36 Longest Switch Games Worth Playing To The End

No BLAZBLUE CENTRALFICTION, no NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition, no Tales of Vesperia REMASTER...

🥱 Good luck to those who could use this list.

Looking through this list has made me realise I must have an aversion to long games. The only exceptions are the Xenoblade trilogy and the two open world Zeldas. I gave up on Three Houses after 20 hours.

I used to be addicted to longer games but the amount of blatant filler in them has definitely started to grate on me now. It's a shame, because some of these games are right up there but are held back by how long they want to be.

@Vyacheslav333 Nier Automata clocks in at 61 hours on Howlongtobeat which is 15 hours shorter than the last entry on the list.

@jedgamesguy One of the reasons I haven't jumped into FF7 Rebirth yet...

@BIG3 Well, if you've played NieR:Automata yourself, you know how time-consuming is getting resources to upgrade all weapons in the game. And grinding too, btw.

With Zelda games it seems like I always get to the end bad guy and stop. Still havent finished Twilight Princess thinking back on it. Might have to power up my Wii U. BotW I only finished the day before TotK came out and still haven't finished that.

@Jack_Goetz @jedgamesguy I put over 200 hours in both Breath of the Wild and Disgaea 5. Looking back, I'd rather have spent those hours elsewhere. Too many of these 'long games' are long because they have too much filler, bad pacing, grinding, and things that waste a players time while not being fun.

@Vyacheslav333 agreed. Played it on PS5 and it could do with being shorter

I was happy to see XC2 in the top 10 until I realized that they are ranked by average playtime, not by how good they are

@BIG3 That's exactly the kind of game I mean lmao. Rebirth in particular's a slog cuz when it's good it's a literal all-time great game but when it's bad I wanted to throw my controller at the TV. Can't rate a game that high in good faith if I had such a mixed experience.

I've spent somewhere between 750h and 850h playing Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition ... how is this one not in the list!! It's certainly 8/10 material.

I have completed 5 of these games so I suppose that isn't too bad.

laughs in 145 hour first playthrough of Unicorn Overlord on Hard Mode ( not even the unlockable difficulty level beyond that - next spring, though )

I own none of these. Lol. I figured that would be the case.
I get so easily overwhelmed by big games or anything with too many collectables. I prefer short and replayable or just some easy to achieve extra content.

@Yalloo the completion time for Hyrule warriors definitive edition is 18hrs roughly for the main game and 40hrs roughly for main + extras. You were probably enjoying yourself so much that you went for completionist mode twice.

These long, long games are the reason I'm struggling to complete my backlog. Though today I just finished my my 60th game out of 118 on Switch. Next up, should I attempt to finish a bunch of shorter games (that always turn out to be longer than I expected), or put in the final grindy hours needed to finish Xenoblade 3 100%?!?

@kurtasbestos If you master the Kage Bushin no Jutsu and you have two Switch consoles, you can do both at once.

The Switch is one hell of a console. Imagine going back to 1990 and telling people there will be a Nintendo console in the future where you can play games that last for 80 hours.. or even more

@Maubari
I was there in the 80s and 90s.

We were playing PacMan and Mario Bros. and Asteroids, all of which you can certainly put in over a hundred hours each, but obviously due to repetition, not story arcs and stuff like that.

So yea, indeed, very impressive.

breath of the wild!

I’m gonna have to call shenanigans I love pillars of eternity. It’s one of my favorite games, but it is unplayable on the switch. It is the most unplayable switch game, I have played. You spend significantly more time looking at a loading screens than you do anything else, and how many times you go into a building and nothing appears just your party in a grey void.

I was playing Persona 4 last year and wanting to pick it up again this year. If a game is too long I tend to put it down and if I forget anything, I just watch older sections for the story on YouTube.

Some games are so fun for me though that I don’t realize how many hours I’ve put in.

I have inconsistent relationships with these super long games. If it hooks me early, it can turn into obsession and I'll still want more even after clearing it. If the early game fails to impress or there's an overly complicated mechanic that turns me off, I'll drop it and never look back. Xenoblades 1 and 3 hooked me. 2 sucked and I have no regrets archiving it. Persona 5, too, while I'm at it.

@Lightsiyd I think in 18h you could finish the story mode indeed. Now completing all of the maps and challenges can certainly not be done within 40h.
I didn't think about it earlier, but I've just googled it, it does say 366h for 100%.

