Dying Light: The Beast takes around 20 hours to beat if you focus mainly on the story, and roughly 40–50 hours if you add a good chunk of side content and exploration.

Main Story Length

Most recent guides and previews agree on a core story length of about 18–20 hours for an average player who sticks largely to the main quests.

On higher difficulties or if you take more time looting, crafting, and sneaking, that can stretch closer to 25–30 hours.

With Side Quests and Extras

If you mix in side missions and some exploration, expect your playthrough to land in the 30–40 hour range.

Players and outlets that clear most side content plus some collectibles typically report totals closer to 40–50 hours.

100% Completion Estimates

Going for full completion (story, all side quests, safe zones, weapon blueprints, and most collectibles) is generally estimated at about 45–60 hours , depending on how thorough you are.

Some guides frame it as around 50 hours for practical 100% if you are actively hunting everything rather than casually cleaning up.

Quick HTML Table: Playtime Breakdown

[7][1][3][6] [9][3][6][2] [3][5][6] [5][6][2][3]
Playstyle Estimated Time Notes
Main story only 18–20 hours Average difficulty, minimal side quests.
Story + some side content 30–40 hours Mix of quests, exploration, light collectible hunting.
Story + most side content 40–50 hours Clearing many side quests and optional objectives.
Near-100% completion 45–60 hours Most or all quests, safe zones, collectibles, and extras.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.

TL;DR: Plan for ~20 hours if you mainline the story, and up to ~50–60 hours if you want to do almost everything.