For many gamers, the fun of video games is the ability to participate in an interactive story. Games can have complex storylines to rival any novel or movie, with characters and plot twists to last for many sequels spanning over many years. Most games will reveal their story gradually during gameplay and through cutscene cinematics that will typically last a few minutes. However, a game that is very story dependent will have much longer cutscenes that leave gamers setting down their controller to watch and listen as the story unfolds.
Some story-dependent games take these cutscenes to a whole new level. Their complicated plots need considerably more time to relate to audiences, with gameplay coming in second to dramatically animated scenes and descriptive dialogue. Some of these scenes are spread out throughout the game, while others are lumped into one big Guinness World Record holding duration.
Kingdom Hearts III - 12 Hours Combined
The Kingdom Hearts games are infamous for the surprisingly complicated storylines. Despite the simpler Disney stories that they retell, Square Enix's tendency to create complex plots won out. Kingdom Hearts III had the task of wrapping up 17 years worth of questions and confusion in one game, which took 12 hours of combined cutscenes to achieve. Even with all of that, however, many fans are still a little confused about what was going on.
Final Fantasy VI - 23 Minutes
Final Fantasy VI was released for the SNES by Square Enix in 1994. Games of that decade did not frequently contain long cutscenes, so the whopping 23 minutes long cinematic in this game was a big surprise to gamers. However, the story was so gripping that no one seemed to care, with FF VI still a favorite within the franchise. The game won numerous awards for its groundbreaking story, graphics, and music, with many fans still considering it to have the best soundtrack in Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - 23 Minutes
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Corse is the prequel to the largely popular Final Fantasy VII. The game follows Zack Fair, a favorite among Final Fantasy characters, who is a member of the organization SOLDIER, 7 years before the events that followed Cloud in FFVII. The game was a success, despite its limited audience due to it being released only for the PlayStation Portable. As another Square Enix game, it was no surprise when this game contained a 23-minute-long cutscene, but with the beautiful animation and music, the game pulled it off.
Yakuza 2 - 23 Minutes
Yakuza 2 is the sequel to the game Yakuza. It was released in North America in 2008 for the PlayStation 2 after the success of its predecessor. The creators used feedback from the original game to develop a story that would be even more interesting to fans, which led them to develop a romantic story for the game lead, Kazuma Kiryu. This romantic aspect of this title added greatly to the story, resulting in the 23-minute cutscene that was enjoyed by audiences.
Xenosaga - 25 Minutes
Xenosaga was released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and tells the story of a science fiction world in which characters fight against an alien race as well as humans seeking control of an artifact with god-like energy.
The complicated story gained several spin-offs, including what is now the Xenoblade Chronicles, and even got an anime adaptation. The story has evolved and changed over the years, getting more and more complicated, but it all started with this game's 25-minute-long cutscene.
Metal Gear Solid 3 - 25 Minutes
The Metal Gear games are the brainchild of designer Hideo Kojima who is known for creating the most confusing storylines in his video games. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was the third installment of this series that was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004. It acted as a prequel to the events of the first two games, shedding light on some of the confusing events that would follow. In order to achieve this, it apparently needed a lengthy cutscene of 25 minutes.
Death Stranding - 31 Minutes
Death Stranding is the groundbreaking game created by Metal Gear's Hideo Kojima. With Kojima writing, it is no surprise that the game features a complicated and interesting story, which follows a character named Porter as he fights to survive in the post-apocalyptic USA. Through motion capture, Porter is played by The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus, and the miraculously complicated but well-designed game's longest cinematic sequence is 31 minutes long.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - 33 Minutes
The Xenoblade Chronicles games are another Square Enix title and descendant of Xenosaga. Like many other Square games, the series is known for its complicated storylines, and fans are greatly anticipating the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in 2022 so that they can continue the story.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ended with a long cutscene that continued all the way through the credits, and into another post-credit scene. All together the whopping cinematic scene came to 33 straight minutes.
Ocean Star: The Last Hope - 46 Minutes
Ocean Star: The Last Hope is the fourth game in the Ocean Star series. The Last Hope is meant to take place several centuries before the first game, which was originally released in 1996. The game is within the Science fiction genre, with players able to control a ship as they travel through space and land on different planets. Since the game is produced by Square Enix, it is, of course, complicated. This, and the franchise's tendency to jump through time resulted in the game needing an extra-long cutscene of 46 minutes leading up to the final battle and victory in order to keep viewers in the loop.
Metal Gear Solid 4 - 71 Minutes
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the fourth game in the Metal Gear franchise and was released for the PS3 in 2008. The game chronologically takes place after Metal Gear 2: Sons of Liberty and follows Snake, who is prematurely aging at a rapid rate due to his genetic mutations. Like the rest of the games in the franchise, this title has an extremely in-depth storyline for a video game, which includes, after the most rewarding boss battle in Metal Gear, a final epilogue cinematic that holds the Guinness World Record for the longest cutscene in a video game at 71 minutes, the length of some entire movies.