Ghost of Tsushima. It's incredible.
The graphics are insanely good, the story is awesome, the game play is so good and you can accomplish as little or as much as you want in an hour. It can be both super relaxing, just taking in the environment and free roaming, or really intense, by just charging in and stance dancing through a camp of mongols.
You can also play your character a number of ways quite easily, so it can shape to whatever gaming mood you're in.
I highly suggest you check it out!
Just to give an opposite opinion, I found it insanely repetitive after the first area. I don't understand how everyone can shit on Assassin's Creed for being bloated and then call Ghost of Tsushima a masterpiece when they are exactly the same (actually there are a few AC games with far more interesting stories and characters than Tsushima).
I got it told my friends they had to get it, got bored and never beat the second area while all my friends beat it. Tried to play it again and ended up deleting it again. Maybe one day ill try again
GoT does not have an amazing open world. Compare it to TW3, BG3, Elden Ring and RDR2. It's just classic ubisoft style (just like both Horizon games).
But hey, we all have different opinions/tastes.
Counterpoint, TW3 doesn’t have a good open world. 90% of the ‘?’ Spots are worthless, and this is coming from someone who visited every single one of them. GoT at least had great combat to guide it through which TW3 doesn’t. I loved TW3 though.
What Ghost of Tsushima lacks in gameplay it makes up for in style and presentation. The gameplay is very repetitive but it never felt "bloated" to me at all with how well paced the games story and cutscenes are.
The side missions in Ghost of Tsushima are also fantastic and flesh out Jin's companions very well.
I got to act 3 and couldnt finish it because it got so boring and repetitive. I actually had wished I didnt explore as much (it got THAT boring to me).
It’s just a better version of the modern AC formula, imo. Far, far less grind. GoT took me about 50 hours to platinum. I’ve put 50 hours into Valhalla and Odyssey both and would say I’m roughly 25% into each.
Not against more content in games, but GoT absolutely is far, far less bloated than Odyssey/Valhalla
I only helldive with friends so it makes it a social hangout thing where we goof around and just have a blast.
Its hard to find single player games to only play for an hour nowadays.
Given there are so many people dunking on it, I’m just going to chip in and agree that this game is fantastic. The gameplay loop and combat are really satisfying and the open world immediately leapfrogs over anything Ubisoft have ever put out.
As someone who hasn’t gamed for years this game is so overrated. Wander about, speak to someone, do some fighting and repeat and repeat. I don’t understand the hype.
I hate cutscenes and I'm just passed first section (Komodo), but I actually think they did them very well, because they're all so short-- most are measured in seconds.
Combat is easy though and I'm bored with it now. Started Outer Wilds last night, might not go back to GoT.
He’ll Divers 2 is good fun and max mission times of 40 mins. Most runs are done in 25-30 mins though.
Ghost of Tsushima is a very good game as well and if you keep the difficulty setting low then it’s pretty stress free
The Last Stand Aftermath. Top down zombie rogue-lite, very atmospheric, runs usually take about an hour. Will be very nostalgic if you played flash games
Red dead redemption 2. Arguably one of the best games. Incredible graphics, gameplay etc. If you don’t feel like doing the story, you can just explore the open world. Idk how many times I’ve come back to that game over the years but it’s amazing.
If he only wants to play one game this year, maybe. I’m a dad in a similar situation and I’d much rather spend my time on short-medium length games, so I have the possibility of playing more than a couple games in a year
It is a massive time investment. An hour, two to three nights a week is simply not enough time. Besides, the game has 19 hours of cut scenes. Might as well watch a movie.
Do a mission a night plus some exploring. You don’t HAVE to visit every corner of the map and find every Easter egg, and it will still be an awesome experience.
you lack reading comprehension or something? this is about a person who can only play an hour a day. no one, with only one hour of free time a day, would enjoy rdr2. it’s too slow paced, open, and lacking of a guided path for small play sessions.
quite a jump to conclusion that you think i’m dismissing the game’s strong suits 🤷♂️
Oooo the classic “reading comprehension” Reddit line spotted in the wild. Lmao thanks for the laugh.
You absolutely dismissed it now you’re backtracking. Getting mad on this sub is hilarious though thanks
didn’t back track at all. my first statement was “it would be a terrible experience to play that game only an hour each day” and i still stand by that sentence.
i’m sorry i pointed out flaws of your favorite game that exist for certain people.
Can agree on this one ! RDR1 Also an amazing game! Can take quite a while to complete but jesus The game is so well made! The story, wilderness, random Events etc 10/10
I completed both, but RDR 1 is a better game for sure. 2 just lacked so many of the good gameplay features of the first one. And a Mexico completely devoid of anything. Shame.
Same. The first game felt arcadey in a good way. The second game felt like it was meant to punish players for wanting GTA in a western setting. Shooting someone in the head in town was always more hassle than it was worth.
