One of the biggest questions we get around every major game is "How long is it?" We asked two of our staff members who've completed Borderlands 3 to weigh in with their experiences of how many hours it took to burn through the campaign and roll credits for the first time.
James Duggan, Reviewer
At a brisk pace, it took me just over 30 hours to beat Borderlands 3’s campaign and the vast majority of its story content. Keep in mind that at some point during the review process I consciously stopped exploring in order to make sure the review went up on time, so I expect that this figure will be just under most people’s average playthrough. Borderlands 3’s missions are static in terms of their level, but difficult sections of towards the end of the story were still difficult even with my completionist attitude, so I imagine that some side mission content will be needed by most to clear the story.
I’m still eager to put more hours into Borderlands 3’s endgame in the form of Proving Grounds, the Circle of Slaughter, True Vault Hunter mode, and Mayhem mode, which allows you to scale enemy difficulty and modifiers for greater rewards. Finally, I’m of the mind that I’ll be creating a completely new character come launch this Friday and playing with a fresh group of friends. Hopefully, that speaks volumes about Borderlands 3’s replayability.
I’ve now put in more than 50 hours and still have some side quests to discover, collectibles to find, Proving Grounds maps to unlock, Legendary weapons to loot, True Vault Hunter Mode to beat – and three other unique character classes to level. I wouldn’t be surprised if my total playtime reaches more than a hundred hours by the time Borderlands 3's scheduled DLCs begin to arrive this Fall.
For more, be sure to check out our full Borderlands 3 review and our complete list of skills and trees for every character.
