Best Short Games On Xbox Game Pass

Xbox Game Pass contains games that can keep players entertained for a whole month on their own. Fallout, Dragon Age, Forza Horizon, and Starfield are all known for producing lengthy campaigns that could potentially require an investment exceeding 30 hours. Meanwhile, series like Fable, Halo, and Gears of War are great options for people searching for single-player adventures lasting roughly between 10–20 hours.

As enjoyable as an expansive open-world game can be, there is also a time and place for more concise stories. These titles can be nice palate cleansers between meatier packages, or they could be slotted in when someone only has a day left in their subscription. What are some of the best short games on Xbox Game Pass?

Cocoon

5 Hours

Geometric’s Cocoon is a creative puzzle game that casts players as, basically, an insect that travels to different worlds by entering orbs. While the main hub area is primarily a wasteland, players periodically come across spheres that contain their own universes, essentially acting as separate stages. As every world comes with a unique aesthetic that sets it apart from the crowd, discovering an orb is always exciting, especially since the actual gameplay is fantastic.

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Geometric Interactive’s Cocoon creates a complex and satisfying puzzle-solving experience by iterating on its simple premise.

Along with well-paced puzzles, Cocoon also emphasizes exploration, allowing players to move at their own pace and to take detours if they wish. Although this freedom can expand a playthrough by a few hours, the game is still not particularly long.

Bramble: The Mountain King

5 Hours

This indie darling follows a child, Olle, as he travels through a magical forest to save his missing sister. Bramble: The Mountain King plays out like a dark fairy tale inspired by Nordic mythology, and the game does an impeccable job of bringing to life figures from these stories. Along with being quite terrifying at times, these creatures are presented with respect and depth since they feel like they belong in this world rather than just coming across as intruders.

Gameplay-wise, Bramble: The Mountain King is a straightforward puzzle-stealth project that generally tasks players with staying out of the monsters’ views. While nothing to write home about, the gameplay loop is decent enough to not get in the way of the campaign’s strengths: its presentation and story.

Somerville

4 Hours

Coming from one of the creative forces behind Limbo and Inside, Somerville is very much cut from the same cloth as those two masterpieces. An atmospheric adventure game that utilizes environmental storytelling rather than discourse, this 2022 release finds Earth besieged by aliens, an invasion that quickly devastates the planet.

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Telling a smaller-scale personal quest, Somerville focuses on a father who is simply trying to keep his family alive during this testing time. The gameplay largely consists of basic platforming and puzzles, and while these elements are handled well, they are in service of the game’s tone, presentation, and emotion.

Clone Drone In The Danger Zone

3 Hours

Clone Drone in the Danger Zone is a melee action game that gets most of its longevity from its side content that greatly ramps up the difficulty; consequently, if someone wants to get the most out of this package, they will be playing for way longer than just a few hours. However, the campaign serves as a pretty good entry point as it teaches the basics while also offering enough of a challenge to not be a walk in the park.

Clone Drone‘s combat revolves around directional swings as players will need to aim the swings of their weapons to target an enemy’s weak spots. Although not an especially unique concept, it is executed well by the game.

A Short Hike

2 Hours

Considering its title, A Short Hike‘s brisk length should not come as much of a surprise. An introspective stroll through a beautiful location, players follow Claire, a bird who spends the day at a park. While she is desperate to make it to the top of the trail in order to obtain a signal for her phone, Claire (and the player) is also encouraged to just absorb the world around her. She can go off the beaten path to find NPCs and mini-games, or just to enjoy being one with nature.

A Short Hike has no action outside some light platforming fueled by some unlockable abilities. The game is designed to be relaxing and tranquil, both characteristics it possesses in spades. The story is also quite poignant. While a playthrough’s length will vary depending on someone’s pace, a run can readily be completed within roughly two hours, and A Short Hike is well worth that investment.

Unpacking

4 Hours

On paper, Unpacking hardly sounds appetizing since it revolves around one of the most potentially frustrating parts of life: moving. Covering roughly two decades, the indie game is split into eight stages representing different periods in the protagonist’s life. In each level, players have to unpack the character’s belongings, carefully placing her items in the available space.

Unpacking impressively combines its gameplay and storytelling, using the former to fuel the latter. Players repeatedly run through the protagonist’s items, the only ones she deemed worthy of keeping around when she moved to her new place. Clocking in at roughly 3 hours, Unpacking is a quick and reasonably relaxed experience, albeit one that manages to tell an impactful story in an unusual way.

