The Hidden Costs of Long Playtimes in Modern Gaming
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
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0:00 - Intro
0:41 - Quantity Over Quality
4:28 - Your Time is Worth Something
7:08 - Crunch
9:38 - A Cohesive Package - Zábava
What are some other games you'd add to this list? What game have you played recently that you just can't bring yourself to finish???
ALSO, I just dropped possibly my best 2nd channel video yet! check it out :> czcams.com/video/V3qHLhxe9Z8/video.html
Super Mario Bros
The original
God of war 1(2004) is better than modern God of war
Bloodborne
**Coughs violently**
Elden Ring.
**Leaves**
Edit: Oh. Nevermind then. You got good taste in games. (Even without mentioning ER)
It's still strange seeing him actually animating instead of dragging stuff around and it's hilarious
OH NO I JUST REALIZED THAT
AND IT LOOKS GREAT !!
Hmmmm
I'm surprised there's no storytimer fans getting angry over this
@@absolutezerochill2700 with what, them saying he nicked someone's style?
This is how I felt about Cult of the Lamb. Super polished, super short, almost no replayability. When it was over, I felt disappointed that “that was it”, but in hindsight it was one of the more enjoyable playing experiences I’ve had
Did they just add more content recently?
I thought it was a roguelike. Haven't played it yet but I've heard good things.
@@NORMIES_GET_OUT It is in a very limited sense. Most roguelikes are defined by item or enemy variety, which Cult of the Lamb has not much of either. Still a fun game, but I think calling it a roguelike is generous
Basically how I feel about pizza tower. It was pretty fun for me to 100% tho
Adding to his list for anyone trying to find good short games
Going under & Road 96 are good too
This has got to be one of the biggest contributors to the rise of indie games, they're fun and quick and dont have much filler
I just started and finished a Rusty Lake game in about twoish hours last night and had a blast with it the entire time. Some of the puzzles had me stumped so bad I had to look up a guide, but other than those two or three moments (and in fairness, I never would have figured those puzzles out on my own because my brain just doesn't work that way) I walked away feeling very satisfied.
There’s literally an abundance of indie titles that are open ended or constantly being drip fed content stardew valley satisfactory.? Might be hard to think of it as such but Minecraft was an indie game.
How many of these indie games have been drip fed content for nearly a decade.
I’d go as far to say the mainstream/triple aaa are chasing indie games seeing the success of keeping single games on life support, literally building gaming empires from nothing.
Then helldivers 2 happened. Lots of content that ISN'T CRAP!
Hollow Knight is a prime example of this. Your first playthrough is likely to take upwards of 40 hours… despite the game being able to be beaten by even casual players (assuming that’s the goal) in under 5.
@@issarealbanger7734 Yup, 109% in 48 hours
Titanfall 2 PERFECTLY fits the 5-10hr narrative. The entire game can easily be finished in a single day and even though the story is cliche and the villains have less personality then a cardboard cutout its still incredibly fun with amazing level design, movement and BT as a character. The ending is also quite hard hitting even if its very predictable.
PROTOCOL 3: PROTECT THE PILOT
@@MrSoldiersideBR BT,BTTTTTTTT
Not to mention it DOES have that cravible challenge too but it's optional so it's good for all lvls (and the graphics are literally the best I've ever seen in any game)
@@RandomStudios320 remember this game was made with the source engine
Oh and Yk it’s also got the most fun multiplayer fps ever made
And that's why indies are thriving. Not too short to be forgotten, not too long to be of a nuisance.
Exactly. I can't wait until audiences catch on to what SHMUPs have been doing since the '90s. It's basically the complete opposite of what games do today, where the goal is to quickly get a plyer into the action and not waste any time. Either you can play them for free or they are super cheap to buy, and they boast the most complex scoring systems of any genre which adds hours and hours of replayability. People are sleeping on them and have no idea just how good they got over the years... nothing like the arcade titles I grew up with.
Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too though, games like Crosscode are GIANT SIZED for indie game length standards and yet I didn’t feel like ANY of that time was wasted with how much is focused into the strong gameplay and story that still sticks with me.
I played BIOTA over a week long vacation and loved it. I even finished it.
Unpopular opinion:: the gaming world is catering more to the female population due to women inherently being more objective based and checklist oriented than men who go to one action after the next. For instance men want action women want story.
@@Slytherin_Crow5972 This is the weirdest take I've ever seen LMAO
As shammy once said “a 5 hour game worth playing twice is always better than a 10 hour game barely worth playing once”
But what about p5r, a 100+ hour game worth playing multiple times
@@fx0001 P5R is a great game, it more refers to poorly made games that just promise more than they dare to give. The idea is that if you can’t put 10 hours of content into a game without stretching it, don’t. just put your best foot forward and make a great short game rather than a bland long one
@Stephen-fake damn, thats some amazing philosophy, holy shit
@@Stephen-fake I think the best way is how some game have specific missions or moments that individually only last like 20 to 30 mins per mission normally, but the encounter are rich enough or have enough tools to approach it very differently ways.
My personal favorite nowadays example is the early game halo infinite mission to assault the tower, you can go straight to it, or you can load a razorback full of marines and ram into battle. Or you can even steal a nearby tank and blow up every alien bastard dumb enough to even think they have a chance to stop you.
Other ones are game like xcom 2, warcraft 3 and many more. You don't really need to invest to much to have a good time, and there is always good content made by the comunity that's worth checking out if you want more.
@@fx0001couldn’t get through 5 hours of it
This is why I LOVE indie games! They aren’t expected to last forever, but they are absolutely phenomenal while they do. They also have a ton of extra content, and it’s actually really good. Also *most* indie game fans are fine with delays since it just means that the game comes out better like you said.
Hi. You know I am looking for some really good indie games. Could you tell me your most favourite indie game?
@@ten-dimension9390 Holdfast: Nations at War, Arma 3, War Hammer: Darktide, Mordhau, Chivalry 2, Starship Troopers Extermination… Hope some of those are good
@@c.h.i.p140 looks like my friend is a fan of Multiplayer games :). I personally don't play multiplayer games. But the games you mentioned look really cool nonetheless. If you have any single player, offline sort of favourite indie games then I'll be happy to know.
