I heard that the game works best when it's beaten in a single sitting. I don't believe I'll be able to do that today, but how many hours do I need to do this?

I beat it in two sittings with about a week between them. It was fine but I did forget some of the earlier parts by the end of it. It's only going to be about 3 hours total if you can find the time.

@golguin: I beat it in one sitting on a weekend afternoon. This was back when it came out first on Xbox and I knew nothing about it so I had no expectations. One of my most enjoyable gaming moments this year to be honest and I think that had alot to do with digesting it all at once. I would say it is about 3 - 4 hours all in.

I just checked Steam and it says that it took me 3.7 hours to beat it. Worth doing in one sitting, or multiple sittings in a short period of time.

I got maximum effect in one sitting and recommend it.

Yeah, I would definitely recommend finishing it in one sitting. Just carve out like 2-3 hour block. It's not long.

Not necessarily one sitting but certainly within a couple of days for it to have full effect.

i'm the worst person to ask for play time, because I checked steam and it took me 6 hours to beat brothers. I like to stare at video games. I remember I played through this game while waiting for the electrician to come and fix something. But yeah, one sitting, maybe 3 hours. maybe, those giant fields are worth sitting there and taking it in.

A little over 2 hours, but I should also warn you that the game isn't very good.

I beat it this morning and it took about 2 hours and 45 minutes. It's not long so I'd recommend just finding some time to put aside for a single sitting.

I couldn't bring myself to do it in one sitting. I had to take several breaks. I did it in roughly 7 sittings.

I think it is best served in one sitting. But you could take short breaks between chapters if you want and just beat it the same day too. Either way, don't let it idle too long, I think it'll undermine the feel of the journey that way.

I beat it in about three sittings over three days. I don't think I missed out on too much.

Steam clocks me in at 2 hours. Maybe I inadvertently speed ran it.

I beat the game and unfortunately the game did not grab like Brad and many others on the site (I had a death in my family this year). I get what the game was going for and I understand the meaning behind the mechanics at the end, but it didn't resonate with me. It was really letting off a Journey vibe (one of my top games last year), but I feel it fell short.

What are the positives? I didn't really care for the environmental design until you killed the ogre/troll and got out of those mountain caves. After that the environments were amazing. The Giant Battlefield was something you can write home about. The Dark Forest and Graveyard gave off the type of oppressive atmosphere I felt while playing Limbo. The snow area with the Orcas and Aurora was truly beautiful and that carried into the final area of the game with the Yggdrasil Ice Tree.

I've read that some people had issues with the music and sound design, but I feel this was another strength. Whenever I heard the "shrieking woman" in the music it just reminded me of the Ghost in the Shell theme, but I can see how people would hear that and get taken out of the experience. I actually can't recall any tune from the game, but I know that it always enhanced the impact of the environment like the Giant Battlefield.

In the end I think the game will probably end up on my top 10 list simple because I don't think I played 10 games that came out in 2013. This was a year for catching up on titles that I missed for whatever reason in previous years.