In an hour you must be going somewhere, but you have a hitch to squeeze another game or so before you must run to a meeting. Today, a lot of games require you to play them for hours to reach meaningful progress, which is not an option an ideal option during a busy day.

A short list of 5 games that can be played for an hour on a PC, that leaves you with a feeling of progress and satisfaction. To compile the list, there are the following criteria:

A. The game should easy to pick up and drop it at any moment.

B. Ability to make incremental progress within a short time.

C. It should be fun to play it and leave you in a good mood.

In addition, I will include the pros and cons of each listed game for balanced review. Hence, a list of different games that can find its appeal to many gamers:

1

Darkest Dungeons

A dark fantasy inspired by Lovecraft’s work, a dungeon crawler where you collect a group of 4 adventurers to complete a task. Turn-base combat, a wide range of characters (18 classes!).

Depending on the dungeon, each can take about to 10-20 minutes. By completing each one successfully you level up your characters, acquire gold and trinkets that will make you more powerful.

The only issue is the hardcore nature of the game. Darkest Dungeon has a property to turn against you and thus annihilate your party, that can leave you in a negative mood and prevent you from progressing.

Perhaps some might like this kind of risk? If you do, you should pick it up!

2

Hearthstone (or any other cards games)

Card games are meant to be quick to play. Hearthstone is a fun, challenging fantasy card-oriented game where you compete with others. Each game usually takes about 7 to 10 minutes; thus, it could be played multiple times before you must head out!

Why I would recommend Hearthstone, is for it’s “easy to pick up and hard to master” game design. Hence it is beginner friendly and compelling for challenge seekers.

One of the challenges of Hearthstone is that it has many cards to deal with. For beginners and returning players, it can be overwhelming to know how all cards work. Yet, if you a lover of making crazy decks then it will be a pure joy to have a wide range of cards available.

Another minus of Hearthstone is that leaving mid-game is not well-looked upon. So, you have to be actively aware of the time while you are playing.

3

Hotline Miami

A quick pace top-down shooter with awesome upbeat electro music in the style of retro ’80s. Hotline Miami is a cathartic game, where you become a reckless murder who targets mafia mobs.

You are encouraged to come up with the quickest and most audacious for each level, that will increase your total score at the end. Most of the levels can be completed within 7 minutes or less.

Hotline Miami is a short game in general, but it is a blast to experience it through.

The only issue that anything can kill you in one shot. Hence it is a challenge to survive through the levels, which might take some time to complete. However, repeating takes only a press of a button without a delay, making each death less annoying.

4

Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy

A fun platformer compiled into three games, with each one being broken up into levels. By finishing a level, you progress onto the other and so forth.

Having its roots back in being a mascot of PlayStation 1, Crash Bandicoot is one of the most innovative and joyful games at its time. Even at today’s days, Crash Bandicoot promises tons of challenges, goofy humor and entertainment.

Each level could take about 12-15 minutes (given that you don’t die often). Yet, leaving in mid-level won't save your progress does not save until level is finished.

In addition, the earlier titles are notoriously challenging (heard about Road To Nowhere level?), that can leave you frustrated, rather than relaxed.

5

Stardew Valley

Relaxing and interesting farming simulator, where you can make relationships with various town’s folk and become an adventurer’s farmer.

Despite being branded as a farming simulator, you can totally play the game through without ever planting a crop.

You have options to fight monsters, become a miner or chop some wood to build new stuff. Stardew Valley is your playing around!

What is interesting about Stardew Valley is that it is designed for you to have noticeable progression every day. Each in-game day takes about 13.5 minutes of real time, which is plenty of time for you to do some meaningful work for your farm or your character stats.

What I can see to be a weird issue is that Stardew Valley can be too enjoyable. Each day you want to acquire something, craft, plant, check on events and so forth.

In addition, you can not save the game in the middle of the day, meaning that to have progress you must finish the day.

Hopefully, this list will help you find that game, which you can play for a short amount of time and be satisfied with it. What are the short games that you would play if you had an hour before you had to go?

Taken from my blog: krealreviews.com

It all started with PLAYERUKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG), that took the loot gathering concept of survival games and player’s love for conflict without a reason (looking at you, DayZ) to a whole new exciting at that time level.

A huge map that holds hundred of players who are scattered all over in hopes of finding an epic loot. To win, who have to be the last survivor. With the map constantly shrinking down to the mystical, but a damaging barrier, players are forcefully drawn into smaller areas.

Such an idea took over the gaming community by storm. An exciting mix of survival and action that many craved for a while. Fight, hide, chase or mess around with the players, it is all to your imagination to how you may end up the last survivor. With the ever-shrinking map, your enemies are bound to be somewhere close, keeping every moment of your virtual existence packed with adrenaline. Or so I thought…

Hard Realization

I was excited to jump on a PUBG bandwagon only to find myself realizing – I despised this genre. I find myself struggling to survive, only to be shot dead which sends me back to the menu screen. Not only do I have to wait several minutes to start up the game after death, but I must start from the beginning.

Repeating the loot search in hopes to be the first one to the gun before others are annoying and Otherwise, you are likely to be facing an armed opponent, with only having your fists to fight them. Hence, I ditched the game after 5 hours of playing it (I know, this is not much to git gud, but I couldn’t bear it anymore).

Searching for the New Hope

So, when the next big came up – Fortnite – I was very skeptical of the game. But darn, it got too popular, so maybe building stuff and cartoon graphics is what I needed?

Unfortunately, it only made me dislike battle royales even more. Now, not only I have to deal with annoying aspects of finding a gun and shooting, but also face the players who instantly build strongholds in a whip of their construction paper. Soon Fortnite it became and still is the mainstream battle royale game.

The entry level is frustratingly high to players like me, so I quickly abandoned the game.

Then came Black Ops 4 (Bo4) battle royal mode… there are a few things that I liked. One being the intuitive gunplay and the other is the first-person camera. Besides that, it is as frustrating as PUBG.

Now finally we come to Apex Legends, which I find it to be a mix of Overwatch, PUBG and even Bo4. Made by Respawn Entertainment, the same guys who made Modern Warfare and Titanfall games. What is so different about it compared to the other Battle Royals?

You can resurrect your teammates. That is mostly it.

Such simple, yet an effective incentive to keep teammates in the game in hopes that their badges from their bodies are picked up. A second chance for early game mistakes. There are only ninety seconds before you completely perish without. Meanwhile, you or your teammates must decide if it best to resurrect you or kill the enemy responsible for it.

Besides this new feature, Apex Legends has all the sins of the battle royale games: micro transaction for cosmetics, two locked characters behind the paywall, soon to be battle pass and being free to play. It certainly attracts many players with its satisfying gunplay, quick paced games, and unique class design, but I still find it discouraging as it is similar to any other battle royal games.

I once managed to pull off a victory in Apex Legends. I felt like I deserved a handsome reward, only to be met with a similar statistic screen when you die. In a way, I felt cheated by the game. Bunch of experience points barely justify why I should be bothered to play it again.

Don’t get me wrong, I love first person shooter games. Overwatch or Battlefield V have their charm, that keeps pulling me to play them over 150 hours already. In both games after death, I am not thrown off the game and left waiting for another one to start. I continue playing on after waiting for a few seconds.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I believe one of the most frustrating issues with battle royale games is their core mechanic of having one life within the game session. While this keeps many on their toes, I found myself difficult to enjoy such format. After death, I must spend too much time to get back to the fresh game, where I must find new loot again and hope that somebody doesn’t get their guns before you.

I still find the idea enticing, but unfortunately, the realization of it makes it hard for me to really dive into the genre. Maybe in the future, something better will show up, who kno