Torment: Tides of Numenera is a story-driven role-playing game developed by inXile Entertainment and released in 2017. It is considered a spiritual successor to the critically acclaimed 1999 game Planescape: Torment. With a heavy emphasis on narrative, character development, and complex moral choices, estimating precisely how many hours of gameplay Tides of Numenera offers can be a bit tricky.
Main Storyline
Most players who focus mainly on completing the central storyline and only some side content estimate that it takes around 25-30 hours to finish Torment: Tides of Numenera’s main quest. This would involve completing most major quests related to the primary narrative but not necessarily completing all side quests or exploring every area exhaustively. Here is a rough breakdown of the main storyline playtime:
| Act | Estimated Playtime |
| Act 1 | 7-9 hours |
| Act 2 | 6-8 hours |
| Act 3 | 6-8 hours |
| Act 4 | 4-6 hours |
| Act 5 | 2-3 hours |
So focusing mostly on the critical path through the main quests will take most players 25-30 hours. This provides enough time to experience the core story and become familiar with the world and characters, but doesn’t cover all content.
Main + Side Quests
For players wanting to complete most major side quests in addition to the main story, total playtime is estimated at around 40-50 hours. There are many optional sidequests that flesh out the world and characters, so spending time on these adds substantially more gameplay.
Here’s an overview of how long it takes to complete the main quests and most major side quests in each region:
| Area | Estimated Playtime |
| Sagus Cliffs | 10-15 hours |
| The Bloom | 8-12 hours |
| The Valley of Dead Heroes | 5-8 hours |
| Miel Avest Sanctuary | 5-7 hours |
| Oasis of M’ra Jolios | 7-10 hours |
Completing all the main quests and the majority of side quests brings the estimated playtime up to around 40-50 hours. This provides a much more complete experience of the game world and story.
Completionist Playthrough
For players wanting to complete as close to 100% of the content as possible, playtime estimates are in the range of 60-80 hours. This involves exhaustively exploring every area, completing all side quests, engaging with all characters extensively, and going through all dialog options.
Here are some estimates for how long it can take completionist players to fully clear each region:
| Area | Estimated Playtime |
| Sagus Cliffs | 15-20 hours |
| The Bloom | 10-15 hours |
| The Valley of Dead Heroes | 8-12 hours |
| Miel Avest Sanctuary | 7-10 hours |
| Oasis of M’ra Jolios | 10-15 hours |
As can be seen, a completionist playstyle that tries to do as close to everything as possible can almost double the playtime from just doing main quests. Thoroughly exploring, completing all side content, and exhausting all dialog takes the total estimated time to 60-80 hours.
Replay Value
It’s also worth noting that Torment: Tides of Numenera has considerable replay value. On a second playthrough, different choices can be made to impact the story and unlock different endings. Playing as a different class or with alternate party members also changes the experience.
Most players report putting anywhere from 10-20 hours into a second playthrough, focusing mainly on seeing how different decisions affect outcomes. Particularly on completionist playstyles, alternate paths and choices can add many hours of additional gameplay.
Conclusion
Estimating Torment: Tides of Numenera’s playtime depends heavily on playstyle. For players focusing on primarily main quests, it’s around 25-30 hours. Completing main quests and most side content extends that to 40-50 hours. And exhaustive completionist playthroughs can take from 60-80 hours or more. Additionally, replay value can add 10-20 hours seeing different narrative outcomes. So total gameplay ranges from 25 hours on abbreviated playthroughs up to 100+ hours for multiple completionist campaigns. But most players will spend around 40-60 hours on a single playthrough that does most content. With a story-driven RPG like Torment, playtime correlates closely with how thoroughly all dialog, text, choices, and side quests are engaged with.