Returnal, Resident Evil REmakes, most Giant Bomb games, Firewatch, Hellblade…

If you liked Alan Wake, definitely give the RE remakes and Hellblade a shot, and don’t sleep on Firewatch. In fact, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is probably one of the most thoughtful and atmospheric experiences in gaming (at least in the field of 3rd person, pseudo action games).

I went on my steam profile (note these are all PC games, but some are on console) and looked at all the games I finished in under 20 hours at least once and enjoyed so I’ll just list them here. It’s in descending order from most (20.1 hours) to least (68 minutes):

I put a star next to the ones I’d recommend in a heartbeat even without the 20 hour limit.

• Mirror’s Edge ★
• The Stanley Parable ★ (although may take you at least 20 to find all endings / easter eggs / secrets)
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ★ (due to the fact that it’s the middle game in an incomplete trilogy, also recommend Deus Ex: Human Revolution but that’s more than 20)
• Hotline Miami ★
• Little Inferno
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
• Dishonored ★
• Myst
• DOOM (2016) ★
• Wolfenstein: The New Order ★
• Portals 1 & 2 ★
• Return of the Obra Dinn ★ (beat twice in 9 hours)
• Kentucky Route Zero ★
• The Henry Stickmin Collection ★
• FAR: Lone Sails
• Titanfall 2
• DUSK ★
• COD: Modern Warfare 2
• Ghostrunner (didn’t like this but it seemed most people who weren’t me did so i’m putting it here)
• Thomas Was Alone
• Jazzpunk: Director’s Cut ★
• Gunpoint ★
• Orwell
• Firewatch
• Superliminal ★
• Observer_ ★
• SUPERHOT ★
• The Beginner’s Guide
• BattleBlock Theater
• INSIDE ★
• EDGE
• Quadrilateral Cowboy
• Journey ★

edit: saw u said “story heavy” so i removed some of the arcadey ones. Some of these aren’t exactly “story heavy” depending on ur definition but they at least have a story

Depending on your puzzle solving abilities, Outer Wilds (not Outer Worlds!) should only take around 15-20 hours.

Extra bonus, it can be played in very short sessions very easily and has a great in-game log of events in case you have to put it down for a little while.

I’mma do it, I’mma be the one to bring up Undertale this time (estimated 2 hours, worth a few replays), there’s also little nightmares (2-4 hours depending on platforming skills) which is a spooky little game, but not too spooky if you ever play in front of the kids.

Bastion or Transistor, both early Supergiant games.

I’ll always recommend What Remains of Edith Finch into these sorts of conversations. Absolute one of my favourite shorter experiences.

Gris. It’s like playing an art piece.

Great idea for a post. I feel the same with games and novels.

Portal and Portal 2 must be on this list. If you’ve never played then, you must. It is that simple.

You should give Guardians of the Galaxy a try. I’m not really a Marvel fan but the game is great and should take around 20 hours to complete.

Jade Empire - a little older Bioware action RPG, originally for the Xbox, but can be found on GOG. Runs between 12 to 20 hours.

Undertale - my favourite game of all time, easy to play, excellent story, and incredible soundtrack.

Journey is a game you could easily finish in one sitting. Short but sweet, and very easy to get swept up in the atmosphere.

I haven’t finished Spec Ops: The Line, but I recommend that. It looks like your average American propaganda third person shooter but the story is actually super interesting and thought provoking. Looking at https://howlongtobeat.com/, it’s 6 hours for the main story.

I’m usually way more into short arcadey yet narrative games like Hotline Miami, but based on your list I’d wholeheartedly recommend What Remains of Edith Finch. It’s a bunch of very short story vignettes, so even if you only have 30 minutes you know you’ll complete one.

Night in the Woods might also interest you. I would always play one in-game day (which is about 1 hour each) to relax before going to bed.

Stray.