Long Games that I Have Never Finished

[Edit: I pressed publish by accident. Some games added]

Length is an important variable for a video game. It is a bit curious, because for the similar prices, even the shortest game will be much longer than a movie. But among its peers, games do have a scale.

Many companies advertise the amount of hours to finish their games. There is even a great website called, you guessed it, GameLenghts that tracks how long users take to finish the game. There is a second site, and my favorite in the market, called How Long to Beat, that I feel more complete.

Bigger is not Better.

Most games suffer from a syndrome that most players never reaches the end of it. Sometime not even half of it. Many games do have achievements triggered when the player crosses the line. I currently have being playing some short games that I felt much more fulfilling. Some let me wanting more. But honestly I feel that wanting more is a better feeling “this game never ends!”.

I believe the story driven games should have a more concise length. It could be delivered in chunks, for those that want more. Open-world games, like GTA and Skyrim/Fallout, are understandably really long, allowing the players explore various things.

Here is a list of some games that I personally never finished.

• Divinity Original Sin: this one I will finish soon. But it entered the list because I’ve played many games in the between.
• (²)Skyrim: yes yes… I know. After not liking the previous installment, I came to this game knowing that I would struggle. After meeting The Witcher 3, it now seems likely to be played again
• Borderlands 2: I played mechanically. Despite knowing that it is a nice game, I struggle to do it so brainlessly
• (¹)Bioshock Infinite: I started, I felt a bit fake and the story never hooked me
• LA Noire: I am in a very late mission, but I think the saving I got is lost, so I might never finish it
• (¹)Dishonored: I started but soon uninstalled to open space to play The Witcher 3 expansions.
• Transistor: I installed in my Linux notebook, but I rarely used to play games
• Alan Wake: it’s a bit stressful to play. Also, I was not having time to play at night to fully appreciate it
• (¹)Half-Life 2: I always stop in a certain point than something happens that I move on
• (¹)Spec Ops: The Line: I played a bit and did not think it was amazing, but I feel it will surprise me
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent: I loved the whole concept, but by the end of a session I feel exhausted because of the level of fear and stress.
• Hitman Absolution: I stopped in a given level than I moved on.
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning: I liked the like story and the gameplay. But the game seems endless. I might play it more
• Alien Isolation: the same as Amnesia. I always feel that I like horror games, but I feel very stressed out after while
• Invisible Inc.: the same as Transistor.
• FEZ: I liked the puzzles, but there are several of them tooo obscure for the to find fun on solving.
• (¹)Enslaved: Odyssey to the West: I liked it, and I feel it is good. It is installed, waiting to be played.
• Psychonauts: I played a lot before Steam having a cloud save and my PC crashing
• (¹)Metro 2033: felt another FPS at the time.

And the list goes on…

In a list of more the 200 games I own and played, it is comparatively short list. Most of them are long games.

In bold, some that I try to play it again in the future, mostly because there are some that I liked so far, and I feel shame in not getting it to the final. I wanted to say that the others will be played in the future, but knowing that I will buy newer games, it is not honest with myself 😛

(¹) Edited on 2021-09-20: Finished!

(²) Edited on 2023-03-09: Finished Skyrim at last!