10 LONGEST Single Player Experiences of 2021 - YouTube

- [Voiceover] Hey, are you looking for a single-player game

that will take you a decent amount of time to complete?

Well, we've got you covered with this list

of 2021 single-player games with decent length,

in no particular order.

And it's also worth pointing out that some

of these games aren't just like the regular games

you've heard about all year.

We wanted to also use this list as an opportunity

to talk about some games we haven't mentioned enough.

So keep in mind to set expectations.

A lot of these games aren't like "Skyrim" level,

endless open worlds, but here,

we went with personal experience, online opinions,

and HowLongToBeat.com for references

and these should satisfy you.

Anyway, let's get started off with number 10.

"Sherlock Holmes Chapter One" is a game you may not

have heard of, or really had on your radar,

but it should take you around 25 hours.

Now we're gonna mention it many times in this video,

a lot of that time depends on what type of player you are.

If you're mainlining everything

or if you're really exploring and not skipping cut scenes

and checking out side quests.

And interestingly enough, "Sherlock Holmes Chapter One"

takes what the previous "Sherlock Holmes" games did

and really kind of turns it on its head

and adds an open world,

which doesn't seem like it makes sense

for a "Sherlock Holmes" game.

But here, you do have the opportunity to really explore,

find clues, get engaged with this world,

and find some pretty engaging side quests.

It's one of those games where it has side quests

that you're actually gonna want to check out.

This is a younger Sherlock Holmes,

they're going for like a different vibe here.

It's him in his earlier days,

exploring a Mediterranean island and city of Cordona.

And he's a bit more of a bad-ass.

The combat's a little weird,

but still, these "Sherlock Holmes" games

are massively underrated and pretty cool

and if you're looking for an interesting new one

to jump in with, it's this one, "Chapter One."

Now next over at number nine, let's talk "Far Cry 6."

This one is a little bit more of one of the obvious ones

on the list because it's a "Far Cry" game.

It's a massive open world riddled with side quests,

things to collect, things to do, and your time can vary.

But, you know, ultimately, when you're in a "Far Cry" game,

you're gonna spend a lot of time.

The average time to beat for this game is around 35 hours,

but you can easily squeeze a lot more out of that,

just because Yara is a pretty interesting tropical location

with a big city, tons of different little areas.

Granted it's all a tropical setting,

but they manage to vary it up here and there

and it's worth checking out.

Personally, we said it in our Before You Buy video,

I found "Far Cry 6" to be a lot more fun than "Far Cry 5"

or "Far Cry: New Dawn,"

which a lot of people forgot about.

This one is possibly worth checking out,

especially if you've been burnt out on the "Far Cry" formula

for a while.

This one might be fun enough to get you back into it.

Now for number eight,

we have "Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous,"

a game on consoles, but I think is best played on PC.

The average time to beat this thing is around 120 hours

if you're doing the main quest and most of the side quests,

which you'll probably do,

and you'll probably grind through a lot of it,

because the game can get pretty challenging.

And that's where some of the length lies,

but where the true length really comes from is the fact

that it's just one of those big ass isometric RPGs.

Think a "Divinity: Original Sin" type thing.

If you've played that,

you know what you're getting into here,

you're getting massive worlds, tons of interesting dialogue,

fun side quests to pursue,

different ways to build your character, stuff to find.

There's just a lot of cool stuff in this game.

The gameplay aside, just design wise and looks wise

and arts wise,

if you like big old fantasy RPGs

and you like them a little bit more independent,

"Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous"

is definitely worth checking out,

especially for the fact that it'll keep you busy

for quite a while.

Probably the most out of any of the games on this list.

Now next over at number seven,

we have "Shin Megami Tensei V,"

a game which, admittedly, we haven't highlighted enough

on Gameranx throughout 2021.

But the average time to beat this one is around 63 hours.

"Shin Megami Tensei V" really embraces being on new hardware

and just kind of makes everything feel bigger and better.

And a lot of that length just comes

from that good old fashioned JRPG gameplay,

which to some people is just truly comfort food.

And the, you know, obviously very different Tokyo

they have here is a really good setting for exploration.

These games have a very unique spin on them,

especially if you've played the "Persona" games,

but you've never played the "Shin Megami Tensei" games,

you're probably gonna find a lot to like here.

This is a good jumping in point and the way you explore

and you bounce between these different biomes

and you slowly build out these specialized teams

and collect things, of course,

you're gonna find yourself sinking a lot of time

into this one on your Nintendo Switch.

It was a good year for JRPGs

and "Shin Megami Tensei V" is definitely

one of the ones worth highlighting.

But over at number six, we also have "Tales of Arise,"

another JRPG worth highlighting where the average time

to beat is around 58 hours.

And that's just because this is a dense game.

You know, in a lot of ways,

it feels like a very traditional JRPG

with small little areas with loading screens in between

and towns and hubs.

But it's just so interesting.

This game gives you tons and tons of lore

and stuff to read and people to talk to,

to really learn about this unique world they built out.

Now "Tales of Arise" is its own contained story,

so if you haven't played any of the previous "Tales" games,

that's fine, this is a good place to jump in.

And what you're gonna get is some pretty traditional

JRPG, kind of active style combat,

but with really good team comboing stuff,

all with a really interesting and over the top style

and cool characters that you're building up along the way.

If it sounds very straightforward, you know,

from presentation to gameplay

and what you're seeing on screen,

yes it is, but it is still so incredibly compelling

and it's one of our favorite games of the year.

