The main story of Mad Max the game takes about 20-30 hours to complete. Completing everything, including side missions and challenges, can easily push playtime to 50+ hours.
You’re staring down the wasteland, engine revving, and the question pops into your head – how long is Mad Max the game? It’s a fair query, given the vast open-world before you. You want to know how much time you should set aside for this brutal adventure.
The game provides a solid narrative experience. The core storyline will occupy a good chunk of your gaming sessions. Plus, the world teems with side activities.
It’s not a sprint, more like a marathon of vehicular mayhem and scavenging. So, get ready for the long haul if you want to see and do everything this post-apocalyptic playground offers.
How Long Is Mad Max The Game? A Deep Dive into Wasteland Playtime
So, you’re itching to roam the desolate wasteland of Mad Max, huh? That’s fantastic! Before you dive headfirst into the gritty world of vehicular combat and scavenging, you’re probably wondering: “Just how long will this adventure last?” That’s a really good question, and it’s one we’re going to tackle head-on. The playtime for Mad Max can vary quite a bit depending on how you play. We’ll break down all the factors so you know what to expect before you rev your engine.
Main Story Length: The Fury Road of Missions
The core of Mad Max is its main story. This is where Max’s personal journey unfolds as he tries to find peace, build his legendary car (the Magnum Opus), and take on the tyrannical Scrotus and his band of War Boys. If you focus primarily on following the main story missions, you’re looking at a playtime of approximately 20 to 25 hours. This is a reasonable estimate for most players going at a steady pace. That is, if you are completing the main missions and not going for too much side quests. But of course this is just an approximation. if you are very good at combat and quick at figuring out puzzles, then you can beat it even quicker than that. Or if you are getting used to the combat, then it might take you a little more time to complete this main campaign.
Factors Affecting Main Story Completion Time
- Difficulty Level: Playing on harder difficulty settings means enemies hit harder and have more health. This will, naturally, increase the time it takes to complete each fight and thus extend your total play time.
- Skill at Combat: If you are a pro at hand-to-hand combat and vehicular battles, you will progress more quickly through story missions than someone who struggles with these aspects.
- Familiarity with Game Mechanics: If you understand how to use the car’s upgrades and Max’s abilities, you can efficiently move forward with the story. Someone new to the game may need more time to adjust.
Beyond the Main Road: Side Missions and Activities
Mad Max is not just about the central narrative. The wasteland is filled with a variety of side activities, such as capturing enemy outposts, clearing camps, participating in death races, and finding scrap to improve your car. If you are the sort of player who likes to complete most of the side content available, then you will be playing this game a significantly longer time. This is where the real fun is, for a lot of people. This extra content can easily double, or even triple your play time depending on your play style.
Types of Side Activities and Their Time Investment
Clearing Camps and Outposts
The world map is dotted with various Scrotus camps and outposts. Taking over these locations gives you important resources, reduces enemy presence in the area, and makes traveling safer. Clearing all of these can take a considerable amount of time, especially if you prefer stealth and take your time to plan out your attacks. There’s a fair amount to clear here, so if you try to take over each camp in each region, you will spend considerable amount of time in game.
Scavenging and Scrap Collecting
Scrap is a valuable resource used to upgrade your car and Max’s abilities. You can find it scattered all over the map, in abandoned buildings and vehicles, as well as in camps and convoys. If you are a completionist, searching every nook and cranny of the game world for every piece of scrap, you’ll easily add many hours to your overall time.
Death Races and Vehicle Combat
The wasteland offers numerous opportunities for vehicular mayhem. You can participate in races where you need to fight off other cars as you compete to reach the finish line. There are also death races where the goal is to just survive. These are great fun but can take time, and a lot of retries, to get through, especially as the difficulty increases. Completing all of the race objectives can take around five hours, if not more.
Convoys
Sometimes, convoys carrying valuable loot travel through the wasteland. Chasing down and destroying the convoy is a fun side activity and also rewarding. There is a great feeling of achievement once you manage to destroy these behemoths. However these events can sometimes take a lot of retries if your car isn’t upgraded, or if you are not good at vehicular combat.
Challenges and Collectibles
The game has various challenges to complete, such as destroying certain numbers of vehicles or performing special moves. There are also collectibles to find, like history relics and project parts, which give you story or character information, and help upgrade your strongholds. Trying to do all of these will add significant time to your playing. It depends if you are a completionist or just trying to get the main content done. if you are a completionist, then you will surely spend a lot of time with these side objectives.
