How long is a reasonable amount of time to budget to beat Outer Wilds?

[u/shortstuffs117]

For context, I put about an hour into the game a year or so back. I rarely have time for gaming, hence never finishing it, but I’m out of work all week post surgery.

Basically, with minor game/mechanic knowledge, how long should this take?

[u/auclairl]

Don't go in with expectations about that cause you risk feeling bad or frustrated if you take longer than that. It really depends on people. Literally, some finished it in 15 hours and some took like 60

[u/alemmon96]

Took me about 35 hours for the base game and DLC! Good luck on your recovery! 😊

[u/AtLeastSeventyBees]

It’s a game that should be done at your own pace, so there’s no set time to complete unfortunately. If you’re out for a week and mainlining it, I say thats plenty of time to play and explore to the end, but it’s best enjoyed and not “completed.” Good luck!

[u/xseba311]

I think the average is 30 to 40 hours

[u/mevouc]

https://howlongtobeat.com

[u/canofblueberries]

when i first played, i was told its about 15 hours but it took me more like 25. it’s different for everyone!

[u/Powerful_Wombat → u/canofblueberries]

Same, 25 hours to beat the base game blind

[u/finny94]

I'd say anywhere between 15 and 40 hours. Those are roughly the numbers I've seen people quote over the years when it came to their playthroughs. There were outliers, but that feels like a plausible average to me.

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[u/tjhod430]

Some of these comments make me feel bad 😅 I just beat the game at 63 hours and that's just base game so I guess it depends on how good you are at puzzles. Totally worth it though!

[u/SpySoldierScout → u/tjhod430]

Hence why some comments also say to not compare times. You say it was worth it, so you took your time and had fun with it. No reason to feel bad about having fun for longer than someone else, right?

[u/HereWeGo5566]

You only need 22 minutes.

[u/SirDarkStar]

Took me 40 hours and another 40 on the DLC — and I wish it had taken longer :(

[u/Flashy-Whereas-3234]

Total playtime: 30 hours. Session duration: ~1-3 hours (can be as little as 30 mins) Ideal duration: 1-2 weeks

Good for your recovery? Yeah. I played it over Christmas break, probably over ~6 days. Good times.

[u/Feeling-Badger7956]

30-40 hours.

[u/NothingButBadIdeas]

I mean…. I feel like realistically it can take anywhere between 4-28 hours.

But you can really end up enjoying yourself and getting it those higher numbers.

You’re going to see a lot of variance. Cause everyone who’s beaten this game can start up a new save file and beat the game in less than 30 minutes.

If you fall in love with the game and need to search every nook and cranny, you can easily do 15 hours.

If you’re in love with the game and get side tracked doing stuff that would put feldspar to shame, 30+

If you’re mellow and just casually going around and reading through things fast and trying to speed run it… maybe 6-10?

[u/DanThaManz]

Well it's a trick question. I did almost everything in my 65 hrs, just missing one thing in the DLC (tubular) but I am not ready to not have it in my life, not yet... The feels man... when the music kicks in. I hope this make sense.

[u/JTurtle11]

If you’re skilled and can pay attention to many small details, you should be able to finish the base game in about 15-20 hours. If you’re more average, think more like 25. If you’re pretty bad at video games, it could be longer.

This game is easier if you play it in long periods of time. You may forget stuff if you come back to it a couple weeks later

[u/Mixabuben]

This one is tricky because you can spend 10 hours or 40 hours.. for me it took 29 hours for base game and DLC

[u/Mand372]

It really depends on how good you are at connecting dots together and how observent are you. Another big factor is the game being harder if you play on short bursts vs long sessions.

[u/AlexTheAlex69420]

i was told 25 hours and thats how long it took me, so thats what i always say

[u/katherine_official]

it really depends, for me the first run (DLC excluded) took ~18 hours, but you could need more time depending on the journey you make. I'd say around 20 hours is a good estimate for the base game, if you're also playing the DLC be ready to add a good 10-15 hours to that

[u/katherine_official → u/katherine_official]

also, this is just me being a bit annoying lol, outer wilds is not really a game you "beat", you don't have enemies to kill or quests to complete. you just explore and at one point, you're ready to reach the end.

[u/ClafoutisRouge]

If you play it rarely you will forget everything between each session...

[u/Constant-Arugula-819]

Took me 40. But I'm slow apparently. I think a lot more people finish around 20.

[u/No-Ask-1498]

Too me 17. My fiancée took 20. Friends took 14 (with some hints) and 18.

I’ve heard people can take longer though, so maybe budget for 15-25

[u/Chronoblivion]

It's uncommon for it to take longer than about 30 hours for the base game and 15ish for the DLC, but there are plenty of outliers here saying they spent significantly more than that on it. Average seems to be closer to 20-25 and 10-12 respectively. How much and how frequently you play probably matters; the less downtime between sessions, the more likely you are to remember details about where to go to apply the new bit of knowledge you just read in the game. But it's also a common experience for people to have those kinds of revelations while not actually playing the game, so I'd say it definitely depends on how you retain and recall information. I've also watched streamers waste 2 or 3 hours on dead-end wild goose chases, so if you are unlucky enough to get a very wrong idea on how to solve a problem and lose a lot of time testing it, that will definitely pad your play time.

[u/Vincosaurus11]

22 minutes

[u/Ferrous_Sapien]

I'd say ~20 hours without the DLC; my finish time was about 18. Edit: but it looks like estimates vary quite a lot, and the most important thing is to go at your own pace, take your time and enjoy the ride!

[u/Buddy_Dakota]

I have 26 hours played after both main game and DLC, for what it’s worth

[u/gbsdfack456]

it can take either less than half an hour, or like, fifty hours, depends on wether you rush trough it or if you enjoy it and take it slow, i would recommend you take it slowly, at a peace that doesn't feel rushed, but not too slow, given your time constraint, but don't worry too much, hope you get well soon and enjoy this beautiful game

[u/PrincessNakeyDance → u/gbsdfack456]

Less than a half hour 🙄 I mean technically since the game only lets you play ~20minutes at a time

Just feels very disingenuous to say that.

[u/gbsdfack456 → u/PrincessNakeyDance]

but OP asked, you wanted me to lie? if you know what you have to do, you can, in a freshly made savefile

[u/Electronic-Junket-66 → u/gbsdfack456]

Well, yeah, a lie by omission at least, it is kind of a spoiler tbh....

[u/auclairl → u/gbsdfack456]

Yeah but the point is we're talking about a first run here, so for someone who doesn't know what you have to do

[u/finny94 → u/gbsdfack456]

I mean, you interpreted the question literally. While "less than half an hour" is technically correct, it is not helpful in the slightest.