Three-minute matches designed for exactly this context. You can complete five competitive matches in a bus ride, make meaningful ladder progress, and the game requires no audio to play competently — visual information is complete. The ranked ladder creates long-term engagement across hundreds of sessions, and the card collection system gives you something to optimize between matches.

The mobile version carries all core gameplay of the PC version in a format optimized for touch controls. Creative mode in particular is ideal for travel: no pressure, no session length requirements, no failure state. Build something for twenty minutes, save, continue. One of the most genuinely portable versions of a major PC game available.

On a Steam Deck, FFXIV becomes a genuinely excellent travel game. The duty system — queued combat encounters with loading screen buffers — fits naturally around transit interruptions. Gathering and crafting are low-attention activities well-suited to background play on a train.