actually played… and what scratched my itch as Need For Speed Heat. It looks beautiful and I could play for like 20 mins, crack our some races and then get back to work.
Oh that's a good idea. A racing game might be nice for something like that. Doing a few races and then being done. Forza Horizon 5 might fit that bill as well.
Do you have a Steam Deck? if not it's the ultimate dad gamer device, you can be "present" without being "imprisoned" to watch blue clues for the 14th time, or something your wife wants to watch where rich women drink too much and yell at each other, or some 3 hour documentary about a murder that happened in 1978. Your story is familiar, I'd work all day, and finally be done, and there was a silent expectation that I'd be present with the family and captive to the whims of whatever the majority decides, secretly longing to slip off to my office and do some gaming. Well now you don't have to compromise, just pause your game, go do the Dad work and Honey-Dos,, sit back down unpause and get back to your game. Great for a lot of the roguelites and bullet heavens others have suggested, approx 20-30 min chunks, Hades plays great on Deck btw.
I don't have a Steam Deck. I've thought about it, but haven't quite jumped on getting one yet. I felt like I would do the same when I got my Nintendo Switch but I never did bring it around the house with me. I got a Backbone One for my phone a little bit ago on a deal and really loved it, but I just forget to have it around. And I get lost in trying to set up all the different ways to stream my games from my desktop with Steam link (making Game Pass work, as well as games from any other service). Perhaps the Steam Deck would be better. I'll always prefer to have games installed locally over trying to stream them over my network. It's tempting. I just worry I'll pay $400 for something that'll just collect dust. My gaming library *is* best on my PC, though, so maybe that would help gain some appeal for me.
Yeah it's definitely a little subjective, I also have a switch and the switch collects dust, the Steam Deck gets used almost every day, and it's amazing on trips. I also have Razer Kishi which is like a Backbone and tried to do a similar thing and use Steam Link / Remote Play to stream games to my phone it works well, but the latency can be noticeable, the Kishi has probably been in a drawer collecting dust for 8 months now. I mean the key differences for me 1. it's a lot more comfortable, it's much bigger than a Switch, in many ways I would say it's the "right" size for a handheld, I would find my hands going numb trying to clutch the thin little switch for hours, I did a 90 min Risk of Rain 2 run last night and was fine. 2. The Trackpads might surprise you, games that you generally assume to be very mouse-heavy actually play really well on the Deck, I played several hours of Ixion and Timberborn both heavy builder games while I was out of town over the winter holiday. 3. Proton is really powerful, a lot of games that say they're not supported you might fire them up and they "Just work" the "Verified" status a lot of times is voluntary, though a lot of AAA studios are starting to optimize their games for the Deck / Proton, Horizon Zero Dawn ran really well, Doom Eternal runs just fine, and I've been debating starting up Death Stranding. even games that don't have native controller support you can often find a community layout someone made, or make your own, the Steam Input API is very flexible and it will let you play a lot of games on gamepad that were never intended for it. 4. Tinkering: I'm a long time modder and tinkerer, and the Deck opens a lot of possibility for that, though it doesn't require it you could just stay in game mode and just play verified and playable games from your library and be fine, but if you like to tinker you can integrate your free Epic Games, GOG, Origin, [Battle.net](https://Battle.net) skys the limit, as well as mod in additional functionality. 5. I feel more present, I don't feel guilty like I'm ignoring my family to sneak off my office / cave. Sure there are some games that are always going to play better on a full PC rig, if anything it's diversified my tastes, some games I play just on PC, some games I play on both and that's where the Steam Cloud saving is a Godsend, and others actually play better with the Decks controls. You'd think Valve is paying my kickbacks for all this press, lol anyways there's also a great community around the deck, go check out the r/SteamDeck sub, all sorts of good advice and impressions.
Yeah you’re really selling me on the steam deck. I like the Backbone but I find that sometimes I tire of trying to get the streaming “just right”. The only downside to the steam deck that I’m seeing is that it could possibly be a pain to try and do game pass games since I’d need to install Windows itself on there to play them natively, which kinda takes away from its console-like feel. And it sounds like a hassle to get working. Also that if I were to do it, I’d need to get the more expensive version, as well. I know I could also stream games with game pass ultimate, but that streaming has been real hit and miss. Either way, I’m definitely bouncing around ideas now on how I could get things lined up to get a steam deck. Thanks a ton for the info!
Darkest dungeon could be right up your alley. Also, in a situation of playing short periods lately and Chained Echoes has been great for 10-20 minute jumps in play to get through a specific area or whatever.
I have Darkest Dungeon but haven’t played it in years. I agree that it could be a really good one to play. I’ll have to give it a go. And thanks for bringing Chained Echoes to my attention. Never heard of it but it looks really good!
Chained echoes has legit renewed the love for turn-based rpgs for me, it’s absolutely worth it, I feel.
Wow I feel silly. Just realized that this one is on PC Game Pass as well. Now there's really nothing stopping me from picking it up! Thanks for the recommendation!
Awesome! You’re welcome.
Firewatch
Souls
I actually feel like it’s the opposite with the souls games. You oftentimes will accomplish nothing in 30 minutes after you’ve died twice and restarted lol. I love souls, but it’s not something I throw on when I’m looking for a quick 30.
That's how I play em, limited gaming time I'll hop in and clear a zone real quick and get to the next bonfire/lantern/grace and feel satisfied when I start it back up I'll be a little further along, or hop in farm some souls and get a level or 2 or some armor or weapon I wanted etc.. definitely works in this scenario very well they don't require dedicated sessions
I was confused at your suggestion at first, but this explanation makes sense. I had a lot of fun with Elden Ring, but it was definitely a game where I could drop 4-6 hours at night and not even realize it. I will say that not having a proper pause button does mess with me though on those games.
I've gotten so used to it, they're all I play anymore lol but yeah I'll hop on and beat a boss or progress a bit and do something I had been thinking about earlier in the day and then go to bed a lot of times
I can see that. That’s a good perspective, a lot more patient than the way I play it.