You’ve just finished installing Horizon Forbidden West on your PS5 or PC, and you’re staring at Aloy’s crimson hair against the backdrop of a ruined San Francisco. The question hits: how much time are you about to sink into this game? Whether you’re planning to rush through the main story, chase every collectible, or fall somewhere in between, knowing the time commitment upfront helps you plan your gaming schedule, especially if you’re juggling multiple titles in your backlog.
Horizon Forbidden West isn’t a quick romp. Guerrilla Games packed this sequel with more machines, side quests, and activities than Zero Dawn, so your mileage will vary wildly depending on playstyle. Some players blast through the critical path in under 25 hours, while completionists easily push past 80. This guide breaks down exactly how long each approach takes, what factors stretch or shrink your playtime, and whether the investment pays off.
Key Takeaways
- Horizon Forbidden West takes 20–25 hours for story-only playthroughs, 45–60 hours for a balanced experience with side quests, and 70–85 hours for full completion.
- Difficulty settings significantly impact playtime—Ultra Hard can add 5–10 hours compared to Story Mode due to longer combat encounters and strategic preparation requirements.
- The Burning Shores DLC adds 6–8 hours for the main storyline and 16–20 hours total with side content, making it a substantial extension for PS5 players.
- High-value side quests tied to companion characters like Kotallo and Alva offer better story payoff and rewards than generic errands, making selective engagement more efficient than chasing all collectibles.
- Exploration habits, skill level, and prior Horizon experience greatly affect your total playtime—newcomers should expect 10–15 more hours than Zero Dawn veterans due to combat and mechanical learning curves.
- Horizon Forbidden West is 30% larger than Zero Dawn with denser side content and longer combat encounters, making it worth the time investment for action-RPG fans despite some padding in low-tier collectibles.
Main Story Length: How Long to Beat Horizon Forbidden West
If you’re laser-focused on seeing Aloy’s journey through to the credits, ignoring most side content, skipping optional dialogue, and fast-traveling whenever possible, expect 20 to 25 hours for the main story. This assumes Normal difficulty and a moderate pace where you’re not dying repeatedly to Slitherfangs or getting lost in the Raintrace.
The critical path includes roughly 17 main missions, starting from The Embassy and ending with the finale. Combat encounters are longer and more mechanically involved than Zero Dawn, so even story-only runs take time. Players who explored the game’s improved combat mechanics found that boss fights and Cauldron sequences alone can eat up 30-45 minutes each.
On Very Hard or Ultra Hard, add another 3 to 5 hours. You’ll spend more time preparing, crafting ammunition, and respawning after mistimed dodges. Conversely, Story Mode difficulty can shave off an hour or two if you’re purely there for narrative payoff.
Completionist Playthrough: 100% Completion Time
For trophy hunters and completionists chasing that Platinum or 100% save file, budget 70 to 85 hours. This balloons if you’re meticulous about scanning every machine variant, reading all datapoints, or taking screenshots at every Vista Point.
What Counts Toward 100% Completion
Achieving full completion in Horizon Forbidden West means ticking off:
- All main and side quests: 17 main missions plus 29 side quests scattered across the Forbidden West.
- Errands and contracts: Minor fetch quests and hunting challenges from settlements. There are over 25 of these.
- Collectibles: 12 Relic Ruins, 8 Tallnecks, 4 Cauldrons, 13 Firegleam sites, 9 Vista Points, 10 Black Boxes, 12 Survey Drones, and more.
- Machine scanning: Cataloging every machine type and variant in your Focus database.
- Melee Pits and Hunting Grounds: Skill-based challenges that test combat mastery.
- Equipment upgrades: Fully upgrading legendary outfits and weapons to max level.
The Relic Ruins alone can consume 8 to 10 hours because they’re environmental puzzles requiring careful platforming and physics manipulation. Hunting Grounds demand repeated attempts to nail Full Stripes ratings, and Melee Pits punish sloppy timing. Most players report the 70-hour mark for a thorough but efficient 100%, while perfectionists pushing for every datapoint and upgrade edge past 80 hours.
Main Story + Side Quests: The Balanced Experience
This is the sweet spot for most players, completing the main story while tackling meaningful side quests and a handful of optional activities. Expect 45 to 60 hours for this balanced approach.
Side quests in Forbidden West are surprisingly narrative-rich. Characters like Kotallo, Alva, and Zo have full arcs that rival main story beats, and many side missions unlock valuable rewards like legendary weapons or outfits. Players who engaged with Aloy’s evolving relationships found that side content adds emotional weight to the finale.
