How Long Is The Sinking City 2? Completion Times
Plan your Sinking City 2 run with evidence-based estimates for the story, optional investigations, exploration, achievements, and 100% completion.
Quick answer
- Plan 10 to 15 hours for a first playthrough, based on the developer's current estimate.
- A fast normal-difficulty run with every optional investigation was recorded at 8 hours 45 minutes.
- There is no reliable fixed time that optional cases add because route knowledge, puzzles, and difficulty change the total.
- One documented 100% run took just under 20 hours and required New Game Plus for a collectible.
Review After 100% Completion
This review documents the scope, elapsed time, optional investigations, achievements, and New Game Plus work in a complete run.
Continue reading
These related The Sinking City 2 pages answer the next questions around this topic.
How Long Does the Main Story Take?
Plan 10 to 15 hours for a first playthrough of The Sinking City 2. That is the clearest current developer estimate, and a release review also finished in under 15 hours.
There is no dependable main-story-only average yet. Optional investigations do not gate the story, so a focused player can skip them and finish faster. One unusually quick normal-difficulty run completed every optional investigation in 8 hours 45 minutes. Treat ten hours as a fast finish, not a promise.
| Completion goal | Practical time | Evidence boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Main-story focus | No stable average yet | Skipping optional work should reduce the first-run total, but no trustworthy main-only figure is available |
| Typical first playthrough | 10 to 15 hours | Current developer estimate, supported by an under-15-hour release review |
| Every optional investigation | 8 hours 45 minutes in one fast run | One normal-difficulty reviewer sample, not a community average |
| 100% completion | Just under 20 hours in one documented run | Includes all achievements, additional completion goals, and New Game Plus progress |
How Much Time Do Optional Cases and Exploration Add?
There is no trustworthy fixed answer such as "add three hours." Optional investigations involve clue work, detours, and backtracking, while exploration can open safer routes and provide supplies or upgrades. Their cost depends on how quickly you read clues, solve puzzles, navigate old areas, and decide when a reward is worth another trip.
The 8-hour-45-minute normal run is useful as a lower-bound example because it included every optional investigation. It does not prove that every thorough player can finish that quickly, and it does not establish full map exploration. A blind player who searches every red room, reads all lore, or struggles with combat can still land near or beyond the 10-to-15-hour first-run range.
Finish a side investigation when you find it if completion matters to you. A release review warns that skipped side work may not remain available for cleanup after the ending, leaving New Game Plus as the route back to it.
How Long Does 100% Completion Take?
Use around 20 hours as the best documented planning figure for 100% completion. The selected completion review finished a little under that mark and defined its run as earning every achievement plus completing additional content.
That distinction matters. Steam lists 23 achievements, but an achievement-only time has not been established, and the PlayStation trophy count should not be inferred from the Steam total. The documented 100% run also needed New Game Plus because one collectible only becomes available there. A true full-completion plan therefore needs some second-run progress even if the first playthrough is thorough.
Around 20 hours remains one experienced player's result. Higher difficulty, blind puzzle solving, missed investigations, and less direct backtracking can push the total higher.
Plan Around Your Completion Goal
Use the estimate that matches the way you intend to play:
- Choose a 10-to-15-hour window when you want the ending without rushing every conversation or puzzle.
- Expect a fast run to fall below ten hours only if you navigate efficiently and avoid repeated combat or searches.
- Keep optional investigations in the first-playthrough budget when their stories, upgrades, and safer routes matter to you.
- Reserve additional time after the ending when your goal includes every collectible, achievement, and New Game Plus requirement.
Plan around the goal, not a single stopwatch number. The available evidence supports a compact campaign, but difficulty and completion rules create more variation than the headline estimate suggests.
What Can Make a Run Longer?
Difficulty is the clearest variable. One release reviewer estimated that higher settings could add several hours. Tougher encounters can mean repeated attempts, longer supply searches, and more cautious returns to safe areas.
Exploration style matters too. Optional investigations reward clue reading and backtracking, while a full search asks more of the map than simply completing every named side case. The current 8-hour-45-minute report covers all optional investigations, but it does not prove that every room, document, and upgrade was collected.
New Game Plus changes the full-completion calculation. It offers replay content and is required for at least one collectible, so stopping at the first ending and reaching 100% are separate time goals.