I used to like open world games that would take 50+ hours to beat but I feel like as I get older these games can be intimidating to even start and I often get sidetracked with other games frequently only getting half to three quarters of the way through.
Vanquish took me about six hours to beat and I think that’s what I’m looking for these days. I like games that I can beat in one weekend. Eight hours I think is perfect for me.
It’s led me to playing some GB© and NES games because they often feel a bit more finite.
I don’t think I have a minimum. Little Misfortune and Bright Infinite Memory only took me about three hours to beat but I enjoyed the ride. If a game took under half an hour to beat, like some indie games, I might not be as invested or impacted enough to think about it much afterwards.
Edit: I’m not looking for a definitive answer. Just a ballpark.
Number of hours doesn’t really come into it these days compared with how fun the game is for me. I’m nearly 40, and whether or not a game is engaging is most important. I’ve got about 50hrs into Avernum: Escape from the Pit (a retro style isometric RPG), but I’ve got nearly 80hrs into Teslapunk, my favourite Shmup(completing the game takes about an hour).I Iove Dark Souls 1 and 3, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, but eventually got bored of Elden Ring and its open world.
Ultimately how fun a game is combined with how painless it is to get started is what I’m most interested in these days. I don’t have enough free time to be worrying if there are enough hours of gameplay.