(logo chimes) - [Falcon] More and more
games are coming out that are 50 plus hours long. And don't even get me started
with live service games that are meant to eat up as
much of your time as they can. But there's only so many hours in a day, and as much as we'd like to game all day, there are other things
that gotta get done. Hi folks, it's Falcon. And today on gameranx, "10 Single-Player Games
Worth Spending 10 Hours On." Let's start off with number
10, the "Dead Space" remake, which comes in about 12 hours. Survival horror is pretty
ideal for shorter lengths. Horror, it gets stale if
you stretch it out too long, you eventually understand
what you can survive and how. And a "Dead Space" remake understands. It gets in and gets out
at a brisk 12-ish hours. Now, there are people who are gonna beat it
faster than 10 hours, people who are gonna take
longer than 12 hours, we're basing these
times off HowLongToBeat, and it's generally pretty accurate if you are just trying to beat the game without knowing anything about it. But "Dead Space" remake is a real rollercoaster 10 to 12 hours. You play as Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent with a team to investigate the USG Ishimura, a mining ship, a planet cracker, a thing that literally takes
apart planets for resources. And the Ishimura is seemingly abandoned. - [Isaac] It's not just
comms or the guidance system, half the Ishimura's in the red. Engines, hull, the trams. Who could do that kind of
damage to a planet cracker? - [Falcon] Of course, things
go completely crazy instantly when you're jumped by
these grotesque monsters called Necromorphs, and everything pops off from there. The original is really good, of course, but the remake actually is better. It's a remake that, aside from the fact that
it really doesn't change anything fundamental about the game, somehow makes it into an
experience that's heightened while above the original game. A lot of the changes are relatively small, but they're very noticeable. And things like how they changed
the USG Ishimura as layout to be actually interconnected, as opposed to a series of
levels, is really cool. It doesn't take too long to finish, but it's so tightly crafted. It just... It doesn't matter. It's a perfect length. And number nine is "Super Mario
Wonder," a nine-hour game. Feels like whiplash to go
from "Dead Space" to this. Probably the only thing
these games have in common is that they're around 10 hours, "Mario Wonder" maybe a little bit shorter. But the new "Super Mario Bros." series, it was always meant to be throwbacks. And even with that in mind,
they got a little stale. It felt like they were kind of coasting. And "Super Mario Wonder"
was an announcement that was like, "Yeah, we get it. We're not gonna keep doing that." It really felt like a statement. They heard people's
complaints about this series and really went above and
beyond in addressing them. What makes "Super Mario Wonder" so great is how it just constantly
surprises you from the first level that reveals bizarre stuff, like moving pipes and
singing piranha plants, all the way up to the end that the game is throwing
curve balls at you to subvert your expectations for what's possible in a "Mario" game. You'd think they'd run out of ideas, but no, there's just new
crazy stuff all the time. Most levels play out by introducing some new gimmick or enemy and then using that in a crazy
way later on in the level when you pick up a Wonder Flower, which is a power up hidden
somewhere in the level that activates the Wonder effect and makes everything go crazy. Would've been a great "Mario"
game even without all this. But the addition of the Wonder Flower makes it an all-time great that goes well above, again,
what you would expect. It's about 10 hours, maybe a little less, and that's actually pretty
long for a "Mario" game. But it's packed with so much creativity that it just never gets stale. And number eight is "Ghostwire: Tokyo," clocking in at about 11 hours. A bizarre, open-world horror hybrid that's not actually that scary, but makes up for it by being very strange. It's set in Shibuya after it's been taken
over by ghosts, of course, which it's up to you and
your magic talking hand to deal with this problem. The only way you know how, magic. It's essentially an FPS, but instead of guns, you
got different magic attacks. (character grunting) (magic whooshing) - [KK] Nice one. - [Falcon] And in terms of gameplay, it's more of an open-world game. You'd get lost just wandering
around getting collectibles. But honestly, that's where
the game's at its best. It's one of those games where you could spend 30
hours in if you wanted to, but I think that it's better
to beat line for the plot and stick to HowLongToBeat's
estimate of about 11. I think the game is much better for it. Not that there isn't
a merit to exploration in this frankly beautiful
world that they've created, but the combat can get kind of repetitive. The open-world tasks are... I mean, they're open-world tasks. You've seen them before,
you know what they are. But like I said, the world
design, it's just top of class. And all of the main missions where you see all of the locations
they've lovingly created, or recreated rather, obviously
with some artistic license. But everything is just
crazy in terms of detail. And every new ghost you
encounter is a fun puzzle just trying to figure out
what they're supposed to do, how to deal with them. It's rare to find games with enemies where you legitimately just don't know what to expect of them, and that's pretty much
what this game is built on. It's not perfect, but
it is very interesting, and spending about 10 hours
