After posting about the hours I’d already spent on the latest big game I’m playing, Cyberpunk 2077, I was curious if I could figure out how much time I spent on some of the biggest games that I played. I can only do that with games that I played through or on PlayStation. Of games before Steam I have little insight. So I have done some research in my gaming past and broken it up in different time periods and platforms.
Games on PC before Steam
A long time ago
These are the usual suspects. Rpgs like Ultima VII, Underworld I-II, Might and Magic VI-VIII and IX, Gothic I and II and the first Witcher game. And RTSs like Dune II, Warcraft I-II and Command & Conquer.
I don’t know anything about these other than I was fully engrossed in each of them for months on end and have played through most of them multiple times.
The biggest games that warrant a separate look are:
Dragon Age: Origins
I have backups of savegames of Dragon Age: Origins, but I cannot find any information about playtime in there. I don’t feel like installing the game to find out.
Oblivion (2006, 2008-2009, 2016)
I played Oblivion before Steam, so I cannot easily see how much time I’ve spent with that game. It must also be a lot. I do have savegames, with filenames like [Save 20 – Julian – Imperial City, Talos Plaza District, Level 2, Playing Time 04.57.26.ess]. That makes me believe that the numbers in the Skyrim saves are also timestamps. These are from 2016 though. And not from my original obsession with Oblivion starting in 2006.
A curious thing happens with save 21 though: [Save 21 – Julian – Seyda Neen, Census and Excise Office, Level 1, Playing Time 00.08.06.ess]. What? Seyda Neen? Isn’t that in Morrowind? After some thinking I concluded that it must have been a mod. There’s also a file with and obse extension of the same name.
After some more digging I found earlier savegames from 2008. One characters with 37 hours and one with 10 hours. But nothing from 2006 though.
Fallout 3 (2008-2009)
Same as with Oblivion. I found some saves with one hours, 8 hours, and 45 hours, and a couple with half an hours each. Curiously the character with 45 hours was named Suzanne. I don’t usually pick female characters.
Overall, I think Fallout 3 falls in the 50-100 hours category. Very impactful hours though. I have very fond memories of that game.
Skyrim
I also have savegames from Skyrim from 2012 to 2016. The filenames have numbers in them, like [Save 1369 – Rodrick Castle Dour Dungeon 84.12.09.ess]. Maybe that means that character had 84 hours of playtime? And then there’s Rory with 41 hours. Maybe these characters are played through Steam though. Let’s see.
On Steam
On Steam Skyrim is on top with 253 hours. My first achievement was unlocked on November 30 2011 (Unbound) and the last achievement on April 15 2015 (Married). So the few saves that I have backup up, are only a small part.
Next comes Divinity: Original Sin with 32 hours on the classic version in 2014 and 93 hours on the enhanced edition in 2021. I remember playing the latter through GeForce Now.
Other games on Steam are much smaller. Those are games like Broken Age, The Darkside Detective, Day of the Tentacle Remastered, Dexter Stardust, Justin Wack and Return to Monkey Island.
On the PlayStation 4/5
There are a lot of big games on the PlayStation 4 and 5. Starting out with a few games in the 30 hours region are God of War and Horizon Chase Turbo. Then there are 40-50 hours games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, and also The Outer Worlds. Cyberpunk 2077 will be higher, because I’m already over 40 hours in. GTA V is a bit above that with 81 hours.
Games above the 100 hours mark are Fallout IV with 131 hours, Divinity: Original Sin II with 148 hours, Baldur’s Gate I & II with 151 hours and Dragon Age: Inquisition with 172 hours.
Higher up is The Witcher 3 with 107 hours for my original playthrough on PS4 with Hearts of Stone and another 143 hours for my second playthrough on PS5 with both Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. A respectable total of 250 hours.
But on top is Skyrim with 334 hours. This is all the Special Edition and Anniversary Edition.
On Wii U and 3DS
On the Wii U and 3DS, you can also see how much time has been played. No surprise that Breath of the Wild is number one. Of the Wii games I played on the Wii U, I have no clue. That’s probably going to be Mario Galaxy or Zelda: Twilight Princess. Neither will be more than 50 hours I guess. The list:
- Breath of the Wild: 129 hours
- Mario Kart 8: 63 hours
- Earthbound: 44 hours
- Zelda: Wind Waker HD: 47 hours
- Chrono Trigger (3DS): 41 hours
- Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (3DS): 38 hours
- Zelda: Link to the Past: 30 hours
- Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS): 29 hours
- Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS): 26 hours
Other systems
I started out gaming on the Commodore 64 and Amiga. I don’t know how many hours I have played those games. On the C64 it was probably very little, because all I had was arcade games on tape. Those hours generally don’t rack up. I’ve probably spent more hours on modern games in the last couple of years. With games like The Briley Witch Chronicles hours do add up.
Amiga games took more time. At a guess the biggest names are Kick-Off 2, Pirates!, Wings, Lotus 1 and 2 and Pinball Fantasies.
Of the games on the Super Nintendo and the Nintendo 64 I have no clue. I don’t have my original cartridges anymore. I remember 100%-ting Super Mario World, Mario 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time though.
In the SNES Classic I played Final Fantasy VI for 50 hours.
The Top-10
With this I come to the following top-10 where I’ve reserved the last spot for games that I must have spent many hours on, probably more than the one on 9th place:
- Skyrim: 587
- The Witcher 3: 250
- Dragon Age: Inquisition: 172
- Baldur’s Gate I & II: 151
- Divinity: Original Sin II: 148
- Fallout IV: 131
- Breath of the Wild: 129
- Divinity: Original Sin: 125
- GTA V: 81
- Morrowind/Oblivion/Fallout 3/Might and Magic VI-VIII/Dragon Age: Origins?
No big surprises there. Maybe only Dragon Age: Inquisition being that high. That’s probably due to multiple playthroughs. Almost all games I played multiple times, except Baldur’s Gate II and GTA V.
When I look at this I realize that the games on this list are some of my favorites, but there are games that are more dear to me that aren’t on this list. I like a lot of games that require much less time and often that’s a good thing. Some games are better because they take less time, and other games take up time even when you aren’t actually playing them. I think a lot of the puzzles in some adventure games while I’m drifting off to sleep, or while on the bus. Does that also count as playtime? I guess not, because the same goes for some of the games that are on this list.
I wonder which games will make it on the list in the future. Maybe Cyberpunk 2077, if I do another playthrough with the Phantom Liberty dlc. Or Red Dead Redemption 2 when I finally get around to it. And then there’s the new Dragon Age game. Another strong candidate will be Baldur’s Gate 3. That’s on my list to continue with in 2025. And then there are The Pillars of Eternity and the Pathfinder games. Hopefully I will get to play one of those this year also. And what about other Final Fantasy games? I’ve only played FFVI recently and want to play others also. I will return to this and see what has changed. Maybe in 10 years Elder Scrolls 6 will be on number 1!
Gameroom Ramblings 