Yes, it’s true. They exist. Tell me about them. I’ll list the ones I know about. (and like)
Fallout (1997)
The parodical son. This is a meager 15-20 hours at most. The hunt for the water chip is actually just a glorified side-quest, but it helps to light your ass on fire and get things done. Using my in-game knowledge I can complete the game in 30 minutes easily. Highwater mark of a short and tight RPG if I may say so myself.
Alpha Protocol (2010)
Tutorial, Prologue, Taipei, Russia, Paris, Tutorial part 2, Fin (mind my chosen optimal play order)
It isn’t long. Lots of “missions” are just brief conversation encounters. Even the dialog has a time limit. This game is a breeze.
The Age of Decadence (2015)
An 11 hour RPG. Seriously. It has a 3 Act structure that wraps up quickly. I completed it four times in rapid succession before moving on to the next game. Every playthrough wildly unique.
Since it’s at the top of my mind because of the game award discussion, Wildermyth. It comes with five short campaigns, plus the ability to create entirely procedural ones of varying lengths.
One of the best games of all time and around 30 hours on howlongtobeat. Combat isn’t great, but the story is considered pretty much the best in the video game space.
Puzzle Quest (2007)
Another one of the best games of all times, but this time in the match-3 space. Still RPG-ish with a light story and great combat (using the aforementioned match-3 mechanics). Also around 35 hours on howlongtobeat.
Wildermyth is a great spot. It can be much longer if you so choose, but you can absolutely knock out a campaign in under 10 hours.
A couple others from the top of my head.
Space Funeral (2010)
Psychedelic journey into the heart of the genre. Light on mechanics, high on atmosphere and attitude. An hour, give or take. A masterpiece, IMO, but not for everyone.
For the King (2017)
‘Rogue-lite’ RPG boardgame. Best in multiplayer, but either way a run takes about 8 hours I’m guessing.
Hell, if 30 hours counts as short (what a genre!), then Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodines certainly counts.
I know OP doesn’t fuck with JRPGs, but a good chunk of that genre’s generally accepted canon doesn’t make it to 30 hours. Of note, I’m pretty sure you can ‘beat’ Chrono Trigger in like five hours if you really wanted to.
I’m guessing that there are loads of these released in the last five years or so, actually. Just a matter of dredging them up.
Oh! Unrest (2014) is similar in spirit to Age of Decadence and only a few hours if memory serves. Set in ancient India, so quite unique setting as well, but sadly didn’t end up getting much attention.
I played through Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6 (then called FFIII), and Earthbound during 199X on the SNES.
I also played FFVI and VII on PC. (the ports!) I also played through FFIX. That was a mistake. Skipped X and the MMO (XI) and played a good amount of XII.
On Dreamcast for some reason I played through Skies of Arcadia.
On Wii I played through Xenoblade Chronicles.
Looking at my Steam hours, Jade Empire is apparently 20 hours, but it certainly felt like 50.
I’d bet all the Mario RPGs—including Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario games—are under 30 hours too.
I’m pretty sure nearly every Final Fantasy before VII can be beat in under 30 hours (probably not V, but I think all the others?). VI can theoretically be done in under 30 hours, but you skip the best parts by doing so, similar to Chrono Trigger. I blazed through IV in under 15 hours recently, so that’s certainly doable, and the ones before that are so primitive, I can’t imagine them taking any longer.
Unlike Witcher 1 and Witcher 3, this thing is much shorter! There are three chapters. Except chapter 1 and 3 are only book ends. The meat of the game is in just chapter 2.
Regarding Tyranny, it’s a huge shame that game wasn’t more successful. In many respects, it’s what I would want from a modern RPG: fairly deep and heavily customizable (the standard D&D derived skill and stat increase options on level up) with some branching narrative paths, but short enough to make multiple playthroughs to experience the other routes through the game and the different endings viable.
Actually, the vast majority of JRPGs were quite short by today’s standard, ranging from 6 to 20 hours. Then CD-ROM happened through the PC-Engine, started to open the gate, and it poured into the new game++ layers of extra dungeons and true ending of the PSX layers of hell :O
