The Elder Scrolls series has always stood apart from other RPGs because of its incredible sense of freedom. These games never rush you. They do not funnel you down a straight path. Instead, they drop you into a massive world and let you wander until something grabs you. That means the time it takes to beat each Elder Scrolls game varies wildly depending on how you play. Some players focus only on the main story. Others get lost in guild quests, crafting, exploring caves, collecting books, or building characters that take on a life of their own.
Whether you are planning to revisit the older titles or experience them for the first time, this guide breaks down how long it takes to beat every game in the Elder Scrolls series. For each entry, you will find the average main story completion length, how long a typical mixed playthrough lasts, and what to expect if you want to do everything the world offers.
The Elder Scrolls: Arena
Main Story: 25 to 35 hours
Main + Extras: 50 to 80 hours
Completionist: 100+ hours
Arena is the game that started it all, and it shows. The world is massive, the dungeons are sprawling, and the structure is far more open than everything that came after it. The main story involves traveling across the continent to locate pieces of the Staff of Chaos, which takes you through a variety of biomes and dungeon layouts. The game is older and more punishing than later entries, so the time to finish can vary widely depending on how comfortable you are navigating its systems.
A mixed playthrough often doubles the length because of how easy it is to get sidetracked by guild missions, equipment hunting, and exploring unfamiliar cities. A full completion run can stretch far past one hundred hours, especially if you want to see every region and finish every major side activity.
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Main Story: 30 to 40 hours
Main + Extras: 80 to 120 hours
Completionist: 150+ hours
Daggerfall is one of the largest game worlds ever created. The procedural map covers thousands of locations, dozens of factions, and an almost overwhelming number of quests. Even completing the main story requires more navigation and preparation than most modern RPGs.
Most players who get the full experience spend eighty to one hundred twenty hours engaging with guild questlines, exploring randomly generated dungeons, leveling skills, and navigating the political structure of High Rock and Hammerfell. A completionist run can easily exceed one hundred fifty hours because there is simply so much that can be done. This is the most expansive Elder Scrolls game in terms of raw content volume.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Main Story: 25 to 40 hours
Main + Extras: 70 to 120 hours
Completionist: 200+ hours
Morrowind represents the moment where Elder Scrolls found its identity. The world is handcrafted, alien, and filled with faction quests that feel meaningful and interconnected. The main story is shorter than some players expect, but the difficulty curve, travel requirements, and learning systems like levitation, spellcrafting, and faction progression all add time.
Most players who approach Morrowind the way it was intended spend seventy to one hundred twenty hours. That includes major guildlines, house quests, artifact hunting, and a significant amount of wandering. The expansions, Tribunal and Bloodmoon, add even more content if you plan on experiencing everything. A full completion of Morrowind can easily exceed two hundred hours due to its depth and the density of handcrafted locations.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Main Story: 25 to 35 hours
Main + Extras: 80 to 150 hours
Completionist: 200+ hours
Oblivion is a more friendly and accessible game than the earlier entries, but it is still massive. The main story takes you through the Oblivion Crisis, the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon, and the closing of Oblivion Gates across Cyrodiil. It is easy to rush the main path in under forty hours, but most players naturally fall into guild questlines, exploration, and lengthy side series like the Daedric shrine quests.
Oblivion is known for its guilds, and some of them are longer than the main story itself. The Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild, in particular, add dozens of hours. The Shivering Isles expansion is another major addition that can take twenty to thirty hours on its own.
Players seeking to complete every quest, every guild, every gate, and every DLC often cross the two hundred hour threshold.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Main Story: 25 to 35 hours
Main + Extras: 100 to 200 hours
Completionist: 250+ hours
Skyrim is one of the most replayable RPGs ever made. The main story is straightforward, but most players spend only a small portion of their time actually completing it. The draw of Skyrim lies in exploring dungeons, joining guilds, taking radiant quests, hunting for shouts, discovering hidden locations, and developing new playstyles.
The average player who takes their time easily crosses one hundred hours. Those who dive into the major guilds, the civil war, the Daedric quests, and both major expansions usually land somewhere between one hundred fifty and two hundred hours. A completionist file that explores every location and finishes every quest can go far beyond two hundred fifty hours.
Skyrim is not the largest Elder Scrolls game in terms of map size, but its density, freedom, and constant sense of discovery make it one of the longest.
The Elder Scrolls Online
Main Story: 80 to 120 hours
Main + Extras: 200 to 400 hours
Completionist: 500+ hours
The Elder Scrolls Online is a different type of beast. As an MMO, it offers more content than any single-player Elder Scrolls title. Completing the base game story alone takes more than eighty hours for most players, and that does not include the Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, crafting progressions, or alliance storylines.
Once you begin adding in expansions like Morrowind, Summerset, Elsweyr, Greymoor, and High Isle, the game becomes practically endless. Even a moderate exploration-focused run can reach three hundred hours without touching every dungeon or trial. Completionists who want to see everything often exceed five hundred hours across multiple characters.
While not a traditional entry, ESO is the longest Elder Scrolls experience by an enormous margin.
Closing Thoughts
The Elder Scrolls series has always valued freedom over structure. Every game in the series lets you decide what matters and how much time you want to invest. Some players spend twenty hours and walk away satisfied. Others spend hundreds of hours exploring, planning builds, finishing guildlines, and uncovering every hidden corner of the world.
If you prefer a more guided, story-driven experience, Arena, Morrowind, and the main stories of the later games offer solid, focused experiences. If you enjoy wandering and discovering your own pace, Oblivion, Skyrim, and ESO can keep you busy for years. No two Elder Scrolls playthroughs look the same, and that is why the series continues to stand as one of the most beloved RPG franchises of all time.
About the Author
Robert Davis may be middle-aged now, but he has always enjoyed playing video games. Just like others may like to curl up with a good book, he just prefers a different medium for story-telling. Now that life is much busier, he has to be choosy about which games he spends time on. And that's why Delayed Respawnse exists, because he's not the only one.
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Quick Points
- Arena takes 25 to 35 hours for the main story
- Daggerfall’s branching world pushes most runs past 80 hours
- Morrowind often takes more than 100 hours for a full playthrough
- Oblivion’s guilds and DLC can exceed 150 hours
- Skyrim ranges from 25 hours to well over 250 hours
- ESO contains hundreds of hours of quests and expansions