20 Indie Games That You Could Beat in the Time It Would Take You to Watch That Hbomberguy Video

A few days ago, YouTuber Hbomberguy released the video “Plagiarism and You(Tube).” It’s an insightful look at the current state of the creator economy, and how so much content these days is stolen. Or at least, that’s what I assume it’s about. That thing is 4 hours long! Why would I watch that when my whole gaming backlog is right there? Here’s 20 indie games that may or may not be in your own backlog, all of which you could beat in the time it takes you to watch that new Hbomberguy video.

Titan Souls

3 hours of fantastic boss fight after fantastic boss fight. From the team behind Death’s Door, which is also fantastic, but a bit too long to make our list.

Cobalt Core (one or two runs)

This one’s cheating a little bit, because you technically can’t finish everything that Cobalt Core has to offer in the timeline of “Plagiarism and You(Tube).” That being said, you could absolutely finish a run (maybe a few!) of the fantastic roguelike deckbuilder in your roughly 4-hour play session.

Make Way

This one is a multiplayer game so it’s kind of cheating, but you’ll rage at this physics-based multiplayer game just as much as you would rage at the sight of seeing your plagiarized work!

Before Your Eyes

This game won’t make you as angry as seeing your plagiarized work would, but you will be in tears by the end of it, as a word of caution.

Florence

This one is available on mobile, so you could probably even play it at the same time as the video is running, but don’t go thinking that Florence is a story about a plagiarizing content creator or something.

Venba

Not only are you clearing one of the best games of 2023 from your backlog, but you might even learn to cook some good food. Did that Hbomberguy video teach you any applicable life skills? I’m actually asking, I didn’t watch it.

Donut County

Okay, this one you could actually play at the same time as watching the video. Putting shit in a hole is just therapeutic, and by the time you’re done, the video will be halfway over!

Furi Demake: The Chain

The original Furi is great, but just a bit too long for our purposes. The newly released demake, however, only takes around 20 minutes to beat, and is available for absolutely free on Steam. Go check it out and play a fun boss fight that equates to something like “one-twelfth of that Hbomberguy video.”

SUPERHOT

HowLongToBeat lists this as taking two and a half hours to finish a main story playthrough, but if you don’t count the time that you don’t move (and time is subsequently paused), it takes even less time!

Boomerang X

This one just makes you feel like a badass. I’m guessing the plagiarism video will probably just make me feel hopeless!

Melatonin

A chill Rhythm Heaven-like game, this is a great game to finish in a night that will probably actively relax you!

Papers Please

You probably already played this one when everyone on YouTube was posting their let’s play, but you might as well hop in and get another ending or two.

Fractured Soul

I don’t think you can play this one anymore because those rascals over at Nintendo took down the eShop, I just wanted everyone to know about it. You switch between both screens to complete platforming challenges and defeat enemies. It was pretty neat! Someone should plagiarize this somehow so I can play it again.

Update: Apparently it’s been ported to Steam. Play it there and don’t plagiarize it please.