Firewatch

4 Hours

For a while, “walking sims” were treated with derision, but they are primarily story-driven games that usually focus on exploration. Sure, the subgenre has produced a couple of low-effort projects, but that can be said for any other category. Firewatch represents walking sims at their peak, and the 2016 release has aged well. Set in a National Forest, players are a lookout stationed in a watchtower, and they find themselves alone within the dense foliage, only periodically running into other people. Their only real human connection is their walkie-talkie-bound supervisor, who generally gives players some guidance on how to move forward.

Firewatch‘s visual style and eerie quietness give way to a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere that builds throughout the short campaign. Narratively, the game touches upon some mature themes without feeling the need to spoonfeed the audience, all the while still delivering a cohesive story. Firewatch does not have much replay value, so one playthrough should be enough for most people.

Sea Of Solitude

3 Hours

Dealing with loneliness and depression, Sea of Solitude is heavy. Adrift at sea, Kay floats on a small boat surrounded by the remains of a city, which largely exists beneath the waves. Throughout her journey, the protagonist periodically interacts with a few entities, most of which are echoes of people from her real life. They challenge Kay’s mental fortitude, forcing her to face past trauma, tragedies, and failings.

Sea of Solitude tells a deeply personal tale that could hit home for many players. The gameplay, while not awful, is secondary to the story and themes; consequently, if the latter do not strike a chord with someone, the game can fall slightly flat. That said, there are more than enough strong elements here to make that risk worth taking.

Battletoads

4 Hours

Battletoads is an acid trip that someone is likely to either love or detest. The game is also difficult to promote since it constantly swaps genres while still managing to succumb to repetition. Technically, Battletoads is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up, and a fairly competent one at that; however, at most, half of the 4-hour campaign is taken up by this sort of action. The game will regularly throw out a new gameplay mechanic that can come across as a tribute to old-school NES projects, and these segments vary significantly in terms of quality.

Battletoads is oddly entertaining, provided a player is looking for a project that does not take itself seriously in any way. Despite lacking depth and boasting a rather obnoxious sense of humor, the game just about gets the job done as a way to kill a few hours in between better titles.

Jusant

4 Hours

Jusant is entirely dedicated to climbing, and the adventure game wants players to generally enjoy their beautiful ascent while they subtly learn more about the fascinating world they find themselves in. The campaign follows a climber who needs to reach the top of a massive tower while carrying a child who should be able to bring water back to the populace, something that has all but disappeared. While taking a backseat for lengthy stretches, the story is quite interesting, and the game does an admirable job of immersing players in a relatively unique universe with a long history.

Gameplay-wise, Jusant has fairly straightforward core mechanics and controls, although the challenge comes from combining these skills during the climb. The game does not punish blunders too aggressively, which removes the need to backtrack and repeat sections very often. Jusant is a one-of-a-kind indie experience that sticks in the mind long after it is done.

Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance Of The Slayer

4 Hours

Slayers X is an FPS spin-off loosely based on 2019’s Hypnospace Outlaw, which is also on Game Pass. Inspired by the ’90s in more ways than just game design, this loud, violent mess follows teenage Zane as he goes on a mission to defeat the evil Psyko Syndikate; however, in-universe, this adventure is actually just a game created by Zane, resulting in a rather meta package.

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Slayers X is a homage to the ’90s as a decade and a mentality, although the latter’s success will likely come down to someone’s nostalgia for their teenage years. Zane created a project that radiates adolescent energy, a tone that can be both charming and grating. While perhaps not for everyone, the game’s actual first-person gunplay is punchy and entertaining.

Dordogne

4 Hours

Boasting a gorgeous visual art style and a moving slice of life-esque story, Dordogne finds Mimi visiting her recently deceased grandmother’s house. Once there, she begins to trigger flashbacks to when she spent a summer in this town as a child, a journey that proves to be enlightening since Mimi suffers from amnesia that has left her unable to remember anything prior to her 13th birthday.

Dordogne has a big heart and a calming delivery, creating an experience that can be soothing. Mimi’s childhood adventures are fairly small and mundane, largely consisting of easy-to-solve puzzles; however, they do complement the story being told.

Inside

4 Hours

Playdead’s Inside is probably the best short game on Xbox Game Pass, and some people might argue that the “short” qualifier is superfluous. Playdead’s project brings to life a nightmarish world stripped of color and warmth, one where robots watch over mindless humans.

An unnamed child heads out on an ambiguous journey awash with danger, and a single wrong move will result in failure. Inside crafts an engrossing sense of mystery that demands exploration and discussion. The answers might not be obvious or necessarily uplifting, but they are worth seeking out regardless.

MORE: The Best Games On Xbox Game Pass