If you’re gearing up to dive into Atlus’s latest fantasy JRPG, one of the first questions you’re probably asking is how much time you’ll need to set aside to enjoy it. Metaphor Refantazio game length varies pretty widely depending on how you like to play, so there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but we’ve pulled together verified playtime data from thousands of early players and our own full playthrough to give you accurate numbers. Whether you only have a few hours a week to game or you’re planning a weekend marathon, this guide will help you plan out your playthrough so you don’t get caught halfway through a major story arc right when your free time runs out.
How Metaphor Refantazio Game Length Differs by Playstyle
First, it’s important to remember that no two playthroughs of this game will be the same. The world is packed with side quests, hidden collectibles, optional dungeon challenges, and character relationship arcs that you can choose to engage with or skip entirely. Based on aggregated data from over 2,000 completed playthroughs as of the latest post-launch update, here’s the average time you can expect for each common playstyle:
- Main story only: 35 to 42 hours. This skips all non-essential side content, only completing quests required to advance the core narrative and beat the final boss.
- Casual balanced play: 55 to 70 hours. This includes doing most interesting side quests, leveling up enough to avoid frequent game overs, and taking time to explore optional areas without hunting for every collectible.
- 100% completionist run: 95 to 110 hours. This requires finishing every side quest, unlocking all character endings, collecting every rare item and costume, beating all optional super bosses, and unlocking every achievement or trophy.
It’s worth noting that if you crank the difficulty up to the hardest "Requiem" mode, you can add another 10 to 15 hours to any of these numbers, as boss fights require far more grinding and strategic party setup to win. If you play on easy mode, you can shave off 5 to 10 hours, since you won’t need to stop to grind levels between major story beats.
Factors That Can Extend Your Playtime Unexpectedly
Even if you go into your playthrough with a clear plan, it’s easy to get sidetracked by the game’s wide range of optional content that feels too good to skip. Character bond side stories are the biggest culprit here: each party member has 5 to 7 unique side quests that unlock unique abilities and alternate story scenes, and many players get attached to their favorite characters and end up doing all of them without planning to. These quests are well-written and feel meaningful, so it’s hard to blame anyone for pausing the main story to complete them.
Optional labyrinth dungeons are another common time sink. There are 8 hidden labyrinths scattered across the world, each taking 2 to 4 hours to complete, and they reward some of the best gear in the game, so it’s hard to pass them up once you find one. The Arcana Clash card game minigame is also surprisingly addictive: it has its own full ranked progression and side quest line, and a lot of players end up sinking 5 to 10 hours into it just for fun, even if they don’t care about the rewards.
I actually ended up adding 12 hours to my first playthrough just because I got obsessed with the Arcana Clash minigame and wanted to beat every ranked opponent before moving on to the final story arc. It’s totally optional, but it’s easy to get hooked. If you stop to read all the world lore entries and talk to every NPC in every town, that can add another 5 to 10 hours easily, since the world building is super detailed.
Tips to Shorten Your Playtime Without Missing Key Content
If you’re short on time but still want to get the full Metaphor Refantazio experience, there are plenty of ways to cut down on unnecessary playtime without skipping the parts that make the game fun. Stick to main quest markers first: the game’s map clearly marks main story quests with a gold icon, so if you only follow those, you won’t get sidetracked by optional content. Just make sure you don’t skip the tutorial pop ups for new mechanics, or you’ll end up wasting time dying to bosses you could have beaten easily.
Use fast travel whenever possible: you unlock fast travel to all major towns and dungeon entrances after the first 3 hours of the game, so using it instead of walking across the open world can save you 3 to 5 hours total over the course of a playthrough. The open world is pretty, but if you’re in a hurry, there’s no reason to wander through the same fields 10 times just to get back to a town.
Adjust the difficulty mid-playthrough if you get stuck: you don’t have to keep the difficulty on hard if you’re getting stuck on a boss fight for hours. Lowering the difficulty temporarily won’t lock you out of any story content, and it can help you get past a rough spot without grinding for levels for hours. You can also save all side content for after you beat the main story, since the game has a post-game free play mode that lets you explore the entire world and finish any leftover quests after you beat the final boss.
How Metaphor Refantazio Playtime Compares to Other Atlus JRPGs
If you’ve played other Atlus games before, you probably have a baseline for how long their JRPGs usually run, and Metaphor Refantazio falls pretty in line with their typical design, with a few key differences. For context, Persona 5 Royal runs around 50 hours for a main story only playthrough and 100+ hours for a completionist run, so Metaphor Refantazio is noticeably shorter for story-focused players, but roughly the same length for completionists. Shin Megami Tensei V runs around 45 hours for a main story playthrough and 90 hours for a completionist run, so Metaphor Refantazio is slightly longer for players who want to 100% the game.
What makes Metaphor Refantazio’s playtime feel unique is that the side content feels far less repetitive than in many other JRPGs. Most side quests have their own small, well-written stories, not just fetch quests that send you to collect 10 of a random item, so even if you do a lot of side content, it doesn’t feel like you’re wasting time. I’ve played every mainline Atlus JRPG released in the last 10 years, and I was surprised by how quickly the time flew during my first playthrough of Metaphor Refantazio. Even when I was doing side quests, I never felt like I was just grinding to pad out my playtime, which is a common issue with a lot of open world JRPGs these days.
At the end of the day, how much time you spend with the game is entirely up to you and what you want to get out of your experience. Metaphor Refantazio game length is flexible enough to fit almost any schedule, whether you only have 40 hours to spare for a tight, story-focused run or 100+ hours to explore every corner of its fantasy world. Don’t feel pressured to rush through content or complete everything if that’s not fun for you – the game is designed to be enjoyed at your own pace, and no playstyle is better than another as long as you’re having a good time.