There Are Side Quests, And Then There’s These Side Quests
Some side quests are a pleasant detour. You wander off the critical path, spend twenty minutes helping a farmer find a missing goat, and return to the main story feeling like a productive member of society. Then there are the other kinds: sprawling, multi-session questlines that developers clearly designed to consume you whole. These aren’t random map markers or simple collectible laps; they’re named, scripted, fully realized chains that demand travel across entire regions, multiple hard fights, and the occasional willingness to lose a weekend to something that technically has nothing to do with saving the world.
1. Epsilon Program Missions, Grand Theft Auto V
Michael’s Epsilon eight-mission chain has you taking “tests,” hunting down Epsilon tracts, stealing specific vehicles, and eventually running an absurd desert delivery that dares you to quit near the finish line. Budget about one to two hours of active mission time.
2. Ranni The Witch Questline, Elden Ring
Ranni’s quest is a parallel campaign that sends you from Liurnia to underground cities, then onward through key bosses and late-game zones with very little handholding. You’ll be tracking down allies, hunting specific items, and pushing through major fights before the chain finally pays off with story and ending access.
3. Touching The Sky, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
This Dawnguard quest drags you through Darkfall Passage, then drops you into the Forgotten Vale. The mission goal is simple on paper, but the path to Auriel’s Bow is long, layered, and easy to stretch out if you explore all the side nooks.
4. The Aranyaka World Quest Chain, Genshin Impact
Aranyaka is the Sumeru rainforest saga that consists of a chain of linked quests that ask you to bounce between hidden areas, story beats, and unlockable map sections. Players commonly report 13+ hours even when they’re trying to stay on task.
5. Life In The Sands, NieR Replicant
This infamous quest turns the simple act of gardening into something much more tedious, with progress tied to crossbreeding moonflowers. You’ll be planting, waiting for growth cycles, harvesting, then repeating the process until the game finally gives you what it wants.
6. Blood And Wine, The Witcher 3
The Blood and Wine comes with its own region, central mystery, and enough quests to feel like a full second season. A thorough run commonly lasts around 25 to 30 hours, even if you’re not poking through every nook and cranny.
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe on Wikimedia
7. Still In The Dark, Fallout: New Vegas
The Brotherhood of Steel quest “Still in the Dark” is a slow burn that sends you into multiple locations for scouting and tech retrieval. A clean run is usually three to five hours, and it can go longer if you’re juggling combat difficulty or route planning.
8. Bounty Hunt: Adamantoise, Final Fantasy XV
The Adamantoise hunt asks you to spend time setting up your gear and strategy, then to settle in for a long battle. Many players still clock the fight itself at around 45 minutes to one hour, and the dev team has even talked in the past about versions that were meant to take vastly longer.
KniBaron from Bangkok, Thailand on Wikimedia
9. Cain's Bounty Hunter Line, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
This side chain turns you into a planet-hopping hunter as you track down a full set of bounty targets. There are 16 bounties to clear, and most players spend three to six hours wrapping the whole pursuit, depending on travel efficiency and combat difficulty.
10. Flames Of Ambition, The Elder Scrolls Online
Flames of Ambition is technically a dungeon pack, which means the “questline” is really two substantial group dungeons with a story attached. You’ll run Black Drake Villa and The Cauldron, each with bosses, mechanics, and the usual MMO habit of turning a simple objective into a full evening of play.
11. Fangs Of The Father, World Of Warcraft
This legendary rogue dagger questline requires you to repeat clears, gather required drops, and watch the calendar become part of your build plan. Even in its original context, it was discussed as taking at least eight weeks, and modern completion routes can still stretch toward months if you’re grinding it on weekly schedules.
12. Real Estate Royale, Yakuza 0
Real Estate Royale turns Kiryu into a property empire manager who has to climb through districts, upgrade holdings, and take on the Five Billionaires as the story escalates. Most players end up spending five to 10 hours to see it through.
Asdasd123asdasd123 on Wikimedia
13. Biker Gang School Story, Lost Judgment
The Biker Gang story ropes Yagami into infiltrating a crew through races, fights, and a chain structure broken into five parts, with progress that gets locked behind main story chapters. You’ll be building up your standing, taking down rival groups, and returning when the game decides you’ve earned the next step.
Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
14. Between Two Worlds, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
This is the mythology-heavy arc where you chase artifacts, dive into tombs, and eventually take on four mythical creature fights tied to unlocking deeper story content. It’s travel-heavy by design, with long rides between regions and enough combat spikes to slow down anyone who walks in under-leveled.
PantheraLeo1359531 on Wikimedia
15. Blades Dragon Hunting Loop, Skyrim
This quest points you to a set of dragon locations spread across the map, and the total count rises with additional content installed. Clearing a big chunk of lairs can easily run three to six hours, even before you admit you’re doing it for fun.
16. Crimson Fleet Faction Questline, Starfield
This arc plays like a full undercover story where you’re working the pirate angle while reporting back to SysDef, and it keeps expanding as each mission reveals another layer. A complete run commonly lasts around eight to 12 hours, and full playthroughs of the questline alone have been captured at roughly four hours.
17. Guardians Of The Dream Campaign, World Of Warcraft
The Emerald Dream campaign is structured in chapters, and it originally rolled out with only part of the story available up front, while later chapters arrived over time. The full campaign has six chapters, and clearing it end-to-end usually takes three to five hours of active questing once all chapters are available.
18. In The Wake Of Narcissus, Genshin Impact
This is the grand finale to Fontaine’s Narzissenkreuz storyline, and it plays like a long, puzzle-heavy quest series with multiple acts and a lot of moving parts. A straight run of the quest itself often lasts around one hour, even before you count the prerequisite chains that unlock it.
19. God Of Secrets, Dragon Age: Inquisition
This quest centers on the Lost Temple of Dirthamen, where progress comes from gathering ritual components, solving the temple’s internal logic, and then pushing through a capstone fight. Most players finish it in one to two hours, with the longer end reserved for anyone who loves checking every corner for loot.
greyloch from Washington, DC, area, U.S.A. on Wikimedia
20. Shores Of Gold Tall Tales, Sea Of Thieves
If you commit to the full Shores of Gold Tall Tales arc, you’re signing up for a nine-part journey that sends you sailing across the map for riddles, artifacts, and multi-step island sequences. Many groups report two to three hours per tale, or around 18 to 27 hours if you do it all.
