Games come in all shapes and sizes, and a longer game isn’t necessarily better than one you can beat in an afternoon. That said, as the video game generations have gone on and hardware has improved, some developers have pushed the limits on just how long a game can last. Now, we have tons of live-service games, MMORPGs, and multiplayer games that technically have no end to them at all. However, looking at games that can in fact be beaten, some titles might as well be endless for how much time they ask of the player. If you are looking for a game you can sink dozens and dozens of hours into, we’ve found the longest video games of all time.
Note: While some live-service and MMOs do have storylines, we aren’t counting them here due to them being ongoing. Likewise, sandbox games only count if there is a way to finish the game. We also used How Long to Beat for a general consensus on the hour count for each of these games based on the Main Story ranking.
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Dragon Warrior VII
80%
Platforms
PlayStation
Genre
Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
Developer
Heartbeat, ArtePiazza, Bird Studio, Armor Project
Publisher
Enix Corporation
Release
August 26, 2000
If you guessed there would be plenty of JRPGs on this list, you’re off to a good start. Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is the longest of any Dragon Quest game to date, with the main story averaging 78 hours, although it can vary depending on the platform you play on. This entry follows a new hero who discovers strange artifacts on their small island that tear apart the fabric of space and time. From there, the adventure takes you across many distant lands with a colorful cast of characters. Finding all the items and just moving through the story is a huge undertaking, but the amount of grinding needed to master your classes is where a lot of these hours come from. If you want to do everything, you’re looking at almost 300 hours to complete this fun but slow JRPG.
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
86%
Platforms
PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita
Genre
Role-playing (RPG), Simulator
Developer
Victor Interactive Software
Publisher
Natsume Inc., Victor Interactive Software
Release
December 16, 1999
If there’s one genre that encourages players to take their time with more than JRPGs, it’s farming sims. Harvest Moon was the game to take this genre mainstream before the likes of Stardew Valley became the more popular option, but it still holds the crown for being the longer game. You might be able to grow your own crops for real in the time it takes to beat this game, which averages around 80 hours. The game moves day by day, and the ending only arrives after 3 years of in-game time! Of course, you’re free to keep living on your farm after that point, but the game does at least give you a chance to cut your losses. After all, completionists are looking at 200 hours or more to reach 100% completion.
My Time at Sandrock
90%
Platforms
Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Genre
Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Adventure, Indie
Developer
Pathea Games
Publisher
PM Studios, Pathea Games
Release
November 02, 2023
Another contender in the cozy life-sim genre is the My Time franchise, with Sandrock being the most expansive entry yet at around 82 hours. Just like in a Harvest Moon, you are a newcomer to the town of Sandrock known as a Builder. Only you can use your tools to repair your land, build new buildings, and do repairs and upgrades for all the townspeople. The game is broken up into acts, which sounds reasonable until you realize that there are 224 main story quests in total. And that’s not counting side quests, romance quests, and other optional content. A full completionist run will almost double your playtime to around 155 hours. It’s no wonder you can get married in these games since you’re basically in a committed relationship with the game trying to beat it.
SnowRunner
75%
Platforms
Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Genre
Racing, Simulator, Adventure, Arcade
Developer
Saber Interactive
Publisher
Focus Entertainment
Release
April 28, 2020
SnowRunner? More like SnowCrawler, right? This game is part of the niche trucking simulation genre that focuses on driving a big rig through extreme winter environments. And this is a true simulation game, so don’t expect to be blasting through the snow at 100 MPH. You need to carefully maneuver through mud, water, snow, and more to deliver your cargo on time and undamaged. You will basically be driving routes in real time, adding up to around 88 hours of main content. With 40 vehicles to try and dozens of upgrades to unlock and equip, there are around 230 hours or more of trucking waiting for you here.
Satisfactory
75%
Platforms
Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
Genre
Simulator, Strategy, Adventure, Indie
Developer
Coffee Stain Studios
Publisher
Coffee Stain Publishing
Release
September 10, 2024
It probably says more than we ever could that there are entire walkthroughs for Satisfactory with the only goal of beating the game in 100 hours. The current average time is 97 hours, but that’s only possible if you know what you’re doing and don’t get wrapped up in all the nuances of building the perfect conveyor belt system. This game is all about designing and redesigning the perfect system of collecting, refining, and transporting resources so you can upgrade and research new technologies to unlock better tools to make even more efficient systems. It is an incredibly addictive loop, but also a very long one even if you don’t get distracted. You will need to go through multiple tiers of technology, from mining basic metals for rods and plates to creating nuclear power.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
80%
Platforms
iOS, PlayStation Portable
Genre
Role-playing (RPG)
Developer
Capcom Production Studio 1
Publisher
Capcom
Release
March 27, 2008
Every Monster Hunter game is a huge undertaking, but one of the earliest is still the longest by a good margin. Freedom Unite is a PSP entry that is just overloaded with missions (around 400) that end up at around 100 hours to finish. It was the biggest game in the series at that point, despite being on a handheld. Now, games like Monster Hunter Wilds have far more variety in monsters and mission types, but not in sheer number. This game was meant to keep players entertained on the go for weeks of commuting, and it does that in spades with so many ranks to work through, even if you end up fighting the same dozen or so monster types in the same environments over and over. The loop is still addicting.
Persona 5 Royal
95%
Platforms
Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Genre
Role-playing (RPG), Turn-based strategy (TBS), Adventure
Developer
Atlus, P Studio
Publisher
Sega
Release
October 31, 2019
Persona 5 is one of the few JRPGs we think justifies its 80-ish hour runtime. The Royal version somehow manages to cram around 20 more amazing hours into that experience to total something like 101 hours of game time. It has all the content of the base game, as you would expect, but includes an entire new semester with new events, more social links, locations, new moves, and reworked bosses to be even harder. If you’re unaware, the modern Persona games combine lengthy JRPG stories and turn-based gameplay systems with a lite life-sim element where you go to school, level up stats, build relationships, and more. This is one of the few games where we feel that runtime isn’t bloated or unnecessary, so long as you love the combat, story, and characters.
Library of Ruina
94%
Platforms
PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Genre
Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Adventure, Indie
Developer
Project Moon
Publisher
Project Moon, Arc System Works
Release
August 10, 2021
If you never heard of Library of Ruina, we don’t blame you. This is a 2020 card game where you play as a librarian who fights patrons to turn them into books to grow the library. It is as strange as it sounds, but what is most confusing is the fact that it is at least 118 hours long. Despite that, it is rated overwhelmingly positive. The game is broken up into various levels of the library you need to beat, each broken into multiple acts and scenes. Besides the amount of story content and lengthy cutscenes to get through, the game is also tough. Even if you understand the complex card systems, you will need to spend a good amount of time building your deck and grinding battles. However, if you love a good deck builder, you won’t find a better value game.
