Playthroughs will vary wildly, but here’s some numbers to work with
Now that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 reviews are out in the wild, I’ve seen all sorts of playthrough lengths flying around. So exactly how long is Xenoblade Chronicles 3? Let’s dig in!
The Xenoblade Chronicles 3 core story (and nothing else) is roughly 60 hours
Note: that’s a rough estimate, and read the below provisos!
JRPG game length is a hot-button issue, and I came prepared. So for this review, I actually used a timer to keep track of when I deviated from the main storyline. My first clear took around 85 hours or so, and taking away side content and some exploration, I ended up with a 60-hour estimate if you just go for the main story (this is when the credits rolled for me).
Difficulty levels will also mess with this number a bit, as will failures in combat/boss battles. Some rare encounters can go on for upwards of 15-20 minutes, so multiple failures can add an hour or so to any given storyline-driven section.
I’ve seen a few figures saying that there is “over 100 hours of just main story content” and that could be a misnomer, because many people will be able to clear the story in about half that time, especially those of you who will aim for easy mode just to see the credits.
An average Xenoblade Chronicles 3 playthrough will likely take 80-100 hours
So taking into account all of the above, and adding back in side content and mid/heavy amounts of exploration, most people are going to be looking at more than 60 hours.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 contains many engaging sidequests that have lengthy storylines, so the urge to finish at least a portion of them, even if you’re looking to speed through the game, will be strong. It’s also going to be hard to repel the siren’s song of equipment right there on the horizon when wandering around — you can safely tack on at least 20 hours to account for that, at minimum.
If you do everything, you can muster more time out of it
“Over 100 hours” is accurate if you’re looking to clear every quest, and attempt to find every collectible/hidden cache/supply drop in the game.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3‘s length is variable, as you can see! “60-120 hours” is going to be the norm once the game gets in everyone’s hands — but the latter is not a hard figure if all you want to do is see things through until the end, so don’t let it scare you off!