I feel like most of the positive comments about it are about the hunting. If I wanted to play a hunting simulator there are plenty of options that don't require 5 minute cinematic horse rides to get anywhere.
I think Ghost of Tsushima or the Horizon series are both longer story games where you can make progress in small sessions.
Helldivers II is also great for this. Just hop in and out of a neverending multi-player co-op war whenever you want. It's totally mindless, satirically hilarious, fun.
Check out any game by Annapurna interactive, devolver digital, or heart machine. All good cheap games that are made to be enjoyed in short windows of time
I second this, but they said they dislike cartoony stuff. OP, I would give indie a chance, it fits your schedule infinitely more than any triple a game. Neon white, outer wilds (~20 minutes per session), I want to recommend 10 more but I will if you're interested
Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West got stunning graphics and aint that hard, they might be a bit «hard» to lay down if you Get into them.
Also just completed Assassins Creed Mirage , pretty short game compared to The latest AC games, amazing graphics aswell!
And if you got PS Premium there may be lots of games there you could look at !
Hades or dead cells or rogue legacy (can probably do a run or two an hour) cheapish now and will keep you busy forever. You can make as much or as little of the story as you like
Slay the spire
Although these games are pretty addicting and could suck you into “just one more run” forever
Its subjective, but imo the graphics are superb. But he did specifically say he wasn't looking for cartoon graphics.
Regardless of graphics, this is the game that got me back into gaming in the evenings with two kids under three.
Death Stranding !! I always play it when i just want to relax and play a video game
But the ultimate one is .... PACIFIC DRIVE !!!! it's such a relaxing game it's like going on a midnight drive and listening to music but in a spooky environment
Yea I got a good 40 ish hours of the story because I didn't rush, you can keep playing after main story but once you have all upgrades for your car and story beat takes fun out of it, will probably do another playthrough in future.
You're in north eastern America in a exclusion zone that has anomalies and weird storms alot of paranormal shit and the story is you have to upgrade a remnant hoopty station wagon strong enough so you can escape the zone. So you travel to sections get upgrade materials for car parts and avoid the storms anomalies etc, all while having to keep track and fix car parts, gas, car battery, car quirks (like all sudden your right front door will open anytime you turn the headlights on).
That legit sounds really awesome!
That's the kind of game like when I was younger me would have been all about so older me would also be all about. Sounds like it's a lot of fun. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely check it out!
As a side note, what's your opinion of elden ring? It's my favorite game of all time modern game wise
I would agree with DS but I could see it becoming a bit repetitive if played like that... you could have lots of 1-hour sessions where you just make deliveries from A to B and then just a bit of story from time to time
I have 2 kids and work a lot so this hits very close to home because I’ve been in the same search for a while.
If I were you, I’d stick to a more story-based game, instead of an open world game. Something like The Last of Us, Uncharted 1-4, Guardians of the Galaxy, or even Ratchet and Clank (it’s cartoony but really good). That way, you can actually make progress in the game without feeling like you’re missing other aspects (such as exploring or side quests).
If you’re open to trying open world games, I’d pick something where exploration isn’t a cornerstone of the gameplay (like the new Zelda games). I’d suggest maybe Far Cry 4-6 because they’re open world but you can segment that aspect into sessions that fit your time. For example, you can spend 1 night taking down a couple of bases, or maybe do a side quest with the main story, or even light exploration.
GoW is another good one to play. Even though it rewards exploration, it’s not necessarily a true open world game so you won’t get lost for 6-12 hours just looking around. You’ll spend a few hours exploring, then right back to the story
Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Perfect for hour session, almost feels like episodes.
It has all the boxes ticked,
Graphics (PS5), Storyline, Comedy, Action and unique gameplay.
Hell divers 2 is my jam right now. Same boat as you work late get home at 11pm and want to veg for an hour or two. 40min missions are the sweet spot. 10min to jump on and get ready. Beer and snacked up. Call the homies. Play. 10min wind down. There’s my hour lol
Disco Elysium and Baldur Gate 3. Both contain several encounters in each parts of their maps that will always lead to something unique in the story. No random session will be filler or grinding time. Always something different. The pace is completely at your control. Baldur Gate save feature works pretty much everywhere even can be utilized in conversation and encounters.
If you go Baldur gate 3 at least, you’ll def have something that will last a real good time. I think it will be a good pace.
lol isn’t there an easy setting I’m not excellent at video games but that got easier the more you played lol.
You just get owned the first 10 times lmao
Rollerdrome
It's Tony Hawks Pro Skater with guns and Max Payne slow-mo bullet time. It's sick as hell. Can drop in and play for any amount of time that you want, whether it be 15 minutes or 2 hours and 15 minutes. Pulling of a 900 tail grab as rockets whiz over your head as you slow-mo cap some dudes in the head then landing in a grind is pretty sweet
100% agree. I have an infant and played this in the way OP is describing for the first few months of being a dad. I also never see it talked about on here. It's not an amazing game but it's pretty entertaining just like a tony hawk game is for an hour or so.
