Comparing TW3 and CP2077 played times

[Vixraine]

Comparing the average played time for all styles, especially looking at the players who considered themselves 'rushing' or 'leisurely' on their playthroughs, it starts to become apparent that in sheer content engagement The Witcher 3 is sporting around twice the engagement-time for players as Cyberpunk 2077.

I don't want to hear that extra length is padding, we aren't comparing CoD titles or MMORPGers.
Extra time between these games is a comparison of content and desire to remain in the world, not a genre or structural difference in the type of content.

Granting that 'Leisure 100% Completionist' runs likely represent The Witcher 3 in its full 'Expansions w/ GOTY' glory, a rough estimate seems to indicate that the final/definitive version of the TW3 has somewhere around triple the content currently present in Cyberpunk 2077.

*all numbers used from are from Howlongtobeat[.]com

 

[ivigraf]

my times:
Witcher 3 - 124h - enough for me.. nothing else to do
Cyberpunk 2077 - 215h - done all questes and everything and still cant get enough of it... but I need moreeee interactions with Judy

 

[Vixraine]

I appreciate that you've gotten a lot more time out of Night City.
Have to admit I can't stay away from her for too long, and the brushtrokes they used to characterize the world just constantly vibrate through me like finally coming home.

But the lack of choice-reactivity from the story, the story being hijacked, the obviously stitched together and chopped missions/arcs, advertised gameplay mechanics and character interactions that were entirely missing from the game, multiple perks that enable/benefit mechanics no longer even present, don't even get me started on the stats system for the guns.

After >50 hours in I find it difficult to stay in the city for longer than a short gig or two, before the painted-over WIP bits begin
to glaringly jut out of the background at me.

 

[Gillian_Seed]

21 hour main story...well it's fitting for a First Person Shooter I guess.

 

[Earawens]

I loved TW3 but it did feel a bit padded out at some points. CP is more my kind of game, in this regard. Didnt mind it at all.

 

[Fuse_00]

I've spent about 500 hrs in Witcher 3, replayed it many times, every time discovering something new, replaying quests with different outcomes and finding different enemies and new locations.

Cyberpunk - I've completed it in about 70 hrs, with all side quests (yellow icons) except for cars, racings and fights. And I just see no reason for coming back to this game. What for? For recompleting 100 similar MMO style gigs? All quests are linear, nothing matters until the scene on the balcony, nor reputation, nor quests outcomes, nor V's past, nothing.

99% of quests, except for Judy/Panam/Kerry/River questlines + 1-2 quests like the one about Perales and crucifixion one, are braindead trash which bring bad flashbacks of Dragon Age Inquisition and early Assassins Creed side quests.

The main story is extremely short, but actually I like it more than Witcher 3 main story, it's more mature and dramatic. I like Johnny a lot, really linked to him. The city designe is absolutely wonderful. But that is not enough to make game good, unfortunately.

Witcher series - forever in my heart, my favourite games ever.

Cyberpunk - not great, not terrible, not bad for a single playthrough, but that is all.

 

[Vixraine]

Witcher series - forever in my heart, my favourite games ever.

Cyberpunk - not great, not terrible, not bad for a single playthrough, but that is all.

Nailed it.

 

[Guest 3847602]

Thing about Cyberpunk is that you'll get vastly different results depending on the chosen playstyle. My first playthrough involved lot of sneaking and hacking and it lasted 108 hours. My second run involves rushing in and blasting people with shotgun and already clear that it's going to be a lot shorter than the first one.
For comparison, I 100% completed TW3 main game in 106 hours.

 

[Mentos3]

I took a look in my Steam-Account today, still triple around Baldurs Gate 3.
Witcher 3: 498h.
Plus one playtrough on my PS4.
And bought and installed it on my XSX, waiting on the next gen update.
CP2077: 78h I think.

Witcher series - forever in my heart, my favourite games ever.

 

[Vixraine]

Thing about Cyberpunk is that you'll get vastly different results depending on the chosen playstyle. My first playthrough involved lot of sneaking and hacking and it lasted 108 hours. My second run involves rushing in and blasting people with shotgun and already clear that it's going to be a lot shorter than the first one.

So, the argument that different play styles account for different speeds only really has merit if:
a) You consider TW3 to not have any slow play styles,
and
b) The non-anecdotal CP2077 v TW3 stats (posted in OP) did not indicate that across all gamer types, completionist to casual, rushing vs exploring, median completion time is twice as long with TW3.

