The Monster Hunter franchise debuted almost two decades ago on the PlayStation 2, and has since lived on every console generation with a prominent presence on just about every platform. Between PlayStation exclusives, Wii exclusives, Xbox exclusives, and even mobile exclusives, Monster Hunter is a beast of a franchise - and a monumental one with over 15 major entires.
Every Monster Hunter game has the same basic presence: grab some gear, head out into the wilderness, and hunt some hulking monsters. But the intricacies of Monster Hunter's mechanics and the constant sense of progression keeps this franchise engaging to this day. Monster Hunter has evolved over the years, but with this persistent expansion also comes more content, and more content means longer runtimes. Those who are looking at tackling the entire Monster Hunter franchise are in for some great fun, but also some very lengthy campaigns.
How Long It Takes To Beat Every Mainline Monster Hunter Game
There are currently six mainline Monster Hunter entries. These games are big, the ones that truly innovate and improve on the formula with each iteration. As such, they tend to boast some longer campaigns. The first Monster Hunter released in 2004, and despite it being the most basic version of the formula, the average time to beat Monster Hunter's story is around 50 hours - which for a PS2 game is pretty impressive. However, to complete the game in its entirety, this runtime increases drastically, ranging from 200 hours all the way up to 500. With Monster Hunter G and Monster Hunter Freedom being enhanced ports of this first game, their runtime is comparable.
In 2006, the appropriately titled sequel Monster Hunter 2 released. With even more content than the first game, the runtime for this one is naturally a tad higher. To finish Monster Hunter 2's main quests, it should take about 55 hours, and to fully complete every aspect of the game players will shell out at least 250 hours, and possible even up to 550. Again, this title was ported over to the PSP via both Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, so those versions have a similar runtime.
Moving over to the Wii, Monster Hunter Tri released in 2009. The Wii was well-known and adored for its short, bite-sized experiences, but Monster Hunter Tri has even more content than its predecessors, coming in around 60 hours for its main campaign, with a whopping 320 hours for total completion. The same can be said for the campaign of its ports, Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, and Monster Hunter Ultimate 3, though the latter takes over 600 hours to complete fully due to an influx of additional post-game content.
The first mainline entry exclusive to a handheld console, Monster Hunter 4 released only in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013. Eventually, an enhanced edition of the game hit US store shelves in 2015, titled Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Continuing the trend, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has a slightly higher runtime than its predecessors, coming in at a 75-hour-long campaign with a 380-hour-long completion time.
With the 8th generation of consoles, the Monster Hunter franchise was able to become bigger and better than ever, and Monster Hunter World made excellent use of the new technology. Releasing in 2018 for the PS4 and Xbox One, and later on PC, Monster Hunter World takes around 48 hours to beat, and 380 hours to complete. However, with the release of the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne expansion, this length is practically doubled with the DLC alone taking 36 hours to finish, and 260 hours to complete.
The most recent mainline entry in the franchise is surprisingly the one to break the trend. Released for the Nintendo Switch 2021, and then for PC in 2022, Monster Hunter Rise takes just 20 hours to beat, and takes only 142 hours to complete fully. These lengths are still impressive compared to even the biggest open-world titles, especially those on Switch, but they are significantly shorter than the game's predecessors. The recently released Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak expansion offers a similar runtime, taking about 24 hours to finish, and around 100 hours to complete.
How Long It Takes To Beat Every Monster Hunter Spin-Off Game
On the spin-off side, Monster Hunter has an even more expansive catalog. The first official spin-off is Monster Hunter Frontier Online. Being an MMO, Monster Hunter Frontier Online didn't technically have an end point, and with its servers being shut down there's no way to legally play it today. The same thing is true for Monster Hunter: Frontier G, which was an MMO released in 2013 for the PS3 and Wii U.
Released in 2010, Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village is quite the departure from the rest of the franchise, being primarily a village-management game similar to Animal Crossing. Oddly enough, this game was also developed by FromSoftware, and is certainly very different to the studio's other titles. No official runtime on the game is available online.
One of the more well-known Monster Hunter spin-offs is the 2016 title Monster Hunter Generations, originally released for the Nintendo 3DS and essentially acting as a "greatest hits" compilation for all the games prior. Despite the limited technology of the platform, Monster Hunter Generations still manages to put out a 50-hour campaign, and takes over 200 hours to complete. In 2017, the game was ported to the Switch. Titled Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, this expanded version has a longer runtime of 78 hours, and takes 680 hours to complete.
On the more reasonable side of Monster Hunter 3DS titles, 2017's Monster Hunter Stories takes around 38 hours to beat, and 96 hours to complete; meanwhile its Switch sequel Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin takes a slightly longer 40 hours to finish, and 140 hours to complete. All-in-all, the Monster Hunter franchise is a truly intimidating one for newcomers and fans alike, with some of the most impressive lengths in all the industry to sink one's teeth into.