in it is just perfect. And number seven is "Ratchet
& Clank: Rift Apart," Insomniac's latest entry in the long running "Ratchet
& Clank" series is excellent. There's a consistency to these games that's rarely seen in the games industry. If you've played these since PS2, you know exactly what you're gonna get in terms of mechanics, but you always know it's gonna be good. And, above all else, designed impeccably. You run through mostly linear levels, blasting enemies with an assortment of cartoonish sci-fi guns. Sometimes, you do some
like puzzle solving. You break open a bunch of
boxes, like, that's a big thing. There's an arena in
there as well, somewhere. (power firing) "Rift Apart" does try
to mix up the formula by introducing this impressive interdimensional travel effect and a second playable character, but it's mostly to showcase
the PS5's graphical muscle and the new SSD install loading, which hasn't been taken
advantage by everybody in the same way, I'll say. It's all pretty familiar, honestly, but it's polished to a mirror machine. "Ratchet & Clank" is just... It's a well-oiled machine
that it's so worth the time. And number six is "Resident Evil Village," about 9.5, 10 hours-ish. It's first-person "Resident
Evil 4" with, I'll be honest, just a pretty clever utilization of what they had in the
fourth "Resident Evil" game. Like, for years, I've always
wondered why "Resident Evil" never really capitalized
on "Resident Evil 4." They have this large interconnected area, there's a store, organic
progression of power. "Dead Space" was able
to emulate it perfectly, but "Resi 5 and 6" did not try even. And with the eighth game in the series, Capcom finally went back
and did things right and made this absolutely excellent. Actually shorter and more condensed
"Resident Evil 4" type game. It does lean into the
first-person viewpoint with locations that are more condensed, but just as detailed. Had the levels, enemy encounters. Everything is all top-notch and the game is constantly
switching things up on you. Like, one minute you're
sneaking around a castle, next minute you're fighting robot zombies in an underground factory, or
avoiding a giant fish monster, or being a peeping tom on a
big old busty nine-foot lady. I'm sorry, what? What was that last one? I don't know, lot going on in this game. Briskly-paced, but
jam-packed with content. It's not as scary as previous
"Resident Evil" games, "Resident Evil 7" included,
but man is it entertaining. (baby crying) - [Player] What the hell? - [Falcon] And number five is
"Mafia: Definitive Edition," a 10.5-hour game. When you think open-world
crime games, you think, "Long!" Most of these games are sprawling epics that can stretch on for dozens of hours, but "Mafia" is not that. It's a different beast. Instead of loading the game
down with tons of missions, "Mafia" keeps things very tight with its framing device
of the main character recounting his mafia
exploits to a detective. Basically the greatest hits
of an open-world crime game, which, depending on your mood,
can be pretty refreshing. It's paced a bit more like
a movie than a video game, with each mission progressing
the overall story in some way. Honestly, even though it's a huge city, it's hard to describe this one
as an open-world game, even. You're mostly just driving
from place to place progressing story, and there isn't a lot to do beyond that. It does look fantastic, though. And while the story is relatively brief for its contemporaries, let's say, it is, in my opinion, just
one of the best out there, and the updated "Definitive Edition" actually improves the
original in a lot of ways outside of just updating
the dated graphics. The story makes more sense overall. And while the gunplay isn't
anything to write home about, the mission design is fantastic. It's a game that's really
more about the story and the fancy visuals, but it works really well. And the games 10 or so
hours feel complete. And number four is "A
Plague Tale: Innocence," coming in at about 11 hours. Also "A Plague Tale: Requiem," which comes in at 17 hours,
so it's a bit longer. But yeah, back when the
original "Plague Tale" came off, I kind of just wrote it off. I had seen a lot of indie games try to emulate AAA game
experiences like "Last of Us" and just fall kind of flat on their face. I kind of assumed this
would be a $30 tech demo that would kind of end before it began, like a lot of the
so-called indie AAA games from that time period. So when I got around
to actually playing it, I was pretty damn surprised when the game ended up
taking around 10 hours. Wasn't a bite-sized visual showcase. It was a legit game. Probably one of the best of
the early wave of AA games that are popping up a lot more these days. In terms of gameplay, it's
not fair to compare this one to something like "Last of Us." It's more of a narrative puzzle game with some light combat elements. But for what it is, the game
is really well-designed. It has varied environments, it's constantly mixing up the gameplay to keep things interesting, and then there's the rats. The rat hordes. The rat hordes are cool as hell. The sequel "Requiem"
is, it's also very good, but it's about 17 hours, so it's a bit too long
for a list like this. But I can't help but
recommend the series here if you're looking to feel
bad in a good kind of way. (Falcon chuckles) And number three is "RoboCop:
Rogue City," about 8.5 hours. So it's a little bit on
the short end for this, but it's recent and it's about 10 hours. I was close to at 10
hours in my playthrough, and it's really the perfect
length for something like this. It is such a blunt, stupid, "I'm a robot tank man who
