Some games ask for just a weekend, but the following ask for weeks, sometimes even more, and players often lean into that challenge because the scale feels earned rather than bloated. These games have a reputation for swallowing hours simply because their world, systems, and progression loops keep opening new paths long after the main objectives.
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These games come from very different corners of gaming, from RPGs to enormous MMOs and open-ended sandboxes. However, they all have a way of drawing players in. Someone might log in just to clear a small task, and suddenly they’re caught up in a new chain of quests or a fresh idea for their build. The hours grow because the games keep opening doors instead of closing them.
The completionist times are from How Long To Beat.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Completionist Time: 237 Hours
- A giant fantasy world where guild storylines, Daedric quests, and sprawling dungeons.
- Character builds, skill grinding, and crafting loops add enough optional paths to keep someone busy for hundreds of hours.
Skyrim pulls players in for well over 200 hours because it keeps handing out new adventures like candy. Someone might start with a simple goal, like maybe talk to a Jarl or check a cave, and suddenly they’re wrapped up in a whole new storyline. Guilds and factions have long, winding quest chains, strange Daedric beings offer bizarre missions, and every road seems to lead to a dungeon full of loot, traps, or a mystery that begs to be solved.
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Another reason why The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim lasts well over 237 hours for most players is that different character builds greatly change the combat experience. A stealth-focused archer finds a very different Skyrim than a heavy-armored battlemage, and trying out new roles feels like starting fresh in a familiar world. Radiant quests also fill the downtime with repeatable jobs that send players across the map, so there’s never a shortage of things to do. And of course, there's the collecting side of things: unique weapons, rare artifacts, and hidden books.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Completionist Time: 249 Hours
- A huge sandbox full of sky islands, underground zones, and secrets that tempt players into wandering far past the main quest.
- Dozens of side adventures, shrine puzzles, armor upgrades, zonai device builds, and world-reactive systems.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom stretches far beyond the main story because it hands players an enormous set of toys and systems to play with. There’s a way the game dares players to wander off the path in Hyrule. There are floating islands tucked above the clouds, a whole underground layer waiting to be mapped, and plenty of odd corners hiding puzzles or strange characters. It never feels like empty space either; something always catches the eye and pulls players toward one more distraction.
Then there are the armor sets, upgrade paths, hidden caves, and tiny stories scattered across the map. Each one asks for a little legwork, a little exploration, and often a clever approach. It’s the kind of game where someone sets out to collect one material and ends up chasing five new leads, before remembering what they were doing in the first place. With all that, it’s not surprising that completionists on average spend around 249 hours on Tears of the Kingdom.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Completionist Time: 251 Hours
- A huge alien planet filled with massive zones, towering creatures, hidden caves, and story quests that branch into long side missions.
- Deep systems for Skells, affinity quests, grinding, loot hunting, and exploring every inch of Mira.
Mira in Xenoblade Chronicles X is made of towering vistas, choked canyons, and wide plains, so exploring takes time. While the story chapters give structure, most of the clock comes from side missions, affinity quests, and the constant itch to explore every nook for rare resources and enemies.
A big reason the hours stack is the Skell system. Skells are pilotable mechs that change the way exploration and combat work. They let players fly, sprint across regions, and tackle giant foes that are impossible on foot. Getting a Skell requires story progress and license tasks, and once available, they become a major progression track as frames, weapons, and parts can be unlocked, upgraded, and tuned for very different roles, which encourages repeated grinding and careful resource farming.
Elite Dangerous
Completionist: 677 Hours
- A full galaxy modeled at scale, with deep systems for trading, exploration, bounty hunting, mining, engineering upgrades, and faction influence.
- Ship progression, long-distance expeditions, player-driven goals, and mastery of flight simulation mechanics create an endless grind.
In Elite Dangerous, players start in a ship and soon realize that flying is only the surface. There’s a whole stack of systems underneath that demand time, from module fitting to power management, specialized engineering upgrades that need rare materials, and ship frames that change how a craft handles. Probably the craziest thing about Elite Dangerous is the scale. Even a simple trip can turn into a long detour once a rare planet pops up on the scanner or a strange signal appears in deep space.
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The ships in Elite Dangerous are a big part of the time sink. Each one can be tuned, engineered, and rebuilt over and over until it feels just right. Players spend hours gathering materials, hunting down special engineers, and testing setups in real fights. A new frame shift drive or a perfectly balanced weapon loadout feels like a trophy because the effort behind it isn’t small.
World of Warcraft
Completionist Time: 1377 - 2154 Hours
- A massive MMO with years of expansions, quest chains, raids, professions, reputations, mounts, and achievements.
- Endgame loop of collecting gear, climbing mythic difficulties, mastering classes, and chasing seasonal rewards.
World of Warcraft eats time because it builds dozens of smaller goals into one endlessly changing world. Players are drawn to a story, but the story keeps expanding with whole new continents, raid tiers, and seasonal events that arrive over the years, and every addition layers fresh objectives on top of what’s already there.
Progression wears many faces in this game. There are gear cycles that demand repeated runs, professions that reward long supply chains and recipe hunts, and reputation grinds that unlock meaningful rewards. In fact, in World of Warcraft, some items can take months of focused effort to get because they are locked behind long chains, low-drop bosses, or time-gated events.
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