By As a dad, you should always prioritize your kids.
But you should also have some time off to enjoy gaming and de-stress as well.
In this list, I’m covering some of the best games for busy dads that you can play without cutting your family time.
As a soon-to-be dad, I’m also preparing for this new change of schedule. So I looked for games that can be played in short 30-40 minute sessions.
Most of these games also support pausing. Whenever your kid needs your attention, you’ll be able to pause the game. Some online games, however, don’t have that function. I’ll mention that in each game.
Check out all the games below.
1. Death Stranding
- Pause: Available
- Offline Play: Available
Death Stranding is a pretty weird game and it’s definitely not for everyone. But if you can feel the vibe of this game, it will stay with you for a long time.
This game is all about making deliveries across a barren land full of obstacles and weird phenomena. Overall, it’s very relaxing, has a great soundtrack, and just the perfect option to relax and de-stress after a long day.
Coming from the legendary creator, Hideo Kojima, it also has an unusual story that took me two playthroughs to fully understand. I’ve played it more than twice, by the way.
What I love most about this game is how easy it is to just jump in and make a delivery right away. You could easily play this game in short sessions and pick up from where you left off.
2. Helldivers 2
- Pause: Not Available
- Offline Play: Not Available
Helldivers 2 is all about shooting and squashing bugs. It’s basically a bullet-hell game that delivers a very satisfying gameplay experience.
You don’t have to worry about keeping track of a story or mastering skills, in this game, you only have to find the right build, and you can blast through the hives like butter.
Unfortunately, Helldivers 2 is an online game, you can play is solo, but it doesn’t have offline play or the ability to pause. The good news is you can play it in short sessions. Missions last less than 25 minutes so it’s very easy to login, do a mission, and logout.
3. Deathloop
- Pause: Available
- Offline Play: Available
Deathloop comes from the team behind Dishonored and it has similar gameplay mechanics as well. Instead of knives, you have guns. And it features some cool time-bending mechanics as well.
Basically, Deathloop has a rogue-like style gameplay system where missions and they can be done in short sessions. Each mission only takes about 30 minutes and they offer different ways for you to play, like stealth or go guns blazing.
4. Deep Rock Galactic
- Pause: Available in solo
- Offline Play: Available in solo
Deep Rock Galactic is best played co-op with friends but you can also enjoy it solo.
In this game, your job is to dive into caves in strange planets to mine minerals and extract back safely to your base. These caves are full of obstacles and creatures, so be aware.
If you’re playing solo, you can do these missions well under 30 minutes. And you can adjust the difficulty to your liking.
Each mission in the game will feel different, no matter how many times you do them, because the game utilizes procedural generation to create the cave system.
5. Red Dead Redemption 2
- Pause: Available
- Offline Play: Available
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the GOATs that you must play at least once in your lifetime. It’s truly an incredible game that not only takes you back to the Wild West but also leaves you with a memorable experience.
Most of the missions in Red Dead Redemption 2 are short. You can easily do them in under 30 minutes. But there are some long missions as well. It will depend on how skilled you are at playing open-world games.
The good news is you can pause the game anytime and play offline as well. The game also has an online mode, which is a bit chaotic than the single player mode.
6. Hades
- Pause: Available
- Offline Play: Available
Both Hades I and II are excellent games. These are rogue-line games so you can easily do a short run and leave the game without having to commit to long sessions.
Hades won several game of the year awards for its addictive and satisfying gameplay mechanics. So it will likely keep you busy for a while.
Hades is available across multiple platforms, including Switch, if that’s where you play games.
7. Lawn Mowing Simulator
- Pause: Available
- Offline Play: Available
Lawn mowing is arguably one of the most satisfying chores among dads. Every day love the satisfying feeling of taking care of the lawn and admiring the end result.
But what if your house doesn’t have a lawn? Or you just don’t have the time to do it? Don’t worry, this game is made just for you.
In Lawn Mowing Simulator, you can mow lawns without having to break a sweat. It’s a satisfying game that you can play in short sessions and perfect for a relaxing time after a long day.
8. Forza Horizon 5
- Pause: Available
- Offline Play: Available
This one is for dads who enjoy racing games. Forza is actually more than just a racing game, it’s also about exploring and relaxing while driving a cool car.
Forza Horizon 5 lets you explore a huge map that takes you to Mexico, and it features stunning scenery and a massive volcano that you can climb.
Anywhere you see in the distance, you can go there in your car. It’s the perfect game to enjoy a relaxing drive. You can play for 10 minutes or 30 minutes and still feel satisfied.
You can pause the game while playing Forza Horizon 5 solo and single-player races, but not in online racing. The game is best enjoyed playing online, though.
9. Incursion: Red River
- Pause: Available
- Offline Play: Available
If you enjoy extraction shooter games, Incursion: Red River is a great game for you for two reasons: one, it doesn’t have PVP, and it can be fully played offline with the ability to pause.
Another great thing about this game is that it can be played in short sessions. The missions will only take around 30 minutes or so to complete.
Since it doesn’t have PVP, you can fully enjoy looting and extracting without a sweat.
10. Delta Force
- Pause: Not Available
- Offline Play: Not Available
Even though I don’t enjoy PVP games, I do enjoy multiplier games with massive battles across huge maps where I can shoot freely and respawn without guilt. Delta Force lets you do just that.
Delta Force is completely free to play and includes two game modes: Warfare, a full-on war mode, and Operations, which is an extraction shooter mode.
It’s a fun game to play if you enjoy multiplayer games. You can pause in this game, but you can do missions in under 40 minutes or less.
11. Elite Dangerous
- Pause: Not Available
- Offline Play: Not Available in the live version
If you love space games as much as I do, Elite Dangerous is a game that you will enjoy a lot.
In this game, you can fly dozens of highly detailed, realistic space ships in a one-to-one model of the Milky Way galaxy.
Elite Dangerous is a sandbox game and you do whatever you want in the game. I mainly enjoy mining asteroids, trading, and exploring. But you can also do on-foot missions, dog-fighting, and various other missions too.
Elite Dangerous doesn’t have pause or offline play, but you can leave your game anytime and anywhere and still login to continue from where you left off.
There’s also an older version of the game that you can play offline as well.
12. Borderlands 2, 3, 4
- Pause: Available
- Offline Play: Available
All of the Borderlands games are amazing and highly addictive (except for the latest title, which is much more demanding to play on my PC).
Borderlands games are all about looting guns and coming up with cool builds. It can be played in short sessions and you can pause the game anytime.
Even after finishing the story campaign, you can continue to enjoy the game by farming bosses to refine your build.