Completionist Playthrough: Going the Extra Mile
So what about someone who wants to see and do absolutely everything in Mad Max? If you’re aiming to complete every side activity, grab every collectible, fully upgrade Max and the Magnum Opus, and complete all challenges, then you are in for a long ride. A completionist run of Mad Max can easily take 50-60 hours, or even more, depending on your efficiency and skill level. If you are someone who likes to explore every part of the map and collect every item, then you may even reach the mark of 70 or more hours.
What a Completionist Playthrough Entails
- Clearing all camps and outposts: This means taking down every single enemy stronghold on the map.
- Completing all side missions and challenges: This is every single side objective including the death races, scavenge locations, and killing convoys.
- Collecting all historical relics and project parts: This involves exploring every single corner of the map in search for these hidden objects.
- Upgrading Max and the Magnum Opus fully: This will take a lot of resources and playing, so you will be spending a lot of time in game if you are aiming for maxing out everything.
- Unlocking all achievements/trophies: For trophy hunters, this will involve going the extra mile to complete all challenges necessary to get 100%.
Gameplay Style and Its Impact on Playtime
Your personal playing style is a big factor in determining the amount of time you spend in the game. Are you a methodical player who likes to take their time, or do you prefer to rush through the story? This preference will make a big difference. Lets break it down a little:
Rushing Through the Main Story
If you are primarily focused on getting to the end of the main story as quickly as possible, skipping most side content, you can expect to finish the game within 20 to 25 hours. This means minimizing exploration and only engaging in essential combat encounters, or if the side objective is very useful for the main story. This method will get you to the end of the game, but you’ll definitely miss a lot of the content and enjoyment of the game.
Exploratory and Completionist Play Styles
If you like to explore every nook and cranny and enjoy doing side objectives, then you will be spending a lot more time. Players who like to complete all side content will easily put 50-60 hours into the game, or even more. The open world of Mad Max is quite vast and offers lots of places to explore, so you will be spending a lot of time in the wasteland. The freedom to roam around will let you have a lot of fun exploring all the locations.
Combat-Focused Play Style
If you love the combat system and tend to engage in more combat encounters, whether its hand to hand or vehicular combat, you will also spend more time in the game. This is because you will be looking for more fights and engaging the enemies, leading you to spend more time playing the game. But if you are a skilled player who likes combat, then you will spend less time dying and trying to restart the same fights, which will also lead to saving a lot of time.
Replayability: Is There More to Do After Finishing the Game?
Even after finishing the main story, Mad Max has some replay value. The world remains open, allowing you to complete any side content you might have missed. You can also explore different playing styles. You could try a second playthrough focusing only on vehicle combat, or go on a stealth playthrough and try to take over all camps without raising any alarms. Or you could even play on a harder difficulty to challenge yourself. However, there isn’t a new game plus mode, so if you want to redo story, then you will be starting everything from scratch, but at least you will be a more experienced player at this point.
Factors Influencing Replayability
- Uncompleted Side Content: If you skipped most side content during your first playthrough, then there’s plenty to do in the open world afterwards.
- Exploring Different Builds: You can upgrade the Magnum Opus in a lot of ways, so you can try out different builds to find your favourite.
- Trying Different Difficulty Levels: Playing on a harder difficulty can provide a fresh challenge, pushing your skills and testing your knowledge of the game.
- Free Roaming and Experimentation: The open world allows you to try out different combat styles, experimenting with weapons and different approaches to tackling camps.
In conclusion, Mad Max offers a lot of content and play time, whether you are interested in doing just the main story, or completing everything. The main story alone can last around 20 to 25 hours. But those that enjoy exploring the vast world and completing side activities can easily get 50 or more hours of play time.
I Tried 'Mad Max' Again After 8 Years…
Final Thoughts
A typical playthrough of Mad Max requires about 20-30 hours. Completing all side activities and exploring the map thoroughly pushes the game length to 40-50 hours. This completionist approach allows a player to experience all that the world offers.
So, how long is Mad Max the game? Players primarily focused on the main storyline can expect a 20-30 hour experience. Exploring, collecting, and tackling every challenge means more gameplay. The total time really depends on your personal play style.