@@ten-dimension9390cruelty squad
@@ten-dimension9390 New Blood games are amazing, would recommend
I think this is part of the reason people are going nuts for Baldur's Gate 3. That game is long - VERY, VERY LONG - but there is hardly a moment where you don't feel like you aren't accomplishing some goal, or where it begins to feel repetitive.
Idk man, combat feels pretty repetitive after halfway through.
@@matthewporter7871 I didn't feel that, but then again, I'm an avid DnD player and it's not a huge deal to me to respec a character if I wantto switch up their build. I guess I can see how some might feel that way.
YES, the combat allows you to be so creative and so does the world around you and it's so good
I had to stop somewhere in act 2 as it was way too much and I didn’t feel like I was even making a dent in progress and it just overwhelmed me to the point of quitting
@@matthewporter7871
I mean it's DnD combat so it's mostly based on what you can imagine doing with the actions and how you can combo them. you can set up a bunch of barrels before a fight, create an invincibility bubble then proceed to nuke the area around you, even create an undead that radiates an aura of death that slowly drains everything that is next to it.
But again it's dnd and strategy based so it's still gonna be a lot of the same feelings when fighting.
You know its deadly serious when CircleToons uploads a video longer than 2 minutes, the quality is on point
I've seen u around, but you'll be forgotten soon enough just like Justin Y or just some guy without a mustache. It's all the same.
And he’s animating
And making the best take in the world
@@lspuria8440 Everyone and everything gets forgotten eventually. You comment like you said a very profound thing, but your reply is as worthless as the comment you're replying to.
It doesn't provide any substance to the video, nor to this comment section. Even this reply is worthless.
@@janreiafrica true. Everything is meaningless. From ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.
One thing not mentioned here that I realized all these games are missing is satisfaction. There is something so mentally satisfying about tying up a game, experience, or story with a nice little bow when you FINISH it. All these endless games just sorta peter out with a sigh so you always leave the experience, either for that day or forever, with no sense of closure or accomplishment.
TitanFall 2 comes to mind. Man that campaign was amazing to play through and I played it like 5 years ago. I dont remember anything about it but I remember laughing, having fun with the game and tearing up at the end. I should play that again sometime lol
Heck, even the call of duty used to be satisfying, one of my favorite experiences was conquering the reichstag in world at war. Yeah some games were a grind. like Legend of dragoon but the payout was amazing. Cant say I've played a game like that in a long time.
@@martinsantos6497Did someone with impeccable taste just say "Legend of Dragoon?" Yes, you had to grind to upgrade your additions and get all the magic spells, and yes there were a few tedious side quests... But like he said, at least it was attainable. And the godly music, engaging gameplay, and intriguing story made it all worthwhile.
Satisfactory isn't finished and it's meant to be satisfying. You know what's satisfying in it? Solving your problems. You know what's also satisfying? Watching your problems get solved. It just looks nice placing stuff. I'm too lazy to go back on though
Rachet & Clank, Nier Automata
One of my favorite quotes goes: "Your words mean the most, when they're spoken the least."
If a game only has 3 hours of playtime, then the devs can focus on making those 3 hrs more memorable and fun instead of trying to stretch it out. That's why older games and indie games have much more memorable moments and create better connections with their player base.
Recently completing the Masseffect trilogy then attempting to play starfield. you notice a real difference in quality. No matter what flaws they had, I fell in love with everyone who ever worked on the Normandy with an ending that actually made me feel sad yet completed and accomplished then smash cut to starfield and i hate every single bit because of bad writing, tedious af missions EVEN SIDE MISSIONS HAVE YOU TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN SOLAR SYSTEMS AND LOADING SCREENS.
GOD BURN IT WITH FIRE. I can 't stand people who defend it with the actual devs telling people to go f##k themselves and it's our fault that their game isn't a huge success.
one golden rule that gamers, game developers, and pretty much everyone should remember:
"Games are supposed to be fun."
Now it's chores
@@A1stardan except shovel knight
Honestly the devs understand that for the most part. The problem is largely from the dumb executives and higher ups at the publishing companies forcing the devs to rush things, add features that nobody actually wants just because some other popular game has them, and threatening them with unemployment should they not spend 98% of their waking hours at the office, sometimes even the sleeping ones. The devs want to make good things, but corporate meddling kills that
This is why I play a lot of indie games. They don't demand more than a few hours of my time and that's all I got
Pizza tower is a pretty good one, its fast and frenetic, comic, really fun and good and to only finish the game normally it wont take you more tha lets say 6 hours
Not to mention they’re usually always cheaper, even before sales
Library of runia be like
I feel indie games tend to respect your time more because the developers aren't controlled by some soulless corporation.
@@Rose-ew7bv can't say the same for lobotomy corporation
As someone who's sunk hundreds of hours into the Hollow Knight boss grind, I feel like i can say that making games open to modding? absolutely the way to go for long playtimes. An active mod community can just about add infinite time to games, and not only can people choose what they want, they get the experience of having a developer that just... knows how they feel as a fellow player
That’s the Minecraft art that so many games don’t understand. In order to keep a game alive forever, you need to have a good modding scene. So people make games putting a lot of emphasis into modding. BUT MINECRAFT DOESNT!
The core gameplay of minecraft is fun, simple, and easy to expand upon, and so the modding scent arrives
This is why I LOVE games like deep rock galactic and satisfactory. They actively incourage modding by hosting weekly dev streams where they showcase/play with mods. It doesnt only connect the community and devs together but it also really expands the lifespan of the games.
Mods are the only reason Bethesda is STILL selling Skyrim instead of making TES VI
@@TheDigitalWatcher Well there's at least working on it.
yes but the point of long playtime is to increase revenue by selling things like subscription or battlepass on top of selling more copies as more people played post launch but that is just a bonus, most of the AAA game with long playtime have in game cash store where you can buy stuff with real money for example Ass creed and other Ubisoft title. Completely different from game like Souls franchise who thrive through the community while selling the game only once (maybe with one or two DLC later on with substantial content) while all of the cosmetic and weapon etc are unlockable by playing, not paying
I actually really appreciate TotK for this because like, yeah, it has potentially hundreds or even thousands of hours of filler, but you don't have to get through damn near any of that filler to do the story and get to the advertised good parts.
