I like turn-based games, games with rounds, push-pause, and roguelites/likes for this purpose.

Balatro
Gnomes
Peglin
Nordhold
Rift Wizard
Stuck in Time
Loop Hero

Vampire survivors. It's on mobile, PC, and console. It's a roguelite and VERY good for short play sessions.

Also many people don't think of Dark Souls/ Elden Ring as being a good option for short sessions, but the progression is so incremental bc of the difficulty, I find it lends itself well to short bursts. The auto save system is extremely efficient and generous, so unless you happen to quit in the middle of a boss fight, you can simply turn the game off any time and load back in exactly where you left off. I have 3 kids, and some days I couldn't sit down and have a long gaming session, and this approach let me beat the Elden Ring DLC without losing my mind lol

"Dredge" is great! You can easily pause it or quit after 10 min, as the time in-game only progresses when you move.

Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1+2

Great soundtrack, fast addictive gameplay, 2 mins sessions. Great game for 10 mins or 2 hours.

Enter the Gungeon. Gamer all my life but had kids, was able to jump in and out so I could focus on my kids but still play occasionally

Cocoon was a great short game.

Play crime scene simulator it goes level by level and it’s easy to pick up and put down and it’s a lot of fun.

South of Midnight is a little longer, id say 8-10 hours, but I think is a great one to check out!

It came out of nowhere for me, tried it on a whim and it's stuck with me more than most games I've played over the last couple decades. It was just so well done.

Still Wakes the Deep was great at around that length

I’m half way through Crime Scene Cleaner and it’s so strangely relaxing even though the environments are horrible lol

Firewatch is a great short game, plus you can easily get 100% achievements

Slay the Spire.

A deck building dungeon crawler type of game that lets you save in every single room. Depending on how good you get or the perks and cards you receive on a run, you could clear a handful of rooms or maybe even a whole level in every 5-10 minute session. There are 4 different characters and lots of unlockables so it is a game you can keep coming back to even after completing a run.

Hades. No contest. You can play it in short chunks just fine and still feel like you are making progress.

I say animal crossing. Just because at the beginning there’s not much to do. The game is a day by day type game where you can’t get a lot done in one day and it kinda forces you to come back the next.

Seconded. This is exactly the game I do this with. Good fun

I came here to say the same. Awesome bite-size strategy. Very deep, great visual communication to remind the periodic player, and you can knock out a level on five/ten minutes.

As a companion to this, Olli Olli World follows the same spirit with a much more cartoony presentation. It’s perfect for small doses of challenging fun.

I got full on addicted to the game for a while. But after 8-9 months, you end up getting a bunch of collectables and there wasn't much to do most days. A month would start and in 3-4 days I'd have all the new fish, bugs etc.

Turns out the game is a very wide pool, but not at all deep.

On same note riders republic is very fun

Not sure why there are downvotes, but I agree, I had issues getting into this game because the first x hours (which I never played past) were all like "did you know that you can press the a button to talk to people?"

I get that it's for beginners, but it'd be nice to be able to skip these tutorial-lite sections.

Same thing for Pokemon where it "teaches" you about elemental weaknesses.

u/keviokevio, this is the one.

It's a tactical puzzle game where each individual match is only 5 turns long. You do X number of matches per game, but it's a rouge lite so when you die you start over.

It has unlockable squads the will make you completely rethink the game, and it had a lot of achievements and medals to earn.

I 100%ed everything and it took 100 or so hours

Shattered Pixel Dungeon (it's freeware on Android! :) )

Slice & Dice

Tiny Bubbles

Race for the Galaxy

Dominion

balatro. It's a deck building roguelike.

Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic. It's a port of RCT2 but with the scenarios from RCT1 and the expansion packs remade. 90 scenarios in the base game. Here's a video if you're interested.

Just started enjoying Sword Art Online: Integral Factor. Currently quests that I am playing take few minutes to finish. But I've heard that quests get more complex as the game goes on. Of course it's an MMORPG, so not everyone likes it.

Another recommendation is Slay the Spire.

Balatro Brotato Dead cells BlazBlue entropy effect

I've made a game demo of sorts, it's pretty short from start to finish but you can save and come back to it if you want, only issue with saving atm is your monsters' moves get reset if you've changed them.

It's basically a free pokemon clone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.FiredUpForge.TameTheWild

Play pass recently added dungeon clawler and it's been perfect for me for that

Tiny tower Vegas, by NimbleBit LLC. You use in-game cash and casino chips for upgrades, new floors and gamble. You can earn everything just by playing.

Too bad it got removed from the store but maybe someone at r/tinytower can provide a source for the apk file.

Dead cells is perfect for short bursts, then when you want to dive into it, you can do run after run for hours.

Katana zero maybe?

Rocket league. 5 min games

sudoku?

Grim Dawn 15-30 minutes to explore an area and unlock a new portal. so I play from portal to portal

Hades.

Balatro

I stopped playing this game simply because it's the opposite of a short session game. When I play action packed roguelikes I personally want the games to be no more than 10-20 minutes.

Slay the Spire, FTL. Stuff like that.

While I do love EtG, the more you play it, the better you get, and the longer each session becomes!

Woah he said play for 20-30 minutes, not tell yourself you'll play that long, then justify playing a few more until you win, then getting a cool crate, opening it, then wanting to use the cosmetic in a match and therefore playing more games.

Word, that was my 'short' game of choice for a long time when I was playing a lot of PDX titles for my 'long' game.

One Finger Death Punch. Great “rhythm” game. You can literally play it with one finger but the action is so satisfying, despite the crude stick figures. The gameplay / levels can get repetitive but in short play sessions, it’s really fun.

Speaking of CSGO, recently got into wingman. That acn be quite a fun and quick game.

Same here. They’re quick games, takes like 5 seconds to find one and you get to use every weapon in the game.

My current "low-energy, pick up and play a few minutes" game is Grindstone. It's quite addicting, but can be played in short sessions just fine. You always make progress by collecting stuff and beating the short levels.

You just missed the sale, though, it was just 2.50 euros. May be something for the wishlist!

The other game I play frequently in short bursts is Tetris Effect: Connected, which runs great on the Deck and looks amazing (supports HDR). It has an XP/level system and of course high scores, with many different modes and ways of playing. I bought this when it came out a few years back and still play it. I enjoy it much more in handheld mode than on a big screen. It even has weekend events where you can collect avatars, if that's your thing.

dorf romantik

vampire survivors

hades

balatro

dave the diver

slay the spire

cult of the lamb

nobody saves the world

binding of isaac

tetris effect

Enter the guneon

These all run phenomenally well on the deck, are cheap, and can be played in smaller chunks. I know you mentioned longer runs, but you can always suspend and resume later.

ETA: these are all recs from my personal library. I’m sure there are hundreds of others that fit the bill.

Hades. Blasphemous. Vampire Survivors. What the golf. As a gamer dad with a one year old, pick and play is everything to me.

I played UFO 50 for over 60 hours and I've only played the first half of the games, haven't touched the rest yet. Such a great collection I really need to get back into.

If anyone has even a passing interest in retro style games, I highly recommend it. Not everything is a banger, but there's so much variety, there is bound to be something in there for you.

Totally forgot about Dredge. My ex got me into that game. ☹️

This is my recommendation too. Currently trying to beat Kick Club!

Balatro

Vampire Survivors

Brotato

Slay the Spire

You cant play cyberpunk for 5 minutes a lot of the missions are hours long

Skate 1, 2, or 3

Rocket league

Hades