Games are getting more and more expensive. They’re also getting bigger. In particular, open-world games are bigger than ever, often taking dozens or even hundreds of hours to complete. That’s a long time. Value for money is great, but there’s a strong argument to be made that open-world games are getting too long. Their game times lengthened not out of generosity, but because publishers want to keep players glued to their newest releases for as long as possible
To be clear, we’re not necessarily talking aboutthe open-world games that take the longest to beathere. Instead, these are otherwise great games that some might argue are hampered by their lengthy play times. Maybe the story is too long and loses momentum. Maybe the side content feels overwhelming. Perhaps a design choice makes the game feel artificially long. Whether or not a game is too long is a matter of opinion, but the games below can certainly feel that way. All figures were taken fromHowLongToBeat.
Criticizing Rockstar’s storytelling masterpiece almost seems sacrilegious at this point. Let’s do it anyway.Red Dead Redemption 2might have one ofRockstar Games' best endings, but gosh does it take a long time to get to it. On average, it takes 50 hours to reach the game’s ending. For adults with jobs and responsibilities, that could take weeks, if not months.
The problem is, that a lot of that time is spent doing busy work, like brushing Arthur’s horse, cleaning his guns, and doing chores around camp. Everything inRed Dead Redemption 2feels like it takes forever, even getting from point A to B. Sure, Rockstar wanted to show off its beautiful world design and deeply immersive systems - they’re both impressive. Unfortunately,Red Dead Redemption 2’slengthy run time can test even the longest of attention spans.
The Witcher 3: Wild Huntis an amazing game and a strong contender forthe best open-world game ever made. It features an incredible, branching story filled with player choice and iconic characters. Its quest design is innovative and largely avoids dull, repetitive fetch quests. On top of that, its world is stunning, bustling, and never dull to explore. If that wasn’t enough praise, its combat is enjoyable and its RPG elements are deep enough to allow for cool builds without feeling overwhelming.
Even more impressively,The Witcher 3’sside content never feels superfluous, everything ties nicely together. However, the game’s story also takes 50+ hours to complete, even if the player rushes through everything else. Not only is that a mammoth undertaking- it discourages replays. That’s a shame because, with all the decisions it offers players,The Witcher 3has a ton of replay value. Sadly, many gamers just don’t have that much free time to devote to one game, however excellent it might be.
To avoid sounding too repetitive, we’ve tried to limit the Ubisoft entries on this list. At this point, most gamers have heard complaints about the developer’s world design and how it buildsopen-world games that are almost exclusively optional content. While severalAssassin’s Creedgames could have made the list,Assassin’s Creed Valhallais arguably the worst culprit.
For a start, at 61 hours, the game’s main story is too long and stuffed full of uninspired quest design. Its pacing is destroyed by how long everything takes and the fact that Eivor is encouraged to go off the beaten track every 30 seconds. Puppies have longer attention spans. The game’s representation of medieval Britain is stunning to look at, but it is just too full of meaningless filler. Everything’s too big and there’s too much distracting content. This all leads to a game that is fun to play in short bursts, but that’s watered down and a slog to finish for many.
Coming in at a comparatively brisk 28 hours long,Horizon Forbidden West’smain story almost sounds short compared to many other modern AAA open-world games. An 88-hour completionist run also doesn’t sound that bad. Yet it’s not all good news.Forbidden Westmakes this list for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, its opening hours can feel slow, especially if one is easily distracted. Cutscenes are lengthy and frequently break up gameplay and the first few unlocks are drip-fed to the player. It makes the game feel longer than it is. Secondly,Forbidden Westhas a problem with map clutter. The game’s map is littered with points of interest and side activities to complete. While some of them are fun, many are cheap filler. Aloy can only interact with some points of interest after receiving certain tools locked behind story progression. Wasting minutes backtracking to a once-locked point of interest to find it held some worthless scrap isn’t a fun experience.
WhetherDeath Strandingis one ofthe best post-apocalyptic games of all timeor an overly long and slow snoozefest is 100% a matter of opinion. Some gamers love its unique gameplay mechanics and emphasis on delivery missions across massive, desolate landscapes. Others would rather watch paint dry.Death Stranding’smonotonous and often repetitive gameplay can make it feel too long.
Its story is also on the slow side, especially if one isn’t a fan of Kojima’s style. The story unfolds slowly, and the cutscenes are indulgently lengthy (a common criticism of his Metal Gear games too). Of course, this is what Kojima was going for. Every design choice he made inDeath Strandingwas meant to emphasize solitude and introspection. This doesn’t change the fact that many players will find the game long and slow, never bothering to reach its climax.