Agreed. I admit I have little unrest in to beyond that point but it was a fun journey
It's done right. It's not even filler at all. The game doesn't force you to walk around aimlessly exploring. It encourages you to but not an obligation to get the main game done. For most people who do explore actually enjoy it. I haven't really heard anyone complain about climbing a mountain or walking through valleys.
YES. I JUST WROTE AN EXACT COMMENT LIKE THIS WITHOUT EVEN SEEING THIS ONE😭
I remember in my playthrough of TOTK, after the Wind Temple I couldn't decide where to go next so I though "Oh, how about the Dueling Peaks to Kakariko Village to Hateno Village route, just like in Breath of the Wild?"
It took me an entire real life day to get to Hateno Village because I kept getting distracted by shrines, treasure, monster camps etc. But I wasn't FORCED to do that. I could have just ran straight there in maybe half an hour, I just didn't want to because exploring is more fun. It took forever for me to get from point A to point B because I kept getting distracted and going on side adventures
This is the exact reason why I feel I've grown so attached to rogue-likes like Binding of Isaac and (like you included in your list) Vampire Survivors. A single playthrough never exceeds an hour but you always feel like you're making progress through achieving completion marks, unlocking more stuff for the game or at the very least getting better at the game. And you can drop the game for the day immediately afterwards and feel like that time spent was worthwhile. They're SO useful in my hectic adult life!
almost completed vampire survivors and recently started playing the pokeRouge fan game I love action rouge likes. It started getting me into randomizing my games like eldenring😂
This is why I like roguelikes that are finished! They are simply built for variety and fun in a concise amount of time. Permanent death on a run gives every run a particular weight and uniqueness that is hard to feel outside the genre. Live service is a plague 🎉
That's why I love rouge adventure
Same! (In addition to my borderline gambling addiction with these things lol) these games are perfectly designed for people who can only play for a few hours at a time. Most of em take 1-2 hours at the most if you can make it all the way through and and even if you don't the run most games try to make the run feel accomplishing by giving progression rewards, increasing an ascending difficulty for future runs, or just allowing you to learn the mechanics of the game and move sets of the bosses better, plus they're great to play on the go! After playing 500 hours of slay the spire on PC I got it on my phone and have so far clocked another 1600 hours just bc it works so well to play a few turns before I have to go do something
Rouge- likes and Rouge- lite games are always a treat. Hades, Rouge Tower, High Fleet, Enter the Gungeon, Rouge Legacy, FTL: Faster Than Light, Caves of Qud, Noita, The Binding of Isaac, Slay the Spire, Wizard of Legend, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Risk of Rain, and Risk of Rain 2 (or as I like to call the series, Probability of Precipitation) are some examples of good games that you absolutely can sink hours into if you want, but you don't have to.
I feel one of the things I like about the Rouge- like and Rouge- lite genres is the varying number of other genres it can inhabit. Hades for instance is isometric and the setting is Greek mythology. Rouge Legacy, as another example, is a side scrolling game but the setting is medieval fantasy. Crypt of the Necrodancer is also medieval fantasy, but instead if being something of a side scrolling hack and slash, it's a isometric rhythm dungeon crawling game. I mean you can even play Rouge- like and Rouge- lite deck builder/ card games. There's so much variety that there is bound to be at least one that you'll enjoy.
As a final note, these games are almost always made by small indie companies that, in my experience so take the statement with a grain of salt, actually care what their communities have to say about their games and are pretty hands on with feedback.
As I little side note I'll define the difference between Rouge- like and Rouge- lite. Rouge- like games are when you take a character into the game and you try to make your way through the entire game and if you die you lose all progress. Rouge- lite game are much the same but after you die you usually have some type of meta progression that makes subsequent runs easier. I consider Risk of Rain to be a proper Rouge- like game because while you do unlock new items that can influence your run and make it easier, they're not actually needed nor do they make they game any easier if you don't obtain them. You can just as easily beat the game on your first playthrough.
Whereas games like Rouge Legacy have meta progression that make the game easier with each time you die, therefore making it a Rouge- lite. I didn't mean for this post to get this long but... o well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
well, in some ways roguelites (sic) also gatekeep content over time, sadly
Try noita it's very fun
This is the biggest reason I keep going back to the Titanfall 2 campaign. It's about 7 hours of masterpiece content that you can finish in a day
I played it while really sick years ago and it blew my feverish mind.
And that you prob suck online
I WAS WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO SAY THIS SPECIFICALLY
Funny enough, titanfall 2 is the game I've probably sunk the most time into, but just because of the multiplayer. But that one's on me lol.
@@EingefrorenesEisen isint that broken?
Titanfall is the pinnacle of the “quality over quantity” as its campaign is only around 5-7 hours long but is up in my top 3 single player games EVER
I completely agree! While open world games like Zelda Tears of the Kindgom are great, they take up SO much time! And like yeah, I love that I have so much to do, but part of me misses the smaller linear versions like Twilight Princess. Also, if I'm honest, I feel like I had more fun in a smaller game like Kirby and the Forgotten Land and It Takes Two.
You call Twilight Princess a "smaller version", and while I know what you mean... my original save file in that game was 80 hours. Sure that ain't as much as the 130 I put into BotW... but it didn't need to be. 130 is TOO big in my opinion. Twilight took me 80 hours to beat, and during that time I felt I had been on a huge epic grand adventure of epic proportions. That game was everything I wanted a Zelda experience to be like, and after I beat the final boss... I was more than satisfied.
@@PikaLink91 there is a lot to do in twilight princess, but it was more story and dungeon driven, so it didn't seem as long. While, botw and totk have so much to do because it's a sand box type.
@@timothysmith8341 But in return, as you tread on, the new games have sacrificed intricate dungeons and narrative in favor of a more open world, and that’s where I have a problem. To me it seems like it’s alpha and omega that a game is an open world that gives you ultimate freedom. It’s as if as long as we have this ultimate freedom and a million things to do, nothing else matters. But to me this freedom is overrated if it comes at the cost what I loved about the series in the first place. That being said, I’m not saying that open world and great dungeons and narrative can’t coexist… but Nintendo seems to think that.
This is why Hi Fi Rush is one of my favorite games. It’s somewhat short, insanely polished, and you can tell the dev team had a BLAST making it.
