Tell Us Dammit: Are Games Too Long?

This is an old topic, but it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about: my complete inability to find the time to play all these new games coming out. But it’s not just the sheer number of games on the market: it’s how much these games expect to take from your life.

A couple of years back there was a period of time when all my favourite games were short: Journey, Papers Please, Gone Home. This year the games I’ve enjoyed most — Dark Souls II, Destiny, Alien: Isolation — have all been games that demand complete commitment and surrender. Dark Souls II took me the better part of 50 hours to finish. Destiny is a notorious time sink and even Alien: Isolation, which is a first person game with no online component, will take you rough 20-25 hours to finish. That represents a lot of my sparse free time.

I’ve started playing Dragon Age: Inquisition. Most reviewers are clocking that at around 80 hours. This terrifies me.

My perspective is a little different. I’ll admit that. I’m playing games to stay across what’s happening in the culture/industry, and often it feels like part of a job. Particularly when playing games I don’t really enjoy.

Is it different for you guys and girls? Do you read about a game, hear about how long it’s going to be and say ‘awesome, getting bang for my buck’! I can totally get that. But for me it feels as though video games are asking for way too much of my spare time.


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