Games are a curious creation for a curious hobby. They can cost a lot (but they don’t have to, if you know where to buy them), and can last anywhere from 40 minutes to the best approximation of “forever”, depending on the specific title.
One would think that for their cost and often structured unlocking of content the completion rates would always be high, but that’s a very optimistic view of things. Indeed, many games are never finished, and some of them have a completion rate low enough that makes you wonder about people’s commitment to the core gameplay or motivation. Or their skill, as it might be.
On the list below we’ve gathered a few games with completion rates on any difficulty staying under 33%. If 2/3rds of players can’t finish the game at all, something is amiss, especially since these are really damn good games and great examples of their genres and playstyles.
| Game | Release | Genre | Developer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Elden Ring | 2022-02-25 | Action RPG | FromSoftware |
 | Minecraft Java Edition | 2013-11-19 | Action | Mojang Studios |
 | Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2019-11-05 | Adventure | Rockstar Games |
 | Doom Eternal | 2020-03-20 | Action | id Software |
 | Doom | 2016-05-12 | Action & Shooter | id Software |
 | Sekiro Shadows Die Twice Goty Edition | 2019-03-22 | Adventure | FromSoftware, Inc. |
 | Super Meat Boy | 2010-11-30 | Indie | Team Meat |
 | Xcom Enemy Unknown Complete Pack | 2012-10-11 | Strategy | Feral Interactive (Linux) |
 | Darkest Dungeon | 2016-01-19 | Indie | Red Hook Studios |
 | The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Goty Edition | 2015-05-18 | RPG | CD PROJEKT RED |
 | The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Special Edition | 2016-10-27 | RPG | Bethesda Game Studios |
 | Darksiders Warmastered Edition | 2010-09-23 | Action | Vigil Games |
 | Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition | 2015-06-23 | Action | CAPCOM CO., LTD. |
Elden Ring
| Release date: | 2022-02-25 |
| Genre: | genre |
| Developer: | FromSoftware |
| The reason you probably won’t finish it: | It’s a big game with a pretty high difficulty |
The Soulsborne games usually have fairly compartmentalized worlds, explored a chunk at a time.
Elden Ring has none of that nicety, it drops you onto a map filled with creatures who would like nothing more than to kill your Tarnished butt. You can go anywhere, as long as you can survive the journey, of course. It’s a demanding experience, and not many people played it to the end.
As a result completion rate for any of the game’s three endings are just above 25% at best, and there’s good reason to think that the other endings (their achievements sitting at 18% and 12%) are in large part done by people who’ve already gotten the most popular closure. Should you be daunted by these stats? No, in a true FromSoftware fan fashion, you should face them and beat them.
| Key Features |
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Minecraft Java Edition
| Release date: | 2013-11-19 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | Mojang Studios |
| The reason you probably won’t finish it: | Why would you even want to? |
You might be surprised to learn that technically you CAN finish Minecraft.
There is an end boss and everything, even a poem providing a somewhat bizarre narrative ending to the whole game. The thing is… the end boos is all the way over there, and you haven’t yet discovered every corner of the infinite world, and your personal zoo project still lacks some special specimens.
We’re only half-joking because there’s so much you can do in Minecraft that it might simply not occur to you that there is an ending in the first place. Just a world of building, planning, and exploring…wait, what do you mean “portal” and “another dimension”? Good grief, this game never ends, does it? Well, it does, it just doesn’t have to if you’d rather just enjoy the sandbox.
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Red Dead Redemption 2
| Release date: | 2019-11-05 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Rockstar Games |
| The reason you probably won’t finish it: | You might want to, but it’s likely you’ll get distracted by hunting, duels, taking photos… |
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game which seems fully dedicated to being an immersive Old West video game adventure.
The level of detail put into pretty much every facet of the world is staggering, from brushing your horse to casually greeting (or antagonizing) people in towns while you’re on the way to have your facial hair trimmed. Oh, and sure, there’s some bandit stuff to do yeah, fine.
RDR2 isn’t difficult, and the road to the end isn’t too turbulent (story drama aside), but the world is so vibrant, the range of just… STUFF to do is so impressive, that you might wish to ignore the story for as long as possible. And then a little bit more. Eventually, you’ll see what fate awaits your protagonist Arthur Morgan and Dutch van der Linde’s gang, but for now, there’s a top-tier deer to hunt.
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DOOM
| Release date: | 2016-05-12 |
| Genre: | Action & Shooter |
| Developer: | id Software |
| The reason you probably won’t finish it: | The bloody demonic dance floor gets too intense |
For a game as short and contained as Doom, about 11-12 hours for the core playthrough (according to HowLongToBeat.com), it’s surprising that only about 33% of people on Steam have the cheevo for beating it.
It’s probably because even the early missions can get fast and deadly, and that’s only scaling up as you go on towards the finale, and some people clearly bailed on that.
To be fair, Doom is easily good enough to play it a dozen times over, with the same level of enjoyment, without ever finishing. Brutal, but surprisingly not chaotic, combat gets the blood pumping, phenomenal soundtrack, and unexpectedly great