Too bad the profits weren’t that much. Microsoft was apparently expecting more copies to be sold… so in the eyes of publishers and investors… this isn’t gonna be a new trend Hi-Fi Rush set… 😢
@@captainonomatopoeia where in the world did you read that? It was confirmed by Xbox that it did well
Try FAR long sails. Short and sweet
Didn't Hi Fi Rush make headlines for how well it was selling...especially beating Forspoken?
@@captainonomatopoeia That was an alarmist newspiece with no sources to back up their claims, Microsoft itself confirmed it sold beyond expectations and its also confirmed it beat Forspoken in both reviews and sales.
This feels like if you took the past 10 extra punctuation episodes of Yahtzee calmly taking about the failures of live services and condensed it into the pure rage underlying everything
THIS. Also, do you think CircleToons watches ZP?
@@memeticgenetic5160 He probably at least knows about him.
100,000%
You just explained exactly why I've stuck to short-form indie games for years now. I miss being able to sit down and within a few afternoons be able to beat a game from a triple A studio and feel GOOD about it.
Deep rock galactic is a game you guys should really play, and it makes me happy to see circletoons acknowledge it in his long list of good games :)
Rock and Stone!
Yeah! Rock and Stone!!
Rock and Stone brothers!
Did I hear a Rock and Stone!?
ROCK AND STONE!!!!
The first time I played Halo 3 I finished the campaign in one sitting and it’s still one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had in gaming.
Yeah, that and titanfall 2 were the good ones for me
I played halo 2 and 3 for the first time just this week and I did the same with 3, and beat 2 in 2-3 sessions. Both great games, espeically 3, I've been missing out!
But Halo 2 had moments of pretty blatant content padding, with the same rooms copy and pasted just a few too many times or a section going slower than it need to be - but that only added up to ~2 additional hours of gameplay, compared to most modern games having around 10x as much in just the mandatory campaign content alone. And fighting off another room full of flood was still much more engaging than walking in a straight line to the next map-revealing tower
I'd much rather have more of that than the current trend talked about in this vid
@@einsteinyh a fellow pilot, good to see you
@@einsteinyh goddamn, Titanfall 2 campaign was such an incredibly delightful surprise.
I’m playing the new Zelda right now, and the “2 hours and almost nothing done” part is so true. I’m not complaining, but the amount of content in this game is absolutely overwhelming. I feel the only way to play this game properly is to go on vacation.
Tbh totk is one of the only games which perfects massive content dumps for me.
NONE of the side content matters, or is particularly important.
There's rarely quest markers, they don't give you important upgrades, just the same level scaled random materials you always get.
It's a different frame of thinking, but it seems to be "if you're interested in talking to people they'll tell you about stuff. If the stuff sounds interesting go do the stuff, and we'll replace some of what you used doing the stuff as a reward. If the stuff doesn't sound interesting, go somewhere else"
There's no pressure or checklists, just places to see and things to do if I feel like it.
It's immense amounts of content but it feels like it respects my time, compared to Horizon which felt like it was wasting my time with checklists
@@MatthewBanesExactly.
It's being rewarded for dicking around instead of being forced to.
It's much cleaner because you can just... Not do shit you don't want to.
Hey, technically BOTW only has 49 hours of gameplay, and TOTK has 139 hours of gameplay (so far, that is)
I heard that in japan some people literally took a vacation for totk, soooo you may be right
@@vinogradka_kletnaya It took me over 3 months to reach the ending while playing for 2 hours per day (about 200 hours in total). That would be a very long vacation.
I don't know how I haven't seen your channel before, but I'm glad it popped up! Great scripting, well communicated, funny and with lots of personality, and great animation. Easy subscribe!
This is exactly why i love indie game more in general. And thx you putted DRG in your list. I love this game and it honestly has the best community of player.
I have been playing soo many indie games for this reason. Sometimes it can be a little grindy but it gets to the point. Like little lizard game or small cat big city. They might not have combat in it but it's still got good features even if it's short. I have stopped playing games like minecraft for long periods of time because each update just adds more grinding.
I remember the days when they made games like Luigi's Mansion... which has an incredibly short overall runtime, but is renowned for all of its great aspects and charming details. And its length and high score system encourages replayability without taking away or attempting to force a fun gameplay experience.
... and critics all around the world were mad at it.
And then compare it with the Luigi's Mansion sequel, which is full of filler and backtracking. The first is great, the second terrible.
@@douglasbaker9663 Dark moon is great its just different.
I never finished Luigi's Mansion because the game was so long, and I spent too much time playing it, so gave up. It wasn't engaging enough to complete because it was too long and too samey. And this is from someone who 100% completed Sonic Adventure.
@@dontmisunderstand6041 People have different opinions on what games are fun and what games are boring... you may find it boring and not-engaging, but other people can enjoy it a lot. :)
Sonic, for example, is a much more action oriented game in comparison to Luigi's Mansion, so its a very different genre of game that you may have more of a preference for.
I myself have played Luigi's Mansion games AND Sonic games, and I've enjoyed both.
Totally resonate with this. I’ve put down well-regarded games just because the thought of sinking 100+ hours into something when I already feel like I don’t spend enough time being productive was just overwhelming.
Meanwhile, I can knock out more than a few short games without feeling like a failure.
it's all those gamers who complain about games being "too short"
Gone Home is a really good example of people shitting on it for being a 2 hour adventure game for $30, even though a similar game back in 1990 would cost $50.
Same here. I want to pick a game to play; not a lifestyle to live.
There are some games that take a lot of time and are worth every minute of it. Witcher 3 comes to mind. But I love Limbo just as much, and that can be played through in a couple of hours.
Gaming is productive. For your mental health. That said, there's a difference between games that are still fun/engaging even hundreds of hours in... and games that just feel like they drag and the tedium just makes them feel like a waste of time/make you want to rush it and get it over with
Why do you need entertainment, self-fulfillment, to be "productive". You dont need to clock in to play a video game.
@@polkunus Watch the rest of the video, he explains it perfectly.
I love games that have tons of fast travels that you can go to just by making it there and especially when an npc follow quest allows you to fast travel and they'll just be there, beautiful.
