Deus Ex: Human Revolution game length

By Robert Purchese Published 27 April, 2011

Too short? Too long? Spot on?

The main Deus Ex: Human Revolution quest lasts a lengthy 25 hours, Eidos Montreal has revealed.

But that's providing you stick to the straight and narrow, explained Deus Ex: Human Revolution art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete to Will Porter for Eurogamer.

"Someone like me would probably spend 35 hours playing the game, because I'm really someone who likes to snoop around looking at all the possibilities an environment has for me – then choose which one I'm actually going to tackle," he said.

"In the playtests we've been doing at work we usually have people playing the game Monday morning to Friday night - they play from nine to five - and some of them don't even finish it. The ones who do play it in 25 hours or so – that's because they know that they're limited."

"They do a few side-quests and they snoop around a little bit, but they mostly want to finish it. So that gives us a good gauge that the main quest is about 25 hours long... so that's a hard number as we've seen it live. From that we can extrapolate that it can easily go up to 35 hours."

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an action role-playing game set years into the future in a time where men and women can be augmented by machinery. You, Adam Jensen, are one of those people, and you'll uncover a spiralling plot of corruption as you walk your destiny.

Check out Eurogamer's freshly minted preview to read how the game is shaping up.

Augment your life.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Gojiratron #1 1 year ago

    Remember it's not the length that matters, it's what you do with it that counts.

  • siro #2 1 year ago

    I guess I'm on the "too long" front, as most shooter type games will by far have overstayed their welcome at 25 hours. Well, if they manage to keep it fresh...

  • Centrifugal #3 1 year ago

    That's perfect in my books.

  • telboy007 #4 1 year ago

    If it can hold interest and story throughout, sounds like its going to be a good ride.

  • cjb_bjc #5 1 year ago

    That's long. But I'm fine with that. Completed portal yesterday in 3-4 hours and don't feel cheated by that.

  • bad09 #6 1 year ago

    @siro

    I'm guessing you never played the original Deus Ex. This is not some COD rip off here ;)

  • andywilkie35 #7 1 year ago

    Sounds pretty much spot on for me, very much looking forward to it

  • metallicorphan #8 1 year ago

    I loved Invisible War for Xbox,and really looking forward to this...the time is actually a bit shorter than i was expecting,but that's fine25-35 hrs is a good time these days for a game

  • menage #9 1 year ago

    This should be really good, but for some reason all I saw in the gameplay trailers was ME1 style hangars where the choices you make boil down to do I punch em, shoot em, or sneak em. I do miss some more of the real awesomeness something like this should be. But it's been really idetikit for the most up until now. I do hope it get's a bit more involving or deep than "should i go through the vent or banzai?"

    Crosses fingers.

  • themerlin13 #10 1 year ago

    Whoooot!! a real single player game for a change, none of the 4 hour crap.

    Fantastic news.

  • DefendoCroc #11 1 year ago

    Difficulty is just as important, to many games like this are just to easy even on so called 'Insane' settings , bit of joke tbh.

  • wow_yeh #12 1 year ago

    @menage
    Have to agree with you here dude. Looks very ME rip off. I still have high hopes and my colleague reassures me that a proper Deus Ex game should be a mix of ME and Oblivion anyway!

  • stoopidgreg #13 1 year ago

    damn this is good news

  • fragjam #14 1 year ago

    About right. I like to look at everything and take my time, and I wouldn't want it more than 35 hours.

  • Gastrian #15 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • metalangel #16 1 year ago

    Hangars? What about air ducts for Jensen and his personal armoury to scramble through at high speed?

  • TheApologist #17 1 year ago

    Yeah - that sounds right to me. Enough time for proper character development, a twisty conspiracy plot, and plenty of poking around in other people's email / cupboards. Also shooting.
    Edited by TheApologist at 27/04/11 @ 19:20

  • Mister-Wario #18 1 year ago

    That sounds pretty good. I'd probably like it to be longer on paper but I might play it and feel it's a good length.

  • Boomerang #19 1 year ago

    "a proper Deus Ex game should be a mix of ME and Oblivion"

    This is possibly the stupidest statement I've seen all day. Deus Ex is Deus Ex.

  • Vin #20 1 year ago

    Cool fucking beans. That's like 35+ for me, then.

  • drhickman1983 #21 1 year ago

    decent length for a game, at least for me. Can't really think of any games I've played recently that have held my attention for more than 30 hours-ish anyway. Last game I played for substantialy longer was Fallout 3 (I got bored with New Vegas around 25 hours into it, and then just rushed and finished the main story).

    But length isn't as crucial as what fills the timespan.

  • Murton #22 1 year ago

    So many developers deliberately over estimate their durations these days, I'm doubtful on the 25 hours for fast track. I like to explore, do all the side missions, talk to everyone, and basically see as much as I can in a single playthrough, if that means that playthrough 1 will give more more than 20 hours without fatiguing me then I'm happy.

    That being said, I'd allow the game to be half as long as long as it stays true to the original. As menage and others above have said, if it's a dumbed down mess then it doesn't matter how long it is because it simply won't maintain interest long enough to be completed anyway.

  • TheGuvernor #23 1 year ago


    Great to see single player being given its dues.
    Tired of the mini single player phenomenon of late & alarmed by many gamers acceptance of sub length gaming.
    Looking forward to this.

  • eojhet #24 9 months ago

    So I searched around online to find out what a typical completion time is for this game. I snooped and completed every side quest that I came upon (and I'm guessing I missed a few). I ended up completing this game, feeling as though I took my time, in only 16 hours. I do not feel cheated because the game was amazing and I will definitely give it a go again, only without focusing on hacking I suppose. Well good luck to everyone, hopefully you can figure out how it can take someone 35 hours to complete this title.
    Oh and its nothing like that boring mass effect game. Shuup
    Edited by eojhet at 07/09/11 @ 05:24