How long is Atomic Heart, game length and time to beat

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Atomic Heart's length varies depending on skill and your willingness to do side activities

Atomic Heart screenshot PS5
(Image credit: Mundfish)

The Atomic Heart length and how long it takes to beat mostly depends on your own playstyle, with completion times potentially varying by up to 15 hours. Difficulty level and player skill will also play a big part here - Atomic Heart can be a challenging game due to its survival-oriented mechanics and hostile robots that are basically everywhere, so a certain amount of slow caution or forced restarts can really make a difference over time. For those who want to know what sort of time commitment you might be facing, here are the answers to the question of how long to beat Atomic Heart, with time estimates for critical path and completionist playstyles.

How long to beat Atomic Heart?

Atomic Heart

(Image credit: Mundfish)

Atomic Heart's length will vary, as mentioned, depending on your ambitions and desire to see the whole thing, but having played it through, here's our estimation.

  • Critical path (just the main story campaign): 13-18 hours
  • Standard playthrough (story plus some side activities): 15-20 hours
  • Completionist (100% story and all side activities): 30-35 hours

Obviously there's a fair amount of variation involved in these already varying numbers, as again - difficulty and player experience with action-packed survival will be a big factor, and the extent to which players engage with side activities can more than double the game's length. 

However, for those who have their heads down and just want to experience the main story at a full Atomic Heart sprint, you should have it done by 18 hours at most, maybe an outside chance at 20 if you keep getting lost in the overworld or killed by enemies. Otherwise, the standard player will probably reach a little longer than that, given some time to engage with side content, explore optional facilities and go looking for new blueprints and resources that'll enhance powers like your Atomic Heart telekinesis.

Of course, for those who still want to make an informed decision about whether the game is worth it, you can always check out our Atomic Heart review here. 

Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.