I recall people saying when this game was released that it was very short, like somewhere around 6 hours. I'm 10 hours in right now and still not done. And I didn't get a fair number of the runes and bone charms, and I played a pretty violent Corvo so I shot through missions I imagine would take significantly longer if I had played stealthily. So I'm guessing this game could last a good 15-20 hours if you go for a perfect rating of never being seen, never killing anyone, and collecting all the runes, bone charms, and gold. Plus there are multiple endings and missions change based on how you played up to that point. So I could easily see spending upwards of 30 or 40 hours if I wanted to see everything this game has to offer. So am I just really slow or are the people claiming this game is six hours long just shooting straight to the objective and missing out on all the great exploration and stealth elements in the game? I guess I spent about an hour to an hour and a half on each level and I could see someone spending under half an hour if I just rushed through and shot everyone without doing any of the side stuff. I could also see spending over two hours if I wanted to do every last thing and never get seen. I guess I just feel like the complaints that this game was short must have come from people who weren't really experiencing everything the game has to offer. If you just go straight to the objective marker on each level you could definitely beat the game in six hours, but you would have missed out on at least 2/3 of the content in the game if not 3/4. Do you guys agree?

I could see beating this game in six hours but that defeats the purpose of playing it, meaning you can't find all the ways through every level.
However, 20 hours might be shooting a bit high.

I played the game all stealth and collected as many runes and bone charms I could find and still beat the game in 6 hours. It's a really short game, and the last quarter of the game flies by.

I beat the game in 7 hours playing stealthy on normal collecting most of the runes and bone charms that came my way. My second playthrough was, unsurprisingly, even shorter. However, in Dishonored's case, I think brevity isn't necessarily a flaw.

@Bulby33 said:

I played the game all stealth and collected as many runes and bone charms I could find and still beat the game in 6 hours. It's a really short game, and the last quarter of the game flies by.

I just don't see how. Did you do all the side missions and explore the environments fully? I just can't imagine beating this game in six hours and seeing everything there is to offer. Getting some of the runes took me a good 20 minutes if there was a quest involved with it. And the last quarter has some of the longest side missions and hard to get runes and bone charms.

@Bulby33:

I don't think I played the same game as you...I played stealth and collected everything and I beat the game in 20ish hours. This is coming from a guy who usually beats games way faster than the average player. My run through the game collecting nothing and killing everyone on the direct path took like 3 hours, so I somehow think you might be underestimating your playtime.

@ArbitraryWater said:

I beat the game in 7 hours playing stealthy on normal collecting most of the runes and bone charms that came my way. My second playthrough was, unsurprisingly, even shorter. However, in Dishonored's case, I think brevity isn't necessarily a flaw.

Did you go out of your way to collect all the runes and bone charms on each level or did you just collect the ones you found along the way?

@Ramboknife: I have to think these people went straight to the objective markers and didn't explore at all. There is so much to find if you comb every level. I mean it's possible to miss the entire Slackjaw and Granny Rags storylines and still beat the game and claim you collected most of the runes and bone charms. But you would have missed out on several hours worth of game if you did that.

I don't think I collected every bone charm/rune but I collected most of them. I guess I just figured the solutions out faster than other people? I dunno. I don't think I'm the only one who thought the game was short, though. My play time at the end of the game was 6 hours and 32 minutes if I recall correctly. I remember being bummed that it ended so quickly.

The game is made for multiple playthroughs, though. I'll definitely go back and play it again.

I've seen how it can vary wildly.

I got to a point later in where I wasn't as compelled by it and I just made a b-line for objectives more or less, not looking for the non-lethal assassination. In the palace/tower mission it takes SO much less time it's crazy. You can reach the target basically right from where you come in.

@Bulby33 said:

I don't think I collected every bone charm/rune but I collected most of them. I guess I just figured the solutions out faster than other people? I dunno. I don't think I'm the only one who thought the game was short, though. My play time at the end of the game was 6 hours and 32 minutes if I recall correctly. I remember being bummed that it ended so quickly.

