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.
Further reading
- God of War Ragnarok: release date, trailer, news, and more
- How to pre-order God of War Ragnarok: retailers, editions, and bonuses
- Every God of War game, ranked from best to worst
How long does God of War take to finish?
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?
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.
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