You’ll probably hit around 50 hours if you:
- Clear most side quests (20+ out of 29)
- Override all Tallnecks for map reveals
- Complete a few Cauldrons for machine overrides
- Tackle a handful of Relic Ruins or Hunting Grounds
- Explore major regions like the Raintrace and Stillsands without obsessing over every question mark
This pacing lets you experience the best content without chasing collectibles that feel like busywork. Fast travel keeps things brisk, but you’ll still detour for machine parts, resource nodes, and the occasional Greenshine cluster.
Speedrun Potential: Fastest Possible Completion
Speedrunners have pushed Horizon Forbidden West to its absolute limits. The current any% speedrun world record sits around 6 hours and 30 minutes as of early 2026, utilizing sequence breaks, glitch warps, and aggressive combat skips.
These runs exploit a handful of movement glitches discovered post-launch, including a shield-wing momentum trick that bypasses entire sections of the Raintrace. Runners also abuse dialogue skips, cutscene triggers, and optimal pathing through story missions. Combat is reduced to hitting damage thresholds with precision valor surge timing, and inventory management becomes a frame-perfect dance.
For casual players attempting a fast playthrough without glitches, 15 to 18 hours is realistic on Story Mode difficulty. Skip all side content, ignore collectibles, abuse fast travel, and hammer through combat encounters with high DPS weapons like the Sharpshot Bow or Bolt Blaster. Communities on platforms like IGN have documented optimal story routes for players looking to minimize playtime without breaking the game.
Speedrunning Forbidden West is trickier than Zero Dawn due to longer mandatory combat arenas and fewer early-game skips, but the community continues refining strategies with each patch.
Burning Shores DLC: Additional Playtime Breakdown
The Burning Shores DLC, released in April 2023 exclusively for PS5, adds a substantial chunk of content set in the ruins of Los Angeles. If you’re factoring in DLC, here’s what to expect.
DLC Story Length
The main DLC storyline runs 6 to 8 hours depending on difficulty and how often you stop to scan new machines or explore side areas. Burning Shores introduces Seyka, a new companion character, and a narrative arc centered around a rogue Quen faction and a massive underwater threat.
The DLC’s final boss, the Horus, is a spectacle fight that can stretch 20 to 30 minutes on higher difficulties. Combat encounters are tuned for endgame players with upgraded gear, so undergeared characters may struggle and extend playtime.
DLC Side Content and Completion Time
For completionists, Burning Shores adds another 10 to 12 hours of side quests, collectibles, and activities:
- 4 new side quests exploring Seyka’s backstory and Quen culture
- New Relic Ruins, machine sites, and a volcanic Cauldron
- Unique legendary gear and weapon upgrades
- Aerial combat challenges using the enhanced shield-wing
Players diving into the Burning Shores expansion report the DLC feels denser than equivalent chunks of the base game, with more verticality and environmental puzzles. Total DLC completion sits around 16 to 20 hours, so factor that into your overall playtime if you’re planning the full experience.
Factors That Affect Your Playtime
Your actual hours with Horizon Forbidden West will swing based on several variables. Here’s what stretches or compresses playtime.
Difficulty Settings and Combat Duration
Difficulty has a massive impact. On Story Mode, most combat encounters resolve quickly, you can brute-force Thunderjaws and Tremortusks without worrying about component targeting. Normal is balanced for most players, while Hard, Very Hard, and Ultra Hard demand precision, elemental exploitation, and frequent healing.
On Ultra Hard, a single Slaughterspine fight can take 10+ minutes if you’re not optimized. Multiply that across dozens of mandatory encounters, and you’ve added 5 to 10 hours to your playthrough. Players who enjoy the challenge of mastering combat strategies find that higher difficulties reward preparation and skill expression but undeniably slow progression.
Exploration and Photo Mode
Horizon Forbidden West is gorgeous, and Photo Mode is a rabbit hole. If you’re the type to stop for golden-hour lighting at every ruin or snap closeups of machine details, add hours to your estimate. The game actively encourages exploration with Greenshine, resource caches, and environmental storytelling tucked into every canyon.
Players who engage deeply with exploration, climbing every climbable surface, scanning flora and fauna, reading datapoints, can easily push a 50-hour playthrough into 65+ hours. Fast travel discipline is key if you’re trying to stay efficient.
Skill Level and Prior Horizon Experience
Veterans of Zero Dawn will shave time off their playthrough. Muscle memory for dodging, component targeting, and resource management carries over. New players or those rusty on action-RPG mechanics will spend more time learning enemy patterns, dying, and experimenting with weapon types.
Melee Pits and Hunting Grounds are particularly punishing for inexperienced players. A Hunting Ground trial that takes a veteran 10 minutes might require an hour of trial-and-error for someone still learning combat flow.
