How long to beat MGS4: Guns of the Patriots

Around 18-20 hours for the main story, roughly 25 hours if you poke at the extras, and 35-40 hours for a full 100% run. The Master Collection Version is the same game as the 2008 original, so the long-standing community numbers carry straight over.

Play style	Time
Main story only	18-20 hours
Main + extras	~25 hours
100% completionist	35-40 hours

Why it feels longer than the numbers

• The cutscenes are a thing of their own. MGS4 is famous (or infamous) for its movie-length cinematics — the final stretch alone is routinely cited as one of the longest in gaming history. A no-skip playthrough includes a couple of hours of pure cinema.
• Five acts, big swings in pace. The campaign is split into five acts that bounce between stealth corridors, on-rails sections and open battlefields, so playtime varies a lot by play style. Aggressive runs go faster than ghost runs.
• Stealth means retries. The classic Metal Gear fail-and-retry rhythm injects real time. First-timers shouldn't bank on the low end of that range.

What counts as "100%"

Beyond the story there's the iconic item grind: all weapons and camos (including the sneaking suit), the flashback triggers tied to MGS trilogy knowledge, and the emblems tied to play style — no kills, no alerts, no continues. The full emblem list is where those extra 15+ hours go. On the Master Collection Version you also have Steam achievements chasing on top.