Starfield: How long to beat the main story?

Starfield is a massive role-playing game. With hundreds, if not thousands, of planets to explore, side quests to complete, and hidden mysteries to uncover, we’re looking at a game where you can easily sink in hundreds of gameplay hours. But what if you just focus strictly on the main story?

When playing Starfield, you’ll often be presented with side quests that can help shape your overall journey. You’ll meet new characters, acquire weapons and armor, and unlock powerful skills that, ultimately, will open up new gameplay options. But despite all of these side tasks, there is a main mission that involves locating Artifacts that have been scattered around the universe. What if you focus solely on the main story quests?

How long does it take to beat Starfield’s main story?

If playing through Starfield and focusing solely on the main story of Starfield — this would be only the missions that have to deal with discovering the Artifacts and the power of Unity — then it should take you between 25 and 30 hours.

For reference, I beelined through the main story, completing very few other side quests, and it took me about 29 hours to complete the main story. This is measuring my playthrough from when I started the game to when I started New Game Plus.

All that being said, I would absolutely recommend NOT playing through the main story as quickly as possible. Starfield is a game that’s meant to be explored at a slow pace. There is so much to discover and uncover in this game that you’d be doing yourself a disservice to simply skip past all the side content and rush completing the main story quests.

Starfield is a game that’s more about the journey than the destination. You’ll truly have a much more enjoyable time exploring every nook and cranny of this marvelous universe that Bethesda has crafted. And trust me, doing so is well worth the hundreds of hours you can pour into this game.