How Horizon Forbidden West Compares to Zero Dawn
Horizon Forbidden West is noticeably longer than its predecessor. Zero Dawn clocked in around 45 to 50 hours for a completionist run, while Forbidden West stretches to 70 to 85 hours for the same level of thoroughness. Main story length is comparable, both hover around 20 to 25 hours, but Forbidden West’s side content is substantially meatier.
Guerrilla Games expanded the map size by roughly 30% and packed it with more activity variety. Zero Dawn had Tallnecks, Cauldrons, and Bandit Camps: Forbidden West adds Relic Ruins, Survey Drones, Melee Pits, and a sprawling web of side quests with cinematic production values. The overall gameplay experience feels denser, with fewer empty stretches between points of interest.
Combat encounters also run longer in Forbidden West. Machines have more complex behaviors, more destructible components, and higher HP pools on equivalent difficulties. A Thunderjaw fight in Zero Dawn might take 5 minutes: a Slaughterspine or Tideripper in Forbidden West can stretch to 8 or 10. This compounds over a full playthrough, adding several hours even if you’re only doing critical path content.
If you completed Zero Dawn in 50 hours, expect Forbidden West to demand 55 to 65 for a similar level of engagement.
Tips to Optimize Your Playthrough Time
Want to minimize playtime without sacrificing the core experience? Here’s how to stay efficient:
- Prioritize Main Quests Early: Unlock fast travel points and essential gear before getting sidetracked. The game opens up significantly after Death’s Door, so push through the early critical path.
- Override Tallnecks Immediately: Revealing the map saves hours of wandering. Make Tallnecks a priority whenever you enter a new region.
- Use Fast Travel Liberally: Campfires and settlements are everywhere. Riding your mount across the map is scenic but eats time.
- Focus on High-Value Side Quests: Quests tied to companions like Kotallo’s What Was Lost or Alva’s The Wound in the Sand offer better rewards and story payoff than generic errands. Resources on sites like Game Rant highlight which side quests are worth your time.
- Skip Low-Tier Collectibles: Survey Drones and Ornaments are completionist fodder. Unless you’re trophy hunting, ignore them.
- Upgrade Key Weapons Only: Don’t chase every legendary weapon upgrade. Pick two or three favorites (Sharpshot Bow, Hunter Bow, Spike Thrower) and focus your resources there.
- Lower Difficulty for Story Beats: If you’re stuck on a boss or arena fight and time is limited, dropping to Story Mode for that encounter won’t diminish the experience.
- Batch Activities: If you’re clearing Hunting Grounds or Melee Pits, do them all in one session instead of bouncing around the map.
These strategies can trim 10 to 15 hours off a balanced playthrough without gutting the experience. You’ll still see the best content but skip the repetitive grind.
Is Horizon Forbidden West Worth the Time Investment?
50+ hours is a significant ask, so the question matters: is Forbidden West worth it?
For fans of open-world action-RPGs with rich lore, the answer is a confident yes. The narrative payoff is strong, especially if you’re invested in Aloy’s arc from Zero Dawn. The worldbuilding, Quen explorers, Tenakth tribes, Far Zenith mysteries, expands the universe in satisfying ways. Combat remains the series’ standout feature, and the variety of machines and tactics keeps encounters fresh even 60 hours in.
Side content quality is a mixed bag. Companion quests and major side missions rival AAA storytelling, but errands and some Relic Ruins feel like padding. Completionists may burn out chasing every collectible, but players who focus on high-value content will find the pacing solid.
The PC version, released in March 2024, added ultrawide support, frame generation, and improved visuals, making Forbidden West even more appealing for PC players with the hardware to run it. Console players on PS5 get smooth 60fps performance and fast load times that respect your time.
If you loved Zero Dawn, Forbidden West is a no-brainer. If you’re new to the series, the time investment is comparable to other Sony first-party titles like God of War Ragnarök or Ghost of Tsushima, expect 50 to 60 hours for a fulfilling playthrough. For those curious about what else scratches a similar itch, exploring games with similar mechanics can help gauge if the genre suits your taste.
The biggest caveat: if you’re not into open-world side content, stick to the main story and call it after 25 hours. The narrative holds up on its own, and there’s no shame in skipping the collectible grind.
Conclusion
Horizon Forbidden West’s playtime swings wildly based on how you approach it. Story-focused players will finish in 20 to 25 hours, balanced playthroughs land around 50 to 60, and completionists push 80+ hours with Burning Shores included. Difficulty, exploration habits, and prior series experience all shift the needle.
Guerrilla Games built a dense, mechanically satisfying sequel that respects player choice, you can mainline the narrative or sink 100 hours into every corner of the Forbidden West. Either way, you’re getting one of the strongest open-world action-RPGs of the generation. Plan your time, pick your playstyle, and immerse.