I've also worked to get the perfect weapons with the best skills for all of the warriors, got A-rank absolutely everywhere and raised them all to level 255, so maybe that explains the doubled time ... I really really enjoyed that game. And that was after already spending 200h on the Wii U version. XD

20 to 30 hours is a perfect length for a game for me. I see these great games but delay playing some of the games because of the time investment it requires.

@Yalloo That is pretty amazing!! Tell me, did you also play Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity? and if yes, which one did you enjoy more and why?

If you did play both, which would you recommend I choose if I was going for one of them and why?

I thought the ending of Dying LIght (all the way through the expansion) was perfect.

I know it is shorter in hours, but Super Mario Odyssey had such a great ending! As well as other great moments, like the surprise in New Donk City. 😊

MH World and Rise have spoiled me with their modern mechanics, I've tried GU...but I just can't, too clunky.

I don't have that kind of time anymore. This week it's taken me more than 10 hours to finish a 10 hour game and I'm starting to get annoyed. Great game (Citizen Sleeper), I love it, but please just end already.

@Lightsiyd The main difference between the two (besides the art style obviously) is that combos are the same for all the warriors in DE, while each warrior has its very own combo in AoC. Tbh there are few warriors (I think 5) that I actually did really enjoy playing with in AoC, while in DE there was only 1 that I didn't enjoy. DE is much more simplistic in this sense, but as a consequence much more fun and to-the-point. There are some strategic aspects, in regards to weapons and how you're going to approach certain kinds of missions, but it's still almost purely an action game. I don't remember any strategic elements in AoC.
There is also much more content in DE (to compare, it took me 125h to complete AoC) but it can get more repetitive with same missions to unlock everything.
The music in DE are all rock covers of many classic Zelda tunes and I never got tired of them. In AoC, it's beautifully arranged orchestral pieces of BotW music only, and they're all very short and looping over and over.
My favourite part of AoC was the story. It is so beautiful and completely romantic (very in line with the Zelda universe), and you get many more cutscenes. The story in DE is complete rubbish, just a quickly pulled together excuse to get all these characters together.

DE is a kind of game you can have on your Switch to play chapters and missions in between other games, and I would say enjoy years of playing if you're a Zelda fan.
AoC is more the kind of spin-off Zelda story you want to follow, and you wouldn't need to complete every little thing, just go for the main story. There is a demo for AoC, you can always give it a try to get an idea.

I hope I gave you enough elements to compare and figure out which one would be best for your playing needs 😋 Don't hesitate to tag me if and when you play one or both games, I'd be curious to know what you think of them.

I enjoyed DE much more, but I'm so glad I could play AoC too, and would love it if they made a third entry.

@Yalloo Many thanks for going into depth with the reply, I highly appreciate it.

Hmm. Story is not really a relevant factor when I pick games, unless a previous entry of the game has already wowed me before. Not to mention, my first foray into the Zelda series (BoTW) did not leave much of an impression, so I'm rather apathetic about the series as a whole.

I'm more into rock than orchestra so that leaves the combat. I played the demo of AoC and I enjoyed playing as Link. I did not know what to make of Impa, perhaps she just takes getting used to? I was planning to pick one of the two (AoC is already on my wishlist) but I think it best to go with AoC first after having a look at both reviews.

Thanks again, and yeah I'll tag you and compare notes when I get to it 😁

@mariomaster96 If the games was ranked by how good they are it would be top 3 imo.

@Vyacheslav333 I do know. But when they base their article on howlongtobeat.com then Niers gametime number is not that high. If it was by my own playtime Nier Automata would be top 5 on my playtime list out of all the games in this article.

Ahhh… remember when Zelda was about the quality and not quantity?
I remember …

Please could you do the same article but for the best shortest games on Switch?! My backlog is groaning at me

I played lots of these (beat far fewer of them), and can confirm that MHGU will absorb you for ages if you let it. My final time before I moved on was over 600 hours.

@Yoshi3 Can't help but reply ... I find that your comment is a bit harsh.
All the elements that made the Zelda series so enjoyable over the years are still present in the newest games: story, characters, action/adventure, puzzles. Just the structure of the games is very different. Of course there are some improvement points (hasn't that always been the case), and maybe the music is a bit lesser compared to other episodes. But summing this up the way you did is pretty unfair, imo.
That there is more content is only beneficial for the player, and it's not like it's mandatory to enjoy/finish the game/story.

