Best games of short length(3 hours or less)?

I think getting new people into gaming is hard, and I think one of the most rewarding things is knowing in your head that you've fully experienced something. I've tried to get lots of my ex-girlfriends into gaming and the pattern i've seen is that if a game is too long they don't have the patience for it. So with that in mind, what are some of the best short length games you guys can think of?

I don't want to count arcade games, better if a game has a clear start and end.

In my head i've got Braid, Gone Home and Brother's a tale of two sons. The latter has been especially popular.

There is a 2d horror/mystery game called Home which you can complete in about an hour if I remember right.

Pretty good game.

I was going to say Brothers.

Gunman Clive 2 just took me an hour and it was great, but maybe a little difficult for new people.

Sonic 2?

Jazzpunk!

Maybe try episodic games? The average Telltale episode is 2-3 hours, same with Life is Strange.

Journey takes something like 2 hours.

Maybe Gone Home?

Journey, Gone Home, Brothers and......wait for it..........

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.

The Swapper is a neat short game.

never heard of this one. it looks good!

Steamworld Dig is as pure as gaming can get, I finished it in 4 hours.

Surprised Hotline Miami didn't get a mention yet.

Gunpoint.

Papers Please.

Pretty much naming GB darlings at this point lol

I would definitely recommend The Fall. It took me 3-4 hours to complete, and I enjoyed the experience. It's technically episodic, but the rest of the episodes won't be out for quite some time.

QUBE

Journey

Portal

30 Flights of Loving and Kentucky Route Zero.

Gone Home did it for me. Something about that game came off as exactly what I want an indie game to be. Different, but not preachy.

Portal and uh... Portal.

I periodically go back to VVVVVV. It's not exactly for newbies but it's very easy to understand the basic idea and to play in short bursts.

Journey

Brothers

You can speedrun Dark Souls 2 in like 3 hours, that should be a perfect starting game.

All jokes aside:

Definitely the best short game I've ever played.

Also: this might seem strange but This War of Mine. Of course you don't finish the game per se, but playing it for like 4 hours (which is probably a couple of sessions) is enough to understand its message, tone and what it's about. This is for that girlfriend who complains that there are no artsy games and doesn't really want to play through anything long. Although the mechanics are not the most accessible.

LIMBO is pretty much in the same cart, although it is much simpler.

Also, the afromentioned Portal(s)

Limbo is probably my favorite short game! The puzzles, the art style and atmosphere are all perfect.

The first Portal is also really amazing, but I think everybody knows that.

Pretty much all of Telltatle's games since The Walking Dead Season 1 are great. Episodes are about 2-3 hours long. The only problems I have with them are frame rate issues, and occasional moments where logic seems to be thrown out the window(mainly Walking Dead). The Wolf Among Us is my personal favorite so far, as I can't remember complaining about anything in the game. Plus I love me a good murder mystery.

I think Gone Home is worth playing just so you have an opinion on it. It seems to be a very polarizing game. Personally I was meh about it. I feel like i could love a game in that style, but the story just didn't pull me in as much as I wish it had.

Guacamelee might be my favorite Metroidvania game. I know most people seem to finish that in around 3-4 hours, which I don't understand as I have spent 13 hours and still not completed the game. I guess they just don't care about any optional missions or collectible powerups.

Just finished this a few days ago and it's great! The puzzles are super satisfying when you complete them. It looks super cool, has great sound design, and an intriguing story you can completely ignore.

The best part was definitely the puzzles tho. Some of them I thought I may have to go back to, like maybe I could make more copies later or get a new ability, but nope! Success is always there, just try something different. The few times I got stuck I would take a break, come back later and usually figure them out pretty quick (take a breakthrough).

Journey is amazing. I would recommend playing through it in one sitting with co-op on. As long as you don't get saddled with someone who's trying to blaze through it, it's a wonderfully unique experience.

Telltale games are good especially if they are into whatever they are presenting. My roommate has played the 1st episode of Game of Thrones like 4 times and both seasons of walking dead a couple times and he usually sticks to 1st person shooters. He actually got way into The Last of Us too because he loved the story so much. That would be a harder sell since even on easy you need to have at least some understanding on how to play a video game and the time commitment. It was interesting to see a guy who I've only seen play CoD get so wrapped up in these vastly different games.

Frog Fractions. :)

Mount your friends is a good party game for people who don't usually play games.

The Fall and Gunpoint.

Limbo - a haunting plataformer, that doesn't overstay its welcome for the two hours it lasts.

Gunpoint!!! And Portal 1.

You could probably get through Puzzle Agent quickly too. That's a pleasant one. Alan Wake's American Nightmare doesn't take long either, but it's mostly worth it if you like the first one (and also don't have a problem with the combat).

Telltale games are really good becuase they are storydriven, 2-3 hours in length and they end on cliffhangers so if the person is into the story, she can't wait to play the next episode.

Journey

Limbo

Brothers

Braid

Hotline Miami etc...

I have no fresh entries.

Forgot to mention The Unfinished Swan. I loved everything about it, especially the music. I played it right before Journey and enjoyed it far more than Journey, so I dunno. Both cool games, but Unfinished Swan stuck with me more.

