Here's exactly how long it takes to beat NieR Replicant

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… is a bit of an odyssey. The story spans thousands of years across multiple playthroughs. It’s not over when you hit the credits for the first time; The experience is only just beginning.

NieR games can be a little intimidating because of that. NieR:Automata is an especially tough game to sell people on as it requires several playthroughs to get the true ending. Luckily, NieR Replicant is a little less of a time commitment despite being a fleshed-out remaster/remake of the classic NieR. While it follows the same structure as Automata with its use of multiple endings, it’ll take less time to get through overall.

Here’s exactly how long it’ll take you to get through each part of the new version of NieR Replicant.

How long is NieR Replicant?

Let’s start by defining what it actually means to beat NieR Replicant.

Finishing the first playthrough unlocks Ending A, but there are four additional endings after that. These aren’t slightly altered ending scenes tacked on to the full game either. Additional playthroughs completely change the experience and develop characters further. You have not really beaten the game until you’ve gotten to Ending E.

With that in mind, getting to Ending A will take around 15-17 hours, assuming you’ve done a healthy amount of sub-quests along the way. That’ll take you to credits for the first time, but it’s far from over at that point. Wrapping up all five endings takes closer to 30-35 hours.

The playtime of each route can change a bit depending on how much you do in each. You’ll need to get all 33 weapons to unlock endings C through E, so you may want to frontload your first playthrough and get them all, or acquire half in Route A and half in Route B. Here’s a quick breakdown of how long each route will likely take.

• Ending A: 15-17 hours
• Ending B: 5-6 hours
• Ending C: 5-6 hours
• Ending D: 1-2 hours
• Ending E: 3-4 hours

Note that Route D should be short as long as you don’t save over your file after you complete Ending C. Doing so will force you to play the entire route again, as opposed to reloading at the start of the final area.

How many NieR Replicant chapters are there?

NieR Replicant isn’t split up into chapters so much as it is separated by time skips. Route A has three distinct sections: a prologue, part one, and part two.

The good news is that you don’t have to clear the full game on each playthrough. Endings B and C only require you to run through a chunk of part two again. The bulk of the section involves finding five stone fragments. On these playthroughs, you’ll skip the opening set pieces of part two and start straight away on that hunt.

As for Ending E, you’ll replay the first few hours of the main game again. That means you’ll redo the prologue and a few sections in part one. It’ll radically split after that, but the less you know heading into it, the better. Just enjoy the ride.