Insomniac Games' Spider-Man PS4 will take approximately 20 hours to beat, but the game is much, much bigger than that. The soon-to-be-released PlayStation 4 exclusive is one of the most ambitious projects Sony has undertaken this generation so far, not to mention the first game being published in partnership with Marvel Entertainment's brand new Marvel Games division. And considering how much has gone into not only the gameplay but the story as well, it looks like it could be the start of a Marvel Games Universe.

Spider-Man PS4 is an open-world game with multiple playable characters and lots of iconic Marvel villains, which means there's a lot to do; side missions, mini events, and various tasks are all available to players, so it's understandable for someone to spend dozens, if not hundreds, of hours playing this game, trying to get that 100% completion milestone. But there's no way the actual story will take that long to beat. If it did, it could be the longest video game story ever created.

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Insomniac community director James Stevenson recently revealed on Twitter that the average play tester took approximately 20 hours to beat Spider-Man PS4, which presumably means it took them that long to complete the critical path (the main story). Of course, completing all the side missions and various other objects - like clearing enemy warehouses, as previously revealed in gameplay trailers - will take a while and can extend that playtime by dozens of hours.

In Insomnaic's Spider-Man PS4 game, players can also spend time unlocking new suits and keeping the city safe, which will help get them to the max level. But what's interesting is that enemies won't scale to a player's level, so the entire story campaign can be completed without needing to level up by performing other tasks. That doesn't mean those tasks shouldn't be completed, seeing as they would offer an overall better gaming experience, but if players want to get through the story first, right after installing the game, they can do so.

While 20 hours may seem short to some players, it's actually roughly the same length as Sony Santa Monica's God of War from earlier this year. And it's five hours longer than what Eidos Montreal says it will take to beat Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which releases one week after Insomniac's Spider-Man game. Of course, players will want to spend as much time as they can in this Marvel universe, but the story itself will only take them about 20 hours to get through. However, it remains to be seen how long it takes - on average - to complete everything in Spider-Man PS4.

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Source: James Stevenson