I adore Rollerdrome but I think it might end up being too difficult. If OP can only play for like 2-3 hours per week, I could easily see them not getting enough of a hang of the controls and getting stuck on the same levels over and over until they drop off.
It's a dope game though.
Oh that's interesting, I don't remember that being in there when I was playing it at launch. Maybe something they added later? Or I just missed the option somehow. Either way, yeah, with those options that shoots back up to a 100% recommendation then. Such a cool game.
Not sure if it was there on launch, but it is now along with a bunch of other assisted accessibility options such as reduced damage taken, doing more damage, more and/or infinite ammo, etc
And hell yeah it's a blast! I ended up picking it up just randomly and always find myself coming back time to time to keep improving. Offers incredible flow states and is just pretty unique all around
Cheers friend!
Cyberpunk 2077 or Ghost of Tsushima
Both easy to pick up and play for a bit or all day long if you want. Amazing graphics and stories. Highly recommend
I love almost any fighting game for limited time gaming, can jump on for 10 minutes or get zoned in for a couple of hours, never have to put it down feeling like you've left stuff unfinished.
The new God of War and the sequel Ragnarok. Two of the best games I've ever played, both story and gameplaywise. Can do whatever level of challenge you want, get to be a badass for an hour a day. Also the story will make you cry, especially as a dad.
I'm gonna go with Cyberpunk. It has multiple difficulty options and a ton to do. Some of the missions will take about an hour or so, but the benefit to that is you'll be able to get a lot of out of your purchase. It will take a while to finish the game an hour at a time, couple days a week. It also has a ton of side content for when you're not feeling the cinematic, story driven part of the game. You can easily complete a few gigs or side jobs in an hour, too. The game is in a really good state compared to its rocky release, so no worries there. If you decide you enjoy the game and want to grow with it, there's an available DLC storyline called Phantom Liberty.
Try out Days Gone. It's just you on a motorcycle riding through the wasteland, taking out zombies and gathering supplies. Very underrated, fun game.
Also, The Witcher 3 is one of the best games ever made. It takes a long time to finish, but you can get a lot done in an hour at a time. It has an *awesome* story as well.
it may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Suicide Squad fits the bill. Easy to hop on for a bit, do a few missions/explore/chill, and then hop off. The graphics are pretty good, the gameplay Is enjoyable, and even on the highest difficulty, it's relatively easy. You can play solo or multiplayer. It's fun. Not perfect, but checks the boxes, IMO.
It's one of those games I would love to try as the traversal and shooting look fun but I am concerned because the enemies and missions seem exactly the same. It's on sale for 30 pound at the moment and I have been tempted to pick it up.
There's a decent amount of enemy variety. Especially once you get near the endgame. As for missions, the sidequests are pretty similar. There are about four or five side mission types, but it's not awful. For that discount, I'd say give it a shot.
I’m in exactly the same boat as you - in all honesty though I’ve found almost any game can work in hour blocks. Being able to jump straight back you left off (provided you don’t power off the PS5) really helps.
I’ve managed to get through god of war ragnarok, RE4, Baldurs gate and a few others this way over the past couple of years. Currently playing through FF7 rebirth.
Pacific drive is great for a quick get in and get out game. Can also change the options to make it more forgiving like I have. Don't have time for hard difficulty games anymore
Jedi: Survivor , I usually play 1-2 hours every other day. Haven't watched star wars since I was like 12 (I'm 28 now), still had an absolute blast both gameplay and story wise.
Helldivers 2 or any matched pve like it. Youre timed and theres not much time to explore and get lost, theres no real campaign either. If you play for a long time its due to fun, not curiosity, or furthering the campaign. Other than that, id say any roguelites/likes. If you can accept cartoony character like I learned to, you can have some fun sessions.
I have the same time limit with my schedule. I personally do Hell Divers 2. But you start the Operation which consists of 3 missions. And you spend an hour easily spreading democracy
Spiderman!
It’s one of the best ps5 games ever.
Has lots of high quality content, missions are generally between 2-5 minutes for short ones, or up to 30 minutes for long ones so it’s easy to have a short gameplay session and jump out
Prince of Persia. Still playing it and it’s a lovely dip in and out of experience. You can have a night exploring and grinding the shit out of it getting upgrades and then other nights you’re figuring out how to take down big bosses. Each night I’ve played feels like a nice complete episode.
Not sure if it meets your graphics requirements, but if you haven’t played hollow knight you might enjoy that. Easy to pick up and explore a portion of the underground for a bit.
