9 greatest 'palate cleanser' games to play alongside your latest AAAs
Topics: List, Xbox, PlayStation, PC, Nintendo
Featured Image Credit: Xbox Game Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment/Panic
Topics: List, Xbox, PlayStation, PC, Nintendo
As time goes on, AAA games are only getting bigger, and as we get older, we have less and less time to devote 100+ hours to a playthrough of Crimson Desert…
So it’s a good thing that there are still games being developed that pride themselves on being bite-sized experiences that don’t take several evenings to beat. They can provide a great bit of respite when you’ve had your fill of the latest releases.
Below are nine such games that make for a short and sweet playthrough should you need a gaming palate cleanser.
Starting off with an easy one, Journey is a game you beat in two hours if you don’t care about collectibles, and boasts one of the best silent stories ever told in gaming
It can be yours for just $14.99/£11.99 on the PlayStation and Steam stores.
From personal experience, A Little To The Left is like the Marmite of games. Some will find it cosy and relaxing, whereas others will find it incredibly vexing.
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It’s a game all about organisation, and it’ll take you about four hours to solve all of its arrangement puzzles.
PlayStation Plus subscribers can play it at no additional cost until August 2026, but it’s also on sale on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch platforms for $5.99/£5.19. It’s fully priced at $14.99/£12.99 on Steam.
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It doesn’t look like much at first glance, but Sledding Game is one of the most pleasant games we’ve played for quite some time. There’s no real objective, so you can dip in and dip out with no worries.
Lucky for you, it’s available at no additional cost with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, or purchasable for $7.99/£6.39 on Xbox and Steam.
Like Journey, Dredge is a narratively gripping game that’ll pull you into its depths at awesome speed.
We won’t give anything away, as its 10-hour story benefits from a blind playthrough. It’s available with Xbox Game Pass Premium and PlayStation Plus Extra, with the full game costing $24.99/£21.99 on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam, but $9.99/£8.79 on Nintendo Switch/Switch 2.
In honour of Double Fine after Xbox’s distasteful treatment of the studio as of late, we’d implore you to spend five hours playing through Keeper.
The notion of a lighthouse coming to life is ludicrous, and yet, Keeper makes it work. It’s available through Xbox Game Pass and on sale for $14.99/£12.49. It’s available at full price on Steam for $29.99/£24.99.
You can’t go wrong with a PowerWash Simulator game, and PowerWash Simulator 2 is a noticeable improvement over the first game. It takes 35-40 hours to beat, but its level-by-level progression makes it a good one to pick up and put down at your leisure.
It’s currently included in an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, but available for $24.99/£19.99 on Xbox, Steam and Nintendo Switch/Switch 2. It’s also discounted for $18.74/£14.99 on PlayStation.
Buckshot Roulette will probably take you around 45 minutes to an hour at most, but you won’t be satisfied with just one playthrough.
To see what we mean, you can play it now via Xbox Game Pass, or purchase it for the low, low price of $2.99/£2.49 on Xbox and Steam.
As one of 2025’s best indie games, Thank Goodness You’re Here is a must-play, especially for our UK readers. Its comedy knows no limits, and you can experience the full game in a crisp 2-ish hours
It’s available with a PlayStation Plus Extra subscription, and it’s now discounted for $9.99/ £7.49 on the PlayStation Store. Elsewhere, it’s priced at the normal $19.99/£15.99.
What starts off as a cosy game about watching the forest takes a mysterious and sinister turn in Firewatch.
It should only take you about five hours to beat, and that’s if you want to be a completionist. You can play it with Xbox Game Pass Essential, or buy the full game for $19.99/£15.99 on Xbox, $19.99/£14.99 on PlayStation, $19.99/£16.75 on Steam, and finally $19.99/£14.99 on Nintendo Switch/Switch 2.