Open-World Games Officially Longer Than Zelda Tears Of The Kingdom

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When The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom came out, many players considered it a massive open-world game, rivaling the largest ever created. Its size, freedom, and the creative possibilities it offered were exceptional. Dedicated players could spend over 249 hours fully exploring Hyrule’s skies, underground areas, and towns. However, according to data from HowLongToBeat, some open-world games actually require even more time to complete, making Tears of the Kingdom seem relatively concise in comparison.

Open-world games often keep players engaged for a long time with big goals, secrets to find, and complex systems that take many hours to learn. Some even feel endless, always offering something new to discover, a skill to improve, or a challenge to overcome.

ARK: Survival Evolved

Solo 243 Hours / Co-Op 295 Hours / Vs. 301 Hours

In ARK: Survival Evolved, you’re stranded on dangerous islands and must fight to survive. You can finish the main story in around 60 to 70 hours if you learn how to build a base, tame creatures, and beat challenging bosses. However, if you want to truly complete everything, it will take hundreds of hours. That includes mastering breeding, getting the best stats for your creatures, building elaborate bases on different maps, and tackling the hardest challenges the game has to offer.

Playing with friends or on player-versus-player servers adds a lot more time to the game, thanks to social interactions and competition. Players who aim to collect every creature, fully upgrade their technology, and build extensive production bases can easily spend over 300 hours playing.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Completionist: 251 Hours

Many open-world games feel large, but Xenoblade Chronicles X is truly massive. Its planet is incredibly detailed and packed with secrets that can take players hundreds of hours to find. The game is designed to make you feel like a tiny speck in a vast, ever-expanding world.

As a total completionist, I’m looking at around 251 hours to do everything in this game! Seriously, it’s a huge time commitment, but it’s worth it because the world is so detailed. There’s tons to explore, really engaging side quests, and you’re constantly improving your character and gear. One of the best feelings is finally unlocking flight for your Skell – it’s like nothing else in an RPG! But getting there? You’ll spend a long time just building up your strength, gathering resources, and leveling up skills just to make it through the challenges Mira throws at you.

Kenshi

Completionist: 273 Hours

Despite being a challenging game, Kenshi is captivating thanks to its vast, open world and freedom. You begin as a vulnerable, nameless wanderer in a dangerous land overrun by slave traders, desperate bandits, and cannibals. There isn’t a set storyline, meaning your goal is simply to survive and create a lasting legacy.

Kenshi is a fantastic game for players who enjoy lengthy campaigns and gradual progress. To truly experience everything Kenshi has to offer, you’ll need to establish several outposts, fully research all technologies, develop characters with diverse skills, and either control or eliminate major factions. Completing all of this typically takes around 273 hours of gameplay.

The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind

Completionist Time: 298 Hours

Before Skyrim became a worldwide phenomenon, Morrowind demonstrated the incredible freedom possible in role-playing games. The game is filled with hidden stories in nearly every building, and each group you join offers different ways to progress and multiple endings. You can play as a mage, a rogue, a member of the nobility, or even ascend to god-like power, and your choices impact how the world reacts to you. With tons of optional things to do – reading books, finding ancient artifacts, and completing side quests – it’s easy to get completely lost in the game.

What sets Morrowind apart and makes it such a lengthy game is its respect for player exploration. It doesn’t force you down a specific path; instead, it encourages you to learn about the world and rewards you for doing so. Dedicated players can easily spend 300 hours uncovering everything it has to offer.

Genshin Impact

Solo 298 Hours / Co-Op 531 Hours

If you only focus on the main story and important Archon quests in Genshin Impact, you can expect to play for around 60 to 70 hours. This approach lets you experience a complete story and feel like you’re making progress without needing to spend a lot of time on things like improving characters or collecting items.

Players aiming for full completion can expect to spend between 300 and 530 hours collecting and upgrading characters, improving their weapons, and gathering rare items. Like most ongoing games, there’s always more to do – both permanent content and special, limited-time events. If you want to collect and fully upgrade a large number of characters, a playtime of over 500 hours is a reasonable estimate.

Project Zomboid

Completionist: 433 Hours

Let me tell you, playing Project Zomboid isn’t about ‘winning.’ It’s about how long you can survive. That’s what makes it one of the toughest open-world games I’ve ever played. There’s no end goal, no cavalry coming to save you, and definitely no cure. You’re just trying to find food, board up a safe place, and stay alive while everything falls apart. The world is massive and always changing, and honestly, you measure your success in days, not completed missions. It’s brutal, but super engaging!

It’s common to survive for weeks in this game, only to be eliminated by a single bite while gathering supplies, which means starting all over. But that frustrating cycle is actually what keeps players engaged for hundreds of hours. Success isn’t just about having a good plan; it’s about knowing when to fight, when to run, and how to transform any location into a safe haven. Despite the lack of a clear ending, people have spent an average of 433 hours exploring everything the game has to offer.

Elite: Dangerous

Completionist: 677 Hours

This space simulator lets you become the pilot you want – a trader, bounty hunter, explorer, miner, or even an outlaw. Your actions have real consequences, impacting the game world with fluctuating prices, shifting power between factions, and even changing ownership of star systems. It can feel huge and complex at first, but that’s what makes playing so enjoyable.

The core storyline itself is quite lengthy, potentially taking over 100 hours to finish. For players who aim to complete everything, it could take six times longer. This isn’t just due to repetitive tasks; the game’s vastness and focus on exploration play a big role. Traveling across the galaxy can take days, and players will spend countless hours charting planets, improving their ships, and mastering the skills needed to survive in space.

World of Warcraft

Solo 1390 Hours / Co-Op 2154 Hours / Vs. 1769 Hours

Honestly, after twenty years, it’s no surprise people are still playing World of Warcraft. There’s just always something to do! I’ve seen so many friends say they’d just give it a shot, and then suddenly it’s months later and they’re totally hooked, constantly working on quests, trying to get better gear, and getting lost in the game’s ongoing story. If you’re thinking about getting into it, be warned – you could easily sink anywhere from 1390 to 2154 hours into it, depending on if you play alone or with friends!

It can take a long time to fully develop a single character, but many players enjoy creating multiple characters with different abilities and roles. There’s always something new to work towards – whether it’s defeating a powerful raid boss, improving your reputation with a faction, or collecting rare items. The game offers endless opportunities and doesn’t really have a true ending.

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2025-11-18 11:35