Dedicated players and completionists are rarely fazed. Tasks like getting a maximum Smashing stat in every single layer in Donkey Kong Bananza (undoubtedly one of Nintendo's best releases of 2025), might be a challenge too far, but some players will do absolutely everything. Inevitably, then, we'll wring every single drop of entertainment from most games eventually.
I Got 100% in Donkey Kong Bananza and Have Never Been More Disappointed
Getting 100% in Donkey Kong Bananza means hunting down hundreds of collectibles, but the 'reward' at the end of it all is a big letdown.
We want to be entertained throughout while doing so, though. Sometimes, a title has 100+ hours of content, but less than half of that is the main story and the rest is repetitive busywork like mopping up collectibles. If, instead, you're looking for titles that feel all but endless without falling back on that kind of padding, these could be a great fit for you.
7 Minecraft
Mining And Crafting Since 2011
The titles that are closest to being literally endless, of course, are often sandbox experiences. The advantage of this system is that they don't need to rely on lengthy campaigns or releasing more and more levels. Instead, providing as many creative tools as possible and as near-infinite a space in which to make use of them is the key.
Minecraft is the primary example that comes to mind. In survival mode, a Hardcore run can come to a swift and permanent end if you're confident, but you can enjoy a run effectively forever in standard mode. You can keep at it as long as you have goals for yourself to achieve, and the same applies to Creative mode. The more elaborate your building project, the more time you can spend perfecting it. To give a sense of the scale of Minecraft's creative "endgame," Guinness World Records reports that the biggest Minecraft project ever, to date, is "Build The Earth," a self-explanatory 1:1 scale project.
6 Hades
The Underworld's Defenses Need Testing Again, And Again, And Again
Alongside sandbox games, roguelikes are also perfect candidates for endless content. The central concept is repeating runs over and over until successful, and then returning still more times to experiment with builds, unlock further content, and so on. Supergiant's Hades, along with its celebrated sequel, is now considered by many to be the pinnacle of the genre. Because of the fantastic integration of the ongoing storyline in-between runs, and the wealth of content to unlock and challenges to tackle, Hades, with its intriguing Dark Thirst mechanic, isn't so much padded as it is constantly offering something new for those dedicated players to try their mettle against.
The game's true ending is only available after vanquishing the final boss numerous times over, and that alone won't get you nearly far enough to upgrade each of your Weapon Aspects. Companions, too, require leveling using Ambrosia instead of Titan Blood, while upgrades and customizations for the House of Hades demand Diamonds and other resources. To obtain those requires more and more runs, adjusting the terms of the Pact of Punishment as you go in order to claim more bounties. Bounties for Heat Levels are separate for each type of weapon, which further necessitates mixing it up between them on runs. To go the ultimate extra mile and obtain each of Skelly's statues, you'll have to keep cranking up the Heat level through dozens of runs.
5 Borderlands 2
Keep The Carnage Coming
Some series fans still maintain that Borderlands 2 is the best game in the series, an excellent step above the original and, when complete, absolutely awash with content. Each of its many content packs offers a sizable and varied experience, with unique premises such as the big tournament for access to a Vault set up by Mr. Torgue in Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. That particular campaign culminated in a boss battle against a huge mechanical t-rex truck, possibly one of the most outlandish and fantastic enemies in the whole game.
What to Expect from Borderlands 4 in 2026
Borderlands 4 marks 2026 as the game's peak, with an ambitious post-launch plan that promises expansions, new characters, and more. Buy now or wait?
Vault Hunters are designed with split ability trees, in the hope that players can find the unique and powerful strategies that suit them best. The final skill available in a tree is generally the most powerful, but it takes an awful lot of leveling up to reach it. To make the most of a character build, then, may require taking on True Vault Hunter mode and possibly Ultimate Vault Hunter mode afterwards to continue leveling efficiently. And that's just for one character. The scaling of loot means that you aren't simply padding the runtime, but completing a build with access to all skills and the best weapons and gear available. Trying it with all the Vault Hunters would indeed be an almost endless endeavor.