Baldurs gate 3 is a weird paradox for me. It's beautiful and complex and challenging, it's also ENORMOUS, And a single casual playthrough can EASILY last over 300 hours and oh my god why does traveling take so long.
It's everything I love forged together with fragments of tedium wrapped in a complete package that's too big for me to consume.
I used to this guy making one minute shorts seeing this really makes me see how much he cares about this topic
I remember when Captain Toad, Treasure Tracker came out (for the WiiU). I was in College, so I didn't have much free time inbetween studying, but Captain Toad was the PERFECT length for me to play after homework and before bed. I was able to 100% it within like a week, but I loved every minute of playing it.
Then I saw online some dude was complaining that the game was a waste since it only took him less than 30 hours to beat.
I think about that comment alot. I especially think about it now that I have a full-time job and an hour commute each way. It just makes me angry because I DEFINITELY don't have time for any games longer than 15 hours MAX.
Ooh, I loved that game! It was a short game that was charming, and just overall a great time. Honestly, it's length and simple premise was what got me to finish the game to see the credits. It's a shame someone knocked it down because it was too short.
Which, honestly, I rarely get to see the credits for a game. If I do reach the credits, it probably means I really enjoyed the game.
Same here I also loved the survival room with the mummys chasing you but never finished it got so close once and then never again got as close as I had and the levels with the extra toads were pretty cool too
Don't all Mario games in general tend to reach the length of 15-20 hours on a normal playthrough? And it was a spinoff game anyway. What was the dude expecting?
I love Just Cause 3. No crafting, no nothing, just a sandbox game in a sandbox game series.
The wingsuit is so satisfying, i sometimes just fly around for a few hours, doing nothing. Yet I don't feel like I wasted time. The soundtrack while flying is glorious and makes every ridge you pass feel like you're discovering something new, even if you've been there 500x already.
The oldest written grinder is David: he went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
I saw a meme once that went something like this-
Gaming as a kid: "Only 5 hours!? What a ripoff!"
Gaming as an adult: "Only 5 hours!? Maybe I can actually finish this one!"
Nah see I was the kid who would get stuck 5 minutes in anyway and spend hours doing my own thing. Sometimes I wasn’t even actually stuck, like I knew what to do but the next part scared me so I stayed in tutorial land 😅
Ah Wind Waker. I swear I played the tutorial more than the actual game
@@DeathnoteBB
Yeah I definitely did that a few times lol. I still haven't 100% completed Super Mario Galaxy because when I was a kid I didn't like the Prankster Comets-they were hard and you lose a life if you fail, which made me scared-and by the time I grew out of that my Wii broke.
literally why I never played the Witcher
"damn, i don't want to learn this whole fucking world over 100 hours of finding out how the fuck to learn this whole fucking world"
I really think that a reason Hi-Fi Rush is so good is that it is varied, fun, a little challenging, completely unique with its style of gameplay, but its not long. You can pretty easily beat it in a few play sessions, having a fun time and being bogged down by anything to grindy. And the post game stuff is pretty fun too, though you dont have to do it to enjoy the base game and what it was trying to do.
I second this
What's funny is that Hi-Fi Rush is one of the games I haven't finished
Fr I been having this problem for the longest time but never really figured out what it was that was putting me off the game. Now I know and its all thanks to you! Thank you Circletoons! :D I'll make sure the next game will be worth my time!
This video really resonated with me. Because the games I keep on coming back to and have sunk plenty of hours into. Are games that have about 10 hours of play time but are so well made and mechanically deep that I can keep on having fun. No matter what the game is or how long it takes to complete it. I will keep on coming back for more if it’s good.
This is precisely why Hi-Fi Rush has been such a refreshing game to play. I can't remember a new game I played in the last 2 years that felt this complete when playing it.
the fact that game shadow dropped too, god it was such a masterpiece
Hi-Fi Rush, so good! Have you tried the Guardians of the Galaxy game?
do you play any indie games? There were some great ones the past year or two
@@SirEggNog yeah Stray was another game that was short and so flipped great
@@dragonicrage3618 that honestly makes it even more impressive. They didn’t need ridiculous amounts of advertisement. They just had to make an awesome game and people played it because it’s awesome
I was going to make some big comment about Disco Elysium being on that list with its long runtime, then went to my Steam library and realized I beat it in 20 hours.
Wild how massive the world feels and how immersed you are in it without 100 hours of filler content.
The only real qualms I have with Disco Elysium in this regard is the time spent navigating and exploring open areas.
Give me faster movement speed, make points of interest easier to find and I couldn't really complaint.
At least it had *some* fast travel.
It's also supposed to be replayable, but knowing the answers to the big mysteries and without a way to deal with repeated content, I can't stomach the notion of a replay.
The problem is most of that time is wasted because its all spent trying to figure out WHAT you're even meant to be doing. It's not provoking or challenging in any way besides trial and error or guesswork.
The game isn’t for everyone. The only instance of exhaustion I experienced was having to go up and down stairs to repeatedly grill the prime suspect
@@MessyGamer616 it’s an rpg and your character doesn’t know what the fuck is going on so why would the player
Its also hella replayable so you can do what I did and replay the first 2 days woth 7 different characters before freezing on the decision of which one to finish the game with, then come back a year later and finish it in one go and have nearly a hundred hours thatway
4:14 the animation here is just great lol
I appreciate this video. I'm in the process of creating a game, but was worried about the content being too short. It was nice to hear that it didn't need to be a hundred hours of gameplay, and could just be how ever long it takes for the content to run out. I would like to add to your video, however, in that crafting is only bad when you make it bad. My game will have a crafting mechanic, but with quick craft times, uses relatively easy-to-scavenge items, and must be defended non-stop during the entire crafting process, which I believe would make it a significantly more bearable wait during the crafting time.
As a side note, I found Metro Exodus to be fun through the end. It ran smooth, there was a variety of maps, new features here and there, and some surprising mechanics that were really fun to play with, and would recommend to anyone else looking for something that could actually be finished. It is still a rather long game (around 40 hours) but everything stayed interesting enough that it was easy to be excited to play.
Again, thanks for the video!
This is why i love outer wilds. A complete package. An unforgettable experience
One of the best games that I've ever played
You could say, The experience was... WILD!
I'd recommend trying the VR mod if you have a headset! It's seriously amazing and gives you a new perspective on everything in the game!
