Best games that feel endless without filling their playing time

Dedicated players and finishers are rarely phased. Tasks like getting maximum Smashing stats in every single tier i Donkey Kong Banana (arguably one of Nintendo's best releases of 2025), may be a challenge too far, but some players will do absolutely anything. Inevitably, we will eventually remove every last drop of entertainment from most games.

However, we want to be entertained all the time. Sometimes a title has more than 100 hours of content, but less than half of that is the main story and the rest is repetitive drudgery like wiping up collectibles. If instead you're looking for titles that feel practically endless without falling back on that kind of padding, these might be a perfect fit for you.

7

Minecraft

Mining and crafting since 2011

Of course, the closest titles to being literally infinite are often sandbox experiences. The advantage of this system is that they don't have to rely on long campaigns or release more and more levels. Instead, the key is to provide as many creative tools as possible and as close to infinite space in which to use them.

Minecraft is the prime example that comes to mind. In survival mode, a Hardcore run can come to a quick and permanent end if you're safe, but you can enjoy a run effectively forever in standard mode. You can keep going as long as you have goals for yourself to achieve, and the same goes for creative mode. The more elaborate your building project, the more time you can spend perfecting it. To give a sense of the scale of Minecraft's creative “endgame,” Guinness World Records reports that the largest Minecraft project to date is “Build The Earth,” a self-explanatory 1:1 scale project.

6

Hades

The Underworld's defenses need to be tested again, and again, and again

Alongside sandbox games, roguelikes are also perfect candidates for infinite content. The central concept is to repeat runs over and over again until successful, then return even more times to experiment with builds, unlock additional content, and so on. Supergiant's Hades, along with its acclaimed sequel, is now considered by many to be the pinnacle of the genre. Due to the amazing integration of the ongoing action between the runs, and the amount of content to unlock and challenges to tackle, Hades, with its exciting Dark Thirst mechanics, is not that much padded as it constantly offers something new for the dedicated players to test their mettle.

The game's true ending is only available after defeating the final boss several times over, and that alone won't get you far enough to upgrade each of your weapon aspects. Companions also require leveling with Ambrosia instead of Titan Blood, while House of Hades upgrades and customizations require diamonds and other resources. Obtaining these requires more and more runs, adjusting the terms of the penalty pact as you go to claim more rewards. Bounties for heat levels are separate for each type of weapon, further necessitating mixing it up between them on runs. To go the ultimate extra mile and get each of Skelly's statues, you must continue to raise the heat level through dozens of runs.

5

Borderlands 2

Keep the carnage coming

Some comic fans still claim that Borderlands 2 is the best game in the series, an excellent step up from the original and, when finished, absolutely packed with content. Each of its many content packs offers a substantial and varied experience, with unique venues such as the Grand Vault Access Tournament set up by Mr. Torgue in Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. That particular campaign culminated in a boss battle against a huge mechanical t-rex truck, possibly one of the most outlandish and awesome enemies in the entire game.

Vault Hunters are designed with shared ability trees, in hopes that players can find the unique and powerful strategies that suit them best. The last skill found in a tree is generally the most powerful, but it takes an awful lot of leveling to reach it. Therefore, getting the most out of a character build may require using the True Vault Hunter mode and possibly the Ultimate Vault Hunter mode afterwards to continue leveling effectively. And that's just for one character. The loot scaling means you don't just fill up the runtime, but complete a build with access to all skills and the best weapons and gear available. Trying that with all the Vault Hunters would really be an almost endless endeavor.

4

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Your island can become your permanent home

Some players experience a sort of “winding down” cycle with Animal Crossing game. They go from daily routines to every other day, then maybe check in once a week and finally disappear out of shame so Cube the penguin doesn't ask why he hasn't seen you in seven months. If you are really committed, this could very well become your permanent home on the island.

In these games, there is really no such thing as stuffing. Your routine is what you make it, and if you're a hardened landscaper, hybrid flower grower, and proud owner of a five-star island, you can put in a little-and-often shift every day to maintain it. Even if you've completed your museum, acquired every item you could possibly want, and designed your home just the way you want it, the cycle of life continues. Your favorite villagers love seeing you as much as you do them, after all. This isn't even counting the Happy Home Paradise DLC, which itself can take up a second lifetime if you want to perfect the theme of each individual island home. Don't forget that you unlock new furniture sets as you go, meaning you can go back and improve previous builds when you have access to a larger catalog.

3

Civilization 7

One (hundred) more laps

Civilization are notorious as one of the most captivating series out there. There's no feeling like finding a Civ and Leader that perfectly matches your playstyle, tailoring your strategy to their strengths, and then seeing your progress toward your chosen victory type skyrocket as your carefully laid out plan and bonus suite combine. But you may also prefer a more relaxed route, demanding a point win so that a game takes longer. It's all about what kind of experience you want, and if you want a campaign to be nearly endless, there's an option for that.

Civilization 7 is a title that, with each update, steadily improves from a less than emphatic launch. In April 2025, the One More Turn mode was announced, allowing players to continue as long as they want with their Civ after achieving a victory. Multiple victory types with different Civs and specific scenarios to play through was already daunting enough, but making the game truly endless is a whole other perspective.

2

Diablo 3

The story is far from over

A key to avoiding padding the game's runtime is to provide plenty of options to keep playing, but make sure they're rewarding and don't feel rushed. Respecting the player's time is an important consideration with longer games, and Diablo 3 can be an excellent example of just that. The games in the series take different approaches to their endgame content and this installment achieved an effective balance.

The main campaign itself is relatively short, with How Long To Beat clocking vanilla Diablo 3 at 18 hours for just that. However, it adds that completion will spend around 170 hours with the game. This is because after the big bads are defeated, there is the opportunity to delve into a variety of endgame content. There are Rifts of both Nephalem and Greater varieties, seasons to take part in, and multiplayer co-op for those with like-minded adventurers to bring on board. Challenges that scale with your power ensure there's virtually no end to the content if you want to stick with it, and it's hard to resist the lure of new gear. You might even discover a new building you'd like to check out, and that might mean starting over.

1

No Man's Sky

How big is the universe?

As Civilization 7 is currently, No Man's Sky underwent a campaign of updates and improvements designed to give players more of what they wanted: Tons of different things to do and a huge space to do it in. No Man's Sky doesn't overwhelm the player with stupid drudgery to get them to play, but rather adds some main quests to the story for the purpose of gently directing and providing some structure. But really, that's not what this game is about.

You can create a trading empire, develop a huge and elaborate base, or simply travel from planet to planet to see how they differ. Procedural generation means you never really know what you're going to find, and your experience can be as ordered or chaotic and random (usually the latter when in multiplayer) as you like. There is potential for the experience to be almost endless here, but only as much as you wish. You will hunt for uranium and all sorts of other activities.