This year has offered some absolute corkers of video games. Between The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate III, we’ve seen some truly remarkable titles already this year, and Starfield looks set to join the ranks when it launches in a couple of weeks. With these massive titles in mind, Ben and Alex have once again teamed up to discuss the length of games, and whether or not video games are becoming too long.
Games ARE getting too long – Ben
I don’t have children or a young family to take care of. I don’t even have to worry about elderly relatives, or deal with many of the situations that many people around the world end up sacrificing their free time for. I don’t even have a garden to tend to. Beyond my job, my social life and my dogs, I live for myself and myself and myself. Still, I really only have a couple of hours of free time each day, and in that free time I have to decide whether to sit down and watch a movie or play a game that I have lying around. For titles like Alan Wake Remastered, Metroid Dread, Street Fighter 6 this isn’t a problem, but for some games it means I have to invest several months – provided I don’t get lost in the sauce when I play them.
After launching at the end of May, I finally managed to finish The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom a fortnight ago. When I say complete, I mean complete the main story, about half of the side quests, and about a third of the side activities. Basically, I’ve probably seen about 40% of the game. But it took me months of playing here and there to get this far, and now Baldur’s Gate III is here, and Starfield is just around the corner, so I have no choice but to put Tears of the Kingdom aside if I have thinking of picking up one of these games.
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But it’s not just the 100+ hour mega RPGs that are a problem for me, anything over 25 hours starts to become difficult. I love games that can be completed in somewhere between 10-20 hours. Diablo IV was perfect for me. So was Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Pikmin 4, Final Fantasy XVI, even Hogwarts Legacy really. These games that I can stick with for a few weeks, beat the main story, do some sidequests, maybe complete it 100% if it really pulls me in, are perfectly sized in my mind as they manage to excel in the same way that the giant the role-playing games, just in a more compact way. And for what it’s worth, games of this size usually have plenty of opportunity to extend the experience well beyond the 20-hour mark should you wish to.
In this year with smaller launches, the game’s length is less of an issue, but in 2023 we’ve rarely had a break, and this won’t change beyond the fall. Featuring Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, The Crew Motorfest, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and so on, there is much to look forward to. Fortunately, none of these games look like they’ll be hugely long, but I’m already well aware that Starfield and Baldur’s Gate III will have to be shelved while I conquer these upcoming projects, or vice versa.
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This is precisely why I believe we need shorter, tighter games. With the amount of live-service projects out there, games that you can enjoy for a reasonable period of time and then move on should become more common. Value for money is always a topic of discussion, but for me it doesn’t matter if a game is well designed, has an interesting story, has no bugs and is fun to play, whether it lasts 10 or 45 hours. There is a place for massive games, but we don’t need every game on the market to have replayability and content that spans tens of hours, that I’m sure.
Games DON’T get too long – Alex
There are some incredibly long games out there, yes. Baldur’s Gate III can hold your attention for hundreds of hours if you let it take a while to finish. Other of the year’s big games take just as long, but linking this to a problem in the industry still seems a bit exaggerated, if you ask me.
Not everyone who plays games has a job where they have to play them. They decide for themselves what they want to spend their time on and which games they want to play. Some will try as many games as possible, while others will limit themselves to a couple of big AAA purchases. When people are truly free to spend their time as they please, the argument against longer games becomes much more of a personal matter than anything really to do with the industry.
A big argument for longer titles is also that you get more for your money. For fifty British pounds I can buy Baldur’s Gate III, which will give me at least 70 hours just to complete the game’s story. The same can be said for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the recent Assassin’s Creed games, Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2 and many more. All of these games have also been critically acclaimed, so while not everyone takes the time to finish them, those who do love the experience.
If you don’t have time to play a longer game but everyone loves it, it can be a bit of FOMO, but even though starting a longer experience can be daunting, the hours will melt away if it’s worth it. I clocked 85 hours into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom without feeling like I’d spent much time in Hyrule. Not all open games have that effect, but those that do have proven to be worth the investment.
Shorter, sweeter adventures are good too, don’t get me wrong, but with Game Pass and PS Plus you can now wait a while for something like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and play it as part of the monthly cost instead of shelling out £60 for a 10-hour experience. As the prices of games become more and more unfair, we should praise those who give you a worthy time for what you pay.
2023 can and probably will go down in history as one of the best gaming years in perhaps decades. We’ve gotten so much already, and there’s only more to come. This can be a bit daunting, especially considering how many of these incredible titles are big RPGs, but there’s plenty of time to pick them up and play them if you want, or leave them. Longer games are often single-player games, meaning that it’s up to you when you decide to jump into it.
2023-08-27 12:00:00
#HeadtoHead #games #long
