DragonSword: Awakening How Long to Beat
Quick answer
DragonSword: Awakening's main story takes 10–15 hours. Including open-world activities and side stories, expect 30–40 hours. Endgame content — Tower of Trials, world bosses, Hunts and Raids — is repeatable and effectively open-ended, and there is no New Game Plus.
Updated · Verified on Patch 1.0.x · Sources: in-game testing, Steam store page, Hound13 announcements
Length is one of the most common questions about DragonSword: Awakening, and the honest answer is that it is shorter than its presentation suggests.
The numbers
| Goal | Time |
|---|---|
| Main story only | 10–15 hours |
| Story plus most side content | 30–40 hours |
| Endgame (Tower, bosses, Hunts, Raids) | Repeatable, effectively open-ended |
| 100% achievements | Substantially longer, and gated by missables |
Why the story is on the shorter side
DragonSword: Awakening's campaign is compact and focused: Lute, Johnny and Castella crossing the Continent of Orbis toward a dragon awakened after sixty years, connected to the legacy of six ancient heroes. It does not pad.
Whether that is a strength or a weakness depends on what you wanted. It is the most common criticism in Steam reviews, and it is a fair one if you expected a 40-hour epic. It is a virtue if you have limited time — see is it worth it.
Where the other 20–25 hours come from
The gap between 15 and 40 hours is side content, and most of it is worth doing:
- Area Quests and Hero Requests — several reward cooking recipes and crafting blueprints.
- Bond Quests — character-specific stories. Cerese's unlocks the Tower of Trials, so it is not optional in practice.
- Exploration — chests, waypoints, goddess statues and puzzles across Orbis.
- Cooking — 73 recipes, discovered through NPCs, quests and hidden areas.
- Familiars — collectible companions and mounts.
- World bosses — daily, repeatable.
After the credits
Endgame is repeatable rather than finite:
- Tower of Trials — a 50-floor gauntlet with rising difficulty and Karma rewards
- World bosses — daily targets
- Hunts — 2-player
- Raids — 3-player
All of it is completable solo, which matters because there is no matchmaking. How long endgame lasts is a function of how much you enjoy optimising team comps rather than a fixed number.
The Rift System arriving post-launch will add another repeatable mode — see Rift System.
There is no New Game Plus
Beating the final boss places you back in the world just before the final encounter. There is no fresh run with carried-over progression.
This matters more than it sounds, because several things are permanently missable. The clearest example: if you do not find the Dusty Locket beneath the Orbis sewers before Chapter 4, Castella's final loyalty mission never triggers and the Master of Orbis achievement is locked forever.
If you care about 100% completion, read missable content before you start, not after. Without a second run, a missed prerequisite means a fresh save file.
Realistic planning
| If you have | Do this |
|---|---|
| 10–15 hours | Main story only. Skip most side content. |
| 30–40 hours | Story plus Bond Quests, cooking and exploration. The intended experience. |
| More | Endgame — Tower floors, world bosses, and co-op with people you know. |
| 100% ambitions | Read the missables page first, then plan around Chapter 4. |
Why completion time varies so widely
The 30–40 hour figure hides a lot of variance, because DragonSword: Awakening's side content is genuinely optional in a way its main path is not.
Two players can both "finish" the game at 18 hours and 45 hours respectively without either having played inefficiently. The difference is almost entirely Bond Quests, exploration and endgame engagement. If you are trying to plan around a specific number, decide first whether you intend to touch Tower of Trials — that single choice moves the total more than anything else, because it is the entry point to the game's progression economy.
FAQ
How long is DragonSword: Awakening?
The main story takes 10–15 hours. Including open-world activities and side stories, expect 30–40 hours.
How long does it take to 100% DragonSword: Awakening?
Substantially longer than 40 hours, and it requires planning — there is no New Game Plus and some achievements have missable prerequisites before Chapter 4.
Does DragonSword: Awakening have New Game Plus?
No. After the final boss you are returned to the world just before the final encounter.
What do you do after beating DragonSword: Awakening?
Tower of Trials, daily world bosses, 2-player Hunts and 3-player Raids, all completable solo. The Rift System is planned as an addition.
Is DragonSword: Awakening too short?
The 10–15 hour main story is the most common criticism. Total content of 30–40 hours is reasonable for a $29.99 game, but expectations of a long campaign will not be met.