10 Best Video Games Set In A Single Night | WhatCulture Gaming
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00:00 There's a lot of games out there that narratively take place in a single 24 hour period, even
00:05 though it may take you 40 or so hours to play through them.
00:08 But what might be even more surprising is the amount of games that take place in a single
00:13 night.
00:14 From sundown to sunrise, these games only take up to 12 hours or less for the heroes
00:19 you control.
00:20 So let's waste no time and get on with this list, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:25 and these are the 10 Best Video Games Set in a Single Night.
00:28 By the way, we'll give a pass to flashbacks or opening cutscenes that may give backstory,
00:33 just to get in there before some people fire up their keyboards with "this doesn't
00:36 count".
00:37 Yes it does, and let's get on with it.
00:39 10.
00:40 Observer
00:41 One way to really get players into the mindset of your cyberpunk futuristic game is to hire
00:45 Rutger Hauer of Blade Runner fame to voice the main character.
00:49 And Bloober Team did just that with their 2017 release, Observer, which sees you playing
00:54 as Detective Daniel Lazarski, who uses his cybernetic augmentations to act as a police
00:59 observer, which is somebody who can hack into people's minds in order to interrogate
01:04 them.
01:05 The game starts with Lazarski sitting in his car daydreaming during a rainy night, when
01:09 he then gets a call from his estranged son Adam.
01:12 Lazarski heads to a tenement building in a sun district known as The Stacks.
01:16 After investigating several murders, possibly including his own sons, Lazarski comes out
01:20 of the stacks in either of the two endings while it's still dark.
01:24 Considering the whole game can be played in a 4-5 hour period, if you decide to pick up
01:28 the upgraded and expanded re-release Observer system redux, just imagine you're investigating
01:33 in real time for that extra added kick to this psychological techno-horror.
01:38 9.
01:39 Batman Arkham Asylum
01:41 Now a running theme of the pivotal Arkham series put out by Rocksteady is that each
01:45 game basically takes place over the course of a single night.
01:49 The second title, Arkham City, occurs one night about a year and a half after the first
01:53 game, Arkham Origins takes place on Christmas Eve of Bruce Wayne's second year of vigilantism,
01:59 and Arkham Knight takes place on Halloween, nine months after City.
02:03 It's hard to reconcile that fact with the dozens of hours, hundreds of Riddler trophies
02:07 and various side quests that we can all get caught up in in the course of those games,
02:11 but it is true.
02:12 And while we could talk about all of them, we're going to highlight the first game
02:14 in the series today, which was initially designed to be played over an 8-10 hour period.
02:19 Therefore you can conceivably imagine the first game, Arkham Asylum, as being in real
02:24 time for that purpose.
02:25 From Joker being delivered to the asylum, to stopping Victor Zsasz, escaping Killer
02:29 Croc's sewer lair, the battles against Scarecrow, all the way to the final battle with a titan
02:34 fuelled Joker on a rooftop, it is all taking place over the course of a single night for
02:39 the greatest detective.
02:40 And what's more is that the ending of this game implies that he's going to go on to
02:43 stop Two-Face before morning, which is impressive even by Batman standards.
02:48 8.
02:49 Aragami
02:50 If you've been feeling the press for a new Tenshu game, then Aragami is a solid choice.
02:55 What it lacks in the fluidity of its mechanics, it more than makes up for in a compelling
02:59 storyline and fantastical musical score.
03:02 The game opens with the main character's birth as a shadow spirit, an Aragami, that
03:07 is then tasked with rescuing your summoner, the young priestess Yamiko.
03:11 Yamiko explains that you've got a time limit, which comes from the fact that you are a shadow
03:15 spirit, so of course you will cease to exist when the sun rises in the morning.
03:19 Light weakens you, and intense light, such as the projectiles that your enemies can shoot
03:23 from their swords if they spot you, will kill you instantly.
03:26 Creeping through the shadows will empower you and restore the energy you need to use
03:30 your special abilities.
03:32 And you'll do just that, sneak from shadow to shadow all night, resulting in a final
03:36 boss battle and touching cutscene that ends just as the sun rises.
03:41 Discovering the truth about your identity before becoming an Aragami, and completing
03:45 your mission before daybreak, sure is one hell of a ride.
