I love RPGs, but I don’t always have time for them. Many of the greatest RPGs are also the greatest time-wasters, demanding upwards of 50 or even 100 hours for a basic playthrough. While it can be rewarding to undertake enormous adventures, it isn’t always feasible when other life obligations are in the mix.
Luckily, there are still some fantastic RPGs that you can beat in ten hours, as long as you stay focused on your objectives. These games are every bit as good as their longer compatriots, and you might be able to play ten of them in the same time that a single run of Persona 5 would take.
Key Highlights
- Short Playtime: Many RPGs can be completed in under ten hours.
- Quality Experience: Shorter games offer engaging narratives just like longer ones.
- Variety Available: A range of genres within RPGs fit into this shorter timeframe.
- Accessible Gameplay: These titles are perfect for players with limited gaming time.
Dragon Quest 1
The Dragon Quest games aren’t known for being trim, and Dragon Quest 9 can infamously take 700 hours to 100% complete. At the start of the series, however, things were different. The original Dragon Quest(released as Dragon Warrior in the West) takes only ten hours to complete, as long as you’re playing one of the slightly streamlined ports from the Super Nintendo onward.
In keeping with its length, the original Dragon Quest is a bit simpler than its successors, with a single party member and a simple narrative arc. If you want to see where a great series started, however, this can still be a fun time today.
Dark Messiah Of Might And Magic
Arkane Studios is known for immersive sims like Dishonored and Prey, but the games that put the studio on the map also had an RPG flair. After the 2002 success of Arx Fatalis, Arkane delivered the comparatively streamlined Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, which packed a complete fantasy experience into a ten-hour runtime.
Dark Messiah wasn’t exactly received as a masterpiece, but time has been kind to the title. Decades later, it’s easy to appreciate the marriage between fantasy storytelling and Half-Life-style reactive gameplay, even if the RPG elements are lighter than other games on this list.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink
You’ll have to rush a bit to get through Granblue Fantasy: Relink in ten hours, but it’s surprising for a modern 3D JRPG to be anywhere close. Among a sea of competitors saddled with bloated stories and repetitive dungeons, Granblue Fantasy: Relink delivers its main story in a refreshingly short-burst package.
Of course, there’s still a lot to do after you wrap up the main story, and completionists can get over 100 hours out of the Granblue Fantasy: Relink experience. It’s a nice balance either way. If you’ve had your fill, you can move on to another adventure without leaving the main story threads hanging, but there’s still enough material to get your money’s worth if you’re hungry for more.
Haven
Despite its indie status, Haven doesn’t look like a ten-hour game at a glance. Rolling fields of grass bring the expanse of Breath of the Wild to mind, but it’s nowhere near as endless as Link’s grandest adventures. Instead, Haven focuses on an intimate story of two lovers, dialing its scope in to focus on a smaller scale.
It’s an unusually zen experience for an RPG, which suits its shorter length perfectly. The beautiful alien world and the chemistry between the two simple characters are enough to sustain the reasonable runtime, even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of an RPG like Final Fantasy 7 or Baldur’s Gate 3.
South Park: The Stick Of Truth
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The Stick of Truth is just as irreverent as the South Park show, so you can probably figure out whether it’s your cup of tea without needing to try it out. If you do commit, the main story shouldn’t take much more than ten hours, while going for a completionist run will bump things up to about 20.
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
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Cat Quest
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Final Fantasy
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The Banner Saga
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Undertale
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