Like The Witcher 3, but shorter

The 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.

Shorter games like The Witcher 3, shortest first, with each one's main story in hours and its share of The Witcher 3's 52 hours.
Game	Main story	Of The Witcher 3
The Wolf Among Us Adventure 8.5 h16% of the time Fairy tales hiding in 1980s New York, and the sheriff who cleans up after them. A monster-hunter story told as a noir. Keeps Investigations, a tired lead with a temper and choices about how hard to push. Drops Swords, skill trees and the open world.	8.5 h	16%
A Plague Tale: Innocence Adventure 10 ha fifth of the time Two children crossing plague-era France, a step ahead of the Inquisition and a lot of rats. Grim the way Velen is grim. Keeps A bleak medieval countryside, and a story about protecting a child with a gift. Drops Most of the fighting. You sneak, distract and run.	10 h	a fifth
Pentiment Narrative 15 h29% of the time A murder in a 16th-century Bavarian abbey town. You have to accuse someone, you won't be sure, and nobody tells you if you were right. Keeps Quests with no clean answer, and a town that remembers what you decided. Drops Combat of any kind.	15 h	29%
Vampyr Action RPG 17 ha third of the time A doctor in 1918 London who is also a vampire. Every named citizen is a side story, and also dinner. Keeps Side stories with moral weight, and monster hunting in a city at its worst. Drops The scale. It's four districts, not a continent.	17 h	a third
Black Book Card RPG 20.5 h39% of the time Slavic folklore played straight: a young witch in 19th-century Russia taking on village demons, one card battle at a time. Keeps Slavic folklore, monster jobs for villagers and problems only a witch can fix. Drops Swordplay. Fights are played with a deck of cards.	20.5 h	39%
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Action RPG 24 hhalf the time Geralt before the open world. One choice at the end of the first act decides which half of the second act you get to see. Keeps Geralt, the politics and choices with long consequences. Drops The open world and some of the polish. The combat is stiffer.	24 h	half