Now next over at number five,

let's talk about the "Monster Hunter" series

because it had two big releases this year

and they'll take up a lot of your time.

The first is "Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin."

The average time to beat this is around 53 hours

and if you've played the previous

"Monster Hunter Stories" game,

you understand what you're getting into.

They are dense and just really,

"Monster Hunter" games are in general,

because also this year we had "Monster Hunter Rise,"

which the average time to beat is 44 hours.

But with "Monster Hunter" games,

you can just spend so much time building

and grinding out your characters.

And that's where the fun really lies.

It may not be the longest or most content rich

of the "Monster Hunter" games, sure,

but still the hours spent,

every single one of those hours is intense and fun

and you're always growing and you're always learning

and you're always figuring out a new enemy type

or you're always gaining some new piece

to craft a new piece of armor.

And it's just, mm, it's just good all the way.

And if you haven't played a "Monster Hunter" game,

"Rise" is a good place to start.

So good luck, have fun.

Now next over at number four,

we have "NEO: The World Ends with You."

Now this time, things are fully 3D,

which of course means there's a lot more to do.

The average time to beat "The World Ends with You"

is 48 hours.

Now you're battling your way through this adventure

and collecting pins to give your characters new abilities.

And you're also exploring kind of modern new representation

of Shibuya in Tokyo, Japan.

There are plenty of things to check out,

characters to interact with, restaurants.

There's shops, of course.

There's like an in-game social network.

There's a lot to check out,

and really it's just a great follow-up

to "The World Ends with You."

This was like one of those games that just came out

for the DS and blew people away.

So to have an actual good followup that captures

that feel again, but blows it out of the water,

is something totally worth checking out.

Now down to number three, we have "Lost Judgment."

The average time to beat this game is around 50 hours

and if you played the original game this is the sequel to,

"Judgment," you know that it's dense.

These are of course spinoff "Yakuza" games,

which are also extremely dense.

And what you get here is a fun world,

people to beat up, and lots of mysteries to solve.

These games, of course,

walk an incredible tight rope between fun, action,

brawler style gameplay,

Japanese soap opera, melodrama,

and just complete wacky absurdity.

You can really get anything you want out of these style

of games and "Lost Judgment" brings a lot of course,

new, interesting, compelling side quests

that will take you quite a bit of time,

a whole interactive high school to explore

with its own sub-quest system to check out,

and just an interesting and compelling

and more personal story this time around.

Not to mention a new fighting style.

There's a lot here. There's a cool world to explore.

And a lot of dudes to kick in the face.

"Lost Judgment" is absolutely awesome

and if you've never played any of these games

from this studio, "Lost Judgment" is still

a really good place to jump in.

Now over at number two, we have "Returnal,"

a game that just, as much as people really like it,

it hasn't gotten enough mainstream love in 2021.

And maybe that's for its unique structure, its unique style,

its whole run-based game play.

Maybe it's the challenge.

So for "Returnal," the average time to beat

is around 30 hours, but this is really gonna depend on,

I don't know, how good you are

or how long it takes you to really grasp

the game's elements.

If you like to take it slow.

"Returnal" is pretty challenging.

The bosses can be pretty intense.

The die and reset thing might not be for everybody.

But what you get is a pretty addictive experience.

You know, you'll find yourself being like,

"Ooh, just one more run,"

because this third person shooting,

shoot 'em up, bullet hell style gameplay is so good,

but also,

you're trying to unravel this cool, space sci-fi mystery

along the way.

So while it's not like an 80 hour "Horizon Zero Dawn"

or a million hour "Skyrim" or anything like that,

you can sink a ton of time into "Returnal"

and all of it will be pretty satisfying.

Now over at number one,

another weird one to mention is "Loop Hero."

Now the average time to beat this game is around 35 hours

and it's a pretty unique indie game.

You're in this world that's in a never-ending time loop

and essentially it's kind of like an old school style,

but card based system where you dole out cards

to build out dungeons and areas

for a little hero to get through

and it can have incredibly addictive qualities.

Now a lot of people kind of chalk this up as one

of those idle clicker games,

like a cookie clicker type of thing,

but we find it a bit more compelling here.

And while it can be a fairly passive experience,

it's also just engaging

and you could dump a ton of time into it.

It's really cool. It's different, it's unique.

We also just haven't mentioned it really this year.

So consider checking that out.

Now we also got some bonus games worth mentioning of course,

"Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond" and "Shining Pearl" remakes.

Those, of course, you can sink plenty of time into.

It's a "Pokemon" game, catch 'em all, right?

"Wildermyth" is another fun one where like the style

might deceive you,

but what it is is just a really compelling RPG

with interesting and unique spins on character building.

Then "Inscription," another game that we

just haven't given any love to this year

and we wanted to highlight it here.

It's definitely worth checking out.

And "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD"

remaster rerelease was also 2021.

A lot of people forgot about it,

but you can sink a ton of time into it for a "Zelda" game.

So these are some lengthy single-player games from 2021

that you should still consider checking out.

There are, of course, so many others out there.

So we want to hear yours down in the comments.

What game did you spend the longest amount

of time playing in 2021?

Especially if it was like a sort of single-player,

story-driven thing, with a beginning to end.

Let us know.

If you enjoyed this video though,

and maybe we helped steer you towards a new game,

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it really helps us out.

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But as always, thanks for watching.

We'll see you guys next time.