For comparison, I 100% completed TW3 main game in 106 hours.

I find it fascinating that you synced up with TW3 so well as to manage a 100% completionist run in ~64% of the time it takes most players. With CP2077 (assuming 100%d everything) it would seem you are sitting closer to ~121% of the time is takes most players.

(If you meant completed 'the mainstory plus a good chunk of optional stuff', those numbers change to 107% and 204%, respectively)

Maybe there was something the TW3 did which always seemed to just slide you through the longer, more difficult fights and/or travel fluff?
Do you feel like you are having difficulties with any particular controls or mechanics in CP2077?

 

[Krul2k]

Im pretty sure W3 main quest is put behind lvl requirements, though i could be totally wrong and just getting confused with the expansions, but if they requirements werent there i could easily steam roll the MQ, but i dont, just like CP i do side content

 

[Guest 3847602]

a) You consider TW3 to not have any slow play styles,

Compared to CP2077? No, not to that extent. Slow playstyle in TW3 is mostly about investigating all pieces of evidence, talking to every character the game directs you to, etc... It's not about deciding between slaughtering all enemies vs finding the way to sneak past them and completing objective (which sometimes involve incapacitating the target instead of killing it) without anyone being aware of your presence.

I find it fascinating that you synced up with TW3 so well as to manage a 100% completionist run in ~64% of the time it takes most players.

I'm as surprised as you are, I have absolutelly no idea how people are able to get that mileage out of TW3 base game.

(If you meant completed 'the mainstory plus a good chunk of optional stuff', those numbers change to 107% and 204%, respectively)

Main story, all sidequests (including every one of those marked with yellow exclamation mark), all gwent cards collected, all points of interest cleared, all 4 witchers' school gear crafted.
For CP: pretty much the same plus finding the pieces of legendary armour sets (netrunner, corpo, techie, solo, nomad, fixer, etc...)

Do you feel like you are having difficulties with any particular controls or mechanics in CP2077?

Yup, having persistent problems with "falling down from the ladders" bug
Seriously though, no issues with game mechanics whatsoever.

 

[Krul2k]

Ladders the true end game or the beginning.....mmmmmm

 

[Riddlin]

I put it 700.1 hours into W3 in the first year, or at least until B&W expansion. I did a complete play through twice with the main game, once more with the HoS expansion and then a final time with B&W. Four total in about 14 months.

By comparison, I am nearing my 3rd playthrough of CP2077 and this will be the completionist playthrough. After this, I think I am done with it until CDPR gets it close to how they envisioned it in the first place. It just feels like they have a really nice basic/vanilla base set...they need to go in and add a LOT of the kewl back in.

 

[B4R0N_D3K0]

The Witcher 3 for me is one of the best games I ever played. It is amazing in every single aspect and after the mods is nearly perfection.

Skyrim, Fallout 3, New Vegas, San Andreas, Gta V... sigh... ah the good old days! You would play it for more than 200 hours and still be surprised with what the game still has to offer

Cyberpunk 2077...

The best way to review this game is "Turn back. Nothin' out there for you... Just yet."

 

[Riddlin]

Cyberpunk 2077...

The best way to review this game is "Turn back. Nothin' out there for you... Just yet."

It feels a little like that scene from 13th Floor, when he gets to the "end of the world" and just stands there incredulous. Thats me right now.

 

[VforVault76]

Witcher got more cutscene, dialogues and tracking mechanics. I think thats why the length are more stretched than cyberpunk. I think is a fair playtimes for cyberpunk cause cp got more fast-paced gameplay than the witcher has.

 

[Ayinde_Palmer]

View attachment 11144012View attachment 11144015

Comparing the average played time for all styles, especially looking at the players who considered themselves 'rushing' or 'leisurely' on their playthroughs, it starts to become apparent that in sheer content engagement The Witcher 3 is sporting around twice the engagement-time for players as Cyberpunk 2077.

I don't want to hear that extra length is padding, we aren't comparing CoD titles or MMORPGers.
Extra time between these games is a comparison of content and desire to remain in the world, not a genre or structural difference in the type of content.

Granting that 'Leisure 100% Completionist' runs likely represent The Witcher 3 in its full 'Expansions w/ GOTY' glory, a rough estimate seems to indicate that the final/definitive version of the TW3 has somewhere around triple the content currently present in Cyberpunk 2077.

