The quiet joy of a short adventure game

We've been trained to measure games by how long they last, as if a shorter story is a worse deal. Lanterns of the Deep Wood reminded me how wrong that is. I finished it in an evening and thought about it for days.

Short games can be tightly paced in a way long ones rarely manage. There's no filler, no padding stretched over a content roadmap. Every scene earns its place because there's no room to waste.

On a phone this matters even more. A five-hour adventure fits into real life. You can actually see the ending instead of abandoning it at hour twenty like so many sprawling RPGs I've quietly deleted.

So if you've been bouncing off huge games lately, try something small and complete. Finishing a story feels surprisingly good, and mobile is full of these little gems if you look past the endless-content marketing.