Gamer's Marathon: 10 Recent Games That Need 100+ Hours to Complete

Introduction

Games take time, in fact, we want them to take time, we want to get our money's worth, and sometimes we love our long games, sometimes we don't. But hey, today, let's talk about some games that take a while. Hi folks, it's Zaid Ikram, and today on Gamix, 10 recent extremely long games that take 100 plus hours to 100%.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game

That is a frigging mouthful, and these games are absolutely the equivalent of a mouthful. Starting off with number 10, it's "Expeditions: A MudRunner Game." If you're unfamiliar with the "MudRunner" and "SnowRunner" games, you're probably wondering how this thing could be one of the longest games of the year. You'd think the premise of driving through mud would get old after a while, or even just run out of reasons to continue doing even if it does get old. I mean, we've all played games that get old and we keep going anyway, but apparently not. If you want to fully complete this game, it's going to take just over 100 hours to do it.

The thing about these games is they require a lot of slow movement and careful planning. You're not just rocketing through checkpoints like a standard open world driving game. Every mud-covered stretch of road or rocky piece of terrain is like a puzzle to solve and it requires a lot of patience to make any kind of progress. It's a very zen game in that way while still offering the usual open-world activities that you might expect, plenty of checklist clearing, and we know that does make these kinds of games appealing to a certain kind of gamer that gets a dopamine hit whenever they see the completion percentage on a map go up.

The funny thing about "Expeditions" is that it's long as hell, but it's nothing compared to "SnowRunners," which is like twice as long to beat that one. "Expeditions: A MudRunner Game" is meant to be the more streamlined entry in the series, and it takes 100 hours to clear it. And like the old games, they keep adding DLC maps and new stuff that, I mean, it extends its longevity and has you going into caves.

And I mean, it's not a game where you just can zone out either. These games require a lot more concentration than like a truck driving simulator, 'cause I mean mud is tough, man. There are similar podcast spotter games that are fun to pop in and make some progress every once in a while, or if you are a completionist maniacally obsessed for several weeks straight, in which you get minimal amounts of sleep and put off an absolutely demented vibe to everyone in your life.

Metaphor: ReFantazio

And number nine is "Metaphor: ReFantazio." I don't know about you, but I expect this one actually to be a lot longer. It's in many ways a spiritual follow-up to "Persona 5," and we all know how brutally long those games can get.

I'm not saying this game isn't extremely long, it absolutely is. On average, this game takes about 80 hours plus to finish if you're playing normally so it requires some serious commitment, but going from beating it to completion isn't actually all that much extra work according to howlongtobeat.com. Completely finishing "Metaphor" is going to take around 104 hours total.

By the way, I am using that as my guide 'cause, well, I'm just gonna be clear with you here, I don't often actually 100% games at this point. And on top of that, actual completion times can vary pretty wildly between people. So averaging it out, I think that's probably the best resource for that. I've spent more than 100 hours on a lot of games, games that I haven't gotten anywhere close to completion, and you probably have too.

Frankly, though, the website can sometimes way overestimate how long it takes to finish something or underestimate quite a bit as well. But this is what we have to work with. Again, I beat this game, I did not beat it in 100 hours, I did not complete it, but 104 hours sounds pretty accurate. 

"Metaphor" is kind of a lot like "Persona" where the actual meat of the game is very, very long, and there's not a lot of optional content, per se. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's a different kind of design philosophy though. You don't see it that often anymore; there's usually tons of optional things to do in games, case in point, the next entry on the list.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Which is number eight, "Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth." Yeah, if you want to fully complete this game, it actually takes longer than "Metaphor," about 115 hours or so, and I believe it because the amount of stuff you could do in this game is absolutely overwhelming.

There's a main story which is pretty long on its own, actually pretty similar to "Metaphor's" length if you're not going the completionist route, but about 11 hours longer if you do. And if you're doing that, you're doing all the "Yakuza" side stuff like the arcade games and the side stories, various gambling mini-games on top of all that.