*all numbers used from are from Howlongtobeat[.]com

witcher has a longer main story, that supposedly many people didnt finish it. They supposedly made the main story faster. People also said the achievements are easier and require less play. Essentially, yea, they made it easier to complete those metrics in cyberpunk, but those metrics don't really tell you how people are playing it.

based on steam DB, the median playtime on witcher 3 is 19 hours the median playtime on cyberpunk is 38 hours. the average playtime on cyber us 47 hours, and the average on witcher is 60 hours.

this suggests that Witcher's hardcore players spend a lot more time playing, but most people who play actually play the game less. IE more people drop witcher than cyberpunk. Which suggests they made the cyberpunk game more compelling overall by shortening the main story and setting more completable goals.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt · AppID: 292030

As war rages on throughout the Northern Realms, you take on the greatest contract of your life — tracking down the Child of Prophecy, a living weapon that can alter the shape of the world. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Steam charts, data, update history.

steamdb.info

Cyberpunk 2077 · AppID: 1091500

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure story set in Night City, a megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. You play as V, a mercenary outlaw going after a one-of-a-kind implant that is the key to immortality. Cyberpunk 2077 Steam charts, data, update history.

steamdb.info

 

[Hayte]

Witcher 3 is definitely a longer game and thats just The Wild Hunt on its own, not the dlc. I got Witcher 3 when it was already GOTY edition with all the dlcs. I think thats something like 2 or 3 years post release?

I finished Witcher 3 + dlcs once and immediately started playing it again just to relive the story. I did the same for Cyberpunk 2077 and am currently on my 2nd playthrough. I normally don't do this and can't think of any other games where I have.

In narrative terms, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt feels satisfyingly complete. I didn't like the dlcs as much because they didn't feel like a part of Wild Hunt's story. Their stories had a different tone and cadence and were self contained in a way that made them feel like islands apart from the main game. They were almost distractions from the vital impetus to find Ciri and the story of the father having to let their (sort of adopted) daughter go. I think this is why I left the dlcs to the end of the game both times.

Cyberpunk doesn't feel satisfyingly complete to me and it is much shorter. The pace of the main story on second playthrough is relentless. The vital impetus to save your own life drives one main story mission into another, into another and its 4th gear all the way. I needed to create gaps in the story (mostly by texting Takamura that I would be there after sundown but show up a week later) so that I could do the side missions in a way that felt appropriate to the story.

Both games are in my top 10 of all time. Witcher 3 because the story hit this emotional high for me and I teared up a bit when it was over. It was the main thing I was skeptical of with Cyberpunk in pre-release: I didn't think it would be possible for CDPR to hit those story highs again, not without characters from well developed literary source material.

I teared up a few times in Cyberpunk and it when it was over I got the whole post game depression thing so it exceeded my expectations on that front. Its a rougher, shorter game but the high points are something else. If they do dlc in future I really hope it feels like a part of the main story, not a separate thing on its own.

 

[dar981]

Having played Cyperpunk 2077 first, I then went onto play Witcher 3 with the expansions. I have a noticed a few oddities. While the stories are different, the mechanics are very similar. Witcher 3 feels much more exploreable, much more immersive however. The loot situation suffers in both games, its the same problem. I literally loot far too much which you have to sell/dismantle as most of its just filler till you get the better diagrams in both games. I call it loot fatigue. Cyberpunk literally was slinging weapons at me left right and centre. Nothing in either games loot wise feels special as even the rare stuff is thrown at you so often. In terms of explorability, Cyberpunk is very blade runner in style, fun to get into, but feels more empty compared to the Witcher 3. For me the W3 world seems better put together. I know that there is more filler content, but again some of the quests in W3 are quite surprising at times.

I just enjoy exploring, why I love both games. Ultimately Cyberpunk gave me a 150 hour fun ride of a different sort, while the witcher seems to be pulling me in far longer than even I anticipated. They both tell good stories, but I think the Witcher 3 tells a better one, just slightly. I think maybe because the world building in Cyberpunk isnt as good and therefore the immersion suffers a bit.

I have noticed that in W3 I am forced sometimes to make a choice in some quests that seems a little out of sorts with my playstyle, but I have noticed the consequences come back to haunt you more in W3 than Cyberpunk does. Its little quirks like that, that make me want to delve a little more into the w3 world and see what else it has to offer.