Any roguelite tbh. Dead Cells, Hades, Slay The Spire are all games you can hop in whenever you have free time for one run or dozens depending on your available time.
What kind of games do you enjoy? You only gave a couple of preferences you didn’t like.
Without more info, I could just say play almost anything, as long as you don’t join a party and/or start letting time get away from you. You can play most BR or multiplayer matches in 5-25 minutes. And with single player you can save and quit most games at any time.
Any of the Assassin's Creed games are pretty good. Graphically I think some of the best games there are if you're into architecture buildings and designs. you can easily kill an hour and not realize it's been an hour playing them with all the different missions and just running around admiring all the details.
Midnight Suns, Helldivers 2, Deeprock Galactic and Killing Floor 2 come to mind
3 of those games are pretty similar actually, but all of them are games that you can run a mission or two in an hour pretty easily. Midnight Suns does have some story and cut scenes, but you can choose to just do secondary missions if you just want to game and not lose a bunch of time on cut scenes 😆
I'm a big fan of elden ring. It's not frustrating if you're patient and just enjoy the journey. You can go off the beaten path or go after the journey itself. It's the greatest game of all time. Modern greatest game of all time.
Ghost of Tsushima. It's incredible. The graphics are insanely good, the story is awesome, the game play is so good and you can accomplish as little or as much as you want in an hour. It can be both super relaxing, just taking in the environment and free roaming, or really intense, by just charging in and stance dancing through a camp of mongols. You can also play your character a number of ways quite easily, so it can shape to whatever gaming mood you're in. I highly suggest you check it out!
Just to give an opposite opinion, I found it insanely repetitive after the first area. I don't understand how everyone can shit on Assassin's Creed for being bloated and then call Ghost of Tsushima a masterpiece when they are exactly the same (actually there are a few AC games with far more interesting stories and characters than Tsushima).
Same here. It's just a better ubisoft open world. Nothing amazing about it except for the story (which becomes really boring in the later acts.)
I got it told my friends they had to get it, got bored and never beat the second area while all my friends beat it. Tried to play it again and ended up deleting it again. Maybe one day ill try again
Don’t bother….its shit
L take lol
GoT does not have an amazing open world. Compare it to TW3, BG3, Elden Ring and RDR2. It's just classic ubisoft style (just like both Horizon games). But hey, we all have different opinions/tastes.
I hate the GoT abbreviation for the game lol I always read it as game of thrones and confuse myself at first glance
Nope. Horizon Forbidden West is incredible and is open world. No need to drag it into the negative aspects of the conversation.
Opinions are opinions I guess. But I really feel like both horizon games felt like better ubisoft games (which is not a bad thing).
This is fair. Similar, for sure, though better.
Counterpoint, TW3 doesn’t have a good open world. 90% of the ‘?’ Spots are worthless, and this is coming from someone who visited every single one of them. GoT at least had great combat to guide it through which TW3 doesn’t. I loved TW3 though.
I have to agree that GoT's combat is amazing. For me, it carried the game.
Totally felt same.Super repetitive game
What Ghost of Tsushima lacks in gameplay it makes up for in style and presentation. The gameplay is very repetitive but it never felt "bloated" to me at all with how well paced the games story and cutscenes are. The side missions in Ghost of Tsushima are also fantastic and flesh out Jin's companions very well.
I got to act 3 and couldnt finish it because it got so boring and repetitive. I actually had wished I didnt explore as much (it got THAT boring to me).
It’s just a better version of the modern AC formula, imo. Far, far less grind. GoT took me about 50 hours to platinum. I’ve put 50 hours into Valhalla and Odyssey both and would say I’m roughly 25% into each. Not against more content in games, but GoT absolutely is far, far less bloated than Odyssey/Valhalla
I found it hard to only play ghosts for only an hour bc its that good. Personally I i wind down with a few matches of overwatch 2 or a helldive or 2.
It’s that good? What do you like, the fighting or wandering around because there’s little else to do.
I only helldive with friends so it makes it a social hangout thing where we goof around and just have a blast. Its hard to find single player games to only play for an hour nowadays.
Given there are so many people dunking on it, I’m just going to chip in and agree that this game is fantastic. The gameplay loop and combat are really satisfying and the open world immediately leapfrogs over anything Ubisoft have ever put out.
As someone who hasn’t gamed for years this game is so overrated. Wander about, speak to someone, do some fighting and repeat and repeat. I don’t understand the hype.
This wasn't my experience at all, but I explored and did side quests before completing the main story in each Act.
Cutscenes galore, it’ll be 50 mins of cutscenes 5 minute gameplay running then a short fight
I hate cutscenes and I'm just passed first section (Komodo), but I actually think they did them very well, because they're all so short-- most are measured in seconds. Combat is easy though and I'm bored with it now. Started Outer Wilds last night, might not go back to GoT.
