Summary
HowLongToBeat, a website that tracks how long users take to complete various games, released its end-of-the-year results for 2023, highlighting the year’s longestRPGgames. These results exclude “endless” titles, leading theRPGgenre to dominate this list. Despite the RPG genre’s prevalence on this leaderboard, the results are made up of a healthy mix of such games, ranging from action adventures, to dungeon crawlers, to Japanese titles.
2023 was a solid year for games, with hits likeBaldur’s Gate 3andAlan Wake 2taking home multiple awards at The Game Awards 2023. RPGs likeBaldur’s Gate 3are usually some of the most popular games every year, and while they don’t always offer fast-paced action like shooters or racing games do, they often give players a more slow-paced, thoughtful experience. In terms of player satisfaction, these titles can pay dividends in the long run, and this list highlights some of the longest-form games of the year.
HowLongToBeat revealed thatThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomtopped its list as 2023’s longest game, with the average user on HowLongToBeat’s website taking 110 hours to complete it.Baldur’s Gate 3finished as a close second at 105 hours,Octopath Traveler 2finished third at 80 hours, andStarfieldfinished fourth at 65 hours.Hogwarts Legacywill possibly finish as the best-selling game of 2023, and also finished at number seven on this list with an average completion time of 46 hours. However, it should be noted that these figures only count players who logged their completion times on HowLongToBeat’s website, so these numbers aren’t necessarily representative of the general gaming population.
What Were the Longest Games of 2023?
Not only wasThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom2023’s longest game, but it was also one of the most critically acclaimed, with a Metacritic score of 96. Somefans are already hoping for aZeldasequeland speculating about what its premise might be.
Baldur’s Gate 3fans are still uncovering secretshidden within the game, displaying its impressive combination of length and detail.Baldur’s Gate 3won Game of the Year, Best Role Playing Game, and more at The Game Awards 2023, conquering a total of six categories.
Fans of long-form RPGs have plenty to look forward to in 2024, with anticipated games likeAvowed,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, andLike A Dragon: Infinite Wealthslated for 2024 releases. Although the rumor ofDeath Stranding 2’s next trailer being revealed at The Game Awardsdid not pan out, fans are still hoping for a 2024 release date.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WHERE TO PLAY
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.