@@devindykstra im currently playing through the dlc and i woulf propably not take a single step in a vr headset xD No mans sky in vr ia already pushing it
@@Shavaaa the DLC is absolutely amazing and totally worth it! I hope you enjoy it!
The Stanley Parable is an unforgettable experience that has about two hours of playtime. Ultra Deluxe adds about another two. That's all it needs to be immortalized.
Though there are a lot of endings
That game was a really great few hours.
Then there's that 5/10 year not playing achievement. :P
agreed
@@kensonplays I mean technically that's not playtime ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ )_/¯
I literally finished every single game I've started. And because of that I think twice before starting an open world.
I’d love to see an update to this specific argument, but focused on replayability. I feel like that’s something that brings a lot of nuance to everything in this video and I’d be keen to hear Circle’s opinions on it!
The Stanley Parable and Inscryption are two of my absolute favourite games and I almost feel honoured they made it to your ‘List of Good Games That Respect Your Time’
yessssssss stanley parable
Inscryption is overrated, and I say that as the target demographic. Couldn't wait to finish the 3rd act.
Pretty sure the entire point of The Stanley Parable is that it DOESNT respect your time.
@@dontmisunderstand6041 baby game ending true
As a busy parent, having an experience I can finish in 1-3 play sessions is a genuine treasure.
Shorter, more condensed experiences, please
have you tried Gone Home? it's only around 2 hours long, though it is also $30 USD
@@GiordanDiodato If a game costs more than $5 and it doesn't last at least 5 Hours, I'm refunding that shit.
@@Ventorathhave you played terraria an hollow knight before terraria is $10 and hollow knight is 15 they have 50 hours of content but make you feel accomplished every step of the way because the bosses are actually hard and sometimes not as fun if you rage easy dont get them
@@danielplayzyt4759it’s not only 50, if you want to finish every single challenge, it’s hundreds
@@Ventorath and this is what's wrong with video games.
Also Valve Games.
They just... immerse you in such a crazy way.
Totally agree, hope companies hear you out.
As I get older I know I need more "pick up and go" games with very simple mechanics. I will drop a game, forget the mechanics, and then restart the game over and never get it done. Night In The Woods is so simple to me that I could never forget it, and I always finish it within a week. One of my top 10 games, always
it's because people want, and I quote, "Their money's worth"
I feel the same, most of my gaming friends are younger than me and fail to understand why I struggle to learn the mechanics of whatever the new multiplayer game of choice is
This is why I loved playing MGR: Revengeance recently. It's only like 6 hours long but every single moment in that game is simply fantastic.
Nah bro that elevator sequence was absolute ass cheeks
I still can't believe people can complete it in 6 hours, I'm at 10 hours and just halfway, maybe I should finish it and complete all the side content afterwards
A lot of platinum games titles are pretty short, but extremely fun
@@guywithrevolver Yeah, Transformers Devastation is one like that that comes to mind. Less than 10 hours and tons of fun with an amazing soundtrack.
@@ASMRDoodlez I'm so glad devastation was what came to mind for you. I'm so glad people know and love about that game
When he was talking about how short, action packed games are great, i was thinking "yeah, Deathloop was so fun to play for the (relatively) little time i played it"
and boom, at that exact moment he started talking about it.
The DLC to Prey is pretty much the prototype for death loop
True, I have put off loads of games playing multiplayer stuff. I have started playing dragon's dogma and it honestly feels like I can relax and enjoy the game for once, instead of being restricted to waiting on a timer to get a task to do something for better stuff.
I also want to add It Takes Two to the list. I adore couch co-op and I've been seriously upset that games have moved away from that. I grew up on Split Screen and having friends over to play and that was the best fun. Now it's neverending loading screens to queue and finding time to play together when we've all got adult responsibilities. It Takes Two was such a breath of fresh air for me and my partner, so much so that it's one of our favorites
I like the game (fuck the book), but it's really weird that it enforces split-screen even when you're doing online co-op.
Ehhh nah It Takes Two was a slog and still quite buggy and very cheesy. I tried playing it with a friend but we gave up after 8 hours of monotony. There were good moments and interesting mechanics but you had to sort through the boring stuff and extremely cheesy story. We stopped during the toy section after brutally destroying the queen.
I thought it was charming and a simple but cute casual game to play with ur partner after a long day. Not overly complex, just simple fun gameplay. But yes, screw the book.
Yeah, I don't have any friends, but I can understand how fun can be to play on a splitscreen lol.
But I think games have moved on from that because loneliness is at it's verge nowadays. Sad
I personally find splitscreen very annoying
I always lose where I am
These days, nothing loses my interest faster than an open world game with crafting mechanics
Same, and it sucks too because I like the idea. Its just that WAY too many games fail to do such that it taints the idea.
too many of them hit the exact same gameplay loop. If your game has base building, all I'm gonna do is build a house and never touch it again. Even if the game HAS an ending, I would simply never do it bc game ends = my base disappears.
ANY game with crafting mechanics is auto-ignore.
I agree with this, however, I made an exception with Minecraft Legends 😅
sir i think you just insulted minecraft players worldwide
i love that insryption made it onto your list of games to play cause its one of my favourite games
Another short yet concise game I like is Crypt of the Necrodancer, it's only about 5 floors long with four sub-floors each (including DLC), but the customization of the routes and the slow but steady mastery of both strategizing your path and keeping up to the beat of the songs always has me coming back.
the reason i love your videos is cause they start nice calm and simple but they slowly descend into a rage fueled tirade of emotions
A relatable tirade too, lol. (At least for me)
This is why I loved Hi-Fi Rush. Start to finish and it had an END and I felt GREAT after finishing it. Didn't feel like it needed to be lengthened or more content. It was just nice to go through the story start to finish.
YES
Even the extra stuff it had like the wall and the after secret levels and tower are just fun extras that are entirely up to you if you want to do them or not
bro Ive bean thinking this for years and am still subrised that no-one is coveringit, cootose to you fore acualy being brave enuf to talk about it. 👍
Great sound. Subscribed
As a 40 year old gamer with a company to run and a family to feed, I thank you for you putting your critical thoughts into this video. You said exactly what I want to express about gaming nowadays.
one thing I'm sure you noticed was the shift from arcade-style short games to bigger adventures and current gamers complaining about game length being "too short."
