How Long It Takes to Beat Returnal Ahead of Saros' Release Date

Saros finally comes out this month, continuing developer Housemarque’s compelling venture into the roguelite genre. Five years ago, Housemarque introduced one of the first major PS5 exclusives with Returnal. Even today, Returnal is an underrated gem. The impending arrival of Saros likely has some gamers interested in finally giving its predecessor a try, but there are also bound to be questions about how much time players will have to set aside before its launch.

Saros and Returnal aren’t directly connected, but Housemarque has confirmed that the former is still a spiritual successor of the latter. Even just looking at Saros‘ gameplay footage, that’s already abundantly clear. Apart from the gameplay, Saros and Returnal could potentially be similar lengths, too. Returnal‘s main story offers plenty of hours of gameplay without overstaying its welcome, but it also offers a lot of replayability. It’s hard to find enough time to play all the games in one’s backlog, and Returnal has the benefit of being a game that fits a lot of different schedules, depending on play styles.

After Spending 150 Hours in Returnal, Saros Needs to Nail These 2 Features

As a die-hard Returnal fan, these are the two main features that Saros needs to nail to live up to its spiritual predecessor.

How Long It Takes to Beat Returnal’s Main Story

Returnal isn’t just one of the best roguelite games around. It also has a fantastic story that dives into deep themes of guilt, grief, and being trapped in destructive cycles. The game uses its roguelite elements as storytelling tools in addition to bringing players some fantastic combat mechanics, and this balance makes hours fly by. Those who are just interested in seeing the main story through should expect to put around 20 to 25 hours into the game. This length isn’t overbearing, so sticking with the main story will be great for gamers who don’t have as much time to sink into it.

Guess the games from the emojis.

Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)

The biggest hurdle for a lot of newcomers is going to be the first few hours. Returnal is hard at first, but the difficulty gets much more bearable once players manage to upgrade Selene and become more comfortable with the game. A 20-something-hour playthrough is plenty of time to get prepared ahead of Saros‘ release date.

Housemarque has already started hiring for its next project. The game is still in its very early stages, so it will probably be a while before the developer offers any insight into what its Saros follow-up is going to be.

Returnal’s Estimated Side Activities and Completionist Hours

Main story and side activities — Around 30 hours
Completionist run — About 65 hours

30 hours for the main story and side activities still isn’t too cumbersome, but those who want to try a completionist run will have to set aside a little over twice as much time to experience every single thing that Returnal has to offer. There are a lot of details in Returnal that make a completionist run well worth it for gamers who have the extra time. Even beyond the estimated 65 hours, Returnal‘s gameplay makes it surprisingly easy to revisit over and over. I have around 150 hours in the game, but there are some players who have cracked the 1,000-hour mark or even further.

Saros Hopefully Brings More Attention to Returnal

Once Saros is here, it’s going to be interesting to see how many gamers try out Returnal for the first time. The core gameplay of both games is similar, but Saros‘ features are teasing a Bullet Hell roguelite that might be a more accessible take on the Returnal experience. Whether one wants to play Returnal before or after Saros, it’s worth the time for those who are in search of a game with a great story that doesn’t drag on too long while also managing to offer hours of action-packed gameplay.