Not every great game needs a hundred hours. These 12 can be finished in a weekend or two, and several sit on the all-time lists anyway: short is not the same as small.
Everything here has a main story under 15 hours, the quickest being Celeste at roughly 8h. A few of them reward a second run far more than a longer game would, so the completionist column is worth a glance before you move on to the next thing.
Shortest first.
| Game | Studio | Year | Main story | Completionist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celeste | Maddy Makes Games | 2018 | 8h | 38h |
| Big Walk est | House House | 2026 | 8h | 20h |
| Portal 2 | Valve | 2011 | 9h | 20h |
| Uncharted 2: Among Thieves | Naughty Dog | 2009 | 10h | 20h |
| The Walking Dead | Telltale Games | 2012 | 10h | 14h |
| Astro Bot | Team Asobi | 2024 | 11h | 20h |
| BioShock | Irrational Games | 2007 | 12h | 22h |
| Resident Evil Requiem est | Capcom | 2026 | 12h | 30h |
| Mina the Hollower est | Yacht Club Games | 2026 | 12h | 28h |
| Titanium Court est | AP Thomson | 2026 | 12h | 35h |
| It Takes Two | Hazelight | 2021 | 13h | 18h |
| Super Mario Odyssey | Nintendo | 2017 | 13h | 60h |
A mountain climb about anxiety with pixel-perfect controls.
Hundreds of bite-sized rooms that never feel unfair, plus assist options generous enough that anyone can reach the summit at their own pace.
8h main story · 14h with extras · 38h to 100%
A silly, sincere hike for two to twelve people, powered by bad ideas.
The studio behind the goose game sends you into open bushland with friends, proximity voice chat and puzzles nobody can solve alone. Shouting across a valley is the main mechanic.
8h main story · 14h with extras · 20h to 100% est
Perfect puzzle pacing and the funniest script in games.
Two portals, a derelict lab and a very chatty AI. The separate co-op campaign is a second helping that most games would have sold as a sequel.
9h main story · 12h with extras · 20h to 100%
The train sequence alone earned it every award it won.
Naughty Dog's blockbuster grammar arrived fully formed: set pieces that never stop moving, banter that lands, and a pace that refuses to sag.
10h main story · 12h with extras · 20h to 100%
Choices that change who you are rather than where you end up.
Telltale turned episodic choice-driven adventure into a genre for a few years. Lee and Clementine carry it, and the ending still lands.
10h main story · 12h with extras · 14h to 100%
Pure platforming joy with a grin on every single level.
Team Asobi turns the controller itself into an instrument. Short, inventive and relentlessly charming, with secrets tucked into almost every corner.
11h main story · 15h with extras · 20h to 100%
An underwater city built on a bad idea, and one unforgettable question.
Rapture is still the best-realised place in games, and its mid-game turn is studied for a reason. Go in knowing as little as possible.
12h main story · 16h with extras · 22h to 100%
Survival horror with the lights off and the inventory nearly empty.
Capcom went back to tighter, meaner spaces and landed the best-reviewed mainline entry in two decades. Dread over spectacle, and eight million copies sold in six months.
12h main story · 18h with extras · 30h to 100% est
A whip, a mouse and a very haunted island.
Yacht Club's top-down action adventure wears its 8-bit influences proudly but moves like something thoroughly modern. Burrowing is the best verb in it.
12h main story · 18h with extras · 28h to 100% est
Match tiles to reshape the battlefield, then send your army across it.
Match-3, tower defence, deck-building and a visual novel in one strange machine, alternating between gathering tiles and marching soldiers. Its creator is the only back-to-back IGF Grand Prize winner.
12h main story · 20h with extras · 35h to 100% est
Co-op that invents a brand-new toy every ten minutes.
Two players, one bickering couple, and a design team that refuses to reuse a mechanic. You need a partner for it, and it is worth finding one.
13h main story · 15h with extras · 18h to 100%
Every corner hides a surprise and most of them make you laugh.
A globe-trotting playground of tiny ideas. Possessing creatures with a hat is only the first trick it pulls, and it never stops finding new ones.
13h main story · 26h with extras · 60h to 100%