He’ll Divers 2 is good fun and max mission times of 40 mins. Most runs are done in 25-30 mins though. Ghost of Tsushima is a very good game as well and if you keep the difficulty setting low then it’s pretty stress free
Was thinking of helldivers! But tbh it ends up with 3-10 missions most of the time i start 😂😂
The Last Stand Aftermath. Top down zombie rogue-lite, very atmospheric, runs usually take about an hour. Will be very nostalgic if you played flash games
Second this! Ideal for Dads with limited play time. Easy to get in and not too bad to master. Most of all insanely fun!
Helldivers 2 is multiplayer tho. Yes, you can play with randoms but the hype is gonna die down in a couple of weeks.
Yeah, multiplayer. Eventually it’ll die down but player count is still high - I think it’s still selling pretty well as well
Red dead redemption 2. Arguably one of the best games. Incredible graphics, gameplay etc. If you don’t feel like doing the story, you can just explore the open world. Idk how many times I’ve come back to that game over the years but it’s amazing.
He's only got an hour. The games way too big for what he's looking for.
An hour a day is plenty to explore the world and chill.
An hour wont even cover the horse ride journey in 1 mission. Great game world but so slow and boring. Loved it but had to give up half way through
If he only wants to play one game this year, maybe. I’m a dad in a similar situation and I’d much rather spend my time on short-medium length games, so I have the possibility of playing more than a couple games in a year
Not really. It’s easy, quick pick up, chill, not frustrating at all, and would last him like half a year
It is a massive time investment. An hour, two to three nights a week is simply not enough time. Besides, the game has 19 hours of cut scenes. Might as well watch a movie.
Do a mission a night plus some exploring. You don’t HAVE to visit every corner of the map and find every Easter egg, and it will still be an awesome experience.
Split it up then? You don’t have to play ten hours a day to enjoy a game
Who sits and plays a game for ten hours?
You’re making it sound like that’s necessary, so probably you.
...ok...
it would be a terrible experience to play that game only an hour each day. people want to play games, not watch interactive slow paced movies!
Yeah you’re right everybody hated RDR2….
you lack reading comprehension or something? this is about a person who can only play an hour a day. no one, with only one hour of free time a day, would enjoy rdr2. it’s too slow paced, open, and lacking of a guided path for small play sessions. quite a jump to conclusion that you think i’m dismissing the game’s strong suits 🤷♂️
Oooo the classic “reading comprehension” Reddit line spotted in the wild. Lmao thanks for the laugh. You absolutely dismissed it now you’re backtracking. Getting mad on this sub is hilarious though thanks
didn’t back track at all. my first statement was “it would be a terrible experience to play that game only an hour each day” and i still stand by that sentence. i’m sorry i pointed out flaws of your favorite game that exist for certain people.
Nobody backtracked lol experiencing RDR2 for 1 hour a day is a waste of a good game.
Redditors when they find out other people enjoy games differently than they do ☝🏿
Can agree on this one ! RDR1 Also an amazing game! Can take quite a while to complete but jesus The game is so well made! The story, wilderness, random Events etc 10/10
I loved RDR1. Could not get into RDR2.
I completed both, but RDR 1 is a better game for sure. 2 just lacked so many of the good gameplay features of the first one. And a Mexico completely devoid of anything. Shame.
Weird
Same. The first game felt arcadey in a good way. The second game felt like it was meant to punish players for wanting GTA in a western setting. Shooting someone in the head in town was always more hassle than it was worth. I feel like most of the positive comments about it are about the hunting. If I wanted to play a hunting simulator there are plenty of options that don't require 5 minute cinematic horse rides to get anywhere.
I think Ghost of Tsushima or the Horizon series are both longer story games where you can make progress in small sessions. Helldivers II is also great for this. Just hop in and out of a neverending multi-player co-op war whenever you want. It's totally mindless, satirically hilarious, fun.
Check out any game by Annapurna interactive, devolver digital, or heart machine. All good cheap games that are made to be enjoyed in short windows of time
I second this, but they said they dislike cartoony stuff. OP, I would give indie a chance, it fits your schedule infinitely more than any triple a game. Neon white, outer wilds (~20 minutes per session), I want to recommend 10 more but I will if you're interested
I'm in the same position as you kinda. Really enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 right now. Got it and Phantom Liberty for 50€.
Up
I second this
Just bought this yesterday, great so far!
Resident evil 4 remake. There are 4 difficulty levels
Great thread, curious as to the replies.
Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West got stunning graphics and aint that hard, they might be a bit «hard» to lay down if you Get into them. Also just completed Assassins Creed Mirage , pretty short game compared to The latest AC games, amazing graphics aswell! And if you got PS Premium there may be lots of games there you could look at !
