How Long is Horizon Forbidden West?

Horizon Forbidden West has a lengthy story and gigantic, machine-ridden world explore, but just quite how long is it? Here we’ll let you know exactly how many hours it took different members of the IGN team to finish the game, and what they prioritised doing with that time.

How Long Is Horizon Forbidden West?

• Our fastest player finished Horizon Forbidden West in around 29 hours.
• Our “slowest” player spent 42 hours before credits rolled.

Everyone plays games differently, so read on for more details about how everyone played, how long it took to reach the credits, and how much extra time it took to fully explore the Forbidden West.

Simon Cardy, Reviewer & Video Producer

Horizon Forbidden West's main story took me 32 hours to complete. This included doing 10 lengthy side quests along the way as well as solving a few relic ruins, scaling all of the Tallnecks, and quite a few rounds of Machine Strike as well. Despite all of this I still went into the last mission two levels underpowered which made it a slight struggle, scraping through the final fight by the skin of my teeth. This isn’t something I wouldn't necessarily recommend though and would encourage levelling up to prepare Aloy with as big a health bar as possible.

Since then, I’ve put another 20 hours into the Forbidden West and am still discovering new things every day - whether that be new, deadlier versions of machines or engrossing new stories and the interesting characters that tell them. I still have plenty to do as well with my map littered with icons and my game completion hovering around 60%. I am only a few trophies away from the platinum though, which is reasonably attainable and should hopefully pop any day now.

Mark Medina, Editorial Producer

On normal difficulty, I rolled credits on Horizon Forbidden West after about 38 hours. I, of course, did quite a few side activities here and there, and sometimes full-stopped my progress altogether to concentrate on making sure I had the most up to date weapons and armor, even going as far as travelling around the world to hunt down machines and wildlife to upgrade said equipment. The side quests in Forbidden West can vary in length, but most would agree they are pretty long and I completed 10 of them by the time I rolled credits. Now that I've completed the main story, my notebook tells me that I have a game completion of 38%, and I believe. My map is still chock-full of side quests, bandit camps, cauldrons, Tallnecks. So, 40 hours down, probably another 40 to go!

Jonathan Dornbush, Senior Editor, Features

My time with Horizon Forbidden West’s main campaign came to an end just shy of 42 hours at level 35 going into the final story mission. I did a healthy amount of side quests in that time, trying out almost every type of optional objective, taking on a few missions from interesting characters, and occasionally exploring the land for animal pelts and machine parts to upgrade my equipment, outfits, and pouches. Amusingly, in my 42 hours, I’ve only completed about 42% of all of Forbidden West’s objectives, and it appears I haven’t even found one type of sidequest, as well as one type of collectable. There’s even a healthy amount of the map still covered in fog that I need to explore, and I fully expect I’ll be spending several dozen more hours across the Forbidden West, hunting down every last vestige of the old world. And maybe finding some cool new threads for Aloy, too.

Dale Driver, Senior Video Producer

I blasted through the main campaign of Horizon Forbidden West in just under 30 hours (29 and a half to be exact) with only slight detours to level up Aloy to the recommended main quest level. Since finishing the story though I’ve discovered a ton of side quests and activities that I never even tried, and so far have sunk another 30 hours in trying out everything I missed the first time around. Although I now feel like I’ve seen the majority of what the world has to offer, my completion counter still only says 66%. This game is huge!

I’m also a keen trophy hunter and currently, I’m only 2 trophies away from the platinum. That’s certainly achievable in 60 hours for dedicated, trophy fiends like myself!

For more on Horizon Forbidden West, check out our guide and walkthrough.

source https://www.ign.com/articles/how-long-is-horizon-forbidden-west