Summary
- There are several great options on the indie side of gaming for players who prefer shorter gaming sessions.
- Heat Signature offers emergent gameplay and allows players to take their time in planning.
- Pizza Tower provides fast-paced platforming fun ideal for short, addictive bursts of play.
Due to lower budgets and smaller team sizes, indie games tend to lean towards shorter runtimes. However, regardless of length, some indie games are best enjoyed over longer sessions. Games such as Kentucky Route Zero, for example, excel when players are able to immerse themselves for longer periods of time. Or roguelikes like Ravenswatch, with their lengthy runs.
Small-Scale Games For Fans Of Open-Worlds
Players who like open but small game worlds should check out the following titles.
That said, there remain a number of indie games that offer short bursts of instant fun, allowing for shorter play sessions. With even half an hour or less, these games are still likely to provide fun and, in the best cases, meaningful progress.
7 Heat Signature
Short-Form Roguelike Missions
Heat Signature
- Released
- September 21, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- nr
- Developer(s)
- Suspicious Developments
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
- Platform(s)
- PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Heat Signature is a top-down action roguelike set in space, offering players procedural characters with their own personal missions. However, these personal goals are often too difficult to complete at first, and players will often have to work towards them.
Best Open-World Games That Reward Adaptive Players
These creative open-world games are great for adaptive players who crave dynamic challenges and rewarding creative solutions.
This involves taking on a variety of other missions first, gaining new items and tools along the way. These missions are typically quite short, involving hectic heists on hostile spaceships, blasting or sneaking through hallways packed with hazards. Emergent gameplay is where Heat Signature excels, packing in ample opportunities for player expression in a very short time span.
6 Tinyfolks
A Minimalist Strategy RPG
Tinyfolks
- Released
- June 1, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
Tinyfolks is a minimalist strategy RPG with charming pixel-art visuals and a memorable chip-tune soundtrack. The game takes clear inspiration from titles such as Darkest Dungeon, but offers its own streamlined structure and combat system that are wildly accessible.
Among this accessibility is a short runtime; it can take only a few hours to beat Tinyfolks, let alone a single dungeon-crawl. As a result, it's perfect for short sessions, allowing players to make truly meaningful progress in a short space of time.
5 Disc Room
A Time-Attack Arcade Experience
Disc Room
- Released
- October 22, 2020
- ESRB
- t
- Publisher(s)
- Devolver Digital
- Genre(s)
- Indie Games
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Disc Room is an arcade action game that tasks players with bobbing and weaving through a variety of deadly saw blades. In the game, players compete against the clock, often required to survive for extended periods of time.
Best Indie Games With Arcade Action
Players who want a heavy dose of arcade action in their indie games can't go wrong with the following titles.
A variety of different rooms and unique blades provide fresh dangers along the way, but Disc Room is divided into single-room challenges. As a result, it remains perfect for short sessions, offering brief bursts of dangerous action that's immediately fun.
4 Hotline Miami
Short & Instant Bursts Of Action
Hotline Miami
- Released
- October 23, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Crude Humor
- Developer(s)
- Dennaton Games
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Android, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Hotline Miami is a classic indie game that excels with its short and frenetic bursts of high-octane action. Taking place in a strange and lurid pixel-art haze, Hotline Miami tasks players with participating in truly violent combat over the course of several chapters.
Each mission in Hotline Miami, however, is remarkably short, at least when executed successfully. But in either case, it provides instant action, allowing players to get caught up in its hypnotic flow in a matter of minutes.
3 Into The Breach
Bite-Sized Tactical Encounters
Into the Breach
- Released
- February 27, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
Into The Breach is a turn-based tactics game with a roguelike structure. In this title, players control a small squad of expressive mechs as they defend civilians from an alien invasion. What makes this experience unique is its abundance of open information, allowing players to puzzle out solutions to each encounter without frustration.
While players can play through a run in one session of Into The Breach, each playthrough is divided into a set of various missions. As a result, Into The Breach allows players to enjoy each run in bite-sized chunks.
2 Pizza Tower
A Frenetic & Rewarding Platformer
Pizza Tower
- Released
- January 26, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Tour De Pizza
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- PC, Nintendo Switch
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
This unwieldy platformer plays at a breakneck pace, but it's complemented by intensely expressive controls that allow for a level of mastery. This allows for gameplay that rewards practice, but even in short sessions, Pizza Tower remains fun.
This is thanks to the intuitive and fast-paced level design, packed with unique obstacles and punchy combat with no fail state; Pizza Tower is all about combo and score. The only way to lose comes at the end of each level, during a mad dash back to the starting line. As a result, Pizza Tower is able to provide short bursts of expressive fun that can be incredibly addictive.
1 Post Void
A Frantically-Paced FPS
Post Void
- Released
- August 6, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
Post Void is a frantically paced first-person shooter with a lurid and borderline psychedelic art style that perfectly matches its gameplay. In the game, players barrel and slide down labyrinthine hallways, competing against a constantly draining health pool in a roguelike structure.
A run of Post Void isn't likely to last long, but each plays at an exceptional pace. This is thanks to short and snappy levels, complemented by a fast rate of play and the aforementioned draining health, which propels players forward at every turn.
Great Indie Games With Amazing Production Value
Some indie games are able to punch above their weight, delivering excellent production values to their players.