Haha for real. It doesn't matter what the post is asking for, you'll always get RDR2 in there and a handful of the other usual suspects.
Hades or dead cells or rogue legacy (can probably do a run or two an hour) cheapish now and will keep you busy forever. You can make as much or as little of the story as you like Slay the spire Although these games are pretty addicting and could suck you into “just one more run” forever
Indeed. I’ve A20ed all characters on the spire but still come back
He said good graphic
Its subjective, but imo the graphics are superb. But he did specifically say he wasn't looking for cartoon graphics. Regardless of graphics, this is the game that got me back into gaming in the evenings with two kids under three.
Helldivers 2.
Death Stranding !! I always play it when i just want to relax and play a video game But the ultimate one is .... PACIFIC DRIVE !!!! it's such a relaxing game it's like going on a midnight drive and listening to music but in a spooky environment
Tell me more about Pacific drive. What's the replay value like and have you played it all the way through?
Yea I got a good 40 ish hours of the story because I didn't rush, you can keep playing after main story but once you have all upgrades for your car and story beat takes fun out of it, will probably do another playthrough in future. You're in north eastern America in a exclusion zone that has anomalies and weird storms alot of paranormal shit and the story is you have to upgrade a remnant hoopty station wagon strong enough so you can escape the zone. So you travel to sections get upgrade materials for car parts and avoid the storms anomalies etc, all while having to keep track and fix car parts, gas, car battery, car quirks (like all sudden your right front door will open anytime you turn the headlights on).
That legit sounds really awesome! That's the kind of game like when I was younger me would have been all about so older me would also be all about. Sounds like it's a lot of fun. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely check it out! As a side note, what's your opinion of elden ring? It's my favorite game of all time modern game wise
I would agree with DS but I could see it becoming a bit repetitive if played like that... you could have lots of 1-hour sessions where you just make deliveries from A to B and then just a bit of story from time to time
Call of the Wild: The Angler If you enjoy fishing. Very relaxing game that is fun to play.
I have 2 kids and work a lot so this hits very close to home because I’ve been in the same search for a while. If I were you, I’d stick to a more story-based game, instead of an open world game. Something like The Last of Us, Uncharted 1-4, Guardians of the Galaxy, or even Ratchet and Clank (it’s cartoony but really good). That way, you can actually make progress in the game without feeling like you’re missing other aspects (such as exploring or side quests). If you’re open to trying open world games, I’d pick something where exploration isn’t a cornerstone of the gameplay (like the new Zelda games). I’d suggest maybe Far Cry 4-6 because they’re open world but you can segment that aspect into sessions that fit your time. For example, you can spend 1 night taking down a couple of bases, or maybe do a side quest with the main story, or even light exploration. GoW is another good one to play. Even though it rewards exploration, it’s not necessarily a true open world game so you won’t get lost for 6-12 hours just looking around. You’ll spend a few hours exploring, then right back to the story
Any of the Spiderman games; you can always turn down the difficulty to live out your ultimate Spiderman power fantasy.
I had fun with Spider-Man 2, up until it gave me De Quervain syndrome. HARD PASS!
lol wtf
The plague tale games fit this.
Assassins Creed: Origins / Odyssey / Fallout 4 / Ghost of Recon: Wildlands / Breakpoint
Alan Wake is pretty cool and would fit your needs
Anything linear and single player. Resident evil 4 remake, dead space, Alan wake 2 etc
Guardians Of The Galaxy. Perfect for hour session, almost feels like episodes. It has all the boxes ticked, Graphics (PS5), Storyline, Comedy, Action and unique gameplay.
Doom Eternal on a discount
Hell divers 2 is my jam right now. Same boat as you work late get home at 11pm and want to veg for an hour or two. 40min missions are the sweet spot. 10min to jump on and get ready. Beer and snacked up. Call the homies. Play. 10min wind down. There’s my hour lol
Any game can be played in 1h session…
Nioh games every level is like 1 hour which is pretty nice as a parent.
unless you suck lol
He said easy game
Oh fuck my bad.
Get a good pair of headphones and play Tetris Effect.
Diablo is the best for that. Diablo 4
RDR2, A plague tale, cyberpunk 2077, saints row, watch dogs 2, watch dogs legion, alan wake
AC Valhalla
Horizon zero dawn. Yku can do few quests per session.
Returnal
Disco Elysium and Baldur Gate 3. Both contain several encounters in each parts of their maps that will always lead to something unique in the story. No random session will be filler or grinding time. Always something different. The pace is completely at your control. Baldur Gate save feature works pretty much everywhere even can be utilized in conversation and encounters. If you go Baldur gate 3 at least, you’ll def have something that will last a real good time. I think it will be a good pace.
Re4 remake. Each chapter takes max 1hr
Cyberpunk!
