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Some RPGs are just made to entertain for a very, very long time. Whether the size of the world, the enjoyable gameplay loop or lore and story keep players entertained. What makes some RPGs take a longer time to complete and what are some awesome titles to pick up? Read on to find out!
There are plenty of culprits that extend the playtime in RPGs. The size of the world within the game, the player interactivity within the said world, dialogue with friendly NPC and combat encounters with the hostile ones, various quests and missions to complete, extra content and activities to name just a few.
Some games can greatly benefit from a large number of things to do within them but the trick is to keep these interactions interesting and challenging enough for the players. Exploring different looking caves for the hundredth time can get tedious. Same with enemies that don’t add any challenge rather than higher health bar and increased damage.
Considering that a single playthrough is meant to take 60+ hours, the players can easily clock out after a few to find something more engaging (or alternatively add mods).
But when a game is done right, not only will the players complete it, they’ll probably play it again to check different options and plotlines. Not to mention DLC and sequels…
Now for the most important part, a choice pick of some awesome games that will keep players engaged and entertained for a very long time, especially if they’re completionists!
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the final part in the story of Geralt of Rivia. Because of that, there’s a lot of content to explore and interact with. Clocking easily at 55+ hours for the main storyline, with completionists looking at 180+.
The story is fantastically written, characters feel like they belong within the world, worldbuilding is very interesting (gritty medieval Europe mixed in with magic and monsters), gameplay is very satisfying and exploration is rewarding. On top of everything, there are two fantastic expansions “Hearts of Stone” and “Blood and Wine”. Together they add another 25-40+ hours of high quality Witcher 3 experience.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an open world action RPG done right and definitely deserves the praise it received from both the players and the critics and should be given a try by anyone who enjoys video games in general.
Personal 5 Royal is a great mix of visual novel, dungeon crawler and social simulation. The game itself is packaged as an RPG but there’s so much more to it than that.
The protagonist “Joker” despite taking part in a supernatural phenomena, still attends school and deals with day to day events, which in turn can improve his capabilities in the “Metaverse” (an alternative reality created from human subconsciousness and desires). Meeting with others and building connections is part of the gameplay, asides from simply being fun and engaging activity.
It’s considered as the best game in the franchise and is often recommended as a best start point for anyone trying to get into the Persona series.
The game has a staggering 100+ for the main story and around 140+ for completionists. Yet it has a very satisfying gameplay loop, well written and believable characters, interesting themes, great music and visuals.
It’s hard not to recommend it to anyone who has even the slightest interest in RPGs and even those who don’t.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is an epic story with plenty of side quests and extra content but even focusing on the main story alone can easily take 70+ hours to complete, with the completionist route taking over 155+ hours.
The main culprits behind the long playthrough time are the amount of player's interaction with various NPCs, multi choice solutions to each encounter, character customisation (both for visual and gameplay) and large interactable areas to explore to name a few.
It’s not uncommon to start another playthrough mid-game to try alternative paths with different characters, meaning that players could have multiple consecutive playthroughs at the same time and still feel like they’re playing differently on each!
Baludur’s Gate 3 is a labour of love and it shows. The only downside is that there probably won’t be another sequel by Larian Studios.
A second game within the Pathfinder franchise from Owlcat Games released in 2021. It takes place in the fictional world of Golarion, a high fantasy world with magic, gods, monsters and heroes. It’s based on the TTRPG game Pathfinder, with rulesets adapted to fit into a video game.
The campaign itself is set in the area known as the “Worldwound”, a place where a tear in reality was created and connected the demonic Abyss to the mortal realm. There’s a constant conflict between the demons and mortals, with some interference from angelic beings.
The player starts in the city of Kenabres, a city on the bordering the corrupted lands and it quickly turns into a battle for survival as the demons invade it.
The main story can easily take 50+ hours, which considering the number of potential playthroughs with different builds and characters could easily turn into a few hundred hours. Completionists beware, as it can take over 200 hours to 100%!
Lots of fun tactical combat, extensive character builds with unique special classes to further enhance them and an epic story of a crusade against evil demonic forces will keep players entertained for long, long hours.
The sixth game in the popular dungeon crawler series, Etrian Odyssey. It was released in 2018 in Japan and 2019 worldwide by the developer Atlus on Nintendo 3DS.
The player is an adventurer recruited to explore a floating city of Maginia which will lead them through a series of increasingly challenging dungeons filled with a variety of enemies to contest their intrusion.
The main “story” can easily take 70+ hours, while completionists can spend 170+. These can grow even higher depending on how well the players are versed with the series.
Etrian Odyssey Nexus offers a lot in terms of dungeon crawling. Managing resources, risk and reward, character optimisation, grinding items/levels. It can suffer a bit from how long it takes to complete due to the amount of dungeons there are, which is around 62(!) floors.
Despite that, the game is definitely very enjoyable for any fan of the series, with plenty of character customisation (visually and gameplay wise), challenging enemies (regular enemies, bosses and F.O,E) and a sense of progression with each floor being conquered.
It’s recommended to try previous titles before, especially since there are HD remakes of the 1st and 2nd Etrian Odyssey available.
If you’re burdened with limited time to play video games, the best way to play RPGs is to focus on quest/mission/floor completion. Instead of the typical messy playthroughs where you just let yourself go wherever your sails take you, it’s best to pick a few side quests or a part of the main storyline to complete before saving progress and quitting.
This approach won’t require remembering “what were you doing”, instead you can jump onto clearing the next section in a relatively concise and comprehensive manner.
Some games offer notes within the game journal, so it could be beneficial to leave some for your future self to make it even easier to head back into the adventure.
And of course, manage your expectations, if the quest is too time consuming, break it apart into smaller parts and tackle it at your own pace. If it stops being fun or fulfilling, there’s no real reason to continue, is there?
It goes without saying that long playtime RPGs are absolutely worth playing. Of course it can be time consuming but even spending an hour or two once in a while can be really entertaining and keep you wanting more.
Alternatively picking shorter RPGs is also an option as they can be very fun and more tightly packed with content. Either way, there are plenty of choices for anyone who’s looking for a challenging and fun time.
Longer RPGs technically have more time to get players engaged in the story, lore etc. But it doesn’t mean they’re better because of that.
Curiously enough, side quests and extra content can take as much (or more!) time to complete as the main storyline of the game. Effectively doubling it.
Most of them try to give at least a few major endings to top off the lengthy investment from the players.
Depending on how good the DLC is, it can add a lot of new content on top of new items, character customization and locations. It can vary greatly depending on how much effort was taken to produce them.
