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A Starfield ship is blowing up another ship. But can you steal NPC ships?

How Long Does It Take to Beat Starfield

Starfield is the latest epic space adventure from Bethesda Studios. It’s a game that has massive scope like other large Bethesda series The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. There are tons of planets to see, hundreds of side missions to embark on, and an incredible amount of items to find. If you’re curious about how much of your life Starfield is about to hog, we’ve got you covered. Lets go over the data we have available so far to give you an idea of how long it will take you to beat Starfield.

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How Long it Takes to Beat Starfield at Different Completion Levels

The first level of completion and the one most people will be curious about is the main story campaign. Unlike other recent massive titles Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you won’t be needing 50 hours to complete the main story alone. In fact, according to HowLongToBeat, you’ll only need to commit to a modest 17 hour playthrough if you focus on completing the main story missions only. I think this is actually quite a nice medium length for the main story. A couple hours a day will get you through this one in no time.

RELATED: Why You Should Do Main Quests First in Starfield

The second level of completion is one that is more likely to done by fans of Bethesda games. This includes the main story plus taking your time for some world exploration, side missions, companion recruiting, and gearing up. There is plenty to do and see in the Starfield universe and many players will prefer to take their time, soak it all in, and do a mix of main story as well as the extras the game has to offer. Going for this kind of playstyle will take around 55 hours to complete the game. Completing some faction side missions, helping out some companions, doing some base building, and ship customization are all really fun things to do that a lot of players will enjoy and it will add a ton of time on to your playthrough.

The third level of completion is to try and complete everything that the game has to offer, like quests, items, and achievements. This will be a titanic undertaking and something only a few players who absolutely love the game will go for. Starfield is still in the early access stage of release but we’re looking at around 190 hours as early estimates.

On top of all these, Starfield offers a New Game+ mode so you can keep playing after your first playthrough.

That’s how long it will take to beat Starfield at various levels of completion. Now you know how much time you’ll need to set aside for your journey across the stars.

If you’re interested in more guides for the game, check out our list of all the achievements in Starfield. We’ve also got an article on how to live your ultimate pirate fantasy and smuggle contraband in Starfield.


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Alex Berry
Contributing Writer
Alex Berry has been a freelance contributor at The Escapist since January 2023. His coverage ranges from funny takes on the latest games to a whole bunch of guide content on such titles as Honkai: Star Rail, Genshin Impact, and various new games. Alex is a jack of all trades when it comes to games, playing almost every new title that shows promise. From RPGs to shooters, all the way through to sports games, he plays it all, although he does have a soft spot for turn-based RPGs having started out his gaming journey with a copy of Pokémon Red on the original Game Boy. Alex has a master's degree in Business and is fascinated by online game economies, often spending a lot of time finding ways to maximize wealth in these games (but he should really be doing that in real life instead).