Faster Than Light has to go here, too. One successful run takes between an hour or two. If you lose it's much much quicker :). And since the Advanced Edition came around you can save at any time now, too.

Wow, I didn't know FTL was so quick! Thanks for the info, I'll get it on the list and make it a priority in my own play queue. Cheers!

Of course, it will take you weeks or months to BEAT the game. But that's how it is with roguelikes.

Aye, that's my impression of it too. Somewhat on the fence about whether that qualifies, but I'll put it in there since I love roguelikes and can excuse each individual play being a one-day effort.

Yah, that's like me with ZAngband - hundreds of plays and no victory. But each play takes about a day, sometimes multiple plays in a day if I'm not being cautious or roll up against a bad high-level enemy.

It is a valid point though as to whether this really constitutes a one-day game, though. If I allow it, then I probably should allow Don't Starve, as I rarely survive more than a few hours in that too. I'm leaning towards taking it off the list, but would be interested in opinions either way.

IIRC your first run is going to be in the starter ship and you don't unlock the next ship up until you've gotten so far with it - you probably don't stand a chance of beating it until you're got the BEST ship, let alone the second worst one!
I'd like to know what's the worst ship anyone's actually finished it piloting, actually!

I think I defeated the game first time with the Kestrel-B (the one with the artillery cannon) and then with the normal version. In fact, I've arrived to the final level about fifteen times, but got defeated all but four times. ;)

Not exactly what you asked, but to me the worst ship would be the Nesasio (the one with the cloaking device). I don't seem able to master it at all. I can dodge the first fire exchange(s) with the enemy using the cloak, but as soon as they fire on me while the cloak is charging, the lack of shields means I start to lose systems and I'm killed in short time...

I've made it pretty far with the Nesasio, but eventually it all goes to hell. Life gets easier once you get shields in, but things are still fragile after that (shields are expensive). About the time the enemies get to three levels of shield, I'm usually fighting hard to survive every encounter.

I'll check later, but I think the only two times I beat the game - on Easy - were with the starter ship.

The fourth time I did it with the Lanius cruiser from the Advanced Edition, the third one was either the Mantis or the Rock ship, not sure. No luck with the Engi ship until now, sadly. ;)

I don't believe so. FTL is very much a game about achievements and unlocks, and to see at least half of what the game has to offer, you need to do dozens of runs. Same applies to Tower of Guns, as good as that game is.

Interesting discussion. I guess it's that definition of when is a game with high replay value ever beaten - and I'd argue that's just absolutely and purely subjective. But I still feel FTL could / should belong here as I, personally, certainly 'use' it as a 'one-day' game. I play a run every so often in between other things. Then stop. And play another run, on another day.

Maybe it needs it's own category in the list? One-day games for people with good self-control? :)

EDIT: How often you beat the game comes down, a lot, to experience, too. I am on just under 50% successful runs on normal difficulty since I started over (with the release of the Advanced Edition).

That Engi ship ends badly for me every time. I think I actually struggled through to the final encounter once, and realized immediately that this was a pointless exercise. The Engi ship should come with a self-destruct button. Or maybe it does, and it's labelled The Boss Fight.

The browser-based version doesn't seem to work for me. Anyone else get it to play?

Yes, it seems to fall more into the "one-day session" game category, again like most roguelikes. This list is more for games designed to played through in a day, though it certainly seems like FTL fits that criterion once you get really good at it. :) I will take it back off, but I appreciate you bringing it up, as I can't wait to try it out tonight!