In a new interview with Brazillian outlet Voxel, Ghost of Tsushima’s creative director (Nate Fox) stated that he believes Sucker Punch’s upcoming open-world game will be around 30-50 hours long. That falls in line with practically every other similar game on the market.

“Can players take, say, 30, 40, 50 hours if they do the optional activities? And, obviously, less than that if you stay on the main route? Is it safe to make these statements? Yes, absolutely,” Fox explained. “However, I would highly recommend that everyone get off the main route and get lost on Tsushima Island.”

Getting lost won’t be so hard to do, either. In a different interview with IGN, Fox noted that the island of Tsushima will be incredibly large. “The map we showed during the State of Play was VERY zoomed in,” Nate said. “That was just a little portion of the starting area, the actual map is huge.” That’s not exactly reassuring.

For some people, the length of a game is a pretty big factor for them when purchasing something. If you’re spending a hard-earned $60 on a two-hour-long title, it can feel like you didn’t get your money’s worth out of the game. Whether or not you believe that mentality, it is nice to know how much time you can expect to get out of the latest game before you buy it.

Still, I can’t help but be cautious about these recent comments. My biggest fear from last week’s State of Play was that Ghost of Tsushima would be needlessly padded out. 30 hours isn’t too bad for an open-world game, but hearing that the island is big, I have to wonder if the main plot is realistically 10 hours long and stretched thin.

In the race for bigger and better technology, a lot of modern game design has taken a backseat to create these ridiculously large environments. Careful level design goes out the window so that console manufacturers can boast how realistic their graphics look. It’s not simply about making a good game, but a visually impressive one.

Sucker Punch has a better track record than most, so there is still some hope. Ghost of Tsushima could be the swansong that sets us off into the next generation with aplomb, so I’m still optimistic.

Source: Voxel, WCCFTech, IGN

READ NEXT: Ghost Of Tsushima Won’t Force Players Into A Specific Playstyle