How Long It Really Takes To Beat Dark Souls 3

Like its predecessors and FromSoftware's other works, including "Bloodborne" and "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice," "Dark Souls 3" is a brutally tough game, with unforgiving enemies and less forgiving bosses. Combined with environments and settings that pose imminent threats with a variety of traps and long open stretches prone to random attacks, the journey turns into a long and treacherous one.

As such, the uninitiated may find themselves asking exactly how long it takes to finish "Dark Souls 3." Once again, like its predecessors, it is not a short game. With a series of winding paths and expansive levels, not to mention the methodical, chess-like combat, it's hardly something you can beat in one sitting.

At the same time, "Dark Souls 3" isn't egregiously long. It doesn't abuse your use of time, especially considering how compelling the game is, according to its aggregate score of 89 on Metacritic. Further, it doesn't quite delve into Bethesda title time consumption. "Skyrim," for instance, can consume well beyond 100 hours of your precious time.

According to the "Dark Souls 3" game guide on gamepressure, the base game length is about 32 hours. This is the length if the player elects to largely avoid doing any of the side quests or defeating any of the optional bosses that are present throughout the game. This isn't quite as rewarding, as players won't be able to fight the Nameless King, who is often considered one of the toughest bosses in the game (via ScreenRant).

Players can easily extend this length, however, by defeating the aforementioned optional bosses and completing the side quests. By doing so, the same guide asserts the game will consume somewhere around 50 hours of your time. Moreover, for the completionists out there, fully completing the game at 100%, which entails collecting all the trophies by (in part) completing the game multiple times, will take about 94 hours. This is where the "Dark Souls 3" starts to tread Bethesda game territory, but strictly speaking, this is for those who are intent on seeing the game through to its ultimate end.

How Long To Beat provides estimates for all the game's DLC, as well, including the Ringed City and Ashes of Ariandel. Out of 215 players polled, the length of the DLC came to an average of a modest five hours. Meanwhile, the length for The Ringed City came to about eight hours, averaged out of the 183 players polled.

Now, with the length in mind, comes the decision of whether to play through the game or not. It's only fair to provide a warning that it is a very difficult game, according to Wired, and includes some of the hardest bosses in the "Dark Souls" franchise. For those fearful of the game's sheer challenge, do note, it was once played with a Ring Fit controller in addition to a toaster, showing if someone can take on that challenge, surely it can be done with a regular Xbox One or PS4 controller.