How long to beat Elden Ring? From Software reckons 'about 30 hours'
From Software's latest game will take you about 30 hours to complete just the story, with much more content on offer for those that seek it out
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We haven't got that much longer to wait now until publisher Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware finally unleash the horrors of Elden Ring into the world.
But, if you're anything like me, you're probably wondering how long it's going to take to beat this game for the first time. After all, FromSoft's games are know for being particularly tricky to complete, and your first run-through the title is usually the hardest.
Well, we've got an answer for you. Producer Yasuhiro Kitao has revealed (in a live stream celebrating the fact that the game has gone gold) that Elden Ring's main story will take around 30 hours to complete.
“This will differ significantly by player, but in terms of the targets set during development, the idea is that the main route should be able to be completed within around 30 hours,” Kitao explains in the stream. For what it's worth, the first two Dark Souls games are estimated to be about 40 hours long when it comes to the main story, and Dark Souls 3 rocks in at about 32 hours. So this is relatively in-line with other FromSoft games.
If that's less than you'd expect from a Souls-like game, don't worry; there's still a lot more content in the title if you go looking for it. “The game as a whole is quite massive, and contains many dozens more hours worth of gameplay, but if we are talking about the main route only, it shouldn’t take much longer than that.”
Given Elden Ring's open world design, we imagine the actual 'golden path' through the core beats of the story is only a minor part of the whole thing. George R. R. Martin wasn't drafted in to provide a whole in-game world for no reason, after all.
And the quality bar is set to be quite high for the title, too; in our preview, we noted that Elden Ring has potential co-op greatness in FromSoftware's most open world yet. And those graphics are none-too-shabby, either.If you're keen on saving this doomed world in 30 hours, or taking your sweet-ass time over it, don't worry – you haven't got that much longer to wait. Elden Ring launches on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC on February 25, 2022.