10 Short Xbox Game Pass Games to Beat in One Sitting

The Xbox Game Pass is home to hundreds of free games, and it can be hard to know where to start. Depending on your membership tier, you’ll have access to hundreds of indie darlings, triple-A hits, and everything in between.
Sometime, you want a long game with a massive world to explore. But other times, you just want a bite-sized snack of a game to enjoy between bigger adventures. Luckily, the Xbox Game Pass catalog has plenty of short games that can be beaten in one sitting. These quick games are still excellent titles, and can be completed in under 5 hours, according to HowLongToBeat.
Lara Croft And The Temple Of Osiris Is A Different Take On Tomb Raider
5 Hours To Beat
The Tomb Raider spinoff titles aren’t as popular as the main games, but they’re still fun adventures starring the popular Lara Croft.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is the 2014 sequel to Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. It features Lara and up to three friends on a new adventure in Egypt. Instead of a traditional 3D view, Temple of Osiris uses a fixed top-down camera and a mix of action and puzzles.
The main game takes just five hours to beat, though completionists will spend closer to 13 hours with the game.
Day Of The Tentacle Remastered Is A Bite-Sized Classic
5 Hours To Beat
The original Day of the Tentacle was a classic 1993 point and click by adventure game legend Ron Gilbert. The remastered version was released in 2016 with brand-new hand-drawn artwork and remastered music and sound effects.
This version allows you to switch between the original and remastered versions of the game, so you can choose how you enjoy your bite-sized adventure game. Day of the Tentacle Remastered takes about five hours to complete. Can you stop Dr. Fred’s mutated tentacle monster from taking over the world?
Planet Of Lana Is A Beautiful Story About Hope
4.5 Hours To Beat
War has arrived in Wishfully’s Planet of Lana, but the title isn’t about the war. Instead, the game focuses on the beauty and hope that remains in the face of destruction. The gorgeous pixel environments make a vibrant backdrop to the story, which follows a young girl and her cat-like companion on a perilous journey.
Planet of Lana takes about four and a half hours to complete. If you’re left wanting more, a second game is coming out in 2026, and it a highly anticipated indie game of the year.
Carrion Makes You The Monster
4.5 Hours To Beat
In most games, you play the good guy protagonist destroying monsters left and right. In Carrion by Phobia Game Studio, you play as the monster. Control a tentacled monster that’s breaking out of the strange facility where you’ve been confined.
Fight back against the people who kept you imprisoned and ran tests on you. Grow in power as you explore this reverse-Metroidvania not as the hero, but as the terrifying nightmare creature that heroes usually battle. The experience takes roughly four and a half hours to complete, but it will haunt your memory for much longer.
Keeper Follows A Lighthouse And Its Bird Friend
4.5 Hours To Beat
Keeper was developed by Double Fine Productions, known for beloved classics like Grim Fandango and Psychonauts. The game was released in 2025, but it flew under the radar despite being “one of 2025’s best games,” according to ScreenRant’s Nicholas Becher.
The protagonist of Keeper is a sentient lighthouse and its bird companion. The colors, locations, and entire feel of the game is as whimsical as you might imagine from that description and the studio.
Over 4.5 hours, adventure deeper into the lighthouse’s island. Undergo a mysterious transformation and uncover the secrets of the world without a single word used.
Stacking Is A Multi-Layered Game
4 Hours To Beat
Also from Double Fine Productions, Stacking is a 2012 game that didn’t get as much attention as the studio’s other hits. And that’s a shame, because Stacking is a game with a delightful concept.
You play as Charlie, the smallest doll in a world of nesting dolls. The mechanic of the game involves merging with larger nesting dolls. some of which have special abilities.
Use other dolls to solve puzzles and get out of tricky situations as you rescue Charlie’s family from the nefarious Baron. The base game only takes about four hours, but exploring all the areas of the unique world can take up to nine hours.
Firewatch Is A Story About Wilderness And Humanity
4 Hours To Beat
Journey through the Wyoming wilderness as Henry, the fire lookout. At the surface level, Campo Santo’s Firewatch is a walking simulator through the picturesque nature of Wyoming. But as you wander through the different landmarks, and areas, you unravel Henry’s story, learn about how he ended up in this lonely job, and even resolve a mystery.
Unlike many other walking simulators, in which you simply absorb the story, in Firewatch, your choices matter. How you respond to situations and people will shape the direction the game takes you in. You can complete Firewatch in about four hours.
Herdling Is A Short Walk Through A Wide World
3.5 Hours To Beat
Herdling is a 2025 game from Okomotive that doesn’t just put you in charge of one protagonist. Instead, you’re tasked with guiding and protecting a herd of giant sheep-like Calicorns through several perilous environments.
There is no fighting in Herdling. You’ll have to rely on your wits as you bypass threats and trek through fog, snow, mountains, valleys, and plateaus. Herdling is a contemplative experience that only takes about 3.5 hours to complete.
Inside Is A Creepy And Puzzling Side-Scroller
3.5 Hours To Beat
The 2010 indie hit Limbo inspired an entire genre of games that follow the same setup: a protagonist side-scrolling their way through a dark and shadowy world. Inside by Playdead is the studio’s followup to Limbo, and it’s just as beloved as its predecessor.
Inside is about a young boy who gets entangled in a sinister conspiracy. The game pits you against terrifying giant machines and nefarious enemies.
The puzzle-heavy side-scroller is an atmospheric and unsettling experience that only takes about 3.5 hours to complete. Coincidentally, Limbo is also on the Xbox Game Pass and is also 3.5 hours to beat.
Superliminal Is A Mind-Bending Puzzler
2.5 Hours To Beat
Superliminal is a trippy puzzle game that requires you to change your perspective to solve environmental conundrums. The game feels like playing through an optical illusion, and uses angles, perspective, and other mind-melting illusions to get through a dream world.