When Ubisoft releasedFar Cry 3back in 2012, it didn’t take them long to realize they’d discovered a winning formula. Over ten years later, it’s clear they’re still copying their own homework.Far Cry 6wasn’t a bad game, but it’sfar from the best Far Cry gametoo. Its main story might only last around 24 hours, but a lot of players still thought it felt dragged out.
Part of that is because, despite Giancarlo Esposito’s best efforts, the game’s story wasn’t all that interesting. At least not compared to the likes ofFar Cry 3, 4, and 5. The game’s progression systems also meant the player had to engage with at least some of its tedious side content if players wanted to reach the end, killing the pacing. Far Cry 6’s map is stuffed with stuff to do, but a lot of it gets repetitive quickly. The enemy AI is predictably dumb, and the mission structure tends to repeat itself. Throw in all the collectibles, points of interest, and optional missions, andFar Cry 6feels bloated.
Ghost Recon: Breakpoint’sinclusion here comes with a caveat. It’s only too long if you’re playing solo; it takes the game a long time to get old when playing with friends. As an open-world Ubisoft game,Breakpointsuffers from a lot of the same problems asFar Cry 6andValhalla. In particular, a massive map stuffed with too many distractions and side content that’s ultimately inconsequential.
Breakpoint’smain story only takes around 23 hours to beat, but it still ends up seeming disjointed thanks to the way players are free to choose story missions in the order they wish. The game can also feel repetitive, making it seem longer. Players might feel like stealthy badasses early on, but once they’ve found a loadout and a play style that suits them, there’s not much reason to keep exploring, except to grind incrementally better stats for their weapons. Ubisoft deserves credit for not giving up onBreakpointafter its disastrous launch- it’s a much better game today than it was in 2019. However, it’s still bloated, and many players will grow bored before the credits role - something not often said about its predecessor,Ghost Recon: Wildlands.
HowLongToBeat puts a completionist run ofXenoblade Chroniclesat around 141 hours. Anyone familiar with the game will likely think that sounds a little optimistic. With over a dozen regions to explore and a total of 480 quests (only 31 of which are mandatory), a completionist run ofXenoblade Chroniclesis a mammoth undertaking.
The main story alone is likely to take over 50 hours. The story is pretty good, if fairly standard for a JRPG, but its pacing is slowed by lengthy cutscenes and dialogue sequences that test the attention span. The sheer amount of content available can be overwhelming, especially for those gamers whose spare time is limited. Worst of all, not all the quests are created equally. They’re varied, but there are a few too many are boring fetch quests/kill x amount of enemy quests. At the end of the day, this might beone of the best games in the series, but maybe 480 quests is simply too many.
Dragon’s Dogma 2is the rare modern open-world game that isn’t full of bloat. The main story is a lengthy but reasonable 30 hours, and most of its side quests are both enjoyable and have their own stories. The game’s massive map is full of points of interest, yet most of them are fun (and dangerous) to explore and hide treasures that are worth finding. Sadly, the game suffers from a similar problem toRed Dead Redemption 2: everything takes too long to do.
Fast travel is severely limited, meaning the player is forced to either hoof it on foot or take a cart everywhere. It’s easy to see why the developers made this decision. It makes every quest and every minor task feel like the player is heading out on an adventure. But it can get tiresome, especially when traveling by foot and by cart are both so dangerous. However the player decides to get around, they’re likely to end up fighting the same handful of enemies over and over again. Throw in the game’s sadistic inventory management and how quickly the player character becomes over-encumbered, and you have a game that could test the patience of a saint.
It’s no secret thatStarfieldhad a rocky launch. Not because it was buggy, that’s par for the course for a major Bethesda release, but because it over-promised and under-delivered. Not just a single open-world planet,Starfieldhas hundreds of planets to explore, kind of.
Starfield’smain story can be completed in 23 hours, which isn’t that long. However, it will feel much longer. It has its high points, but a ridiculous amount ofStarfield’smain story consists of visiting cookie-cutter temples to do the same annoying light-catching tasks before fighting the same starborn enemy. Cut those annoying tasks out and the game’s main quest would probably be half the length. Outside of the main quest,Starfieldhas a handful of entertaining optional questlines to complete. But that’s about it. It has so many massive planets to explore that its playtime is virtually limitless. Yet that time will be spent exploring the same procedurally-generated locations. This all makes for a strange game that feels both too long and too short.