03:48 7.
03:49 Metal Gear Solid
03:50 Ah, the distant future of... 2005.
03:54 Or so it was in 1998, when the original Metal Gear Solid was released.
03:58 Forced out of retirement by Colonel Roy Campbell, Solid Snake is tasked with infiltrating Shadow
04:03 Moses Island in Alaska, and thwarting a terrorist attack by new members of his old commando
04:08 unit, Foxhound.
04:09 The game opens dramatically to Snake swimming up to the dock, and rising to the surface
04:14 under the cover of nightfall.
04:15 And it's still night when you first fight Vulcan Raven, and again is still very dark
04:19 when you have to save Merle from Sniper Wolf.
04:22 And it isn't any less night when you shoot down a helicopter, or confront the final boss
04:27 on top of Metal Gear Rex.
04:29 Whether you escape with Otacon or Merle, the ending occurs just as the sun is rising the
04:34 following day.
04:35 Congratulations, you've saved the world, got the Secretary of Defense arrested, and
04:39 got the guy or girl - depending on your ending - of your dreams.
04:42 All in a night's work.
04:43 6.
04:44 Resident Evil
04:45 Like the Arkham entry before this, we could include either of the first two Resident Evil
04:49 games on this list.
04:50 Because Resident Evil 2 takes place entirely on poor Leon S. Kennedy's first day on the
04:54 job as a Raccoon City police officer, where he must team up with Claire Redfield and Ada
04:58 Wong to save Sherry Birkin and escape the zombie-infested Raccoon City.
05:03 If not for the three day period that Jill is suffering from the T-Virus infection while
05:07 her new friend Carlos has to find her a cure, Resident Evil 3 could also qualify as well.
05:12 But for sure, the adventures of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in the first game are the
05:16 ones we're talking about today.
05:18 And the game begins with Raccoon PD's very own elite SWAT team, STARS, getting thrashed
05:23 by an unknown menace.
05:25 Of course, that menace is zombies and biologically altered people and animals.
05:29 Through a single and terrifying night, Jill and Chris have to endeavour to navigate through
05:34 the trap-ridden Spencer Mansion, thwart a betrayal, survive so bad it's good voice
05:38 acting and defeat a massive tyrant enemy.
05:41 Regardless of good or bad results, because the original had multiple endings, the surviving
05:46 member zzzzzz question mark escape the mansion as the sun begins to rise.
05:51 5.
05:52 Murdered Soul Suspect
05:54 2014's ghostly mystery action game Murdered Soul Suspect opens with the main character,
06:00 Ronan O'Connor, being, well as the title suggests, murdered.
06:03 He's thrown out of a window on a brisk night in the witchy town of Salem, and for good
06:08 measure, his killer puts a whole clip into his chest.
06:11 The rest of the game plays out as Ronan's ghost tries to solve his own murder mystery,
06:15 as well as who the murderer actually is, and will take you to various locales of Salem.
06:20 From a church to a museum, a police station to an asylum, but for all the travelling,
06:24 investigation and deathly flashbacks of our ghostly anti-hero witness, it all takes place
06:29 over the course of a single night.
06:31 From Ronan's murder to his eventual resolution of the bell killer case, the sun never rises
06:35 on his adventures.
06:37 The ending has a positive note, with his long dead wife Julia possibly opening a portal
06:41 to heaven so that he can join her, or it could also be the developers leaving open sequel
06:45 bait that never came because the game unfortunately didn't sell well enough for Square Enix
06:49 to give it another night.
06:51 4.
06:52 Inside
06:53 Much like Limbo before it, Playdead's 2016 game Inside is a dark, spooky, atmospheric
06:58 adventure.
06:59 But unlike Limbo, there are actually colours in this one, which if you've seen the gross
07:03 ball of human flesh in the end stages of this game, you might wish it didn't.
07:07 Inside opens, surprisingly, on the outside, with the unnamed main character sliding down
07:12 a hill and running from flashlight armed guards searching for him.
07:15 A major aspect of the opening stages of this game is that it's night time, which is presumably
07:19 your only chance to escape.
