How long to beat Elden Ring? (2024)

How long will it take to beat Elden Ring? If you're heading into the Lands Between, you've probably got a long journey ahead of you unless you're very talented and know the game like a pro. However, newcomers to the game will probably struggle to do it in anything less than forty hours, and that's just if they're following the critical path - those looking for a more nuanced experience could easily hit double that, as Elden Ring is a huge game with all manner of side content, including whole cities and civilisations that can be missed if you don't venture off the central story. So whether you just want to tick off the essentials, or undertake a 100% completionist run, here's how long Elden Ring will take to complete.

How long to beat Elden Ring's campaign?

This is an incredibly variable number, but for the majority of people we think it'd take a minimum of 50 hours to get through Elden Ring, and for most it'll be much longer than that, probably closer to 70 hours. We have seen claims that the average is closer to 40, but this is a pretty conservative estimate in our eyes, at least for most players. Highly skilled players who know the optimum route in advance can get though in under 20 hours, but newcomers shouldn't expect that kind of turnover.

This variation is mainly based on how difficult you find the game - as well as how well you know it. Elden Ring's length varies significantly according to your experience with Soulsborne titles and the mechanics of FromSoftware, so even just in the critical path, players can bounce off difficult bosses and have to go away and grind, or simply throw themselves at these titans over and over until they succeed (usually both). An experienced player might beat most of them the first time, while somebody not used to it might have to commit hours to the same challenge.

Bear in mind that we're only talking about the core campaign here (though even that has some variation). If you're pursuing the simplest path to the end without engaging much with side quests, stories, alternative endings or distractions, you can expect a 50-70 hour campaign.

100% Completionist length

Seeing every corner of Elden Ring and doing as much of the game as you can will probably take you at least 90 hours, and probably longer, up to or even past 110 hours (again, your skill level and general pace will make a big difference here).

The reality is that if you're trying to do everything in Elden Ring… well, that's a huge, technically impossible job. Elden Ring has multiple endings and variations with certain choices that lock out others. Or you might set the path to one ending, change your mind, then have to go through various trials to change your path to a different one.

Either way, Elden Ring is a massive game, and the difference between only campaign and total story completion is vast. Players might not see about half the map if they purely pursue the main story, so exploration uncovers a lot more of the game and gets you a far broader experience.

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