Which Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) act is the longest?

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a long, long game. So long, in fact, that most players should expect to spend between 75 and 100 hours on a single playthrough, as per Larian Studios itself. How long is each of the game’s Acts, though?

Even though we’ve got an official estimate from the developer itself, there’s been some hubbub around the length of the Acts themselves practically since day one. There’s a grand total of three main Acts in Baldur’s Gate 3, and the main source of these disagreements lies in the game’s remarkable flexibility and openness to player input. Let us explain!

The longest Act in Baldur’s Gate 3

The reason why there are so many different takes on how long it takes to beat each Act in Baldur’s Gate 3 is that the game lets you speed through its main beats at a remarkable pace. If you’d like to, you probably could be done with the main quest in under 20 hours. Heck, speedrunners have already wrapped the game up in 4 minutes or less, so that’s certainly one way to look at it.

In more realistic terms, however, the majority of players will find that Acts 1 and 3 will take them the longest. Act 1 because it sets the main narrative up and lets the player acquaint themselves with the game at their own pace, and Act 3 because the city of Baldur’s Gate is positively loaded with side-quests, allowing you to spend dozens of hours just running from one NPC over to the next.

Act 2, too, can definitely take a while if you’re a completionist, but it is highly unlikely that it would take longer to complete than either Act 1 or 3. Our estimates for each of the three main Acts are the following:

• Act 1: 15-30 hours
• Act 2: 10-40 hours
• Act 3: 20-40 hours

Note that this does not include rush strategies. If you’re just trying to race through content, you will be faster than our estimated range. The sheer scope and breadth of content available in Baldur’s Gate 3 means there’s a huge amount of variance from one playthrough to the next, making any estimations of length a troublesome task. So, however long it takes to beat, the important thing is that you enjoy your experience!