Here's exactly how long it takes to beat Square Enix's Forspoken

Forspoken is a brand new IP from the team that worked on Final Fantasy XV, focusing on a young woman named Frey Holland, who’s transported from New York City into the fantastic world of Athia. Like with most open world games there’s a wealth of things to see and do in Forspoken, from making friends with magical cats to taking pictures of landmarks to show to some kids. It can be tricky to figure out just how much time Forpsoken is going to take, as the main story does a poor job of signposting different steps of Frey’s adventure, but that’s what we’re here to help with. Here’s exactly how many hours to can expect to spend with Forspoken.

How long is Forspoken?

Forspoken’s main story is actually surprisingly short, especially compared to most of Square Enix’s other RPG offerings. If you’re simply looking to mainline the story and do nothing else, you can beat the game in roughly 12-15 hours. However, that’d mean you’d be skipping most of the content in Forspoken, as the game leans heavily on side quests and exploration.

There are essentially four major sections of Forspoken’s story, with each section having you take down a different Tanta, powerful sorceresses that used to rule Athia. While you’re making your way to the Tanta, you’re highly encouraged to spend time in the open world, explore, and tackle a handful of the hundreds of icons scattered across the map. The open-world activities consist of Mutant creatures to fight, enemy strongholds to take down, parkour challenges, Familiars to befriend, stat-boosting monuments, and more. At multiple points, you’ll also head back to the hub city of Cipal, which is where you can undertake story-focused sidequests called Detours.

If you undertake even just a few detours and spend time exploring your playtime can easily double. Our own playthrough of Forspoken clocked in at roughly 28 hours, undertaking most of the Detours found in the city, and exploring a bit of the open world. All that being said, if you’re looking to 100 percent the game, or even just check off all the open-world icons, you’ll easily be looking at upwards of 50-60 hours.

How many chapters are in Forspoken?

Forspoken is split up into thirteen different story chapters, although the length of these chapters can vary wildly. Story focused-chapters can be over in 30 minutes, while chapters that dump you into the open world can take hours upon hours. Here’s the full list of chapters.

• Chapter 1 - Attachments
• Chapter 2 - Stuck
• Chapter 3 - The Interloper
• Chapter 4 - What Must Be Done
• Chapter 5 - Might and Main
• Chapter 6 - Damned If You Do...
• Chapter 7 - The Hue of Blue
• Chapter 8 - The Truth Will Out
• Chapter 9 - Breaking Point
• Chapter 10 - None the Wiser
• Chapter 11 - Forspoken
• Chapter 12 - Awakening
• Chapter 13 - New Beginnings

Does Forspoken have a post-game or New Game Plus?

Unfortunately, Forspoken doesn’t currently include any kind of New Game Plus feature, although that could be added in some kind of future update. That being said, there is a pretty substantial post-game for players to wade through after the credits roll. Loading your completed save will let you continue to explore Athia and complete anything you might have missed, but it also sees a host of new Events and Detours in Cipal, opens up previously inaccessible areas of the world, and adds a few new super-bosses to take down. It’s definitely worth diving back in once you’ve beaten Forspoken if you find yourself wanting more.

Forspoken launches on January 24 for PS5 and PC.