Skip to main content

How long is God of War?

Now separated by years and miles from his Greek origins, Kratos finds himself embarking on a new adventure in the land of Norse mythology that is unlike anything else he’s ever attempted before. God of War is half a reboot of the series, almost completely revamping the story, character, and gameplay from the original games, but also a sequel. This is the same Kratos that went through all those trials against the Greek gods, though it still works as a jumping-in point for new players.

The original God of War games were never very long experiences. They focused mainly on hitting big, exciting set piece moments with smaller, but still fun, combat encounters, light puzzles, and platforming sections in between to add some variety. God of War still has all of these elements, minus the platforming, but also adds in other mechanics like an open hub to explore, side quests, and RPG elements, to name a few. This makes it by far the longest entry in the series, but how long is it, exactly? Hop in our boat and let’s find out.

Recommended Videos

Further reading

How long does God of War take to finish?

Kratos hesitates to comfort his son Atreus.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This will obviously vary somewhat from person to person based on a few things, such as how much side content you decide to do, what difficulty you play on, how often you die, and if you enjoy taking in the amazing visuals. However, a good range for an average player who is just looking to go through the main story is somewhere between 20 and 25 hours. The main story may seem like it won’t take long, simply focusing on Kratos and his son climbing a mountain to spread his mother’s ashes, however, it quickly becomes far more complicated. You will travel all across the realm, meeting a fun cast of characters and exploring the Lake of Nine on your boat. Not only that, but you will also end up traveling to several other realms, some multiple times, that have their own enemies, bosses, and puzzles.

The main quest technically is made up of 17 chapters, but because the game never cuts, they’re not a very useful tool for dividing up the game.

If you enjoy taking on any side quests that you happen to stumble upon, your hour count could go up to the low- to mid-30s as well. On the other hand, if you are a skilled gamer and do nothing but plow through the story, perhaps playing on an easier difficulty, you could drive that time down to around 15 hours or so. It all depends on how much you want to do.

How long does it take to 100% complete God of War?

The World Serpent in god of war
Image used with permission by copyright holder

We mentioned that this God of War has way more extra content than any previous game, and for anyone looking to 100% complete this game and grab yourself the Platinum Trophy, you will have quite a challenge placed before you. Here are all the things you need to do in order to fully complete God of War:

  • Complete the entire story
  • Pick up all 45 Artifacts
  • Open 38 Mystic Gateways
  • Read 39 Lore Markers
  • Find and do all 15 favors, aka side quests, in Midgard
  • Defeat all eight Valkyrie super bosses and the Valkyrie Queen
  • Free all three dragons
  • Find and read all 11 Jotnar Shrines
  • Find and destroy all 51 of Odin’s Ravens
  • Find all 12 Treasure Maps and locate their treasures
  • Find all 14 Cipher Chests
  • Complete at least 11 Realm Tear encounters

Obviously, that’s a lot of stuff to do, though it isn’t as terrible as it might look on paper. First, you will likely come across a good deal of these as you progress naturally through the game (as long as you’re not trying to speedrun it or anything). Second is that there are no missable collectibles or quests, so even if you go straight to the end, you can backtrack anywhere and everywhere in the game to grab what you missed.

You will likely need to follow a guide for much of this, especially finding those pesky Odin’s Ravens, and fighting the Valkyrie Queen alone can add hours to your playtime.

However, if you wanted a rough estimate of how much time you will be sinking into this game to get the full 100% completion, you should expect somewhere between 50 and 55 hours or so. While we don’t recommend it for first-time playing, you would be able to come down on the lower side of that 50-hour estimate by following a 100% walkthrough guide. The better way to experience the game, even if you intend on going for the Platinum, is to play naturally (perhaps avoiding hitting any of Odin’s Ravens so you don’t get confused as to which ones you’ve missed) and then go back and clean up the rest.

Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
How long is Starfield?
An astronaut stands in front of an artifact in Starfield.