Thank you, circle for not only being able to make short little goofy animations but also being able to keep me entertained with long form content, which are well animated and well thought out.
As a solo indie dev, this is awesome. Good insight, funny, well put together. Nice channel!
love the energy
ULTRAKILL, Hades, and Risk of Rain 2 are also really great games I'd put on the list!
And ULTRAKILL isn't even finished yet
0/10 no robot saex
@@AirEater there is though
@@manly.mcbeefington WHERE. TELL ME NOW
@@AirEater UKButt mod + official Ultrakill body pillows
I recently played Portal 1 for the first time and this exact topic resonated in my mind so hard. It's a freaking masterpiece of game play and snarky storytelling. It's short and sweet. I liked it so much I pushed Portal 2 to the top of my yet-to-play backlog and finished it as well. I'm now putting HL 1 and 2 in the queue for next to play even though I'm not much of an FPS guy.
If you do end up enjoying HL, you should try the first Halo Trilogy. It's a masterpiece
I've said this forever but Portal 1 is the perfect game
I get so excited every time I learn someone is going to experience Half Life 2 for the first time! Such a masterpiece showcase of how to have a fluid blend of story and gameplay. It was also a big technology showcase in its time, like well designed physics and making brilliant use of them, and I remember staring at walls so much because "normal maps" were new making flat geometry have depth.
@@Tera_GX i never got into Half-Life...
I tried starting from the original game and just found that it was poorly aged, I spent more time watching walkthroughs than playing.
Is it worth just playing 2 on its own?
@@kgaumont Yes. I do in fact often recommend skipping HL1 since we can't all play every game. It's definitely a product of its time and is aged in appearance and experience. The new "Black Mesa" is a proper substitute for HL1, but in limited choices HL2 is still the more valuable experience.
I'll note HL2: Episode 1 kinda happened motivated out of some technology showcases Valve was working on, not as a full game. The same motivation is why Episode 2 happened, but they raised the bar so high and it ended up a pretty complete game with big story points. That high bar is why we've had a 15 year cliffhanger. You'll probably want more after playing HL2.
"Late is just for a little while. Suck is forever"
I really loved this video. As someone who is trying to play more games and experience more this rings really true for me.
The only thing Id want to add is that I think a lot of the publisher pushing for crunch, forever games and unrealistic deadlines is a big contributor to todays landscape, much more than upset gamers
Stray is definitely a great example. I did every side mission and the game was like 6 hours. Beautiful art, great story, various endings and I walked away feeling good about it, check it out
Is that playable? I thought looked cool, but figured it'd be a huge open world game with no plot (and thus waste my time).
@@seansmodernlife9823 depends on your definition of playable. It isn't open world, and it is short, so if that's of interest to you, then you might like it. It looks pretty good and the cat definitely looks like a cat.
The problem that I had with it is that you are playing as a cat, and yet there's no actual platforming, which I expected there to be, because, well, you're a cat. It's all basically done for you, which saps a lot of what could have been cool gameplay from the player. So there's a lot of walking, with some easy puzzles. There may be more after that, but I stopped after an hour in. It just got too damn boring.
It also has a meow button :D
aaaaaa
Reggie saying "If it's not fun, why bother." is firmly ingrained into my mind and words I live by, even outside of gaming which may be a bad thing
Same here, tho I don't think it's a bad thing, it means we are constantly try to find joy in what we do
IRL grind is rewarding in different ways.
Nintendo games are almost universally fun.
Great video with great animation and comedy🎉
This speaks to me on so many levels
"I could read the whole dictionary! That's 100 hours of new content right there!" - Stanley Parable narrator, Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
I am worried about 1 single word..
This is why i love Pizza Tower! Despite being 4 to 6 hours, the game has amazing levels with barely any dialogue and smooth controls! Even if the P ranks were a pain, they still felt amazing to do! Especially getting 101% and seeing 'WOW!' or even 'HOLY SHIT!'. The game doesn't add required extra padding, and just throws it's content for you to enjoy. It was worth my money and i have already done countless replays, none feeling boring.
ok
Games with infinite replayability definitely have a place. Particularly the type of game that can be played in a short session, that being 30-60 minutes, but the overall playtime is nearly infinite.
Most roguelikes fit into this category where you can come home from work, and play for a bit, but you don’t need to make a massive commitment.
There are games in other genres that can fit here, too. Two of my favorite examples are Helldivers and DRG.
I simultaneously agree with everything in this video and also really enjoyed farming likes with shelters and ziplines in Death Stranding.
SubNautica and its sequel are still two of my favorite games because if you choose, you can finish the game in hours to days. But if you want, you can stretch a game out for weeks, months, or even years without ever grinding or fulfilling side quests.
Its been years since a game gripped me like Subnautica did when I tried it earlier in 2023. Finished it an its sequel. Something about the way it was presented didnt make me feel pressured into doing anything, almost relaxing tbh. One of my top 10.
You'd think with how often games nowadays give you the option to skip cutscenes that they'd suddenly feel a lot shorter. However, games seem to have compensated by forcing you to sit through unskippable "not-cutscenes" where characters stand in place and talk to each other. As someone who likes to sometimes watch speedrun videos, it becomes very apparent how often some games will do this.
Half life did it better
Really nice animation 10/10 😊
This video gave me an idea of a game where its just quests.
Not a defense for Death Stranding but the walking around was so zen and relaxing for me, I just pop on to enjoy a nice calming walk in the safe-ish world I've made for myself. Low impact and stress free.
I can agree that it doesn’t seem to aim for the insulting dopamine drip like other grindy games.
yeah imo most of the time its supposed to be "relaxing" instead of "being fun"
I was just going to comment how it's funny that I enjoy DS's game loop to _death_
There's so much depth to that game and all of that effort you put in is not only rewarded but also ties to its message.
I've been diligently finishing off completion levels for each location by taking on as many tasks as possible in one run, looking out for opportunities to optimize the routes to make them safer and easier to traverse, which is the way DS is meant to be played IMHO.
And the distances aren't as long and arduous as gamers are making it out to be. Just the right amount to feel like a long trek without dragging on for unbearably long
As I completed deliveries I really grew to appreciate the characters. The story writers really nailed their interactions because the appreciation they express for your work feels very real.