And there's two of the biggest major side activities in the entire series with Sujimon where you can catch your train and battle all these freaks and weirdos you run into on the streets of Hawaii in an absurd parody of "Pokemon." 

And then there's also the entire "Dondoko Island" thing. I mean it's "Animal Crossing," but with a barbed wire baseball bat, it's a lot. Clearing out "Dondoko Island" doesn't actually take that long, maybe 10 or so hours, but it is just a drop in the deep well of content that is this game. Totally optional stuff also. It's really fun to engage with this stuff though.

"Yakuza" games always take a long time to complete 'cause their metrics for completion are usually extremely strict and require you to do pretty much everything until you get sick of it, and "Infinite Wealth" is no different than that, there is just more stuff than ever in this one. I mean, it's a JRPG, and they made it a JRPG.

The First Descendant

And number seven is "The First Descendant," it's "Warframe," but swap out biomech ninjas for anime babes, that kind of just sells itself as is, that's a premise that a lot of the gaming community can get behind. It's not bad for what it is despite being blatant bait and overpriced microtransactions to go along with it.

The funny thing about this game is that while completing the available content does take a while, for a completionist, it'll take about 130 hours to do everything there is to do. And for a live service game, "The First Descendant" actually isn't that long. The whole point of these things is to keep players engaged and playing for as long as possible, but if you're able to finish all the content in less than a month, there's not much reason to keep players coming back.

Obviously, you can just run through the campaign again, focus on grinding for extra costumes or whatever, but 130 hours for what's supposed to be a forever game isn't really gonna cut it, and that's probably why the player base shrunk hard after the first month. There's not really a lot to do to keep people playing indefinitely.

I mean, if all you're here to do is jump in, do everything and bounce, it's a great deal for $0, for the price of nothing over 100 hours of gameplay is a great deal, but at that number there will be a lot of grinding and repetition. Just beating the game normally it only takes about 60 hours in comparison.

So yeah, the depth of the content for a full-price game isn't really here, but if you need something to fill the time, hey, you could do a lot worse. 

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension

And number six is "FANTASIAN Neo Dimension," originally released for iOS in episodic form back in 2021. This game from Mist Walker, the "Final Fantasy" guys' studio, got expanded and updated and re-released in 2024, and that's the version of the game we're looking at now. What's interesting about this game is how varied the playtimes can get. Howlongtobeat lists the main story at 21 hours, notably short for modern JRPGs.

"These things are usually behemoths." But that's probably from rushing, 'cause the average person rests it closer to 65 or so hours. But if you want to truly finish it, you're talking 142 hours, which is a huge time investment, more than double the playtime. There's a metric ton of extra content in this game.

But what's unique about it is it's not a bunch of extra modes or mini-games or anything, it's just more game, more side quests, more optional areas, more bonus bosses, a whole lot of optional stuff that can freely be ignored, but you'll seriously be missing out if you skip all of it because some of the best stuff in the game is hidden away in the optional content.

Really, any excuse to more fully explore these beautiful diorama backgrounds is fine by me. Such a strange thing that they hand-built all these backgrounds, but it really gives the game a unique flavor, and I'm here for it, you know? 

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

And number five is who'd guess "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2" of all games would end up being one of the longest games of the year? 2024 was absolutely a year where maybe the games were a little bit shorter, but that doesn't mean we didn't have some pretty long ones. "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." the original, took about 20 hours tops, wasn't that long of a game, so I wasn't really ready for this.

I certainly wasn't ready to believe people saying stuff like this, then I played the game and now I know, it's massive. For average players, it's gonna take around 65 hours to finish the game, especially if you're not using mods to bump up your inventory weight so you end up spending half the game slowly trundling around in the dark 'cause you're over encumbered.

The map is very big, there's very few safe zones, and fast travel is rare so you're doing a whole lot of walking back and forth in "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2." On top of the game being extremely as long as it is, the story just keeps going and going. You have no idea really what's going on, but stuff happens, it keeps happening.