destroys everything," game, but holy hell, it is so entertaining. It is really, really,
really your money's worth. One of the things I remember
a lot of people worried about with the demo was that it was gonna get too repetitive, and it doesn't. It keeps introducing new things for what seems like a
perfect amount of time, which for this, again,
it's around 10 hours, a little bit less than 10 hours. There's only so many creeps
RoboCop can blow away before the game starts getting samey. But this game really knows that because it mixes it up in so many of these clever little ways and gives you all these
interesting environmental methods of mayhem to exert
on the criminals of Detroit. And also it's constantly
throwing new enemy types at you, which is great, and it gives you all of
these little objectives to entertain yourself with in between blowing people up and generally just causing insane mayhem. It's kind of one of those games
that it's a perfect storm. The game's absolutely not perfect, but for whatever reason, is way better than the sum of
its parts and it is so fun. And number two is "Hi-Fi Rush." Microsoft announced this
one and then released it. Like, in a sentence, "Hey, so we're making this
game called 'Hi-Fi Rush' and you can buy it now." And it feels like some bite-sized
indie when you look at it, but it isn't. It's about 11 hours. And when it comes to action games, it's just about the perfect length, especially for the pacing that it has. But this thing is unique in that it's not just an action game, it's also a rhythm game. If you time your tags to the beat, you are a much better combatant. And it is a lot to take in at first. The tutorial is a bit long and it grinds the intro
of this game to a halt. I did it before you buy on it and I was very complimentary to it. But if there's one criticism
I can give it, it's that. That said, once you get past that, once you're off and running,
this is a hell of a game. The amazing visuals add a
ton to the experience, too. Some of the cut scenes are
like feature-film-level quality in terms of animation. And, you know, a lot of it, you feel like, is a kind of a throwback to
"Jet Set Radio" style stuff. Obviously, there's other
animation styles mixed in there, but you kind of instantly have
that thought for a minute. And in truth, this game,
when you describe it, it's a rhythm action game. That doesn't sound like it will work, but "Hi-Fi Rush" pulls it off. And finally at number one,
it's "Batman: Arkham Asylum," which comes in at about 11 hours. The original Rocksteady "Batman" game is the shortest in the
series at only 11 hours, but it's also the most varied, fun, and exciting 11 hours you're gonna spend. Back when "Arkham Asylum" first came out, it felt like a damn miracle. Somehow, the devs were able to create a kind of new combat system
that was fun and really fluid, making you feel like a total badass. Well, also creating a new kind of stealth that made you the predator
instead of the prey. I mean, you really have to think about how innovative
"Arkham Asylum" actually is. It can't be understated, truthfully, how innovative it was
when it first came out. Even now, it's been so thoroughly copied. But you go back to it, and it's really, really entertaining. Right from the start, it's a nonstop rollercoaster
ride through the asylum where you're fighting enemies,
solving riddle or puzzles, sneaking around, and doing much more. That's what makes this
game so freaking great. You're constantly getting new
stuff that mixes everything up and you stay on your toes the whole time. It's one of the best-designed, most fun 10-hour games there is, period. I have a view bonuses for you too. First, "Metro 2033", which is nine hours, and "Metro: Last Light," which is 9.5. Single-player, first-person shooter is kind of a dying breed. You either get huge
open-world ones like "Far Cry" or short little four-hour campaigns tacked onto a multiplayer
game like "Call of Duty." The third "Metro" dipped
its shoes in the open world is much longer 'cause of it, but the first two are really tightly-paced linear narrative shooters. They're set in a place you
wouldn't think would work, but it does, and they do such a great
job focusing on atmosphere. If you had to pick one of the two, I'd maybe say "Last Light." Definitely fantastic stuff. Next is "Bomb Rush Cyberfunk," a spiritual successor to "Jet Set Radio." And in all seriousness, this game does a great job
following up "Jet Set Radio" by adding things in a tasteful manner, like how it handles combat, which they also smartly
make you use immediately so you even realize it's there. It's probably the weakest
part of it, honestly, but it's also nice to actually
be able to defend yourself in what feels like "Jet Set Radio." And it certainly doesn't get in the way of everything that this
game really excelled at. I mean, it really feels
like "Jet Set Radio," which is a game that
excelled at grinding around these weird, kind of sci-fi, futuristic, ultra
Japanese-looking environments. And finally, "Kena: Bridge of Spirits." A kinder, gentler "Souls" like. Not that long, but there's some good
movie-quality cut scenes and surprisingly challenging combat. The exploration and
story also highlights... I mean, it's just a very
good "Souls" adjacent game that you probably wouldn't
guess is a "Souls" adjacent game from looking at it. And it's also not excruciatingly long. And that's all for today. Leave us a comment, let
us know what you think. If you like this video, click like. If you're not subscribed,
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much for watching this video. I'm Falcon, you can follow
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right here on gameranx.
