TL;DR
- Main story only: roughly 60–80 hours across 14 chapters.
- Main story plus side content: around 100–180 hours.
- Full completionist run: 300–400+ hours.
- Side content is not just optional — the game expects you to do it.
- There are over 430 quests, 76 bosses, and 2,896 knowledge entries to find.
Crimson Desert is not a short game. Not even close. Pearl Abyss built one of the densest open-world RPGs in recent memory, and whether you want to see the credits or squeeze every secret out of Pywel, you’re going to be here for a while.
Here’s a straight breakdown of how long it takes, depending on how you play. Visit the full Crimson Desert guide hub for everything else you need.
Main Story Only — 60 to 80 Hours
If you stay focused on the main story and push through without getting too distracted, most players finish in around 60 to 80 hours. Some players come in closer to 75 to 95 hours when they stay reasonably on track but still explore a bit along the way.
The main story is split across 14 chapters — a prologue, 12 core chapters, and an epilogue. Check out the full list of main story quests and chapters if you want to see the full breakdown.
There is one big catch though: a “story only” run is harder than it sounds. Crimson Desert’s bosses are tough. If you skip side content, you will hit walls where your gear simply isn’t good enough. The game is designed around you engaging with the world, not sprinting past it.
If you want the smoothest main story experience, learn how to upgrade weapons and armor and how to reinforce equipment early on.
Main Story Plus Side Content — 100 to 180 Hours
Once you start engaging with side quests, faction content, and optional activities, the clock climbs fast.
A solid mixed playthrough — doing main quests while tackling most side content along the way — sits around 100 to 180 hours for most players. The starting area of Hernand alone can eat 40 to 50 hours if you explore it properly.
Here’s what adds up during this kind of run:
Faction quests. There are over 110 factions across the game’s regions. The Greymanes alone have nearly 100 quests split across three categories. Hernand has multiple faction chains including House Celeste, House Roberts, the Goldleaf Merchant Guild, and more. Side quests in Crimson Desert aren’t filler — they connect directly to gear, mounts, and progression.
Camp building. Your base at Howling Hill can be expanded and upgraded. This adds vendors, provisions, wagons, a farm, and a ranch. See our guide on how to upgrade the Howling Hill Base Camp if you want to get started on that.
Bounties. Hunting down bounty targets is some of the most enjoyable side content in the game. Guides like the Bo bounty guide, Haldin bounty guide, Fabrizio bounty guide, Warren Outlaw bounty guide, and Bianca bounty guide can save you a lot of time tracking these down.
Puzzles and ruins. The world is filled with ancient ruins, strongbox puzzles, and Abyss challenges. Things like the Mudridge Cabin puzzle, Cradle of Truth puzzle, and all strongbox puzzle solutions will take real time to work through.
Mounts. There are 29 mounts in the game. Tracking down legendary ones like the Silver Fang, White Bear, Lion, and Bear mount takes dedicated effort across multiple areas.
Full Completionist Run — 300 to 400+ Hours
If you want to do everything, you’re looking at a massive time investment. A true 100% run of Crimson Desert is estimated at 300 to 400+ hours, and possibly longer depending on how efficiently you play.
Here’s what makes that number so large:
- Over 430 quests across main story and side content
- 76 bosses to find and defeat
- Over 500 faction quests spread across all regions
- 2,896 knowledge entries to collect
- 573 territories to discover
- All Abyss puzzles and Sanctum challenges to clear
- All trophies and achievements — see the full Crimson Desert trophy list
- All bell towers — check the bell tower locations guide and belltowers fog of war guide
- All legendary creatures and animals — our guide to finding legendary creatures and all legendary horses will help
- All armor sets — from the Helfryn armor set to the Frostcursed armor set to the Golden Greed armor set and many more
The Abyss alone — with its floating island zones, sealed artifacts, and puzzle dungeons — is a massive undertaking for completionists. Add in the Sanctum locations and individual sanctum walkthroughs, and you’ll understand why 400 hours isn’t an exaggeration.
How Long Is Each Chapter?
The game has 14 chapters total: a prologue, Chapters 1 through 12, and an epilogue.
Each chapter varies in length depending on the area you’re in and how many boss encounters it includes. Later chapters tend to run longer because of tougher fights that require more preparation. The all main story quests and chapters guide has the full breakdown if you want to plan ahead.
One thing that’s worth knowing: you’re never locked out of side content during the story. You can go back to any region — including Hernand — at any time to finish quests or grab items you missed.
Tips to Make the Most of Your Time
Don’t rush the main story. The game is built as a slow burn. Fighting bosses underpowered is not fun. Check the best items to grab early and the best early build guide to make sure you’re not hitting walls.
Use fast travel. The world is enormous. Knowing how to fast travel in Crimson Desert — and unlocking as many teleport points as possible — saves a huge amount of time. Ring bell towers to clear fog of war as you go.
Get your camp running early. The Howling Hill base camp is a major quality-of-life upgrade. Unlocking the camp and building it up gives you vendors, food, and crafting options that make the whole experience smoother.
Upgrade your gear consistently. Don’t sit on starter weapons for too long. Keep an eye on how to get better equipment and grab unique weapons early when you can — like the Electro-Mecha Longsword from the Machina Knight or the Darkbringer Sword.
Max your health and stamina. These matter more than you’d think across a long playthrough. See how to get max health and how to get max stamina to stay competitive.
Engage with the skill system. Knowing the best skills to level up first and how to get skill points makes a real difference, especially heading into harder chapters.
How Does Crimson Desert Compare to Other Big RPGs?
To put it in perspective: Crimson Desert’s main story at 60 to 80 hours is longer than Elden Ring’s typical main story run of around 50 to 60 hours. Its completionist time of 300 to 400+ hours puts it firmly in the conversation with the most content-dense open-world games ever made.
The key difference from most open-world games is that side content here is functionally required. Faction quests unlock gear. Challenges give you Abyss Artifacts. Resource gathering enables upgrades. If you treat Crimson Desert like a linear action game, the difficulty spikes will punish you for it.
The players who enjoy it most are the ones who let the world breathe. Explore regions fully before moving on. Talk to NPCs. Do the bounties. Solve the puzzles. The game rewards curiosity more than rushing.
Summary Table
| Playstyle | Estimated Hours |
|---|---|
| Main Story Only | 60 – 80 hours |
| Focused + Some Side Content | 75 – 100 hours |
| Main Story + Most Side Content | 100 – 180 hours |
| Full Completionist / 100% | 300 – 400+ hours |
However you decide to play, Crimson Desert is going to demand real time. That’s not a complaint — it’s just the scale Pearl Abyss built. Plan accordingly, use the guides on this site to cut down on confusion, and enjoy the world.
You can grab Crimson Desert on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, or Epic Games, or visit the official Crimson Desert website for more details.
