God of War Ragnarok has a lengthy story and a ton of beautiful and violent realms to 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 God of War Ragnarok?
- Our fastest player finished God of War Ragnarok in 26.5 hours.
- Our “slowest” player spent 60 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 all the realms. Once you’ve finished the game yourself, be sure to submit your times on How Long To Beat and see how your time compares!
Simon Cardy, Reviewer & Senior Editorial Producer
It took me around 28 hours to reach the end of God of War Ragnarok’s story. Along that journey I completed a fair few of the longer side quests though, so I’d estimate somewhere in the early 20s if you were going to go straight ahead along the path of mainlining it. It’s crucial to note that there isn’t a point of no return in Ragnarok, so every objective is still available to complete after the credits have rolled.
Since then, I’ve put another 20 hours in and have secured that platinum trophy. That includes beating all of the really tough optional bosses and cleaning up all of the collectible ravens, artefacts, and lore – of which some were quite difficult to find, but shouldn’t be too much of an issue for you now that guides will be available at launch. I still haven’t got 100% in every realm however, so I am still finding myself jumping back into Ragnarok for the odd side quest or two.
Ronny Barrier, Gameplay Producer
My playthrough of God of War Ragnarok took about 34 hours. I played pretty intuitively for the first half, only following side quests and alternate paths when it seemed truly interesting. As the narrative started to reach its conclusion, I mainlined the story pretty heavily despite Atreus often telling me to slow down and do some side content. If I didn’t have to finish my playthrough for work, it would have taken me about 50 hours, easily, and I still don’t know if I would be done at that point. Atreus and Mimir are in charge of the game’s pacing, and they are good at reminding you there’s a lot to be done other than the main story, but it can be hard to listen when you just NEED ANSWERS.
God of War Ragnarok’s story is fantastic, but some of the side content contains the best stories and battles the world has to offer, so don’t be afraid to take your time. The journey will be richer for it.
Jada Griffin, Community Lead
So I rolled credits around the 60-hour mark on the Give me God of War difficulty with a 95% completion. Yes, a few optional fights took me more tries than I’d like to admit, especially early on when limited by lower-level gear. A good chunk of my clock also includes restarts in fights to record that perfect no-hit encounter. Other times I spent time just blocking or dodging to observe and dissect enemy mechanics and practising the timing for parrying & dodging those powerful attacks to offer tips to others playing through the story. If you’re reading our wiki, chances are you’re reading some of my tips.
The biggest culprit in my bloated game clock compared to my peers is completing specific objectives. Some objectives or collectables aren’t locked by equipment (most are) but by a conversation with a character in a future chapter, with some of them only being available once completing the main story despite showing up on the objectives list from the start. I spent way more time than I should have when backtracking to try and find some random undiscovered objective that didn’t exist yet. If I were to start fresh now, knowing not to go for that 100% completion before rolling credits similar to what I did in GoW 2018, I would have cut my run in half, so consider this your PSA.
Josh Du, Senior Social Media Producer
It took me about 42 hours to do everything in the game before hitting the final sequence of the story, with a final playtime of 44 hours on Give Me Balance mode.
Anytime there’s a game with collectables and unlockable weapons/armor, I make sure to get it ALL before the ending of the story. In GoWR’s case, that meant backtracking through all the realms with newly acquired abilities to tick off all the items on the collectable checklist. Some of it was still fun and exciting, while others not so much (highly recommend fully clearing Alfheim before finishing that arc if you’re also a completionist). Now there’s all the post-story things to collect. I can’t wait!
Mitchell Saltzman, Senior Editorial Producer
By the time I rolled credits on my “Give Me No Mercy” playthrough of God of War Ragnarok, my playtime clocked in at about 38 hours. That includes about 20 sidequests and a lot of exploration of all nine realms. My playstyle in the first three-quarters of the game was to complete every sidequest that I reasonably could handle at my level, but once I reached the last quarter, I decided to save the rest for the post-game, and luckily for me, the post-game seems pretty stacked. I still have 14 quests in my journal that I have not completed, and several challenges that I’m simply not well-equipped enough to handle yet.
Dale Driver, UK Video Lead
I blasted through the story of God of War Ragnarok in just over 26 hours and made a solid, but partially failed attempt to avoid any side missions as I went. It’s incredibly easy to get distracted in God of War Ragnarok, but after witnessing a handful of Metroidvania-like, ‘you can’t do this until you have this’ areas I made the decision to focus purely on the story and mop up everything else after the journey was complete.
I’m glad I did, because exploring the nine realms, story quests and end-game content almost felt like another full game worth of God of War goodness! There’s a ton to see and do and it’s not all related to quests either. With all the tools now in my arsenal, I clocked in another 21 hours in the quest for that precious platinum which finally popped at hour 47.
For more on God of War Ragnarok, check out our guide and walkthrough.