Picture this: it’s Christmas Eve, your calendar is cleared, your beverage of choice is sweating bullets, and you’ve just booted up your console for some over-the-holiday gaming. But oh no! Your boss is blowing up your phone with emails detailing the strict return-to-work policy, effective from early 2025. There’s no use loading up Baldur’s Gate 3 or any of those games that have sat on your wishlist just yet, is there?
Instead, why not pick up one of the five games – hand-picked by Stuff – that we guarantee will leave you bawling, cheering, or shaking your fist at the credits before the week is over? Hell, with a little elbow grease, we don’t see why you can’t beat your game of choice before the sun is up. Are you dedicated enough? Time to find out.
Outer Wilds
A sprawling mystery at the heart of an immense, doomed galaxy? One that’s stuck in a 22-minute-long time loop? If your first response to that is “Huh?” and not “Where do we sign up, captain?” then Annapurna Interactive’s gorgeous cel-shaded adventure may not be worthy of your time and money.
This isn’t your typical No Man’s Sky, either. Outer Wilds’ universe doesn’t quite reach the spectacle that is Hello Games’ expansive 18-quintillion planets (by about 17,999,999,999,999,999,994), but it’s all the more personal for it. Traversing the five intricately crafted planets is simply a delight, and best accompanied by a bit of Pink Floyd.
Outer Wilds’ gameplay isn’t extensive. It’s a first-person adventure that’ll have you hurtling through space and time as an unnamed Heathian native to discover the secret of your system’s impending doom. Every 22 minutes, the sun literally explodes and sends them hurtling back to the very beginning. Do not be disheartened – this is Outer Wilds’ greatest strength, weaving together a narrative that can’t be put down.
Outer Wilds may be the longest game on this list, but it’s also the most rewarding of those sparing hours you’re so generously dedicating. If you do manage to beat Outer Wilds and crack the mystery within, why not dive right back into the game’s DLC: Echoes of the Eye?
Time to beat: 15-17 hours
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Braid, Anniversary Edition
Longtime readers will already know all about Braid – Jonathan Blow’s puzzling platformer that’ll leave you reflecting on every single one of your choices – both within the game and in real life – while the game’s haunting score wriggles its way into your mind. Sounds like a lot of fun, right?
For the most part, you’d be right. Braid is mechanically simple, consisting of nothing more than traversing left, right, up, down, and jumping around the brilliant hand-painted scenery. Oh, and you control the very fabric of space and time. Apart from that, easy. But it’s Braid’s unassuming story that gets you, proving itself to be a tough pill to swallow, even if it comes across as nothing more than a facetious “retelling” of Mario.
Braid follows Tim in his attempts to rescue a princess from the big bad monster… That’s it. That’s the story. But along the way, the player is offered several privileged insights into the mind of Tim, seeing his dreams, thoughts, and goals as clearly as if they were words on a screen. We wonder why that is.
While Jonathan Blow’s work of art can be found almost anywhere, we’d urge players to begin their journey on the Anniversary Edition (if you don’t already have a copy of the original in your Steam account somewhere). It’s easily the most beautifully dense and accessible version of this game, and can even be found for free on Netflix.
Time to beat: 6-7 hours
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Netflix (Android & iOS)
Astro Bot
Astro Bot is far and above the easiest game we’ve ever had the pleasure of recommending. It helps that Geoff Keighley and his minions recently crowned Team Asobi’s cutesy 3D platformer as the Game of the Year for 2024, despite the relatively short runtime.
Think of what might happen if Super Mario Odyssey and Little Big Planet had a baby, except that Sony convinced the courts that Nintendo was a deadbeat and won the custody battle. That’s Astro Bot. The titular Astro can’t quite match the energy of Nintendo’s favourite boy, but it sure tries. Coupled with gorgeous worlds, creative bosses, and bonkers physics, Astro Bot is an investment that has kept us busy well beyond the main campaign.
It’s Astro’s constantly evolving moveset that keeps things from going stale, unlike that dodgy loaf of bread you’re too scared to make eye contact with. Every level presents the player with some sort of new gimmick, whether it be frog hands, rocket dogs, or time control as they hunt down the various bots (regularly wearing some sort of PlayStation-themed garment) scattered throughout the world and put their PS5 mothership back together.
The only thing Astro Bot has going against it? It’s a PS5 exclusive, at least for now. It’s also not the cheapest.
Time to beat: 10-14 hours
Available on: PS5
It Takes Two
It Takes Two is a special case. Sure, it meets the criteria necessary to earn a spot on this list, but there is a catch. You’ll need someone, anyone, to join you along the journey, for this is Hazelight’s bread and butter: co-op. Foregoing the brutish realism of A Way Out, It Takes Two breathes new life into the couch co-op genre with an exciting and equally emotionally exhausting tale.
It Takes Two is a puzzle game at heart, even if it does occasionally borrow tropes from nearly every other genre at some point or another. You’ll play as Cody and May, troubled parents planning to split up their marriage – before their stricken child wishes them to be dolls, and dolls they become. Cody and May have to set aside their differences and use their unique powers to make it back to their kid before they, you know, starve. Or worse.
It’s truly heartwarming stuff, for the most part. Except for those occasional moments when Cody and May really dig into their relationship or stray off the beaten path to defile your child-like wonder right in front of your eyes. Tastefully, of course, all while the brilliantly artsy worlds float on by. But we’ll leave it there for now.
Time to beat: 13-15 hours
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Ghostrunner
Patience. Restraint. Endurance. Those may all be synonyms, but the PRE method is key to figuring out Ghostrunner. It’s not like there are (many) puzzles that need beating. Quite the opposite, in fact. See, Ghostrunner is mindless, smooth violence from start to finish. It has a single job and executes it to perfection.
Maybe “mindless” is the wrong word. Ghostrunner is hard. Really hard. At least at first. It takes a lot of trial and error before you can come to grips with the extensive mobility system, allowing you to dodge bullets mid-air (Neo style), run along walls, run faster than Usain Bolt, and wave your sword around like the chick who killed Bill.
Once you’ve cleared a few levels, however, Ghostrunner’s best attributes begin to shine through the never-ending ‘you died’ screen of death – like the wonderfully tight level design that allows players to tackle a room in any order they wish – or even the vaguely interesting story we won’t hold against you for forgetting.
Time to beat: 13-15 hours
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC