13/07/2021 14:51:30 / 2 years ago / Author: Andy Robertson
We all have different amounts of time available to play games in our lives. When children come along how much time we have to play games changes again. Games have to fit in around everything else going on.
Finding games suitable for the
age of your child can open the door to playing together. But often it's how long games take to play that is a big factor in whether we are able to enjoy them at our particular stage of life.
These are games that work well when you don't know how much time you have. They are played in short rounds and usually take less than 20 minutes to finish. They can also work well in a family with children of varied attention spans.
These are games that you can complete in 2 hours or less. They are designed to be consumed in a couple of sessions. These shorter games are often enjoyable to play for a second or third time to see different outcomes or achievements.
These are games that need a bit of investment. Perhaps the length of a shorter Netflix show or short novel. They will take a good three sessions of an hour and a half to finish. These games can offer more substantial experiences and narratives that develop over this time.
As games get longer they can be more ambitious about the worlds they create and the stories they tell. Some of these games are long because they offer spaces with lots to do. Other games are long because they take you on a linear journey with lots of twists and turns.
These really long games offer an experience that you can lose yourself in for weeks and months. Depending on how often you play the game can become part of your daily routine. Players enjoy these longer games not only because they offer good value for money but because the scope can grow in unexpected and breathtaking ways.
These games are the real monsters of the video game world. They can take hundreds of hours. This is sometimes because they are so difficult that you need to practice over and over before you beat them. This can be because they create huge worlds with seemingly endless things to do. Or it can be that they create spaces where you want to spent a lot of your time, maybe interacting with other people online.