None of these hold a candle to the longest board game ever:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Campaign_for_North_Africa

Maybe that'll make y'all feel better about yourselves. Or would that be worse?

If you'll pardon my phrasing, Generations Ultimate really is a monstrously large game. I still love the clunkier classic Monster Hunter gameplay, but even I had to stop at a certain point just so I could keep up with the rest of my backlog. I'm still working on that, but if I ever find the time, I'd love to go back and take down every last subspecies and elder dragon it has to offer.

As for some of my other favorite time sinks that didn't make the list, Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, and all the various Pokémons will keep you entertained well past the first credit roll, even without going for 100% completion. Working your way through all of Smash Ultimate's single player content will also keep you busy for a long time. And to answer the rhetorical question at the top of the article, no, you can't complete New Horizons, at least not without a dedication to the grind bordering on insanity. I've tried.

@Yalloo not being confrontative since it’s your opinion but I 100% disagree.
The story is a mess, divided in chunks that have no real order, making the story feel like a last priority in the new games. Also a 150 hour game where only the last 30 minutes of story are epic? Nahh, not worth it.
Characters… you mean the generic Mii NPCs? Naah no thanks… that is the weakest point of these “Zeldas”
Puzzles? Yeah the most basic puzzles of the series repeated ad nauseum times 100. And all around the same theme… physics. It’s not a Portal game, it’s supposed to be a Zelda game.
Adventure… that’s the only thing going on for these spin-offs.
They did absolutely everything else wrong: temples, items, music, characters, game progression (not a Zeldavania), story progression, Nuts and Bolts mechanics, grinding, repeated map, empty lands, even length.

Also, having myriads of content isn’t always good. When you have so much stuff, the designers lose focus…. And it showed.
I’d rather have a 30 hour game that is contained, focused and well designed than a 150 hour game that is all over the place and artificially long just to keep you “invested” (ahem, Koroks and empty massive lands… ahem The Depths)

I am harsh because they deserve to be analyzed harshly… even as a hardcore Zelda fan I am baffled that TOTK got 10s (to be honest I understand the media agenda with inflating Zelda’s scores, it’s safer for them just to give 10s to main Zelda games rather than angering the Zelda, now super toxic, fanbase, that’s why the so-called Zelda cycle exists)
BOTW I can respect for being something new.
TOTK is just straight lazy Zelda garbage.

It’s all my opinion obviously.

@Yoshi3 Now this, I can go along with. Makes more sense than "quantity over quality". Not that I agree, but indeed different perspective you and me. And sure, harsh analysis is always good, no need to take gloves, it's only videogames, and Zelda is not above anything.
Regarding the characters, I agree with the "generic Mii", that's one of the improvement points I had in mind, I meant the champions and their descendants.
Glad you enjoyed the adventure side of these games, I found that indeed they went all in to give us a feeling of going on an adventure.
"Artificially long to keep you invested" is incorrect imo, it's just bonus free content that you can totally disregard if you had enough.
And that you wouldn't like this different game structure I can also completely understand.
I found the storytelling and character development to be the most advanced/immersive in TotK compared to any other Zelda game.
I would also disagree with the fact that it's a lazy game, throughout the game there are proofs all over that they've been thinking really hard on how to make the game interesting and how to bring new ideas, things actually go quite far in many directions, again compared to other games and Zelda games.
When reading your comment, I feel like you had so many specific expectations for the game. Really too bad you were so very disappointed. But in any case, thanks for sharing and elaborating.

@Yalloo thanks for a great answer. My only expectations were for them to fix what BOTW did wrong.... like the story format, temples, items and some other things.

They never fixed those things... temples were a slight improvement but not enough.
I can agree that storytelling is a bit more cinematic in the newer games, although not better, because of the format. But the new tools like voice acting and better graphics can help it look better than previous Zelda games (but thats more of an era and technology context more than anything)

There were two things that completely angered me though..... the recycling of the same map .... and the vehicle building.

I think their focus was in the wrong places for TOTK. Instead of focusing on what made previous Zelda games great before... they decided to lose A LOT of time implementing a vehicle system that feels completely off for a Zelda game.

