Top 10 The Longest Single-Player Campaigns By Main Story Hours

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It’s common to want a great game to last as long as possible. Luckily, many developers, especially those making open-world or role-playing games, include so much content that even just finishing the main story can take over 50 hours. These longer games are filled with adventures, interesting characters, challenging battles, and memorable events, making them both enduring and unforgettable.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the longest main stories in single-player games – games that can keep you engaged for over 100 hours. We’re focusing only on the length of the core narrative, not optional side quests or activities. To ensure accuracy, we’ve used data from HowLongToBeat, prioritizing games with broad player input. This list includes only traditional, story-driven single-player games – no massively multiplayer online games, open-world sandbox games, or simulators. We’ve also limited the list to one game per series to offer a wider variety. Here are the single-player games with the most extensive main story campaigns.

10. The Last Remnant

Main Story: 63 Hours

As a JRPG fan, I remember being really excited for The Last Remnant when it came out. Square Enix was trying something new, aiming for that classic Final Fantasy feel but with a more modern spin. While it didn’t quite reach those heights, it’s still a game I appreciate. The story is fantastic – you play as a hero searching for his sister, and get caught up in a huge, secret war over these powerful magical artifacts. Honestly, the main story alone took me over 60 hours to finish, and there’s so much extra stuff to do – tons of side quests and activities that easily add dozens more hours to the game. It’s a really immersive, cinematic journey across the world of Eulam.

The Last Remnant has a unique structure. Its story unfolds in short scenes, often broken up by long periods of combat and required guild activities. While some players might not enjoy this, it can make the main story feel disjointed and slow down the overall pace, unlike the smoother, more consistent storytelling found in many classic JRPGs.

9. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Main Story: 63 Hours

Besides the unique and unconventional Xenoblade Chronicles X, the other games in the series, including Xenoblade Chronicles 3, deliver a traditional JRPG story within the stunning world of Aionios. Xenoblade Chronicles titles are among the largest open-world JRPGs you can find, offering main stories that easily exceed 60 hours of gameplay. Dedicated players can also explore the expansive open world for months, enjoying a dynamic combat system and a satisfying sense of progression as they complete various objectives.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 stands out for its strong, focused story – a continuous plot that really keeps you engaged. The game follows several groups of heroes determined to break the cycle of an endless world. This approach lets you experience the story from multiple viewpoints, with characters that grow emotionally and explore thought-provoking ideas as they search for the truth.

8. Metaphor: ReFantazio

Main Story: 65 Hours

ReFantazio is a massive RPG with a sprawling story, memorable characters, and plenty of conflict. While it’s a lengthy game, it’s not quite as long as the Persona series. To give you an idea of its scope, the prologue alone takes longer than many complete games lasting around 10 hours. The main story typically takes about 65 hours to complete, taking players on a journey across the kingdom of Euchronia. As you play, you’ll work to break an ancient curse and unlock new areas to explore, including cities and regions that were previously inaccessible.

Drawing inspiration from past Atlus titles, Metaphor: ReFantazio combines fast-paced dungeon exploration with slower-paced city life and character interactions. The game features a day-night cycle that affects events and utilizes a traditional turn-based combat system, with key happenings tied to an in-game calendar.

7. Divinity: Original Sin

Main Story: 67 Hours

Before achieving massive popularity with Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios developed the Original Sin games. While not as visually stunning or refined, these earlier titles still offer the same deep, reactive gameplay and immersive worlds as Baldur’s Gate 3, viewed from a top-down perspective. Divinity: Original Sin is a particularly large game, focused on exploration, and can easily take new players over 70 hours to finish the main story.

Okay, so I’ve been playing Divinity: Original Sin, and it’s awesome, but different from Baldur’s Gate 3. The story is there, but it doesn’t push you forward as much. I spent way more time just messing around, figuring things out on my own, and solving problems in the world. It’s super open-ended! There’s a ton of choices to make, quests that really branch out depending on what you do, and the battles are really cool because you can use the environment to your advantage. Honestly, even if you’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s still a great story worth checking out to see where Larian started with this kind of RPG.

6. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

Main Story: 68 Hours

Like the Pathfinder computer role-playing games, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader features a familiar story structure with plenty of freedom to explore, make choices, and progress through the game in chapters. The main story takes around 70 hours to finish, but those who want to fully experience the Warhammer 40k universe can easily spend over 140 hours doing so.

Like games such as Pathfinder and Baldur’s Gate 3, Rogue Trader features a lot of challenging, turn-based combat. However, it’s not just about fighting; you’ll also make important choices, forge relationships, and even manage territories similar to the game Kingmaker. The story in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader takes place across the vast and dangerous Koronus Expanse, filled with exciting adventures and hidden secrets.

5. Baldur’s Gate 3

Main Story: 72 Hours

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a massive, classic-style role-playing game that offers a truly expansive experience. Players can easily spend months discovering everything it has to offer, especially if they take their time. The main story alone takes over 80 hours to complete, filled with deliberate combat and plenty of conversations as you journey across the world of Faerûn, trying to cure a dangerous parasite.

Few role-playing games match the scale and quality of Baldur’s Gate 3. It expertly blends classic gameplay with modern design, offering a compelling story that unfolds with a clear structure. The game truly stands out thanks to its dynamic world, memorable characters, and the freedom it gives players to shape their own unique experience with each new playthrough.

4. Record of Agarest War

Main Story: 74 Hours

Record of Agarest War is a distinctive RPG that combines strategic battles with a multi-generational story. The game is quite long – typically 70 to 80 hours – because of its unique ‘Soul Breed’ system. This system focuses on building relationships across five chapters, with players raising heirs who inherit traits and abilities from their parents, continuing the story through their eyes. Your choices directly impact these heirs and how the story unfolds.

Although Record of Agarest War seems like a dating game at first, that’s not quite accurate. The dating elements aren’t central to the experience. Instead, they’re a clever way to tell a sprawling story that spans several generations on the continent of Kraltarla. It’s less a typical RPG story and more of an epic tale you don’t often find in games, so players should go in knowing it’s unique.

3. Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Main Story: 76 Hours

Few modern computer RPGs feel as classic as Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It stays very true to the core elements of the genre, which might be overwhelming for some. However, players who enjoy older, more deliberate RPGs will likely love it.

The main story in Kingmaker is significantly longer than in Wrath of the Righteous, taking place across the expansive Stolen Lands. While Wrath of the Righteous focuses more on optional side quests and content, Kingmaker extends its narrative through a detailed kingdom management system. This adds depth to the overall journey, but can also make the main plot feel slow-paced and overly focused on political matters, potentially disappointing players who prefer a faster-paced, action-packed adventure.

2. Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past

Main Story: 78 Hours

Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is the most extensive game in the long-running Dragon Quest series. It tells a grand story through a unique structure, almost like playing several shorter, self-contained adventures within one larger game. Players can expect to spend around 80 hours completing the main story, enjoying battles and exploring the world of Estard along the way.

The game Fragments of the Forgotten Past tells its story in a unique, broken-up way – a design choice that fits its title perfectly. It’s made up of separate, standalone stories that take place at different points in time. While the Dragon Quest series usually sticks to traditional storytelling, this game doesn’t stray too far from what fans love. You can expect the classic Dragon Quest hero’s journey – a timeless quest to defeat an ancient evil – to be told in a way that’s both familiar and rewarding.

1. Persona 5

Main Story: 98 Hours

This game is likely one of the longest story-focused single-player games ever made. Atlus has a history of creating massive Persona games that can keep players immersed for many hours. But with Persona 5, considered by many to be their best game yet, they surpassed all previous epic JRPGs, with the main story taking around 100 hours to complete.

Persona 5, set in contemporary Japan, uses the series’ familiar calendar system, where each day at school is a separate event, and the main story unfolds over a year. This creates a unique blend of exciting dungeon exploration and a life simulation experience. The game centers around Joker and the Phantom Thieves as they journey through the strange world of the Metaverse. While the game is broken into distinct segments, this design choice doesn’t detract from the experience for fans of Japanese role-playing games.

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2025-12-11 04:08