Single player games are increasingly becoming more and more rooted in the open-world genre. It’s almost as though character-driven narratives are required to exist within a world you can explore at your own leisure. Sometimes this results in amazing creations, like The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. However, the amount of content in a game often dictates how much time someone will spend in a given open-world, and not every game benefits from having this feature.
Not every campaign needs to have 400+ hours of content, or seemingly infinite side quests like Skyrim. Some games come with considerably less activities to engage in compared to others, and yet they still take place in a fully constructed city or a wide region of places. However, this does not necessarily mean that these games are always inherently worse than longer titles — sometimes brevity is best, other times games could simply be spread around levels rather than a single world.
10 The Forest
Minecraft is already scary enough when you are exploring a mineshaft, you run out of torches, and a Witch jumps out of nowhere to poison you. The Forest amplifies all that.
Admittedly, this open-world, horror survival with a focus on crafting has more than enough replayability value: it is, after all, a sandbox where you can forgo the story and just find creative ways to survive the night. However, if you are interested in rescuing your son from the plane crash that leaves you stranded on the island, then you are looking at about 15 hours of gameplay at least.
9 The Evil Within 2
Horror and open-world is an interesting combination, rarely explored by developers. The Evil Within 2 nails the visuals, the atmosphere, and generally the haunting feeling that you could expect from an action-driven survival horror. Some moments can make you jump out of your seat, so you are not always blazing your guns.
However, the story and characters are a bit lacking here and there, and follow a story that can take you from 14 to 18 hours, though you could really speed through it if you are just concerned with escaping the literal nightmare world Sebastian Castellanos finds himself in.
8 The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
The Legend Of Zelda games never rushing players through their engaging narratives, so defining Link’s Awakening on Switch as a short game may come as a surprise to some. Nonetheless, about 12 to 16 hours are just about enough time to beat the game and partake in minigames or other activities.
The beauty underlying the Zelda franchise comes with figuring out what to do, especially in more traditional titles like Link’s Awakening (filled with dungeons that require some careful thinking). This game could easily take some people a bit longer, especially if they are hell-bent on figuring everything out without the help of guides or walkthroughs.
7 Need For Speed Rivals
Racing games these days often have you drive around large open worlds in order to start side activities or main story missions. Need For Speed Rivals was one of the first racing games in the series that launched with the PS4 and Xbox One generation, and it stuck to this formula consistently.
The campaign takes about 13 hours to get through, which is just about right for a racing game. However, this title can maximize its playtime if you decide to engage in the side activities that allow you to essentially become a better driver with better cars.
6 Far Cry New Dawn
This is the shortest Far Cry game considering average playtime. Far Cry New Dawn can either be fairly short or a bit longer, depending on how much time you are willing to put into it.
The campaign does not take long, about 11 hours is plenty of time to complete it at your own pace. However, if you like to do some side missions and explore the map set in the post apocalyptic version of Hope County, then you are most likely looking to spend a good twenty hours to experience the game in its entirety.
5 Spider-Man Miles Morales
Miles Morales is great example of a game that is well balanced in its execution. Developer Insomniac had already stated that the game would have been significantly shorter than its predecessor, prior to release.
Nonetheless, length did not significantly impact the quality of the title, which racked up overall favorable reviews on Metacritic, earning an 85 according to the aggregator. This game easily reaches the ten hour mark and surpasses it if you get lost in some side activities that can even double the overall length of the game for completionists.
4 The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Our friendly neighbor Spider-Man made a triumphant comeback when the eponymous game released as a PlayStation exclusive in 2018. With the recent release and success of Miles Morales, things have never looked better for Marvel’s web-slinging crime fighter. However, that was not always the case.
During 2014, shortly after the PS4 came out, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 released and racked up some mixed and negative reviews, completely missing the mark due to its rushed aspects that resulted in an overall equally rushed experience. You could get through everything the game offers in a little over seven hours.
3 Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell
Exciting ideas do not always end up becoming great games, unfortunately. The Saints Row games are famous for their hilariously explicit characters, missions, and overall themes. Gat Out Of Hell somehow fails to rise to the levels of its predecessors.
Despite being a standalone experience that serves as the conclusion to Saints Row IV, this title received mixed reviews that generally found gameplay to be too buggy and repetitive. The main campaign can take you about four to six hours, capping around the eight hour mark if you get lost in plenty of side activities.
2 Firewatch
Short and sweet, no need to water down amazing storytelling. Firewatch does not follow the traditional open-world formula, but does have open-world elements in it, like day and night cycles or the freedom to explore the large setting in any way you wish.
The game is not like other open-world titles because it mainly comes across as a walking simulator, as you explore the beautifully stylized Wyoming Wilderness. The story follows a linear trajectory, but dialogue interactions are choice based and dictate the overall tone the game adopts. Four hours is all you need to experience this beautiful title.
1 Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeros
This is a game anyone can speedrun. Have about 30 minutes to spare? You can beat Ground Zeros even in as little as ten minutes if you are an apt stealth player. This is not a joke, as the game was literally marketed as a title featuring open-world mechanics that would be better fleshed out in its sequel, Phantom Pain.
This game might as well have been a demo, an undoubtedly great one, but a demo nonetheless. If you engage in the handful of side missions available, you might generously spend four hours with this Metal Gear.
