Like it, but shorter

Long games people love, and shorter ones that keep the part you came for. Every pick runs under half the length.

• Like Elden Ring, but shorter9 to 28.5 h8 gamesElden Ring's main story is about 60 hours. These keep the part you came for (bosses that teach you their pattern, levels that loop back on themselves) and finish in half the time or less.
• Like Baldur's Gate 3, but shorter7 to 31 h7 gamesBaldur's Gate 3's main story is about 75 hours. These keep the part you came for (a party with opinions, dice that decide things, choices the story remembers) and finish in under half that.
• Like The Witcher 3, but shorter8.5 to 24 h6 gamesThe Witcher 3's main story is about 52 hours. These keep the part you came for (monster jobs with a sting in the tail, side stories with no right answer, a grim world that's still funny) and finish in under half that.
• Like Persona 5 Royal, but shorter11.5 to 37.5 h7 gamesPersona 5 Royal's main story is about 100 hours. These keep the part you came for (a cast you get to know, a city with style, fights built on finding a weakness) and finish in well under half that.
• Like Red Dead Redemption 2, but shorter4 to 17.5 h6 gamesRed Dead Redemption 2's main story is about 50 hours. These keep the part you came for (the frontier, a gang that's a family until it isn't, long quiet rides) and finish in under half that.
• Like Tears of the Kingdom, but shorter1.5 to 25.5 h8 gamesTears of the Kingdom's main story is about 60 hours. These keep the part you came for (go anywhere, climb anything, solve it your own way) and finish in half the time or less.

Hours are my estimates at a normal pace. Open a game for live times against your own week.