i just finished infinite loop superior Xbox Game Pass. You may have seen that I like it a lot – it’s sleek, funky, eye-catching, and makes it easy for you to enter its world. It’s a lean experience; nowhere near as complex and clunky as the Dishonored series. And it also takes a long time to complete. I think I finished the Colt/Julianna storyline in an easy 20 hours. Plenty of time to chew on it, digest what I like, and move on (Beacon Pines, I’ll come to you next).
When I downloaded the next quick finish, I read in Play Magazine that the upcoming A Plague Tale: Requiem’s alternate history excursion will be done in under 20 hours, noted Kevin Pinson, lead level designer at Asobo Studio. The game will run for about 15-18 hours, depending on how you play it, with “no filler content” filling it. As I read this, my inner monologue inspired Gordon Ramsay’s timeless quote: “Finally, some fucking good food.”
I played A Plague Tale: Requiem at Gamescom and I loved it. The way it combines stealth with tactical movement, the grim reality of surviving in a world overrun by plague (oh, wait) all come together in this tight, conscious game that knows exactly where it’s going. and how it wants to get there.
It’s the first day of Xbox Game Pass, and if you’re only playing a few hours a night, you might be able to get it done in a week. My Gamescom demo was batched from somewhere in the middle of the game, and while it was challenging, I felt a proper sense of progression during the brief hands-on. In a world of Assassin’s Creed games that take over 200 hours to complete, I find the promise of short games to be nothing short of exciting – especially if I can try them for free and complete them as part of a subscription.
Don’t get me wrong; I love long gaming sessions. I’d love to put 200 hours in Nioh – I think Wolong is next – and I’ve probably put in close to 1000 hours in total over the lifetime of Destiny (sorry). But in an era of countless service games vying for my attention and blockbuster threats like God of War: Ragnarok on the horizon, I love these little game cleaners that can come in the middle and be a ‘color palette’ Before the next RPG or other party.
I said this more or less verbatim in my Tunic review earlier this year — another Game Pass gem — and I’ve been caught up in Garden Story time and time again over the past 12 months. , Unpacking and Sable proved correct. Each of these games can be over in under 20 hours — maybe even less than 10 in some cases — giving you a nice break from any battle pass that week.
A lot of iGamesNews’s crew lives outside the game, and I’m sure our readers do (at least in most cases). Whether it’s a partner, kids, job, community service, a deviant hobby, or anything else, sometimes it’s good to end the game in a night or two instead of months. For our gaming media genre, especially one that is often tethered to devoting our 80 hours of life to games the week before a game’s release, in less than 10 hours with Chicory: Waltzing Through PS Plus Dance” felt like a breath of fresh air.
Xbox seems to know that we’re starting to value time more, too. Recently, Microsoft rolled out an update to the PC Xbox app that integrates the average playtime aggregator HowLongToBeat. This tool (showing you how long the main story, main story and add-ons, full game competition, and any other way the average player completes) is one of the most successful gaming sites out there – compare it to Game on Xbox/PC The Pass app shows that Microsoft knows what your criteria might be when searching for something new and is cutting out the (browser-based) middleman.
It’s been a banner year for the Xbox and PlayStation subscription services, and while I’m excited to see big players like Deathloop, Grounded, Returnal, and Hitman backing the service, I’m passionate about all the little games Keeps me coming back again and again for more work.
Editor’s Note (Tom): 20 hours is not too short. That’s about two months of my gaming time. Play two hours of video games!