4 Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Your Island Could Be Your Permanent Home
Some players experience a kind of "winding down" cycle with Animal Crossing games. They go from daily routines to every other day, then maybe checking in once a week, and finally disappearing out of shame, lest Cube the penguin asks why he hasn't seen you for seven months. If you're truly committed, though, this could well become your permanent island residence.
In these games, there's really no such thing as padding. Your routine is what you make of it, and if you're a hardened landscaper, hybrid flower planter, and proud owner of a five-star island, you might put in a little-and-often shift every single day to maintain it. Even if you've completed your museum, obtained every single item you could possibly want and designed your home exactly as you want it, the cycle of life continues. Your favorite villagers love to see you as much as you do them, after all. This isn't even to count the Happy Home Paradise DLC, which can itself take up a second lifetime if you want to perfect the theme of every single island home. Don't forget, you unlock new furniture sets as you go, whic means you can go back and improve earlier builds once you have access to a larger catalog.
3 Civilization 7
One (Hundred) More Turn(s)
Civilization is infamous as one of the most engrossing series around. There's no feeling quite like finding a Civ and Leader that perfectly matches your playstyle, adapting your strategy to their strengths, then watching your progress towards your chosen victory type skyrocket as your carefully-laid plan and suite of bonuses combines. However, you might also prefer a more leisurely route, assigning a high requirement for a Score Victory so that a game takes longer. It's all about the kind of experience you want to have, and if you'd like a campaign to be all but endless, there's a facility for that.
Civilization 7 is a title that is, with every update, steadily improving from a less-than-emphatic launch. In April 2025, One More Turn mode was announced, which allows players to continue as long as they wish with their Civ after achieving a victory. Multiple victory types with different Civs and specific scenarios to play through was already daunting enough, but making the game truly endless is a different prospect entirely.
2 Diablo 3
The Story Is Far From The End
One key to avoiding padding a game's runtime is to provide numerous options for continuing play, but ensure they're rewarding and don't feel tacked on. Respecting the player's time is an important consideration with longer games, and Diablo 3 could be an excellent example of just that. The games in the series take different approaches to their endgame content and this installment achieved an effective balance.
Diablo 3: Every Class, Ranked
Diablo 3 gives players the option to choose one of seven playable classes. We look at all of them and rank them from the worst to the very best!
The main campaign itself is relatively short, with How Long To Beat clocking vanilla Diablo 3 at 18 hours for just that. It adds, though, that completionists will spend around 170 hours with the game. This is because, after the big bad's defeated, there's the option to delve into a wide variety of endgame content. There are Rifts of both Nephalem and Greater varieties, Seasons to partake in, and multiplayer co-op for those with like-minded adventurers they can bring aboard. Challenges that scale with your power ensure that, effectively, there's almost no end to the content if you'd like to stick with it, and it's difficult to resist the allure of new gear. You might even discover a new build you'd like to check out, and that could mean starting all over again.
1 No Man's Sky
Just How Big Is The Universe?
As Civilization 7 is at present, No Man's Sky underwent a campaign of updates and improvements designed to give the players more of what they wanted: Lots of different things to do and an enormous stretch of space in which to do it. No Man's Sky doesn't inundate the player with silly busywork in order to keep them playing, but rather adds some main story quests in the interests of gently directing and providing some structure. Really, though, this isn't what the game's all about.
You can make a trade empire, develop a huge and elaborate base, or simply journey from planet to planet to see how they differ. Procedural generation means that you never quite know what you'll find, and your experience can be as ordered or chaotic and random (typically the latter when in multiplayer) as you'd like. There's potential for the experience to be all but endless here, but only as much so as you wish. You'll be hunting down uranium and all kinds of other activities besides.
No Man's Sky: All Corvette Expedition Rewards
No Man's Sky's 19th Expedition, the Corvette Expedition, incorporates a customizable spaceship and grants unique rewards for completing milestones.