For many years, single-player experiences in gaming were fairly short, with most of the playtime involving the player trying and failing in the same section repeatedly until inevitably success, particularly when it comes to platformers. In more recent years, single-player games have had a much heavier focus on story, resulting in some games taking upwards of 100 hours to complete as a result.
While Nintendo’s games haven’t always been the longest gameplay experiences, particularly when compared to the like of the Final Fantasy series and other RPG’s, they have embraced the focus on long-form storytelling as well as third party games with a similar focus. This means that, unlike past Nintendo consoles, the Switch has many games in its library that are incredibly long and take many hours to complete.
Updated April 27th, 2021 by Callum Archer:There’s a growing trend in the video game industry to ensure that players are getting the most bang for their buck when it comes to video game length, with the majority of single-player campaigns being at least 10 hours long. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that there are so many new games on the Nintendo Switch that take this as a personal challenge and can run into the hundreds of hours in some cases.
15 Dead Cells
Among the many indie Metroidvania and roguelike titles that are appearing on the Switch in recent years, Dead Cells has gained a reputation for being seemingly unending, as new updates are being released just as players are able to complete the previous one. If players only have the base game, they can expect to spend several dozen hours completing the main campaign, but when the Rise of the Giant and Bad Seed expansions are taken into account, gameplay can easily reach 100 hours or more.
14 Hades
Easily one of the best roguelike games released in the last few years, the developers of classic indie games such as Bastion and Transistor knocked it out of the park with this dungeon crawler heavily influenced by Greek mythology. Like many roguelikes, Hades isn’t a short game by any stretch of the imagination, with most players taking anywhere between 80-100 hours to reach the end of the game while seeing everything there is to offer.
13 Fire Emblem: Three Houses
One of the few Nintendo properties that has always taken a fair chunk of time to complete is the Fire Emblem series. The latest entry in this tactical RPG series focuses on Byleth, a former mercenary turned educator, and the titular three houses, as well as social interactions that the Fire Emblem series is also known for. While the main story can take anywhere from 40 to 50 hours to complete, players can’t unlock all endings in one run, as many are tied to specific house affiliation and character interactions that require additional playthroughs to unlock.
12 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
The Legend of Zelda series of games have been slowly getting longer and longer over the years, culminating in what is easily the longest game in the series so far, Breath of the Wild. In order to complete each Divine Beast, as well as accounting for distractions in Hyrule such as the many Shrines dotted throughout, it takes on average 50 hours to reach and defeat Calamity Ganon. However, it can take significantly less time than this, as players can make a beeline straight for Hyrule Castle, and can also can significantly longer if players want to complete every Shrine and the Champion’s Ballad DLC before facing off against the embodiment of evil.
11 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Like Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a rather large open-world game that can take anywhere from 50 to 100 hours to complete, depending on how much of the side content the player chooses to engage with. The core story combined with both the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions means this isn’t a game that can be finished in a single weekend.
Although players can charge through the main story in a relatively average time for an action RPG, they would miss out on the many side quests that add depth and life to the world and are the source of some of the greatest battles and stories to be found in The Witcher series.
10 Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends
The Dynasty Warriors series is renowned for being some of the longer games out there, particularly if players are trying to 100% complete the game, obtain every character, and level them all to the maximum. Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends is no exception and is easily one of the longer Warriors titles on the Switch, as players will need to invest over 100 hours into the game in order to see everything there is to offer. When taking into account the online functionality, however, this gameplay time can easily double.
9 Stardew Valley
Although this farm simulator is simple in design, its depth is such that a 50 hour completion time is on the low end of the scale, with completionists needing to invest upwards of 150 hours to do everything there is to see and do. Even then, the core gameplay loop is so engaging that it’s hard to put Stardew Valley down even once the game has been completed, as there is always something to do around the farm that will keep a player’s attention.
8 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls games are well known for being fairly fleshed out when it comes to the overall world design and questlines, but are usually quite short by comparison when it comes to the actual main story. Thankfully, almost no one plays Skyrim solely for the story, with the many distractions and side quests forcing players into exploring the frozen land of Skyrim for well over 200 hours before they have seen most of what there is to offer. If players are wanting to 100% complete the game, however, expect this time to stretch close to 300 hours instead.
7 Disgaea 4 Complete+
Disgaea 4 Complete, like most other games in the series, are easily some of the longer RPG games that can be found on the Switch. While having one of the shorter main campaigns in the series, the fourth entry in the Disgaea series will take most players nearly 300 hours to 100% complete, as characters require being leveled to absurd heights and the post-game content is packed with new quests and battles to undertake.
6 Disgaea 5
Like Fire Emblem, the Disgaea series is one that long ago embraced a longer completion time all the way back on the PS2, but Disgaea 5 takes those normally expected times and turns it up to 11. Considering each character is able to be leveled up to ludicrous numbers compared to other RPGs of the same variety, a completionist run-through can take well over 200 hours, particularly if players are insane enough to reach the max level for every available character.
5 Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age
While the Switch version of Dragon Quest XI isn’t the longest Dragon Quest game around, it is the longest Dragon Quest game available on the console. Clocking in at around 50-60 hours to complete, the latest entry in the Dragon Quest series is fairly standard for an RPG, with the completion time reaching upwards of 130 hours to 100% complete the experience. Although Dragon Quest Builders 2 can be finished in around the same amount of time, it takes less time to reach 100% completion that its mainline companion.
4 Octopath Traveler
Square Enix RPGs are generally fairly full and long experiences, and their exclusive title on the Switch is no exception despite what its simple art style may suggest. As is standard for many RPGs, Octopath Traveler takes around 60 hours to finish the game, though only around 100 to reach 100% completion.
This puts it on the longer end of completion times for a Square Enix RPG, as many of the games in the Final Fantasy series take less than 100 hours to complete, though they make up for that by having a large amount of side content to keep players engaged even when they have finished the game.
3 Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Quickly becoming one of the best selling games of all time on the Switch, Animal Crossing, like Stardew Valley, has a simple game design that keeps players hooked for dozens to hundreds of hours at a time. Although the experience is fairly open-ended, it takes players around 60 hours to reach the point where K.K Slider comes to Windfall and triggers the end credits. New Horizons may not reach the ridiculous completion time of the original Gamecube game, which takes an average of 600 hours to 100% complete, but the latest in the series will still take players around 300 hours to 100% finish the game.
2 Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Although it isn’t quite as long as Xenoblade Chronicles X on the WiiU, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the longer of the two available titles on the Switch. If players power through the story, they can expect to finish the game in around 65 hours, though completion time will add to that quite substantially. If players want the full experience Xenoblade Chronicles has to offer, they should expect to invest 250 or more hours into the game to complete every side quest on offer here.
1 Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
It should be no surprise that the longest single-player campaign on the Switch is a Monster Hunter game. While Switch owners don’t have access to Monster Hunter World, and with Monster Hunter Rise still a fair time away, Generations Ultimate will fill the void for around 80 hours if they want to only finish the story. Should Monster Hunter fans want to get the full experience, they should expect to invest over 450 hours of playtime to do absolutely everything there is in the game.
