Sometimes you stumble on those games that have the perfect narratives, worlds, soundtracks, and gameplay mechanics. They could be short, they could be long, it truly makes no difference. However, games that have a lot to unpack tend to take longer to be experienced fully. Some titles even deserve a special degree of attention, because who would want to miss out on all the activities you can engage in Red Dead Redemption II?
Long games need to masterfully balance narrative and side contents, and it's easier said than done. Nothing breaks immersion like monotonous optional quests or bits of storylines that make no sense (like playing as the villain for half the game). Nonetheless, when titles succeed at this task, they become a different kind of beast.
10 Horizon Zero Dawn
PlayStation exclusives rarely disappoint, and almost never fail to impress with their astounding technical achievements, especially when it comes to graphics. Horizon Zero Dawn is no stranger to these qualities, it received praise on many fronts, especially its distinct visual style.
As an action and adventure title, set in an open-world with a focus on ranged combat, it excels at keeping you on your toes as you hunt down dangerous animal-like machines. The story of the game also received praise, and it takes about 30 hours to beat. The game in its entirety, with side quests and challenges, can be experienced in as long as 60 hours.
9 Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain
Unlike its predecessor, Ground Zeros, this game takes longer than a couple of hours to beat. Its mix of espionage action and open-world mechanics is an interesting one that works surprisingly well. Phantom Pain's story is long, but Big Boss's fate is not as fleshed-out as fans of the series hoped.
Despite reaching an inconclusive ending, this title has over 40 hours of narrative to witness. Considering the side mission and endless FOB invasions you can go on, the game can jump to 80 hours of content. Phantom Pain truly shines when it comes to its gameplay, though. It's one of the few games where you can actually approach situations in any way you want (not like generic crouch-only stealth or generic shooting).
8 Assassin's Creed Valhalla
The longest Assassin's Creed game to date is Valhalla, considering both the storyline and the overall time it takes to 100%. Overall, the average playtime for users planning to sink their teeth into this title will vary between 60 to 80 hours.
Valhalla is another interesting entry in the series, which has been focused on exploring more diversified settings compared to its early days. It's amazing to see how far the franchise came since its days with Altair and Ezio, and it will be curious to see which setting will come next.
7 Animal Crossing: New Horizons
This is one of those grindy games that either keeps you hooked or you will lose interest in it relatively soon. New Horizons was met with mixed feelings by the fanbase, who expected a great deal more from the latest entry in the series.
Also, only being able to have one island per Switch system didn't help the game's case, since progression is tied to the original creator of the island. People sharing the same Switch basically have to wait for the first character to progress through the main story. However, those interested in building their own personalized town with a nice polished look, will find themselves playing for 60 to 80 hours.
6 Red Dead Redemption II
It's amazing to see what 7-year-old hardware, like the PS4 and Xbox One, can achieve when a developer puts in the work to craft a seamless open-world filled with literal interactive NPCs, a hunting system, intelligible police A.I., and so much more. Red Dead Redemption II tells a gripping story through its deeply human characters. Arthur Morgan is one of the best protagonists to ever be in a videogame.
We grow dangerously fond of him as we cannot help to progress through the long storyline he is put through, which nearly caps around 50 hours and is surrounded with tons of side content to do. This game is admittedly repetitive when it comes to its shooting gameplay, but in terms of things to do you can: rob trains, rob people, rob stores, rob sheep, rob horses, and did I mention rob carriages? Jokes aside, it would take another seven paragraphs to list everything you can do in this game, which amounts to over 7o hours of average playtime.
5 Stardew Valley
Made only by one person, Eric Barone, this is one of the best simulation games available. Think Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but with way more mechanics that translate to more gameplay value, presented from a top-down 16-bit perspective reminiscent of the Super Nintendo days.
This title is a testament to graphics not being the most important aspect of a game — and they are still lovely. There is so much to do while you tend to and improve your farm. Cooking, fishing, exploring procedurally generated caves, you name it. This sandbox is one of the gaming community's darlings, and you can expect to spend as much time in it as you are willing to invest, which is usually going to be around the 90 hour mark for most people.
4 Monster Hunter: World
Monster Hunter: World earned the title of best selling Capcom game, stealing the spot from the 1991 release of Street Fighter II. The best way to play this action role-playing game is to put together a good team of friends willing to devote hours of fun to slaying monsters.
This is no small task. If you are interested in just playing the main story, which is never the case with games of this scale, you need to spend at least 40 to 50 hours, but factoring in a proportion of side activities, playtime jumps to a whopping 90 to 100 hours. If you like to spend time making your character stronger and progress through harder and harder challenges, Monster Hunter: World is the perfect game for you.
3 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
What could be said on the book series by Andrzej Sapkowski that spawned a videogame franchise and a Netflix show? The Witcher 3 is one of the best games to ever be released, generating so much fame for CD Projekt Red that their next game, Cyberpunk 2077, had amazing commercial success (despite being launched in an unplayable state on base PS4 and Xbox One).
Wild Hunt takes over 50 hours to beat the story at a reasonable pace, and even if you wanted to speedrun it, it would still take over 30 hours. Toss in all the amazing side quests you can go on, and you are looking at well over 100 hours of gameplay. This game is a narrative masterpiece, and it will feel like watching multiple seasons of Game Of Thrones (when it was good).
2 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
This title is an interesting example of a world that contains a scattered storyline that will take ages to get through. Breath Of The Wild is the crowning jewel of open-world exploration. Rushing to Ganon is simply impossible (it's actually doable with some black magic speedrun trickery, but hear this out) when you are introduced to the amazing iteration of Hyrule that looks like a Hayao Miyazaki film, complete with a breathtaking score.
It's so easy to forget about saving Zelda, and instead go on a literal adventure that can take you to snowy mountaintops, dangerous mazes, or a mysterious faraway island. Breath Of The Wild's storyline alone takes 50 hours to complete, but it will take much longer to experience what the game has to offer in its entirety. A completionists would need about 180 hours to do that.
1 Persona 5
This game is for all the dunegon-crawling and JRPGs lovers who also enjoy social simulation. It's also an incredibly long game, it takes over 100 hours to beat, so don't go into it expecting a rushed experience. Instead, take your time to explore various dungeons in the Metaverse, born of human hidden desires, where you seek to steal people's malicious intent.
You play Joker, a high school student who recently moved to Tokyo, and you experience both random and scripted events throughout the academic year. Joker can engage with other characters and develop relationships with them, even romances. This game has a lot of systems to it, and it received critical acclaim that resulted in awards that essentially translate to this being one of the best role-playing games of all time.