How Long to Beat?

PC Game Pass has recently integrated stats from How Long to Beat into the Xbox App. It’s a simple but clever addition. Of course one could always visit the How Long to Beat website and type in the relevant game to see its expected duration. It is now just more convenient. And I might add a perfectly suitable addition since Game Pass’s subscription model really lends itself to those shorter experiences.

With that in mind, how much of a factor is a games length in your picking a game to play? With the glut of quality games on offer these days (yes there is quality among the sheer quantity) gamers often find that the most premium resource is your time.

I find it very helpful to know the approximate length of a game since I tend to enjoy the shorter experiences. I love novelty and like to move onto something new so games that demand scores of hours put me off a bit. It’s not that I won’t still play them if they are good, it’s that I need to balance or find the time to commit.

4 Likes

Game length is definitely a factor for me, and I do use HLTB before starting some games.

I agree with you about novelty. I’ll gladly spend time on franchises or genres I love, but I’m equally keen on short, powerful and unique experiences.

One genre that I still love is JRPGs. Sadly, they’re such a timesink, that they just stay on my backlog.

3 Likes

With you on the JRPG’s. RPG’s on the first place are usually quite long games, but JRPG’s take it to the next level. Some great stories though

2 Likes

One of the reasons I love open world games is that there are a lot to do. I used to spend SO much time in MMOs which are an endless treadmill of time. I have moved away from those and now if a game can give me 25-30 hours of open world play time, I am happy to buy and play it.

3 Likes

I use hltb as well but to see if a game isn’t too short. I dislike short games, prefer long rpg’s.

1 Like