How long is ‘The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR?’

The newest entry in The Dark Pictures franchise is here with the release of The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, which was developed by Supermassive Games for the PlayStation VR2. The game is an on-rail shooter where you battle your way through iconic locations from The Dark Pictures Anthology and shoot at everything from zombies to rats. You can read our review of the title here.

As it is a VR game, you might be wondering exactly how long it is. After all, virtual reality isn’t really designed to where for a long time, so most VR games that focus on a narrative don’t end up being too long. With four main worlds and 10 stages, let’s take a look at the length of Switchback VR.

How long does it take to beat The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR?

It will take you roughly four to six hours to reach the credits for The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR. Each of the game’s 10 levels runs for at least 20-30 minutes, and the clock will obviously tick up if you manage to die a lot. The game is fairly easy on Survivor difficulty, the game’s version of normal difficulty, so you shouldn’t be dying too much. That being said, you could go through and replay the levels to try and beat your high score once you beat the game, or you could try again on a harder difficulty level. Completionists will need to play the game for much longer to earn the platinum trophy, as there are multiple trophies that require the player to make different choices throughout the game, requiring separate playthroughs. 

There are four survivors you will need to rescue in each world, and doing so earns you a trophy. But, both abandoning them and killing them also earns you a separate trophy each so you will be looking at, at least, three different playthroughs, bringing the time to full completion up to about 12-14 hours. There is also a trophy that you can earn for beating the game without dying, so you might be spending a lot of time trying to do that as well. 

This isn’t too different from some other linear VR games, albeit most of them will have some kind of sandbox arena mode that you can replay over and over again. Because the 10 levels take place in different worlds the game is pretty well-paced, so the four to six hours to beat the game might go by over a couple of play sessions.

You can check out The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR on PlayStation 5 with PlayStation VR2.