There’ just over a week of 2019 to go. During that time, we’ll be eating copious amount of food, drinking aplenty, and celebrating the holiday season with friends and family. Sometimes, though, you need a bit of downtime away from all the hustle and bustle. Sometimes, you just wanna play some mighty good vidya games.
It can be hard to find the time to sink into a lengthy RPG over the holiday season, or maybe you’re looking for new games to play as you’ve already blitzed through your most anticipated games of 2019.
To give you a helping hand, we’ve put together this list of short but sweet games that released in 2019 we think you should check out. All of them come in under about six hours for a single playthrough and have generally received positive reviews from ourselves and other critics.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in.
Blair Witch – 5 Hours
If you’re looking for something a little more dark, sinister, and atmospheric, then we’ve got you covered.
Blair Witch sees players assume the role of Ellis, a former policeman who helps the police in their search of Black Hills Forest for a missing young boy.
As the search continues, Ellis soon realizes there are supernatural forces at work. It’ll be down to you to figure out what’s real, what’s not, and how you can escape with your mind and body intact.
Coming in at about five to six hours, Blair Witch is the perfect kind of game for those dark winter nights. Its story and atmosphere intriguing and tense, it’s easy to see the game out in one or two sittings without even realizing.
While I didn’t find the game as scary as others, I still enjoyed my spooky walk through the woods. There’s also a dog. He’s called Bullet. He’s great.
Blair Witch is also available on Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass for PC, so subscribers can check it out with no financial commitment. Winner winner!
Untitled Goose Game – 3 Hours
Honk honk. Let’s be geese! Untitled Goose Game is basically that. Boot it up, be a cheeky goose, annoy the village, have a great time.
While the gameplay is proving a little divisive, there’s certainly a charm in here that few other games can replicate.
Not only that, but it’s puzzle-based gameplay acts as a nice palette cleanser after all the massive open-world RPGs and intense shooters we’ve received this year.
While turkey tends to be the bird of choice during the holiday season, geese can also occasionally take the center spot on the dinner table, too.
Now’s your time to exact charming revenge for the geese over the holiday season. MAKE THAT MAN DROP HIS TEA. HONK TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT…
HONK!
Afterparty – 6 Hours
We’re well and truly into the holiday season and that means that most people will drink copious amounts of alcohol. If you don’t, fair play to you, you healthy people you.
But if you want to get messed up in Hell and attempt to outdrink Satan this holiday season (I mean, who’s gonna turn that down?) then let Afterparty keep you occupied for a little while.
Following the story of two teens who find themselves in Hell after being at a college party, Afterparty tasks you with helping them to escape back to the real world. Of course, to do so, you’re going to need to complete jobs for Hell’s many residents, and take on Satan himself.
Afterparty’s writing is excellent and with multiple choices and endings, the game is fairly replayable if you really enjoy it the first time around.
Oxenfree fans, in particular, should definitely check this out if they haven’t already. Its developer is the same team behind the ingenious spooky narrative-driven title that won hearts back in 2016, and Afterparty certainly shares the same DNA.
Lonely Mountains Downhill – 4 Hours
If you ever played one of those flash mountain biking games at school, Lonely Mountains: Downhill feels like the console evolution of them.
Lonely Mountains, as the name suggests, has several mountains for you to make your way down, each with a number of different routes. Simply complete the route the first time and you’ll unlock challenges such as making it down in a set time or completing a run with less than 15 crashes.
It’s a classic example of simple to pick up but difficult to master gameplay, and oh boy is it compelling.
The amount of time you spend in Lonely Mountains will depend on your skill level, but four hours will likely be enough to see all of what the game has to offer.
My Friend Pedro – 4 Hours
If you’ve ever watched John Wick and wanted a game that emulated that kind of free-flow combat and bad-ass-ery (I don’t know if I can count that as a word, but it’s almost Christmas, fight me), then My Friend Pedro is definitely down your ally.
Players assume control of a man who must fight his way through tons of enemies. Why? No, not because they took the love of his life. They didn’t take his kids. A sentient banana told him to… yeahhhhh.
Bizarre story aside, My Friend Pedro actually makes for one of the most frantic and satisfying shooters to release in 2019. Coming in at about four to five hours, it won’t take up too much of your time.
If you’re wanting to check out some of the best games to release in 2019 that you likely missed, without taking up all of your free time, My Friend Pedro is a game you can start and finish in one evening.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan – 4 Hours
Man of Medan kind of breaks the mold of this list. It’s not some small indie game, but a narrative-driven AAA story from the team behind Until Dawn.
Part of the Dark Pictures Anthology, Man of Medan follows a group of friends who go to explore a mysterious ship. Unfortunately they get tangled up with some sinister people, and the ship itself is all spoopy. Yes, that was an intentional typo.
What makes Man of Medan such a great short but sweet game is the fact that in its four-hour runtime for a single playthrough, there’s a multitude of different choices to make which determine how the game ends.
Throw in the Movie Night Mode, allowing you to play with friends and get everyone involved, and you’ve got a perfect game for the holiday period with friends and family.
Published: Dec 30, 2019 09:00 am