Although indie games are often grouped together, there are many features that differentiate them from each other, such as subgenre, tone, and length. While every indie game has something to offer, playing short indie games allows players to experience the breadth of the genre and appreciate its diversity without dedicating dozens of hours to each game.
In addition to being an easy way to access the genre, indie games that can be played in one sitting can be considered an art form of their own since many have made names for themselves as being some of the most memorable, emotional, or enjoyable indie games around.
10 Florence
At 25 years old, Florence Yeoh’s life has become routine. She wakes up for her office job, scrolls through social media on her commute, and listens to her mom complain about how she needs to find a boyfriend and settle down. Life has lost the colorful spark it once had in Florence’s childhood. Everything seems like it will stay the same forever until she meets a charming cellist named Krish.
In a matter of an hour, Florence follows Florence’s relationship with Krish and how it helps her grow while reconnecting her with her childhood dreams. With its charming soundtrack and powerful storytelling, Florence is an emotional and valuable play.
9 Gorogoa
Gorogoa is a modern point-and-click puzzle game that follows a boy on his journey to gather fruit for a colorful and captivating creature he sees in the distance. To help the boy, players drag photographs on top of each other, sometimes using the smallest details to connect doorway to doorway or nature to nature.
Although understanding how to combine its intricate drawings can take a moment to get used to, Gorogoa’s story about progress, determination, and resilience can be completed in only a few hours.
8 Donut County
Determined to earn a Quadcopter by collecting trash in holes, a raccoon named BK begins sending trash holes to his friends’ homes instead of pastries when they order a donut from the town’s donut shop. As the holes swallow up his friends, their homes, and the rest of town, BK pushes onwards to get the drone he’s worked so hard to deserve.
In the aftermath of BK’s pursuits, Donut County shows how the raccoon plans to apologize for his actions using the same tool that caused it. Donut County wraps up in about two hours, making the light-hearted indie game a short but sweet play, almost like a donut.
7 Oxenfree
Oxenfree follows a night gone wrong on an otherwise abandoned military island after Alex and her friends open a mysterious rift using their radio. As supernatural events bring the past to light, Alex’s actions and words determine how their efforts to return home will change the course of their lives.
Each playthrough of Oxenfree lasts about four or five hours, but the short supernatural thriller encourages players to revisit the island to uncover its most intriguing secrets and lead them toward other exciting and memorable endings.
6 What Remains Of Edith Finch
In What Remains of Edith Finch, Edith Finch returns to her childhood home to process the loss of her last living relative and reflect on why her family seems cursed to die particularly unfortunate deaths. As she visits the bedrooms where her aunts, uncles, and siblings once lived, Edith seems to reexperience the moments leading up to their deaths from their own eyes.
Although the walking simulator takes only a few hours to play, the story in What Remains of Edith Finch spans generations, making it a complex and emotional play that players can continue to unpack after completing.
5 Papers, Please
In the political simulator Papers, Please, players act as an immigration officer for the communist country of Arstotzka, checking to make sure that incoming guests have passports or the appropriate visas. However, as tensions rise with the neighboring nations, more visitors seeking asylum and organizations with their own agendas try to bribe the officer into welcoming them to the country.
Although choosing between following the rules and helping the desperate can seem like an easy choice from the outside, the officer must also care for their family and often has to choose between food, rent, and heat to survive. Papers, Please features 20 endings based on the officer’s choices, with most playthroughs lasting a few hours.
4 The Stanley Parable
At a large company, Stanley has a simple job following orders. However, one day, the orders stop and his co-works are gone. The only thing left is a seemingly trustworthy voice prompting him to explore his workplace and decide what comes next.
Whether Stanley listens to the unforgettable narrator or ignores its directions, playthroughs of The Stanley Parable can take as little as a few minutes or as long as four hours. While the original version of the game features 19 endings, its deluxe remake adds an additional 24, making each play of The Stanley Parable one to remember.
3 Limbo & Inside
Playdead’s puzzle platformers, Limbo and Inside, are each eerie masterpieces in their own right. However, since both use environmental storytelling to share a young boy’s blind journey toward a more hopeful future, it would be difficult to acknowledge the success and importance of one without mentioning the other.
Limbo primarily focuses on the physical dangers of the world, like giant spiders, toxic gas, and humanity, while Inside tells a story about surveillance, control, and individuality. Still, whether players prefer one game over the other, both captivating games take around four hours to complete and are well worth playing.
2 Undertale
Undertale is one of the most well-known indie games of all time. It tells the story of a young human who falls underground, only to realize that the new world before them is home to all kinds of monsters. As they look for a way back home, the human decides what kind of person they want to become and, most importantly, whether that means embodying mercy or violence.
Between Undertale’s various endings, memorable characters, and poignant lines, it’s hard to believe that the game could be completed in one sitting, but playing through a single route takes many players about six hours.
1 Journey
In Journey, a cloaked traveler begins making their way toward a distant mountain, driven only by a sense of connection, beauty, and purpose in an otherwise ruin-filled world. As they navigate the remains of a fallen society, they accept hardships with a sense of curiosity to better appreciate how much knowledge, adventure, and joy the world still has to offer, knowing their efforts are meaningful.
With its charming story, evocative soundtrack, and exquisite design, Journey has captivated players for over a decade, making the two-hour game one of the most memorable and influential short indie games in the world.