It's like you're making positive change in the world, "connecting people together."
EDIT: Maybe I should have made a separate comment in the end, but whatever 😂
Yeah I hate grindy games like modern assassins creed. I couldnt finish the newest Horizon because it was too grindy and needlessly complex. But Death Stranding just had something relaxing about it. Like it was aware you were backtracking. But the chilled hiking was the core experience. Maybe it resonated with me bexause I like multiday hikes.
@@targettman
Horizon 2 grindy? Dude come on
YOUR'E FUCKING RIGHT
Subnautica and Hollow Knight are a couple of my favorite games. Absolutely stellar, a memory to hold forever. Subanutica is about 25 hours and Hollow Knight about 40 depending on how much you do. It can honestly be said: The longer the playtime, the less you'll remember.
Arcade racers are definitely in my list of evergreen short but fun games as probably many other old arcade games are because of how their nature made them a blast to replay whenever you feel like it due to their short length but high challenge as you alluded to with old console games (I still remember playing NES Contra for several days until I got a Konami-code less run done)
I still need to finish that extra stuff in Pikmin for, gotta brush up on my dandori
Circle your animations have gotten so smooth and crisp. All the little details that stay on screen for a second or less are so satisfying
When people were saying Stray was a short game, I knew I had to play it right away. That game is a lovely experience that I remember far more of than the hours of slog that is present in a single Assassin's Creed title. Stray is so very good. There's a dedicated meow button, what more do you want?!
Also, rock and stone! The devs working on Deep Rock Galactic know how to make a good co-op pve shooter. I find the gameplay loop very enjoyable despite the irony that it's premise is literally working manual labor at a mega corporation. Their [very free] battle pass system eliminates all fomo as the items drop into the loot pool after every season. And the game could stop updating and I'd probably continue playing as is. Yet they continue to add, than remove, with each major update. Ghost Ship Games deserves a lot of love.
DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE?
Rock and Stone Brother!
get back to work!
ROCK N SHTONE!
ROCK N SHTONE!
Thanks for this video! I am making a VR rouguelike and I will keep this in mind.
Very important analysis, people need to talk more about this
This made me think what about adding a middle-age mode, i.e. no fluff/grind/etc
One thing you want to remember about the old developers is they were designing for the arcade or coming out of that mindset, where you wanted the players to keep putting in quarters. So games were brutal, had timers, challenging platforms, etc to get you to spend more money.
I would seriously pay extra for a "middle aged mode".
Tbh rather than that, look at what the digimon games and some horror games do. They have a normal story mode that you can finish and end. Then, if you're someone that still wants to play more, completionist type, you can go to the new game+, which is the same game, but with additional stuff (or ending) unlocked
I'd really appreciate a "de-RPG" mode where whenever you get a level, or enough crafting materials, the game just goes "we've made the choices that the developers have labeled as the default intended path, and crafted the gear that you need for this point in the game. Go back to having fun now."
Stuff like in Sekiro, just getting the Mikiri and Ichimonji as soon as they're available so you don't have to weigh the usefulness of jumping over an enemy with a slightly different animation versus getting a very critical component of your move set which some bosses are nearly impossible without.
@@redgeoblaze3752I can see the value of that. Not sure if it would make design easier or harder but yeah, I think we might need less RPG stuff
Hades is a really good example of relatively short gameplay but gameplay that’s fun throughout. And you can have as much or as little dialogue as you want
One of my personal favorites is Risk of Rain 2
It's one of the closer games to a true roguelike out of those I've played recently, as you don't unlock any upgrades or whatever (instead the pool of obtainable items and selectable survivors diversifies), so after taking a couple hours to get your bearings you shouldn't be missing much. The gameplay is amazing too, and it's probably going to be something I keep coming back to. Not to mention the quality of the soundtrack, which is actually one of the best if not the best video game soundtracks I've ever heard. All for $25-40 depending on if you're getting the singular DLC or not.
Hades is an incredible game, but roguelites are a bad example when it comes to this topic. They artificially increase game time by being really hard on your first runs, and easier over time with meta progression, so it's a lot of repetition with some randomness due to procedural generation. Hades even has you finish it multiple times if you want to see the full story. It's not a bad thing, it's just not comparable to games that are not roguelites.
Hades is kind of like Enter The Gungeon and The Binding of Isaac?
Because those where specifically described as being able to be played forever.
Short it takes atleast 60 hours to beat hc you have to beat it 8-or 9 times
@@Brass319 risk of rain 2 is trash and literally guilty of the gameplay hours bloat
😂😂👏🏽 👏🏽 yes!! Summed up perfectly.
10:14 oh my god he included Peglin. I did not expect that. That is one of my favorite games at the moment it is absolutely amazing. I am so surprised and happy that he included that.
To me, DOOM Eternal is the prime example for a game that has a laser focus on a single type of gameplay. In DOOM, you brutally murder demons with your 345 different weapons, with only the occasional cutscene reminding you of the awesome apeshit story which is keeping you going. And there are platforming sections for pacing but point stands, it's just fun shooting.
DOOM Eternal prioritizes fun gameplay over anything else, even over making sense sometimes, you can't kill a simple weak zombie demon with just your manly punches because they are meant to be moving ammo boxes and there is mechanics set to do it. Also you popcorn make armor pieces from ignited enemies because... why not? Is fun to mix all your powers and resources for it's delightful well balanced combat dance.
If you like that, you should 100% try Ultrakill. It's that but even more.
The story of doom eternal is really crappy tbh, the narrative is good tho
Cutscenes exist to feed us illuminati ideals (cause Bethesda is part of it)
@@TheRhalfwho cares? it’s doom
That's why I love Stray!! It's only 5 hours, 6 if you wanna explore EVERYTHING, and it tells a really sweet cool story with cool world-building and cat gameplay.
Sweet story? Isn't it incredibly spooky/gritty/brutal/sad with a cliffhanger at the end?
Gameplay? That's a big hyperbole
@@jamesfoster6506 yeah it's just walking
In stray you run from little monster thingys, puzzles and parkour. It has a good story with a cliffhanger
It is not walking
Literally every thought I've ever had about games. This guy gets it.