The main reason the game is so long is the map, it's just big, very large, and a lot of it is entirely optional. If you want to complete the game, it means scouring every inch of the map for stashes and loot. It's exhausting, it takes forever, and you will die from a random blood sucker attack when you're not paying attention.

But hey, if you want a long open-world FPS, "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2" is a solid pick. It doesn't end, and it's "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2," it's great. It's a very good game. I have not played it for 144 hours though. - Tired, are you? I'll help you rest in peace. - I'm hiding here. - Got a little present for you.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

And number four is "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth." After the relatively short and linear "Final Fantasy VII" remake, I assumed part two would be similar, and I was, ooh, I was wrong. I mean the gameplay is similar, but "Rebirth" might be one of the most overloaded, bloated beasts of a game I've seen in a while.

It's both incredible and kind of infuriating too, I mean depending on who you are, possibly in equal measures. There's too much stuff in this game for some people. And it's not like "Yakuza" where it feels like a leisurely stroll and you just kind of stop when you want to, "Rebirth" you are just being pummeled with stuff, more stuff at every turn.

All that stuff, it's extremely high quality. Even the most generic open-world activities get a little extra spice inserted into them to make them more exciting, but man, it's overwhelming. You want to finish "Rebirth" fully, finish it, it's 168 hours. Keep in mind, the amount of story this game covers is seven or eight hours of the original "Final Fantasy VII."

It gets to the end of disc one out of three. This game really embraces the open world with all the mini-games and Ubisoft-style map clearing it entails, the difference is the amount of variety on display. Each region has its own major mini-game, there's Del Sol, the Golden Saucer. It's got a card game that rivals "Gwent" in addictiveness.

It has its own huge tournament and story arc, there's multiple tournaments and VR challenges, and hard mode that completely alters how you play the game, it just keeps going. And it sounds like a petty complaint to say the game's like too much of a good thing, 'cause you're buying a game, you want your money's worth, and it's good, it just feels like there's maybe too much of it.

I mean, you don't have to actually play everything in the game though, you could just, you know, go through it, that's what I did. I did some of the optional stuff, not all of it, I could go back to it at any time if I wanted.

Balatro

And at number three is "Balatro," a highly addictive rogue-like game. It's a game you can spend thousands of hours on just for fun, but in terms of completion, it only takes a little bit less than that to fully finish, if you're the type that likes to clear all the achievements. Beating it can happen in a matter of minutes if you know what you're doing, howlongtobeat estimates the average playtime to get a clear around seven hours, so you're just finishing the game normally.

You can see some pretty massive variations depending on the player. I imagine clear times are similar, but either way it's gonna take like 202 hours on average to do everything, like unlock every joker, complete all the achievements. That's a long time for any game, but when you're talking about "Balatro," it's almost a drop in the bucket compared to how much time casual players will spend just doing runs for fun.

It's one of the rare instances where the completionist is probably finishing the game earlier than the average player 'cause their priorities are just completely different. Your average rogue-like player doesn't care about winning or losing, they're just playing a game for a few minutes to fill time on a fairly regular basis.

Satisfactory

And number two is "Satisfactory." Finally released out of early access in 2024, "Satisfactory" is one of the rare survival crafting factory games with an actual end goal, just like, I mean, not just like, but kind of like "Subnautica." The game puts you in a pre-made open world planet in one of four locations and tasks you with building a massive factory to process materials, unlock new blueprints, and even build more complex and advanced machines until you eventually have a planet-spanning, infinite factory built with your own two hands.

It's a laborious, complex and a time-consuming game, to say the least, but it is satisfying, they put that in the name for a good reason. It's all about building up more and more complicated resource chains and automating everything so your factory's essentially running itself while everything is finally set up.

When it gets to that point, it's honestly pretty incredible. Getting to that point takes serious work though. Normally you're gonna take around 139 hours, normally, and if you're a completionist that wants to unlock all the achievements and do everything in the game, it's gonna take around 212 hours. And that's if you're dedicated and focused, for guys like me that restart their factories over and over for aesthetic reasons, it's gonna take significantly longer than that, if you ever get to that point.I don't know, it's a game that takes a long time to do anything and there's a lot of stuff to do.