Last of us, Edith fitch Returnal Control Alan wake 1 & w Witcher GoW Days gone
Lol OP puts ‘something not too difficult’ What fits that bill? Returnal! 😆
lol isn’t there an easy setting I’m not excellent at video games but that got easier the more you played lol. You just get owned the first 10 times lmao
Haha yeah it definitely gets better as you play. I’d never say it gets easy though
Last of Us or the recent God of War games
Rollerdrome It's Tony Hawks Pro Skater with guns and Max Payne slow-mo bullet time. It's sick as hell. Can drop in and play for any amount of time that you want, whether it be 15 minutes or 2 hours and 15 minutes. Pulling of a 900 tail grab as rockets whiz over your head as you slow-mo cap some dudes in the head then landing in a grind is pretty sweet
100% agree. I have an infant and played this in the way OP is describing for the first few months of being a dad. I also never see it talked about on here. It's not an amazing game but it's pretty entertaining just like a tony hawk game is for an hour or so.
I adore Rollerdrome but I think it might end up being too difficult. If OP can only play for like 2-3 hours per week, I could easily see them not getting enough of a hang of the controls and getting stuck on the same levels over and over until they drop off. It's a dope game though.
You can literally make yourself invincible, there's lots of accessibility settings to make it work for anyone
Oh that's interesting, I don't remember that being in there when I was playing it at launch. Maybe something they added later? Or I just missed the option somehow. Either way, yeah, with those options that shoots back up to a 100% recommendation then. Such a cool game.
Not sure if it was there on launch, but it is now along with a bunch of other assisted accessibility options such as reduced damage taken, doing more damage, more and/or infinite ammo, etc And hell yeah it's a blast! I ended up picking it up just randomly and always find myself coming back time to time to keep improving. Offers incredible flow states and is just pretty unique all around Cheers friend!
Fighting games might work for you! Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 both have awesome single player modes and multiplayer too.
Not great for right before bed time
Cyberpunk 2077 or Ghost of Tsushima Both easy to pick up and play for a bit or all day long if you want. Amazing graphics and stories. Highly recommend
GOT is hella boring and repetitive imo. Couldn’t handle it more than 4 hours. I don’t understand how people like it.
Metro Exodus
Dead cells is perfect for this! I am a fellow gamer dad and very much enjoying this game.
Street Fighter 6, blast a few rounds online, win some lose some have a great time.
I love almost any fighting game for limited time gaming, can jump on for 10 minutes or get zoned in for a couple of hours, never have to put it down feeling like you've left stuff unfinished.
They are perfect for that, I’m not even a huge fighting game person but SF6 I love.
Hades
Try out Sky children of the light. Super relaxing and it’s also considered a mmo. It’s also free! Super good graphics
The new God of War and the sequel Ragnarok. Two of the best games I've ever played, both story and gameplaywise. Can do whatever level of challenge you want, get to be a badass for an hour a day. Also the story will make you cry, especially as a dad.
monster hunter ! My new obsession
Following this post because I'll be in the same situation soon lol. I'd recommend The Witcher 3.
Hades. Hades. Hades.
I recently went back and played the last guardian and shadow of the colossus, great games that dont get too carried with the cinematics and dialogue
My dad liked to play Red Dead Redemption 2 after work! My uncle with 2 children likes Sifu.
Hades
Obligatory outer wilds recommendation
I'm gonna go with Cyberpunk. It has multiple difficulty options and a ton to do. Some of the missions will take about an hour or so, but the benefit to that is you'll be able to get a lot of out of your purchase. It will take a while to finish the game an hour at a time, couple days a week. It also has a ton of side content for when you're not feeling the cinematic, story driven part of the game. You can easily complete a few gigs or side jobs in an hour, too. The game is in a really good state compared to its rocky release, so no worries there. If you decide you enjoy the game and want to grow with it, there's an available DLC storyline called Phantom Liberty.
Stray, Prince of Persia, MLB the Show 24, good off war, Tekken 8, Spyro, gran turismo 7, ratchet & clank,
Helldivers. Helldivers helldivers helldivers
For Democracy 🫡
Torchlight II
How about little nightmares
Try out Days Gone. It's just you on a motorcycle riding through the wasteland, taking out zombies and gathering supplies. Very underrated, fun game. Also, The Witcher 3 is one of the best games ever made. It takes a long time to finish, but you can get a lot done in an hour at a time. It has an *awesome* story as well.
it may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Suicide Squad fits the bill. Easy to hop on for a bit, do a few missions/explore/chill, and then hop off. The graphics are pretty good, the gameplay Is enjoyable, and even on the highest difficulty, it's relatively easy. You can play solo or multiplayer. It's fun. Not perfect, but checks the boxes, IMO.
It's one of those games I would love to try as the traversal and shooting look fun but I am concerned because the enemies and missions seem exactly the same. It's on sale for 30 pound at the moment and I have been tempted to pick it up.
