In praise of short adventure games you can finish in a weekend

I have a graveyard of unfinished games. Enormous open worlds I meant to explore, sprawling RPGs I abandoned at the halfway mark. So lately I've been drawn to short, complete experiences, and Hollow Lantern reminded me how satisfying those can be.

A four-to-five hour adventure doesn't pad itself. Every area has a reason to exist, every puzzle earns its place, and the ending arrives while you still care. There's something clean about actually reaching the credits.

Short games also suit a phone's reality. You're rarely going to carve out thirty uninterrupted hours on mobile, but a few focused evenings? That's doable, and it means you finish what you start.

I'm not giving up big games forever. But there's real value in a story that respects your time and knows exactly when to stop.