When you think of RPGs, you probably imagine huge adventures that take dozens of hours to complete. For many RPG fans, that’s part of the appeal, the ability to get lost in a game’s world for countless hours. But not everyone has 40+ hours to spare on a single game, and that kind of time sink might feel like a huge commitment.
Luckily, not all RPGs take a huge number of hours to complete. The Xbox Game Pass has a surprising number of excellent RPGs that you can finish in a single weekend, offering a satisfying one-and-done without the grind. These RPGs on the service take 13 or fewer hours to beat, according to HowLongToBeat (based on the time it takes to beat the main story).
10
Back to the Dawn
Time To Beat: 13 Hours
Back to the Dawn by Metal Head Games is a narrative-driven RPG that largely takes place in an unusual location: a high-security prison. Play as one of two protagonists as they untangle a web of lies and corruption with wide-reaching repercussions.
Manage your selected character through the complicated world of the prison system, forge alliances, and find a way out—for the sake of the entire city.
9
The Ascent
Time To Beat: 12 Hours
This single- and multiplayer shooter title was the debut game of Neon Giant in 2021, and it’s a promising start to the studio’s portfolio. The Ascent offers high-octane action as you shoot your way through a detailed isometric cyberpunk city, completing quests for unique characters and trying to uncover what has caused The Ascent Group to shut down.
On one hand, you’d be better off without the group, which watches over the sprawling metropolis where people live in poverty and under the controlling all-seeing eye of the corporation. On the other hand, you’re still enslaved to them, and you don’t exactly have much choice.
Rise to the literal top of the world as you level up, customize your skills, and try different weapons and augmentations in your quest to save the world—and maybe yourself, too.
Time To Beat: 6 Hours
Though it’s best known for its side-scrolling run-and-gun arcade-style games, the Metal Slug franchise also includes the 2024 Metal Slug Tactics RPG. Developed by Leikir Studio in collaboration with Dotemu, the series’ original creators, this game blends elements of Roguelites with grid- and turn-based combat.
Metal Slug Tactics adapts the series’ characters and lore to a tactical RPG battlefield that takes just six hours to complete. Wage combat against the Rebel Army using classic tactics mechanics that pay homage to the original.
7
Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand
Time To Beat: 11 Hours
When Atlas Fallen was released in August 2023 by developer Deck13 Interactive, it received mixed reviews from both critics and players alike. Luckily, the version of this game available on the Xbox Game Pass is the much better-rated Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand, which includes the free update that was released almost exactly one year after launch.
Atlas Rising is an action RPG centered around battling larger-than-life monsters either solo or in co-op mode, then harvesting their essences to use in future combat. Glide through the sands through Reign of Sand, which includes updates like new voice acting and a revamped campaign, and new content that expands the world and adds new monsters and game modes.
6
Costume Quest & Costume Quest 2
Time To Beat: 5.5 And 6.5 Hours
The adorable Halloween adventures of Costume Quest and Costume Quest 2 were created by Double Fine Productions, known for hits like Psychonauts and Day of the Tentacle.
The two short and charming titles will have you reliving your childhood as you play a group of kids trick-or-treating through their neighborhood. Complete quests and collect new costumes that transform you into the characters they represent in these whimsical and adorable RPGs from the Xbox Game Pass.
5
Lost in Random
Time To Beat: 12.5 Hours
Zoink and Thunderful create something truly special in Lost in Random, a story set in a world where every resident’s fate is decided with the roll of the dice.
Accurately self-described as a “gothic-fairy-tale-inspired action-adventure” game, the game has you rising through the multiple layers of a dystopian world in search of your sister. Battle enemies using your die companion to determine your attacks, explore every level, and complete puzzles.
Written by Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics creator and writer for the Adventure Time and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comics), this unique RPG is just under 13 hours and an excellent way to spend your weekend.
4
Volcano Princess
Time To Beat: 8.5 Hours
In most RPGs, you play the hero on an adventure to save the world. In Egg Hatcher’s Volcano Princess, you’re the protagonist’s parent, instead.
Raise the precious daughter of the powerful and benevolent Volcano Goddess. Make choices and help your daughter navigate through her life as she grows up from childhood into an adult.
Your decisions will determine what kind of person the princess becomes. Will she become an ordinary citizen, a beloved leader, or someone with questionable morals? This parenting simulator-type RPG on Xbox Game Pass has a lot of replay value, but it’s still short enough to complete within just a two-day binge.​
3
Citizen Sleeper & Citizen Sleeper 2
Time To Beat: 6.5 And 9.5 Hours
Citizen Sleeper by Jump Over The Age and its sequel are text-heavy RPGs set in space. The games are inspired by TTRPGs, and this shows in the amount of freedom and options that they offer players.
Explore a space station where lawlessness reigns, making decisions that will affect your entire life—and how it ends. Form bonds and friendships, make powerful enemies, and change your future in these two Xbox Game Pass titles that play similarly to Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories.​
2
Minecraft Dungeons
Time To Beat: 5.5 Hours
Whether you’ve played Minecraft or not, anyone can enjoy the charming and brief adventure of Minecraft Dungeons. Created by Mojang Studios and ‪Double Eleven, this RPG is set in the world of the beloved sandbox builder.
Instead of crafting impressive structures and exploring the world, though, Minecraft Dungeons is a more guided, bite-sized game inspired by classic dungeon crawlers. Up to four players can fight their way through the dungeons, with plenty of customization options for varied gameplay. ​
1
Shadowrun Returns
Time To Beat: 11.5 Hours
The original 1993 NES version of Shadowrun was based on a tabletop RPG created in 1989. Since then, the franchise has maintained a cult following that’s stayed strong over more than 30 years.
Shadowrun Returns is the shortest of the newest games in the series, making it possible to finish it over a weekend. Choose one of five races, then progress through a story of cyberpunk tech and magic in this short RPG available in the Xbox Game Pass catalog.
