With rumors suggesting the Switch 2 might not launch until sometime after March 2025, you might want to fill the time while you wait for Nintendo’s next hottie. Luckily, there are plenty of very large, very long games on the Switch if you’re a time-rich gamer.
Sometimes you just want a quick hit of a good video game to fill a half-hour gap in your schedule, but other times you want to enjoy the world that absorbs you for hours. Fortunately, the Switch caters to gamers on both ends of the spectrum, whether you’re looking for a quick ause-bouche or a 12-course meal with all the trimmings. Today we look at the latter.
That’s right, we’re here to sort through the selection 36 of the biggest, longest running Switch games — or rather, the 36 biggest, longest-running Switch games that actually are good. There are plenty of games that you could sink hundreds of hours into, but far fewer that leave you feeling like it was time well spent. We’ve reviewed every long-running Switch game on the list below, and they all get at least an 8/10.
All hour counts included here are from How long to wina community survey site that collects playtime data from its users to give new players a good idea of how much time they’ll have to devote to the game before credits accrue. While they have different average totals, including times for the main campaign and 100% completion, we’ve based this list on the main + side/extra totals. So, to put it in Breath of the Wild terms, you’ve done all the main lines and side quests, but you didn’t go crazy on the completion and collected all 900 Korok seeds.
The number of users who have submitted stats varies from game to game, so it’s worth taking a grain of salt and not treating the number of hours listed as gospel — everyone has their own pace, of course, so consider them a rough guide. We’ve also eliminated F2P, live service games, and other titles that seem like they could go almost indefinitely due to their daily login structure. Can you ever really ‘finish’ Animal Crossing?
Enough preamble — let’s move on to the emblem itself and look at our picks the best long games on Switch. We start with, er, the shortest long game of 36…
Main + sides: 76 hours
We start with Three Houses Intelligent Systems. If 76 hours of quality first-party strategy and learning in the monastery of Garegg Mach isn’t enough, there’s also 8 hours of Cindered Shadows DLC.
And if that not enough, you can always play again with another house like Black Eagles/Blue Lions/Golden Deer (delete if applicable) to become a 210 hour ‘Completionist’. To us, that sounds like a recipe for alternately fighting burnout, but each to their own. It is great game.
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Main + sides: 77 hours
With all the updates Hello Games is constantly adding to No Man’s Sky, 77 hours seems like a conservative estimate to us — and HLTB’s ‘Completionist’ number is 150 hours. Regardless, it’s a solid Switch port of an engrossing game that offers a very enjoyable galaxy to get lost in.
Main + sides: 78 hours
You can add another 30 hours if you want the full 100% complete edition of Obsidian’s Pillars Of Eternity, making your way through labyrinthine dungeons, exploring abandoned dwarven fortresses, becoming the master of your own stronghold, and undertaking missions as varied as they are beautifully written and acted.
Main + sides: 78 hours
Monster Hunter Rise may have launched in the shadows World on stronger consoles, but it certainly didn’t feel like some stripped-down side story; instead, it’s one of the franchise’s strongest entries to date. As usual for the series, there are hundreds of hours here if you’re determined to hunt down every monster and get every weapon, not to mention the multiplayer expedition on offer. Throw in the Sunbreak extension and it more than doubles the amount of stuff to do. And that’s a good thing. Rather, super
Main + sides: 79½ hours
It will take you about 27 hours to complete one successful Spelunky 2 roguelite masterclass. But while surviving just one run might satisfy those pressed for time, there’s plenty more to dig into in the depths of Derek Yu’s fantastic sequel.
Main + sides: 80½ hours
If “80½ hours” seems oddly specific, it’s worth remembering that the HLTB survey statistics come from a large number of users (usually) across multiple platforms, and that the exact average for this one is given as 81 hours and 16 minutes. Which is 46 minutes longer, for some reason — maybe the average between the mean and the median? He emphasizes the need to take all these statistics with a grain of salt in any case. The estimates take into account people who have passed like lightning and those who have a more meticulous approach. Like that dedicated person who sets herself up perfectly 135 hours to fitness boxing. Is that you, Shiryu?
After all, where did we stop? Ah yes, the Octopath Traveler. Good game. Long game.
Main + sides: 80½ hours
Along with Octopath, Rune Factory 4 Special apparently takes fewer hours to complete than the 3DS non-special version — perhaps a sign of the Switch edition’s quality-of-life update. Or that all those who played the original played and knew exactly what they were doing this time. However, probably the former.
Main + sides: 81 hours
A Tale of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town offers dozens of hours of farm simulation. In fact, we’re surprised the stats track absolutely nothing but farm simulations dragging time. The four ‘Completionists’ averaged a whopping 246 hours on this, so you’ve got plenty of room if hard farm work is your thing.
Main + sides: 81½ hours
Available on Switch bundled with the first game, Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition is an RPG classic that plays beautifully on Switch, and arguably there’s no other console better suited to spending dozens of hours in its company.
Main + sides: 82½ hours
Running a bit longer than the original, Octopath Traveler II delivers another eight-track epic to lose yourself in for a week of 12 hours. It was a bit forgotten in the GOTY 2023 crowd after it was released in February of that year, but it’s absolutely worth checking out.
Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 before joining the site full-time the following year, working his way up to editor. It can currently be found squashed under a Normandy-sized Switch backlog.
