Returnal: How Long to Beat

Returnal, the latest PlayStation 5 exclusive has finally landed today following great praise all round, and before deciding on whether to pick it up, players may be wondering what they can expect in terms of value for money and how long to beat it. Developer Housemarque is best known in recent years for their bullet-hell style top-down arcade-esque games, but Returnal is a breath of fresh air for the Finnish studio, bringing a cinematic narrative and third-person view system whilst still keeping to the Developers’ bullet-hell roots. The type of games that Housemarque produce are difficult to determine how long they will take to beat, as the run-time is largely dependent on player skill. Here’s how long it will take to beat Returnal.

How Long to Beat Returnal

As mentioned previously, Returnal is a very difficult game to narrow down how long it will take to beat, as it will vary wildly with each player depending on their skill level, ability to learn and adapt quickly, and their reflexes. A rough indication can be given, though, and Returnal is certainly not a short game; on average taking players between 20-40 hours to complete.

Bear in mind that this is a game with rouge-lite elements, therefore you can expect to die and restart many, many times before you reach the end of the game, which could certainly test the patience of players that are not prepared for it, especially considering there are no save points. As with other games of the genre, each death helps you to learn that little bit more about the world and the enemies (and possibly even keeping some permanent upgrades), giving you an edge to progress further in the next run. The game can also be extended further by collecting all of the items, and as the biome layout is procedurally generated, each run will bring something different so the game is very replayable.

Returnal is available now exclusively on PS5.