When it comes to the concept of time, you usually have to suspend your disbelief when playing video games. Various gaming heroes often spend weeks and months at a time performing quests and activities, unrealistically going for hours without eating, sleeping, or taking a well-deserved break.
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Then there are experiences that try and ground you more in their stories by having the entire game take place over the course of a single day. Here you are much more invested in the journey, as you can empathize with the physical and mental ordeal they have to endure. Here are a few games that take place over a very long and arduous 24 hours.
Be warned: there are some spoilers that follow for some of the games discussed.
10 A Short Hike
In A Short Hike, you play as Claire, an energetic little bird that needs to reach the top of a mountain to find a signal for her mobile phone. You can play the game at whichever pace you choose - meeting townsfolk, playing sports, and digging up treasures - all to improve your stamina to climb ever-higher up the mountain peak.
It takes place on a chilled-out and gloriously golden autumnal afternoon, and how fast you reach your goal is completely up to you. It has a gorgeous 3D isometric art style and a wonderful dynamic soundtrack to accompany you on a journey that won’t be soon forgotten.
9 Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time
With its fantastic storytelling, revolutionary platforming, and brilliant voice cast, it’s safe to say that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is widely received as the best game in the series.
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Even though the events of the entire game presumably occur over a few days, at the end of the game, the Prince must trigger a “Grand Rewind” to save Farah from her tragic fate. This rewinds time to before the beginning of the game, meaning that everything has taken place within a few hours or so since the beginning battle.
8 Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Conker’s Bad Fur Day acts as a swansong of sorts for Rare’s final game of their glorious Nintendo 64 run. It follows the titular Conker, a squirrel with a drinking problem, hungover in an unfamiliar land, trying to piece together what happened the booze-filled night before.
What follows is a hilarious adventure filled with wacky situations and crazy characters, including a boss fight with a giant opera-singing poo and getting drafted into a war between furry squirrels and fuzzy teddy bears. Conker is later crowned king in perhaps the most eventful and hilarious day ever to have existed in video game form.
7 Portal 2
As the sequel to one of the most beloved puzzle platformers of all time, Portal 2 didn’t need to do much to please fans of the original. This time the quick-witted GLaDOS subjects Chell to even more puzzles and rigorous portal-based testing, and she must do all she can to escape the facility once again.
There are no breaks or camera cuts throughout the entire experience, meaning that Chell’s escape is all in real-time. As it can be completed in about 8 hours, we can only assume that it all took place during one very long and tiring day. It makes it all the more cathartic when Chell rises from the depths while being serenaded by GLaDOS and a choir of operatic turrets as she finally emerges into freedom above ground.
6 12 Minutes
Not only does 12 Minutes occur in a single day, but all the mystifyingly harrowing events also occur within, well… 12 minutes. It’s a top-down interactive thriller about a man trapped in an endless time loop until he can solve the mystery of the murder that his wife is accused of.
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You are confined to a single apartment and must scour through each room in hopes of finding the right clue. After a few minutes, a police officer will arrive, and events will soon turn tragic unless you put the right pieces in place. If not, you have to start from the beginning yet again. It’s a unique and interesting experience accompanied by a stellar A-list voice cast.
5 Batman: Arkham Series
Though technically not during daylight hours, each game in the Batman: Arkham Series takes place over the course of one very arduous and stressful night for Batman and the poor inhabitants of Gotham.
Arkham Asylum sees Batman fall into a trap laid out by the Joker in Gotham’s most feared prison, while Arkham City and Arkham Knight both open things out to Gotham city. They are each filled with plenty of thugs, mind-altering toxins, Batmobiles, and some of Batman’s toughest nemeses - all within one extremely long evening. In each game, Batman’s costume becomes more battered and dirty as the night goes on, reflecting his physical and mental exhaustion from accomplishing the task at hand.
4 Dead Space
In space, no one can hear you scream, nor can they hear you ruthlessly dismember mutated corpse monsters with technologically advanced mining tools. Dead Space follows Isaac Clarke in perhaps the most regretful response to a distress call ever made.
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The entire game occurs in a continuous sequence aboard the eerily desolate USG Ishimura, where Isaac must weaponize his tools and upgrade his spacesuit to survive the insufferable onslaught of nasty creatures. As the events occur in a continuous sequence, it is assumed that it takes place over 24 hours, making it a very long day at the office indeed.
3 Control
Control is another game that transpires in one day and in a single location, though with all its shifting walls and rooms, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise. After becoming the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Control, Jesse must explore the shape-shifting and ethereal Oldest House in an attempt to stop its destruction.
As the day continues, you will gain more powers to take down your foes in mind-bending and gravity-defying ways. And that's only when you're not also gaining access to previously inaccessible areas in true Metroidvania style. By the end, Jesse will have fully embraced her new role as Director, with a new suit for the job, a fresh hairdo, and a renewed sense of purpose.
2 God of War
With everything Kratos and Atreus have gone through in God of War, it can be hard to imagine that all the events were carried out over a single day. No loading screens are present in the entire game as it uses a clever single-shot camera approach, always keeping you in the action.
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As Mimir explains during one of your many expeditions along the rivers of Midgard, time flows differently according to which realm you are in. From the perspective of Kratos, this is one continuous and very tiring day, fighting a variety of fantastical creatures, giants, and Gods of Norse mythology. We believe Atreus when he exclaims his need for a bit of bed rest after finally returning home at the end of the game. He earned it!
1 The Forgotten City
For a game that started out as a humble Skyrim mod, The Forgotten City has done more than enough to earn its well-deserved critical acclaim on its own merits. It is another time loop experience set against the backdrop of adventure and mystery in Ancient Rome.
It has an interesting and compelling premise: if any of the 22 residents of the city commit a sin, everyone will turn to gold, and the day is reset. It makes for an intriguing and rewarding experience as you carefully pull each narrative thread. It’s one of the more interesting takes on the time loop formula, and it’s a joy to relive this day over and over to engage with its rich characters and compelling story.
Next: Games That Place Over A Single Night