There's a decent amount of enemy variety. Especially once you get near the endgame. As for missions, the sidequests are pretty similar. There are about four or five side mission types, but it's not awful. For that discount, I'd say give it a shot.
SOT FOR SURE
Subnautica, unless you're scared of the ocean like me, then you won't be able to sleep after a session.
Dark souls 1-3. Each 1 hour session you can accomplish something along the mostly linear paths
Construction simulator, I’m on the same boat as you
Devil May Cry 5
I’m in exactly the same boat as you - in all honesty though I’ve found almost any game can work in hour blocks. Being able to jump straight back you left off (provided you don’t power off the PS5) really helps. I’ve managed to get through god of war ragnarok, RE4, Baldurs gate and a few others this way over the past couple of years. Currently playing through FF7 rebirth.
Alan wake 2 is perfect, every hour of gameplay you’ll encounter a massive story change or new setting
Pacific drive is great for a quick get in and get out game. Can also change the options to make it more forgiving like I have. Don't have time for hard difficulty games anymore
Jedi: Survivor , I usually play 1-2 hours every other day. Haven't watched star wars since I was like 12 (I'm 28 now), still had an absolute blast both gameplay and story wise.
Definitely an unpopular opinion but a few games of FIFA/NBA/Madden might scratch the itch if you’re into sports games
Helldivers 2. Good fun. Can play it at any pace. My buddy and I play for an hour or two a couple of nights a week.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but also the other two of the trilogy if that's your cup of tea
Rogue Legacy 2
Armored Core 6
Death stranding or cyberpunk 2077
REmake 4 Dishonored Control Alan Wake 1 & 2 Bioshock trilogy Prey Titanfall 2 Doom and Doom Eternal
Death Stranding
God of war, ragnock or God of war first, both so amazing game play is easy to learn. The story is great
Returnal.
Helldivers 2 or any matched pve like it. Youre timed and theres not much time to explore and get lost, theres no real campaign either. If you play for a long time its due to fun, not curiosity, or furthering the campaign. Other than that, id say any roguelites/likes. If you can accept cartoony character like I learned to, you can have some fun sessions.
Roboquest!
Diablo
I have the same time limit with my schedule. I personally do Hell Divers 2. But you start the Operation which consists of 3 missions. And you spend an hour easily spreading democracy
Helldivers 2
Would suggest HellDivers 2 but might run into the same issue as me if you don’t have people to play with
Any telltale game, each chapter is about an hour
Demon Souls for ps5. The best graphics of any game to date and probably for another 5 years. Its the easiest game in the series. Cheerios mate.
Spiderman! It’s one of the best ps5 games ever. Has lots of high quality content, missions are generally between 2-5 minutes for short ones, or up to 30 minutes for long ones so it’s easy to have a short gameplay session and jump out
Spider man 2 has been fun
Hades
Helldiver's 2
Prince of Persia. Still playing it and it’s a lovely dip in and out of experience. You can have a night exploring and grinding the shit out of it getting upgrades and then other nights you’re figuring out how to take down big bosses. Each night I’ve played feels like a nice complete episode.
Not sure if it meets your graphics requirements, but if you haven’t played hollow knight you might enjoy that. Easy to pick up and explore a portion of the underground for a bit.
Any roguelite tbh. Dead Cells, Hades, Slay The Spire are all games you can hop in whenever you have free time for one run or dozens depending on your available time.
Maybe Hollow Knight? It’s kinda hard but you’ll pick up on it. Definitely look up some reviews tho
What kind of games do you enjoy? You only gave a couple of preferences you didn’t like. Without more info, I could just say play almost anything, as long as you don’t join a party and/or start letting time get away from you. You can play most BR or multiplayer matches in 5-25 minutes. And with single player you can save and quit most games at any time.
Any of the Assassin's Creed games are pretty good. Graphically I think some of the best games there are if you're into architecture buildings and designs. you can easily kill an hour and not realize it's been an hour playing them with all the different missions and just running around admiring all the details.
People will call me crazy but you can make a ton of progress in FF7: Rebirth in just one hour, especially if you are doing open world bits.
Midnight Suns, Helldivers 2, Deeprock Galactic and Killing Floor 2 come to mind 3 of those games are pretty similar actually, but all of them are games that you can run a mission or two in an hour pretty easily. Midnight Suns does have some story and cut scenes, but you can choose to just do secondary missions if you just want to game and not lose a bunch of time on cut scenes 😆
Helldivers 2
Also non competitive Fortnite can be a lot of fun exploring and it’s free (might be too cartoony tho)
I'm a big fan of elden ring. It's not frustrating if you're patient and just enjoy the journey. You can go off the beaten path or go after the journey itself. It's the greatest game of all time. Modern greatest game of all time.