How Long Does It Take to Beat Starfield?

Starfield is one of the largest and most open ended RPGs Bethesda has ever built, which naturally leads to one of the most common questions players ask before starting it. How long does it take to beat? With its mix of main story quests, faction arcs, side missions, exploration, and procedural star systems, Starfield is not a game that fits neatly into one time estimate. Different players will experience its pacing in very different ways.

• Some want to rush the main campaign.
• Some want to experience the faction stories.
• Some want to explore systems, build outposts, craft ships, and lose hours in a quiet corner of space.
• Some plan to dive into New Game Plus, which changes the length significantly.

This guide breaks down exactly how long Starfield takes to beat depending on your playstyle, the content you prioritize, and how deeply you engage with its systems.

Main Story Only: 20 to 30 Hours

Players who focus exclusively on the main questline can complete Starfield relatively quickly compared to most Bethesda RPGs. The campaign is structured in tight, contained missions that push you steadily toward the heart of the story. Travel time and procedural content can slow things down, but if you ignore side quests and exploration, you can finish the main narrative in roughly 20 to 30 hours.

This path gives you a good sense of the core mystery and themes, but it skips a huge amount of meaningful content. The main story is only a fraction of the full game. If you rush it, you will miss some of the strongest storytelling, environments, and memorable characters tucked into side arcs and factions.

Still, if someone wants to experience the core story quickly or replay it for New Game Plus, the 20 to 30 hour range is realistic.

Main Story + Occasional Side Content: 35 to 50 Hours

This is the most common playstyle for first time players. You follow the main quest but allow yourself to take detours. Maybe you explore a few planets, complete a handful of side quests, and engage with early faction missions. You develop your ship, upgrade your gear, and wander when something catches your eye.

The natural pacing of Starfield often pushes players into this range. A quick side activity might turn into a multi stage questline. A planet scanned for resources might turn into a new location or encounter. Even small distractions contribute to the sense of a lived in universe.

If you approach the game this way, expect to finish somewhere between 35 and 50 hours.

Main Story + All Major Faction Quests: 60 to 80 Hours

The faction storylines in Starfield are some of the strongest content in the game. They feature memorable characters, unique locations, strong writing, and choices that genuinely shift their outcomes. Many players consider them the real heart of Starfield’s storytelling.

The major factions include:

• Constellation
• United Colonies
• Crimson Fleet
• Freestar Collective
• Ryujin Industries

Completing all major factions adds a significant amount of time, as each story ranges from 8 to 15 hours on its own depending on your choices, stealth options, and combat strategies.

If you play the main story and finish every faction arc, expect a total of 60 to 80 hours.

This is one of the most rewarding ways to play Starfield because you get the best quests in the game without committing to full exploration completion.

Completionist Story Experience: 100 to 150 Hours

If you are the type of player who explores every system, checks every major location, builds several ships, engages in outpost development, completes long form quest chains, and pushes deeper into the optional activities, you will easily cross into the 100 to 150 hour range.

This includes:

• All major faction quests
• Dozens of minor side quests
• Procedural activity chains
• Ship building
• Outpost building
• Weapon and suit upgrades
• Full planetary scans
• Deep exploration of star systems across multiple routes

Starfield rewards this playstyle with variety. Even after 100 hours, players often discover new planets, interesting NPCs, random encounters, and strange anomalies.

For players who want a full, narrative rich experience and enjoy exploring without rushing, 100 to 150 hours is typical.

Completionist With Systematic Exploration: 150 to 250+ Hours

Players who want to see virtually everything Starfield has to offer, including scanning planets, harvesting resources, building networked outposts, crafting top tier gear, and upgrading multiple ships, will see their playtime skyrocket.

Full planetary scanning alone can add dozens of hours, as many planets contain multiple biomes that must be documented. Outpost building, if used creatively, can become a major time sink. Ship building may add even more depending on your level of detail, experimentation, and design goals.

Starfield is not infinite, but it is as close as Bethesda has come to creating a game that can go on as long as the player wants it to. A true completionist run can stretch into well over 200 hours.

New Game Plus: The Wild Card

New Game Plus fundamentally changes how long Starfield takes to “beat.” This mode is designed to be replayable, and it recontextualizes the entire story. Many players finish the main story multiple times, searching for new variations, alternate outcomes, and different universes with subtle or significant changes.

A fast New Game Plus run, focusing only on the main story, can take as little as 4 to 6 hours.A slower one might take 10 to 15 hours.

Players who engage heavily with NG+ can easily add another 20 to 50 hours on top of their original playthrough.

This is why Starfield has no single definitive “completion time.” NG+ is part of the intended experience, and how deep you go into it is entirely up to you.

How Long Does It Take to 100 Percent Starfield?

A full 100 percent run requires:

• Main story
• All faction quests
• All side missions
• All powers
• All weapon and suit upgrades
• Systematic planetary scanning
• Multiple universes in NG+
• Completing all activities
• Constructing at least one major outpost
• Building several late game ships
• Clearing activities tied to random generation

A true 100 percent run realistically lands somewhere between 250 and 350 hours depending on how deep you go into crafting, scanning, and ship design.

That number can increase if you push beyond the intended scope, particularly if you build complex outpost systems or attempt full planetary economic setups.

How Long Does Starfield’s DLC Add to the Game?

Shattered Space DLC: 12 to 25 Additional Hours

Starfield’s first major expansion, Shattered Space, adds a significant amount of new content on top of the base game. The expansion focuses on a new region, new narrative threads, fresh enemies, and a faction storyline that stands alongside the best in the main game. The time you spend in Shattered Space depends largely on how much optional content you choose to complete.

• Main story only: 8 to 12 hours
• Story plus side quests and exploration: 15 to 20 hours
• Full completionist run: 20 to 25 hours

Shattered Space is structured more tightly than Starfield’s open exploration, so it feels focused without losing the sense of discovery that defines the game. For many players, this DLC adds the equivalent of another midsized Bethesda storyline with strong replay value.

What Affects Your Playtime?

Your Approach to Exploration

Starfield‘s exploration is massive. Some players scan every world they visit. Others hop from city to city. Your exploration habits dramatically change your time.

Your Use of Fast Travel

Fast travel is plentiful and fast. Players who use it aggressively finish much quicker than those who enjoy flying, docking, and landing manually.

Build and Skill Focus

Combat focused builds progress quests faster.Research or crafting builds slow the pace but open more systems.

Your Ship Building Habits

Building advanced ships is fun, but extremely time consuming.Players who dive deep into it add dozens of hours.

NG+ Engagement

The more you explore alternate universes, the longer your total playtime expands.

So How Long Does Starfield Really Take to Beat?

Here is the clearest breakdown:

• Main Story Only: 20 to 30 hours
• Story + Some Side Content: 35 to 50 hours
• Story + All Factions: 60 to 80 hours
• Completionist Story Experience: 100 to 150 hours
• Completionist With Planetary Exploration: 150 to 250+ hours
• Full 100 Percent Run: 250 to 350 hours
• New Game Plus Runs: 4 to 15 hours each

Your time will vary based on your curiosity, your playstyle, and how much of Starfield’s systems you want to engage with.

Starfield is not a short game, even if you only follow the main story. But it is also very flexible. The game lets you decide how large and how long your journey becomes.