RPGs Officially Longer Than Skyrim

As a huge RPG fan, when I think of games where you can really lose yourself in a huge world, Skyrim always jumps to mind. I mean, the snowy mountains are gorgeous, fighting dragons is epic, and there’s just so much to do. You can easily spend dozens of hours just playing through the main story, but if you’re like me and want to do everything – explore every cave, beat every boss, join all the guilds, collect all the items – you’re looking at over 200 hours, easily! It’s a game you can really live in for years.

Look, I love Skyrim, but it’s not even the longest RPG out there, honestly. There are some games that seriously ask for a ton of playtime if you want to experience everything. We’re not just talking about a long main story here. These games are packed with side quests, secret bosses, and systems so complex you could play for ages and still not see it all. Some even let you play with others, which just gives you even more reasons to keep coming back!

Completionist times are from How Long To Beat.

World Of Warcraft

Solo 1391 Hours/Co-Op 2220 Hours/Vs.1769 Hours

Unlike many games with a definite ending, World of Warcraft is designed for continuous play. On average, players spend around 1,391 hours completing solo activities, 2,220 hours playing with others, and 1,769 hours in player-versus-player combat. This is significantly longer than the 237 hours it takes to fully complete Skyrim. World of Warcraft isn’t about finishing a story; it’s about developing characters, acquiring better equipment, and enjoying regularly released new content, which keeps players coming back for more.

World of Warcraft can easily consume hundreds of hours, even playing by yourself. Reaching the maximum level, finishing each expansion’s story, and collecting items like mounts and character appearances takes a lot of time. Playing with friends or a guild adds even more – weekly raids or challenging dungeons can keep players engaged for months or even years.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

Completionist Time: 838 Hours

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate offers a classic gaming experience that emphasizes careful planning and skillful execution. Unlike story-focused games like Skyrim, it’s a more deliberate and gradual progression. You’ll spend your time studying monsters, improving your equipment, and mastering combat through challenging, drawn-out battles. The focus isn’t on a grand narrative, but on personal growth as a hunter and successfully completing each hunt.

The main story of Generations Ultimate is significantly longer than Skyrim, clocking in at about 63.5 extra hours. Completing all the side quests will take around 171 hours, and finishing absolutely everything the game has to offer could take a massive 838 hours – almost three times longer than Skyrim. However, this length isn’t due to unnecessary dialogue or pointless tasks. Instead, it comes from extensive tutorials, repeated actions, and the time needed to improve your character’s skills. For example, crafting a powerful weapon often requires rare items dropped by monsters, and these monsters don’t give them up easily, meaning players might need to fight the same enemy repeatedly to get the necessary resources.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Completionist Time: 251 Hours

Xenoblade Chronicles X is a sprawling Japanese role-playing game known for its incredible depth and length, easily keeping players engaged for hundreds of hours. The story begins after Earth is destroyed, with humanity crash-landing on the enormous alien planet, Mira. Completing the main storyline typically takes around 68 hours, which reflects just how vast the game world is. Mira is comprised of five massive continents, each offering unique environments and challenges.

Okay, so I’ve been playing this game, and let me tell you, if you’re a completionist like me, you’re looking at way more than 250 hours of gameplay. Seriously! The world is huge, but it’s not just the size. Some of the coolest creatures and best items are tucked away in the most out-of-the-way places, and sometimes you can only find them when the weather’s just right or at a specific time of day. It really adds up and keeps you playing!

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Completionist Time: 256 Hours

Released on the Nintendo Switch in 2017, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 brought the series back to a strong focus on story. Despite having fewer main story chapters than the first game, it actually takes longer to complete. This installment moved away from the expansive, open-world style of Xenoblade Chronicles X, instead emphasizing characters and their relationships. The game explores themes of identity, loss, and the meaning of life, all through the bonds formed between humans, known as Drivers, and their powerful, sentient weapon companions, Blades. Players can easily spend over 60 hours completing the main story alone.

Players who aim to finish absolutely everything in the game can easily spend over 250 hours doing so. This is because there’s a huge amount of content, including collecting all Rare Blades, finishing every side quest, uncovering all the special Heart-to-Heart moments, fully completing the Affinity Charts, and defeating the most challenging bosses. Additionally, the game’s Trust system requires a lot of repetitive effort to unlock the full potential of each Blade.

Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice

Completionist Time: 370 Hours

I was so excited when Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice came out! It looked fantastic, a real step up visually from previous games, but thankfully it still had that crazy, over-the-top humor and gameplay that makes the Disgaea series so special. The main story took me around 34 hours to beat, which is surprisingly long – about as long as Skyrim! But honestly, the real challenge is the level cap… it goes all the way up to 9999! It takes a lot of time and effort to actually reach it, but it’s a fun goal to work towards.

The Item World is a huge part of the game, letting you upgrade your weapons and armor by battling through randomly generated floors – 100 for regular items, and 300 for the best gear. Each floor is a complete battle that takes time to finish. You can also unlock special fights featuring characters from older games, expand the game’s content through the Dark Assembly, and access new classes, weapons, and challenging enemies. If you want to complete everything, expect to spend up to 370 hours.

Kenshi

Completionist Time: 273 Hours

Kenshi is a truly unique and captivating sandbox RPG. While some say the “main story” takes around 83 and a half hours to complete, that’s not quite accurate. Kenshi doesn’t have a traditional story at all. Instead, players create their own goals – whether it’s liberating slaves, building a successful town, taking over a group, or just trying to stay alive and get stronger. That 83½ hour mark represents how long it usually takes for players to reach a few personal achievements and feel a sense of progress.

Kenshi isn’t a typical game about becoming a hero, so expect to face challenges and setbacks frequently. If you like to complete everything, it will take around 273 hours to try out all the different ways to play – you can be a slave, a trader, a noble, or a wanderer. You’ll need to build several bases, become skilled in both crafting and fighting, discover secret locations, defeat powerful bosses, and fully develop your characters.

White Knight Chronicles 2

Completionist Time: 532 Hours

White Knight Chronicles 2 is a sequel and an updated version of the first White Knight Chronicles game. It follows a typical JRPG story where you’re tasked with saving a princess and discovering hidden truths about the world. However, the game stands out thanks to its grand scope, impressive visuals, and battles featuring enormous robots.

I’ve heard the main story will take about as long to finish as Skyrim did for me. But if you’re like me and want to do everything – and I mean everything – you’re looking at a massive time commitment! We’re talking around 532 hours to max out all your characters, fully upgrade all 400+ weapons and armor pieces, finish every single guild questline, build a whole town in the Georama, beat every boss, and collect absolutely all the customization options. It’s a huge undertaking, but totally tempting for completionists like me!

Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels Of The Starry Skies

Completionist Time: 699 Hours

Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is a Japanese role-playing game where you create your own unique hero and build a team to go on adventures. It keeps the traditional turn-based combat the series is famous for, but lets you customize how your characters look and behave. The game is huge, with over 120 optional quests – from finding hidden items to challenging monsters, like the tricky metal slimes – that will test your skills and require a lot of patience.

As a huge RPG fan, I’m really excited about the treasure map system in this game! It’s basically an endless dungeon generator – you find maps either by scanning with Tag Mode or through the story, and they lead to these multi-floor grottos packed with random monsters and tough bosses. Some of these maps are seriously huge, with over 90 floors and level 99 bosses guarding some incredible gear. You could easily spend hundreds of hours just exploring those! Just a heads-up though, it’s a game with a lot of text, so be prepared to do some reading. Honestly, with everything it offers, I can totally see why some players spend almost a month trying to complete everything!

2025-11-10 11:36