UFO 50

And finally at number one is "UFO 50." Is this cheating? I mean, technically it's 50 separate games, but you can't buy them separately, they're all exclusive to this collection, it's a single purchase. So, while there's a little bit of a cheat, 'cause in the end I'm talking the collected playtimes of a whole bunch of games and adding them together.

But this was always meant to just be one singular thing, you get what I mean? The whole point of "UFO 50" is to make a game that captures the feel of those old 101 demo discs and crap like "Action 52," but actually good. So, 50 games in one package, not all of them are games you can finish, many are multiplayer only, but still that's a hell of a lot of games, right? They're not all just really basic Atari-style space shooters, some of them are feature-complete indie games on all their own.

I mean, there's an entire Metroidvania in there full of esoteric secrets, and that's not the only game with hidden depth. There's basic ones with strange, difficult-to-uncover things hidden inside of them. Overall playtimes vary wildly here, and I'm talking as low as 57 or so hours, all the way up to, and I'm serious here, 321 hours.

That's one of the longest completion times I've ever seen in a game, and if you're not the type that's great at the kind of throwback games that appear in this collection, I could see it taking way longer depending on certain things. Remember, 321 is the average for the full-ass-completionist thing. I'll repeat it, this is one of the longest times I've ever seen for completing a game.

It's a cheap ending novelty, tons of depth, some of these games are just full-on games, and then there's the whole secret meta aspect of the game. The fake built-in Gemini function, the Rabbit Hole, I mean, it just keeps going and going. It's a game that you can very much get lost in because it's very old school and they don't explain a lot to you.

A lot of the games are intentionally archaic in design in a way that makes them even harder and more inscrutable. It's a massive, quote-unquote, "game," that you can spend a few hours screwing around in, get your money's worth, but if you really want to obsess over it, it's gonna take you months.

Bonus Games

I do have a few bonus games for you that came out in 2024 that do take over 100 hours to complete. I mostly took them out to avoid repetition, a lot of them are JRPGs you know? So, they're JRPG long. So, here's the best of the rest.

Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance 

The re-release of this game added a whole new story mode, along with the post-launch DLC and improvements. As usual, these games are long, but this one in particular is long. To fully take it out, all the new super bosses, all the fleshed-out story, it's 105 hours.

It's right up there with "Metaphor" in terms of length. 

Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak

The "Legend of Heroes" series has been going strong for decades now, and what makes them so unique is that they've been telling one long unbroken story the whole time. Characters introduced in the early games age, evolve, and take on new roles in the state and the world as the story changes, and so do the games.

The newest game here in the west is "Daybreak." It's kind of a jumping-on point for newcomers. You don't really need to have played the many, many games before to have a general understanding of what's going on. But I mean, yeah, they may not be the most technically impressive things out there, but they do what they need to and they remain pretty solid, and most importantly, they're very long.

"Trails Through Daybreak," no exception. Just beating the game normally takes 80 plus hours; you want to complete it, that's 112. Somehow that's longer than the two other infamously long JRPGs on this list, both "Metaphor" and "Shin Megami Tensei V." Have I mentioned JRPGs are long? 

Wuthering Waves 

A free-to-play Action RPG. It's mostly compared to "Genshin Impact" in terms of what it is, but there's more action in it. It's one of those forever games with gacha elements that are meant to keep people grinding and playing for the rest of their lives. But in the game's case here, there's a solid jumping-off point that doesn't actually take all that long to hit.

You can beat the game normally in less than 50 hours, but if you want to complete it, at least in its current state, it's gonna take about 128, which is a lot for a standard game. But compared to "Genshin," it's actually nothing, which might be a good thing depending on how you look at it.

Conclusion

And that's all, no more today. Leave us a comment. Let us know what you think. And as always, I thank you very much for reading this blog. We'll see you next time right here on Gamix.