The game is made for multiple playthroughs, though. I'll definitely go back and play it again.

Did you do all the side missions in each level? Open all the safes? Get most of the gold? I just don't get it honestly. I literally ran through several areas with slowed time on so I know playing stealthily would have taken me much longer and I am going to clock in at 11 or 12 hours.

I didn't get everything and played stealth all the way and it took me (i'll have to confirm on steam) 13 hours or so. I can't imagine being able to do it in 6 without rushing and not ever stopping to listen to any story bits.

My first play through was about 7 hours but my second was probably 15 to 17 because I went for no alerts or kills.

@Raven10 said:

@Ramboknife: I have to think these people went straight to the objective markers and didn't explore at all. There is so much to find if you comb every level. I mean it's possible to miss the entire Slackjaw and Granny Rags storylines and still beat the game and claim you collected most of the runes and bone charms. But you would have missed out on several hours worth of game if you did that.

It's poosible to miss the entire Slackjaw and granny line? Even the end boss battle? (the one in the sewers) I thought that one was right on the path of the story.

It took me 15 hours to beat it.

@Jams: I'm not entirely sure about the boss battle. But the rest of it is entirely optional. I have to imagine that the battle wouldn't be there if you hadn't met either of the characters up to that point. On the first two missions once you are free if you just go straight to the objective you'll never see either of them and I assume that means you'll never see them again in the game.

My full stealth no kills run was probably about 15 hours. My kill everybody run through levels run was probably 5-6 hours. I guess it depends on how you play it. @Jams: No, you can miss it, if you don't do all the parts for both of them the gate will be locked. You can glitch through the gate and still see the end of their stories.

I did a mainly-stealth run that took me somewhere in the region of 15 hours. I think this game can last as long as you want it to (within reason, obviously) but if you want to run straight through, great, if you want to explore and be completely stealthy and lengthen your time with the game, you can do that too.

I was hoping this was about being able to play as Too Short in Dishonored.

@skooks: Fair enough. If someone wants to rush through it then that is of course fine, but they shouldn't then complain the game was too short. If they actually experienced all of the content then they would spend double the time with the game. It's their own fault the game is short for them.

@Raven10: I played through it when I was visiting family over the xmas holidays and it took me around 15-18 hours I'd say. I play games like this very immersion driven and a complete stealth perfectionist. I spoke to every character until they had exhausted all dialog, spent a good deal of time sight seeing and collected around 70% of the collectables, losing interest in finding them as I was already almost maxed out on the skills that interested me by about half way through the game.

My brother started playing the game as I was about 80% completed, he doesnt talk to anyone, skips dialog and kills EVERYTHING and it took him about six hours I'd say with me there telling him exactly where to go and how to do it.

The game certainly supports rushing through the objectives, just as it supports deliberate and stealthy approachs.

However, it also makes it very, very apparent that there are about dozen other ways you can do the objectives, no matter which approach you chose. So I really have neither respect nor trust for someone claiming the game's 5-6 hours long after the first playthrough. It's made painfully obvious that no matter what you did , you missed a whole lot of other things. And tbh, you really need to skip scenes, blink and assasinate like a mofo to reach a 5 hour playtime on the first run, and this is assuming you ignore all the sidequests, treasures and runes / charms. So Corvo's arsenal would be very, very limited as well.

And that'd be only one way of playing. Nowhere near what the whole gameplay holds.

Wow I'm such a fanboy, now I'm a bit ashamed. Mildly.

Dishonored certainly feels like it could have been longer. But, should it have been? I'm honestly not sure. Its length was perfect to push the narrative along and get it to a meaningful conclusion. I think if it was any longer it would have been a little stretched out. The Mechanics of the game certainly allowed for length to increase, I was still enjoying jumping around stabbing dudes right through to the end. But, that's why I'm keeping an eye out for sequel talk.

Took me 22 hours. That said, I was being incredibly methodical, going for no kills and no detections.