Even the most sophisticated gamer will be bewildered by the sheer scale of these games. These are the open-world games that take the longest to beat.
Given their expansive nature, open-world projects tend to be some of the longest games in existence. It’s possible to pour hundreds and thousands of hours into a single open-world game without exploring every nook and cranny. They are meant to keep someone engaged for weeks or months, and when done right, they can be absolutely spectacular. Now, longer does not always mean better, but when a project hits the mark, that can certainly be the case.
While there are short open-world games out there, Shadow of the Colossus and Mafia immediately come to mind, most entries in the genre require a significant time investment. That’s part of the reason these titles are so popular – they reward commitment with content and immersion. These titles are designed to be played for weeks or months on end, taking players on an epic journey across (usually) expansive worlds. Let’s take a look at the longest open-world games.
Updated November 8, 2025 by Mark Sammut: As no new games have come out that warrant inclusion, we have updated the images for each long open-world game mentioned in this article. 47
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky had an incredibly rough launch. When it was first released back in 2016, it was met with ire by much of the community. Players cited the lack of content and a failure to deliver on promises made by the developer as the biggest issues, with a general feeling that the game was unfinished. Thankfully, developers listened to the community and stuck with the project, pouring extra work into creating the game that they envisioned from the start.
Nowadays, No Man’s Sky is much improved and has seen a couple of DLC releases to help pad out its content even further. In fact, there is not so much to do in the sci-fi exploration and action release that deviating from the main story and doing all the side content will take over 100 hours. There is replayability here too. 46
Skull And Bones
Ubisoft created one of the definitive pirate games in Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, a project that was so successful that a spiritual successor removed from that franchise seemed inevitable. Skull and Bones took a very long time to materialize, and it went through a rather notorious development cycle; by the time of its 2024 debut, the game had lost most of its momentum following an array of underwhelming reports and previews. While not without positives, Skull and Bones was undeniably a disappointment, particularly its limited gameplay, which felt more restrictive and one-note than the much older Black Flag.
Despite technically containing a main story, this title follows a live-service structure that is meant to encourage indefinite sessions, sort of similar to something like Sea of Thieves. Even if it is not the focus, the campaign is fairly lengthy, and it mostly revolves around targeting specific pirates (who have very little personality). 45
Divine Divinity
Thanks to Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian is well-established as one of the best modern RPG developers.
