Why are most good indie puzzle games so short?

[Legend]

Antichamber is 5 and a half hours. Unfinished swan is 2 and a half hours. Escape plan is 4 hours. Fez is 5 and a half. Monument Valley is 1 hour.

That's literally every single good indie puzzle game I can think of off the top of my head, except one. The talos principle is 15 and a half hours.

Why the heck are so many of these games so short?!? The talos shows that much longer games can do great with ratings too! I absolutely love puzzles and I love these games, but why can't these games have even more?

[Mmm_fish_tacos]

Because its hard to come up with hours of puzzles and keep the player interested? 

[Legend]

Because its hard to come up with hours of puzzles and keep the player interested? 

But that's the fun of it!!!

Also who cares if all players are interested? Just have tons of optional puzzles for players that are interested.

[BasilZero]

Because no one wants to play a 40 hour puzzle game. I'm sick of puzzles in RPGs D:

Worst examples include

Final Fantasy X
Breath of Fire III
Lufia and the Rise of the Sinistrals
Tales of Legendia

[the-pi-guy]

Because no one wants to play a 40 hour puzzle game. I'm sick of puzzles in RPGs D:

Worst examples include

Final Fantasy X
Breath of Fire III
Lufia and the Rise of the Sinistrals
Tales of Legendia

They weren't that bad!

[Legend]

Because no one wants to play a 40 hour puzzle game. I'm sick of puzzles in RPGs D:

Worst examples include

Final Fantasy X
Breath of Fire III
Lufia and the Rise of the Sinistrals
Tales of Legendia

Well puzzles in those games are probably bad!

[BasilZero]

They weren't that bad!

Well puzzles in those games are probably bad!

They were bad - also a distraction to the actual gameplay and story .

Especially Breath of Fire III - those puzzles....man.......wtf.

[kitler53]

Pnuema which just came out is only two hours. Antichamber is 5 and a half hours. Unfinished swan is 2 and a half hours. Escape plan is 4 hours. Fez is 5 and a half. Monument Valley is 1 hour.

That's literally every single puzzle game I can think of, except one. The talos priniciple is 15 and a half hours.

Why the heck are so many of these games so short?!? The talos shows that much longer games can do great with ratinga too! I absolutely love puzzles, why can't games have more of them?

i haven't played the other games but fez at 5 hours,.. maybe in a speed run after already solving every puzzle.   i got at least 20 hours out of that masterpiece.

swapper.  took me maybe 8 hours,.. that one was pretty short.   i just bought unmechanical.  i'll let you know what i clock there.

[kitler53]

oh, myst, riven, exile were all 20ish hour games too.

[kitler53]

escape plan was like 10 but had tons of dlc at around 2 hours a release.

[kitler53]

dokuro actually took a long time too.  i think i got 15 hours there.

[kitler53]

portal 1 was short but also only 1/3 of a full release.  portal 2 was long.

[kitler53]

pixal junk shooter ultimate (while being a two game collection) was amazing and like 10 hours.

[kitler53]

echochrome and braid both took me around 10 hours.

[kitler53]

puzzle quest took for fudgy ever...