Journey would be my go to short game. It's also great for people who are generally not interested in games,

Jazzpunk, The Fall, Life is Strange, Kentucky Route Zero, The Stanley Parable and, my favorite, Portal.

Portal!

NaissanceE is about that short and a fantastic audio-visual experience.

Portal | Journey | Limbo

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

It's interesting, I wouldn't consider a lot of these games (Braid, Limbo, Hotline Miami) "short" because I never finished them. Too hard or I got stuck. I certainly wouldn't think of them for new gamers.

Brothers and Gone Home are good calls though.

Most of these have been mentioned, but mine include The Swapper, Portal, Hotline Miami, Gunpoint, QUBE, Teslagrad. Some shorter, some a tad longer.

I'm playing Chariot at the moment, that seems fairly short but I'm enjoying it. Plus it has 2-player co-op and seems designed in a way such that one person can carry the other through if they're less competent with controls, but without that player feeling as though they're useless, so is probably a good option for a newer player.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is another game that can be completed in less than 3 hours if you are decent at it.

Flower and Journey are also games that can be completed in short bursts, less than a couple hours if you don't get too distracted with side activities.

Another good way it to play some telltale games, one episode at the time. Each episode can take from 1 to 3 hours, but if you consider them as different games in a series, it is easy to divide the gameplay that way.

I don't count Limbo or Portal because they require some speed and previous skill in the use of the joystick. If they are new, I prefer to recommend Braid and Portal 2.

@hermes said:

Sure, if you skip all the cutscenes and codecs (even the amazing ones), don't die ever and don't retry fights for S ranks. The final time it shows when you beat the game is a straight up lie, it only counts the ranking time of each fight.

Platinum Games are probably the worst thing for someone new to videogames. They are very mechanically complicated and you need to know your way around a controller.

I've got four that haven't been mentioned yet.

• Flower, although I've heard it's too abstract for someone who isn't used to reading games, so probably not a new gamer game.
• Where is my Heart? Personally my game of the year for 2011.
• Today I Die is only like 10 minutes long your first time through.
• Every Day The Same Dream is another 10-15 minute long game, unless you get stuck looking for a different day. Then you'll probably spend a half hour looking for it and not find it. It's probably the one where you get out of the car.

You could probably comb through past IGF entrants and find dozens more short games.

The Stanley Parable is pretty great.

Limbo was pretty cool.

Mirror's Edge was pretty short, but I loved it.

Don't Shit Your Pants

I don't know if it counts, but there was a time that I could beat Super Metroid in about 4 hours

I had no idea MGS Ground heroes was so short... does't that ruin the epicness?

You could also try short co-op games like the cave. Where you could introduce your friends to videgames and see what mostly grab their interest.

Unmechanical is a nice short puzzler. And it's getting an Xbox One / PS3 / PS4 extended edition soon too.

It's a downloadable prequel to 5. The main mission is kinda short (took me 2 hours first time through, can be speedrun in 10 minutes) but all the side missions, hidden tapes and trophies/achievements make it a good length.

I quite enjoyed Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, even if it wasn't as good as the first.

The first story will probably take an hour at most to play through. There is quite a bit of side content to do. Which reminds me I need to go finish up that last mission.

A whole lot of good stuff here, will probably take me awhile to try all this stuff out :P

@gamefreak9 For the love of all that is holy do not ever give an MGS game to anyone who does not play games around the clock. The length of GZ is irrelevant. I've seen that game chew people up and spit them out all too often. Doesn't matter the difficulty setting or the mission, it's just too mechanically complex and too unforgiving to be fun for anyone who isn't extremely comfortable with a controller.

Either way, I think what you need is COUCH CO-OP. That's how you get your girlfriend to play games.

G's Basic How to Get Peeps Into Games Rules

1. The game cannot have any camera controls. End of story.
2. Ideally you are on a 2D or isometric view. Something static.
3. If one button does two things the game may be too complex.
4. Playing together is often more fun for new gamers than playing alone.

Some Couch Co-Op to Consider

• If you have a PS4 you could try Never Alone. It's pretty, short, mechanically straightforward but still with a little bit of challenge, and it is two player couch co-op. Make sure you play as the girl and your friend plays as the fox. The fox is more fun.
• Towerfall also has a short little campaign mode, take a look at that. Good game for making people who are bad at games feel cool. Speaking of..
• I know you said no arcade games, but I have never - ever - in a lifetime FULL of introducing non-gamers to games, seen any game convert people so quickly into gamers as SAMURAI GUNN. There is a co-op survival mode that you can both have tremendous fun in (just make sure to turn Teams on). Consider it. Even the versus mode when it has 4 people introduces enough chaos that nearly anyone will have their "hero turns".
• So uh... you ever heard of Super Mario World? Just don't forget it, Ok? Maybe it's not whiz-bang cool like new games but this is the shit here. Easy to get in to, but much harder than we give it credit for. Once your new gamer can play SMW on their own you can start to move up to stuff like...
• Guacamelee!Modern couch co-op at its finest. Not an easy game, but ideally you can pick up the slack where necessary.

Once you have mastered the 2D realm of videogames with your new gamer friend, what you want to do is play some Arcade Racing Games. They are abosolutely number 1 for getting people used to camera controls.