A gaming community free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it's price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don't meet the system requirements, or just haven't had the time to keep up with the latest releases.
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Incremental Games: (best played blind)
Dredge
Had no idea what to expect going into it. Had only heard that it was a cosmic horror fishing game and decided to give it a try. Ended up loving it!
Not a huge game in terms of scope but feels it nailed every mechanic and the art style and delivery is top notch
I enjoyed Stray. It’s pretty short, only got stuck one 1 of the puzzles.
I'm playing through the original metal gear solid and it has a pretty good pacing that keeps things fresh while also being a short game. I think you can beat it in about 10-12 hours depending on how much you call in your codec to get extra dialog if you want.
Helltaker is a little puzzle game that is free and short and sweet
May I introduce you to the Sega Saturn library. A lot of it is arcade style games, many of which can be beaten in 2 hours or less, but replayed nearly endlessly
The Curse of the Golden Idol was released in 2022, but could probably run on my microwave. It's a brilliant little detective game inspired by The Return of the Obra Dinn. Highly recommended.
Another detective game from 2022 I loved that's similarly untaxing on hardware was Strange Horticulture. You run a horticulture shop in a Victorian-y fantasy land where strange things are happening...
Both under 8 hours to complete.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
It has zero filler, it's wall to wall balls to the wall nonstop action
you might exceed the ten hours slightly if you're bad like me and get stuck in the final boss for two hours but otherwise it's perfect
Play with the volume up. Your ears will thank you.
Seriously. For every thread that mentions this game, there is someone shouting "RULES OF NATURE!".
Half an hour in, you will understand why. And you will know why this game absolutely slaps.
IIRC, Undertale was a pretty short game, and has as deep a story as games three or four times its length.
COCOON and Viewfinder are a couple of not-terribly-long puzzle games with super cool mechanics.
Not sure what 'low end' is for you but if you like puzzle games, The Talos Principle (2014) is fairly low end (plays great on my 6 year old PC) and can be completed in about 6-8 hours. Though, because it's a puzzle game, it could take much longer than that. Right now it Is $4.49US ($9.98US for the gold edition) on Steam. Puzzle logic is similar to Portal.
Finished Cult of the Lamb in 6 hours when it released, and I wasn't slacking around. It's a town-building with some roguelike elements, the graphics are cute and nice, while it explores the idea of cult creation, doctrines, sacrifices and all the dark stuff.
The company of myself and its prequel fixation
To the moon and its sequel finding paradise
Firewatch
The LEGO movie (and 2)
Portal (and 2)
Halo (1, 2, and 3)
Force Unleashed (and 2)
I really enjoyed Her Story, if you're into mysteries.
VVVVVV
Some randoms that come to mind:
A plague tale innocence and requiem are both pretty short and absolutely wonderful (and heart wrenching).
Technobabylon (and other point and clicks from that dev) is great and short.
CloudPunk is another good short game (more like an interactive novel)
Donut County is good too. Kinda katamari vibes.
The rebooted Tomb Raider series from the late 2010s is also a lot of fun and each one can be completed in at least 20 hrs. I know that’s over your limit but they’re great.
If you’re looking for a little bit different and unique experience, you can try Katamari Damacy and it’s sequel, We Love Katamari
Instead of shooting enemies or run into the end of the stage, these games main gameplay is to roll a extremely adhesive ball (using both of the controller analog stick) to collect various random objects and junk and make it grow bigger in size. Each of the levels has a different objectives and size requirements that need to be completed for advancing to the next level. The game main campaign also has a very light storytelling too, typically involves around the protagonist and his abusive father who always command him to roll stuff up. The graphics are really minimalist and colorful, plus the soundtrack are the absolute fire, covering the multiple genres such as J-Pop, Scatting Jazz, Hip Hop Disco, and even Bossa Nova
Both games main campaign can be completed in less than 10 hours and runs great even on the low end hardware
Wandersong is the happiest game you could possibly play that I play whenever I am feeling particularly depressed. Hypnospace outlaw is hilarious and fits the time criteria. Both are newer than 5 years but have very non-demanding specs
Forgotten Anne is a really good one that took me about 8 hours to complete.
Webbed. You play as a peacock spider (with lasers) trying to save your boyfriend. The bug designs are actually really cute.
Hyper Light Drifter would be my personal recommendation. My playthrough lengths ranged from like six hours on my first run to like, an hour and a half when I decided to try and beat it quickly? But the game is really gorgeous, and a lot of fun to play
I managed to complete disco elysium in under 25hrs if your up for the challenge you can try and beat my record
What remains of Edith Finch, a very emotional and wonderful game, short and bitter sweet.
I'd go so far to even gift it to people. Outer Wilds make you feel small and huge at the same time.
Opus: The Day We Found Earth, another great short one.