07:20 By the time our underage, unnamed fellow joins the disgusting mass of bodies called the 'Huddle',
07:25 he has travelled through much of a farm, a scientific facility, and a flooded underwater
07:30 city.
07:31 But as the 'Huddle' comes to rest, completing its absorption of the poor boy and escaping
07:35 the facility, the sun begins to rise, bathing the coast and the 'Huddle' in the light
07:40 of morning as the end credits begin to roll.
07:42 3.
07:43 Hotel Dusk - Room 212
07:46 With the exception of an opening cutscene and a few flashback memories, the entirety
07:50 of the 2007 DS detective game Hotel Dusk - Room 212 occurs during the evening of the night
07:56 of December 28th, 1979 into December 29th.
08:00 The main character, Carl Hyde, arrives at the titular hotel at 5pm, and finally solves
08:05 a mystery at 2am the following morning.
08:08 During that time, it's a little hard to tell if it's night time outside, because
08:11 the game is played entirely within the confines of the hotel's interior, but each chapter
08:15 is designed to express a block of time between 5pm and 2am.
08:20 By 2 in the morning, Hyde is in the last stages of solving multiple mysteries for the hotel
08:24 staff and customers, as well as for himself.
08:27 Then he presumably just goes to bed.
08:29 Waking later in the morning, he departs in the ending cutscene, possibly with his new
08:33 partner enjoying the sunlight on her face from the passenger side of his car.
08:37 Unfortunately due to the developer's bankruptcy in 2010, the sequel Last Window - The Secret
08:42 of Cape West never got a North American release.
08:45 And who knows how quickly Hyde solves the mystery in that one.
08:47 2.
08:48 Luigi's Mansion
08:49 How lucky for Luigi, finally getting his chance to shine back in 2001, and again in 2018 for
08:55 the 3DS re-release.
08:57 Not only does he get to star in his own game, but he also wins a bloody mansion.
09:00 But he doesn't actually remember entering the contest, but that's detail shmeetails,
09:04 right?
09:05 Luigi and Mario decide to meet up and check out Luigi's new home that evening, but unfortunately
09:09 Mario gets captured by King Boo, and Luigi must use a flashlight and a special ghost-sucking
09:14 vacuum cleaner to clear the mansion of spectres and save his brother.
09:18 All four stages of the game take place across one night, and ends with Luigi's new ally
09:23 Professor E. Gadd helping him release Mario from his prison inside of a painting.
09:27 Of course, with King Boo's illusionary mansion disappearing, E. Gadd builds Luigi a new house
09:32 on the spot, based on how much treasure Luigi brought back to him.
09:36 What a nice guy.
09:37 1.
09:38 Night Trap
09:39 Night Trap, the 1992 controversy-laden interactive film that helped to get the US Senate to
09:44 create the ESRB, is, by modern standards, pretty tame, honestly.
09:49 You can see wilder stuff on primetime TV nowadays.
09:51 Regardless of whether or not you're entertained by the B-movie antics of some girls being
09:56 kidnapped by dudes in terrible rubber suits, or the fact that you play as a member of an
09:59 elite police force known as SCAT, or even the fact that Night Trap is technically a
10:04 vampire game by theme, like I say, there's a lot going on.
10:07 What really matters is the plot, for what it's worth is that you have to save a group
10:11 of teens from getting kidnapped by the aforementioned dudes in rubber suits, called Augurs, who
10:16 are basically vampire drones.
10:18 From the time the girls begin getting picked off to the end of the game, it's all played
10:21 in real time with roughly 30 minutes going by.
10:24 That's right, Night Trap only lasts 30 minutes.
10:28 And that's still 29 minutes too long for some people.
10:30 And there we go my friends, those were the 10 best video games set in a single night.
10:34 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
10:37 the comment section below.
10:39 As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter @RetroJ but the O is a
10:43 zero, or you can swing by Instagram where it's the same handle, RetroJ but the O is
10:48 a zero.
10:49 Hope to see you over there.
10:50 But before I go, I just want to say one thing, I hope that you're treating yourself well
10:53 with love and respect my friends, because you deserve all the best things in life alright?
10:58 Like love, happiness and success, and I want you to go out there and absolutely smash your
11:01 life goals today, because I believe in you, and you need to believe in yourself as well.
11:06 As always I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon.