How Long is New Pokémon Snap?

Arcade-style rail shooters have never been an especially girthy genre of game. They’re all about linear progression, after all; point A, point B, shoot everything in between. The real longevity comes from repeated runs in pursuit of a higher score and secret stuff. The same is true for New Pokémon Snap, even if it trades out a pistol for a digital camera. So, how long is New Pokémon Snap?

Professor Mirror’s ecological survey of the Lental region comprises 23 different courses across multiple islands and biomes. This includes both daytime and nighttime variations of many of these courses, which house different discoveries and Pokémon to take pictures of. Because every course also has its own research level, which further develops the courses with new Pokémon appearances and branching paths, it could be said that each course is like multiple courses in one. 

How Long is New Pokémon Snap?

If your focus is exclusively on finishing the game’s story with the bare minimum of effort, you’re probably looking at a good 10 hours of gameplay. However, if you’re having as much fun with this game as I am, you probably won’t be satisfied with the bare minimum. The number of times you’ll need to rerun the courses in order to get pictures of all 200 Pokémon in the game, not to mention all four of their unique behaviors, as well as snapping specific photos to complete the game’s over 100 LenTalk requests, will all heavily contribute to the game’s longevity.

Factoring all that stuff in, you’re looking at another 5 hours of gameplay at the absolute least, most likely more if you really throw yourself into the process and try to get the best possible photos with the highest possible scores. The original Pokémon Snap had a heavy emphasis on replayability as well, so this isn’t that unusual. I have a feeling people will still be playing this game for months on end.