I haven't been playing Zelda for almost 40 years to build trucks, cars, spaceships and planes. That is not Zelda, nor Banjo Kazooie.... that's something else completely and that mentality has destroyed great IPs. Leave Minecrafting to Minecraft.

That's my main gripe .... what I mean with laziness is that they clearly alotted a lot of time and resources to Nuts and Bolts-tify the game that they forgot about improving everything else.

But back on topic.... these worlds are so huge and time consuming that the small details are lost. I don't need them to bring us a 150 hour game. Just focus on making a 30-40 hour game great and thats it. 100 Skulltulas were the sweet point for previous games ....... 900 Koroks (even if optional), even if the world is bigger, is just .......... too much for an idiotic reward.

They can make the world perfectly smaller and focused. This was just too much... and then adding the Depths (which arent great to begin with and were added to artificially expand the game's length) were not necessary.

No visual novels? Muv-luv pack, fate stay night... Are longer than most of the list.

0/10 list, no Vampire Survivors, the game with infinite content that will get updates and DLC long after the Sun is extinguished.

Man, I'm getting old. I remember telling my co-workers back in the PS1 days that my newest RPG was a 40 hour(!) game. That's nothing these day, and unfortunately as I've gotten older I don't have the time for these. But I keep buying them, hoping for slower days to come.

Once upon a time, my (not yet) wife would come over and read a book on my lap while I played FFIX. Those were the days.

I would add the Atelier games.

I was a sucker for these 100+ hours RPGs. But alas, adulting came, and any game needing more than 10 hours to complete feels like a chore 😩

@Jumping_Dead Apollo Justice Trilogy was on the list

Not a pure VN though. Thats an hybrid that has some vn elements.
But that only makes my point stronger... Theres quite a lot of great vns that are longer than thar trilogy.

I vehemently disagree with the idea that TotK is worth playing all the way through but I figured it'd be on the list so whatever. At least personally I've done all the shrines in BotW multiple times but TotK I just lost interest with around 60% of them done, and also never bothered to do the last two dungeons or watch the last memory, just went ahead and beat the game and called it a day. I've replayed BotW since then but little desire to ever play TotK again, it's just too much and the fusion mechanics are more annoying than fun.

Either way, I've played through a good few of the games on the list. BotW as mentioned, played through P5R multiple times, Xenoblade 2 and 3 (actually had a second run of 2 going I need to get back to), Three Houses, the Apollo Justice trilogy, Friends of Mineral Town... I spent a lot of time playing Dragon Quest XI but eventually just stopped. It's fun to play but the story just isn't terribly interesting and the game seriously drags after awhile.

@Lizuka I just don’t understand the hate totk gets. I admit it took me a while to beat, and will doubly put as any hours into it as I did botw, but I don’t see how it isn’t better in every way. I built only enough to accomplish whatever needed. I loved exploring the wells and will me going back to find them all, bosses randomly underground in villages etc…
I am burnt out of playing most pf these games in general. Open world rpg is too common and they all require to many hours to beat. I couldn’t finish spider man 2, baldurs gate 3, totk all last year…not to mention the many other random games I play. I miss the 35 hour Zelda games. Right now I’m 71 hours into Elden ring, I haven’t hit a wall, have no idea what I’m doing, but keep playing. I don’t like looking stuff up, but I know I wont finish it before I move into Star Wars outlaws for a while until Zelda releases. I think that is totk real issue, saturation/fatigue of the market.

How is Unicorn Overload not on this list?!

@WreckitRyan I know, right? 145 hours, and I still have not done the epilogue or any new game+ options at higher difficulties

If you include side quests, then you never finish Minecraft as there's always something new you need to see/find/build.

Lol... With tears of the kingdom... Ahum i still havent faced ganondorf 😂😂😂😂 really taking the time to upgrade armor, random kill some gobelins, try to build something unique, build Links house, and place my strongest weapons and shields in it.
Almost every time, i am like "today is the day! Lets defeat ganondorf" and then i boot up the game and i am like "Ah Goblin Camp !" At this rare it takes link another 100 years 😂

Played Generations on 3DS and transferred my char over to MHGU where I completed almost every quest, minus Hyper Gol/Sil combo. Still need to do that one. My MHGen file was setting at 460hrs at the time of transfer, and those hours did not officially transfer with on the safe file. My current save file is 869hrs, so in total you’re looking at closer to 1300 to complete everything, including building and maxing every weapon in a weapon set. I built all the Bows, as that’s my main.