Bethesda Game Studio titles are notorious for being some of the most expansive and long-lasting RPGs of their type. Starfield is the first new IP from the studio in over a decade, and yet it follows the same basic formula of the company's staple series of having just one main quest, but hundreds of sidequests, activities, and places to explore. The difference here is you're not locked to a single landmass like in an Elder Scrolls game, but have an entire universe to explore. Before you get in the pilot seat and blast off to adventure, it's best make sure you have enough supplies to last the trip. Here's how long you can expect to spend in Starfield.
How long is Starfield?

There are a few ways to break down how long Starfield will take you. Let's start with the easiest measurement, which is how long the main story will take. If you were to only focus on following the critical path, you could probably get through Starfield in around 20 hours. That's a decent chunk of time, but will obviously only show you a fraction of what the game has to offer. Many people do ignore the main story in BGS games, however, we strongly recommend you see this story through before completely losing yourself to side content.

Read more
How long is Baldur’s Gate 3?
A party of heroes stands on a cliff in Baldur's Gate 3.

CRPGs are notorious for being very lengthy investments, and Baldur's Gate 3 is no exception. Even in its early access days, players were spending hundreds of hours on just the first act of the game, though just doing the main story would be significantly less. Some people may spend hours just in the character creator choosing their race and speccing out their class, while others may dive in and only do the main quests. In a game this large, your playtime will vary quite a bit, but no matter how much, or little, of a completionist you are, we can give you a good idea of just how long Baldur's Gate 3 will take to beat.
How long is Baldur's Gate 3?
Oh boy, this is going to be a somewhat complicated and intimidating answer. Baldur's Gate 3 is a massive CRPG that is all about giving you a unique and tailored experience. Everything from your race, stats, and skills to choices, dialogue choices, and successful or failed skill checks can alter your playtime in some way. There's also the vast number of optional activities and objectives you can choose to engage with or ignore, as well as your difficulty level, to consider. Prior to launch, Larian Studios developer Swen Vincke said that an average playthrough of the game would take "between 75 to 100 hours, that's what we're seeing. That's not doing everything, that is just going to be a playthrough. There will be people who will be way over that, the ones who want to do everything. They will probably hit 200 hours, I think. On average, we're seeing people who are going through take about 75 to 100 hours."

From our experience, we would say that figure is accurate if you're playing on the normal difficulty and taking time to do some sidequests and diversions to explore and engage in a decent amount of the optional content. Normally, a 25-hour range would be a bit wide as an average, but when you consider how your class comes into play, how much combat you encounter, to what degree you are role-playing, and whether or not you're playing alone or in co-op, it starts to make more sense.

Read more
How long is Final Fantasy 16?
A castle under a massive crystal.

JRPGs are notorious for being heavy time investments. Some, such as Persona 5 and other Final Fantasy entries, can easily go on for over 100 hours without adding in side content. On the other hand, there are some Final Fantasy games that lean on the shorter side. With Final Fantasy 16 taking a far more action-focused approach to combat, some might expect this to be a shorter entry, but that isn't necessarily the case. There are plenty of factors that will impact how many hours you spend in the world of Valisthea, so we'll give you a good idea of how long it will take you to complete Final Fantasy 16.
How long is Final Fantasy 16?

Just like any good JRPG, Final Fantasy 16 has a substantial main quest, as well as other optional activities you can take on if you want to get the most out of your experience. The main optional components are the sub-quests and board bounties to increase Renown. If you're just here for the story and ignore all the extras, you can expect around a 35-hour adventure with Clive all told. This isn't all pure gameplay, as about 11 of those hours are dedicated to cutscenes sprinkled throughout the adventure. Because there are quite a lot of sub-quests and bounties available, plus fully leveling up and unlocking all your skills, going for a full 100% completion run of the game will likely double your playtime to somewhere around 70 to 80 hours.

Read more