@OwenOtter
Right, I dedicated at least 15 hours alone watching the meal cutscenes and reading through all the rapport conversations lol. All together and counting reloaded saves my first playthrough has to be around 120-130 hours. Should definitely make the list.

@Yoshi3 My expectation of a Zelda game, much like a Mario game, is that they will come up with something new and fresh. They actually achieved that one more time with TotK, imo.

Before it came out, I remember watching the trailers and thinking that I didn't want to fuse my weapons and build vehicles, and I thought it wouldn't fit in a Zelda game. To my biggest surprise, I find that it works. It fits with the story, it's a fun gameplay gimmick, and it's also not something that you must do, there are very few moments where this is necessary. You should maybe not focus so much on that aspect.

Same with the Depths, it's a huge playground, but aside for a couple of quests, you don't actually need to spend so much time down there.

And further, I'm still amazed at how good the gameplay is. Moving Link around is a real pleasure. I remember the trailers for BotW "look, you can slow down time while aiming with your bow", and thinking what was the point. In the end it's actually super handy and makes using the bow with gyro so fun.

There are lots of improvements compared to previous Zelda games.

I found that the story, that same old same Zelda story, is actually much better told, and turned, not just the voice acting, photography, etc ...

Recycling the map was also an idea I didn't like ... but in the end it didn't stop me from enjoying the game so much.
I think they have spent a lot of time working on side quests and expanding the world lore. And that is all filler, I agree with you there. But not lazy. Just extra bonus content. Extra details to make the world more immersive.

To stay on topic, this last Zelda game takes longer to reach the end than previous ones, but there is much more content. Just focusing on the main story and some side quests is not filler/lazy/quantity over quality. I read comments from people saying it was overwhelming. And that I can agree with. It actually took me some planning to get through this game. And I've also enjoyed doing all of the "filler" content to reach 100%. And I'm still playing this game, that I very much enjoy. What is now left for me to enjoy are all those beautiful environments, I just love the vibe of this game.

Now you know, I don't think I will ever play BotW again, and starting TotK from scratch probably will also never happen. I'm happy still playing through the game, just wandering around, but once I will put it down, it will likely be for good. I would also not mind a smaller world for the next big game. But as long as they surprise me, I may just like it.

@Yoshi3 To come back to one of your points, even though I think the story and the temples are still there but just in a different structure, the items is something that is missing compared to the previous games. I would like them to make a comeback in the next iteration, that's a core Zelda thing that is missing indeed and would need "fixing". Everything else is just another take on the Zelda formula. It's not broken, but I can understand why you wouldn't like it.

I can tell you that I had absolutely hated the Zelda games on the DS. So I completely see where you're coming from not enjoying the ones on the Switch. But to me that's part of the Zelda formula, that need to change things and make it different while staying the same.

One last thing, the Korok reward for all seeds is just a joke, which made me laugh a second time in TotK tbh, but if you go collecting them all, the only real point is to have them all, the challenge in itself is satisfying. And if not, then why bother even going for it. But that's again a matter of expectations.

Anyone else here confused that they think Spelunky 2 takes 27 hours for a single run?? Maybe if you've never played a game before... heck, on a first play, if you play online, someone can carry you through the game in 30 minutes... and you've basically seen everything 🤷‍♂️

Edit: I mean it's hard sure... but it's still a quick game. Compared with Binding of Isaac where you actually NEED to complete it multiple times to unlock everything

Multiplatform games are best enjoyed on superior consoles or PC!

Hyrule Warriors DE definitely needs to be in there. I've been chipping away at the maps a few squares at a time for 5 years. I still have a handful left and a few rewards map squares to finish with 240 hours clocked.

Sorry, but nope. You're absolutely not getting the main+side of Monster Hunter Rise in 70 hours...

@ZZalapski Wow. That is outrageous. I really want to play it now though

Okami is a long game. Well it feels like it because the story carries on after what you think the end point is

I think I'm addicted to long games. Getting all marks in The Binding of Isaac takes way longer than what was stated here. I've yet to finish that game on one savegame, like, ever. Maybe one day, when I'm retired.