You’re staring at that gorgeous, spooky box art—or maybe the digital icon on your Switch home screen—and wondering if you should cancel your weekend plans. It's a fair question. Nobody wants to dive into a game only to realize it’s a forty-hour slog when they only had ten hours of free time. How long is Luigi's Mansion 3? Well, the short answer is that it's the beefiest entry in the series, but that doesn't mean it'll eat up your entire month.
Honestly, the Last Resort Hotel is huge. Like, surprisingly huge. If you’re just trying to save Mario and the gang and get out of there, you’re looking at a much different clock than the person who needs to vacuum every single loose grain of sand in the Tomb Suites.
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The Baseline: Just the Story
Most players are going to land somewhere in the 13 to 15-hour range for a standard playthrough.
That’s if you’re moving at a steady clip. You aren't ignoring the ghosts, but you aren't exactly hunting down every hidden Boo either. You’ll clear the 17 floors, beat the bosses, and see the credits roll. It’s a perfect "long weekend" game. If you’re a veteran of the GameCube original, this might feel massive compared to that game's brisk 6-hour runtime. Nintendo and Next Level Games really leaned into the "more is more" philosophy here.
But here’s the thing. This game is dense.
It’s not an open world, but each floor is its own self-contained ecosystem. You might spend forty minutes just messing with the physics in the kitchen because it feels so good to watch the watermelons explode. Or maybe you get stuck on a puzzle in the Twisted Suites for an hour because you forgot Gooigi can walk through bars. Those little moments add up. If you're someone who likes to poke around, expect that 15 hours to creep closer to 18.
How Long is Luigi's Mansion 3 if You Want 100%?
If you’re a completionist, God help you.
I mean that in the best way possible. Getting every single gem and capturing every Boo pushes the playtime significantly higher. We’re talking 22 to 25 hours.
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There are six gems on every floor. Some are easy—just vacuum a curtain and there it is. Others require a level of "big brain" puzzle solving that involves backtracking or using Gooigi in ways the game barely explains. Then there are the Boos. You have to hunt them down by tracking the vibration in your controller (or the visual cues if you're on a Lite). It’s a process.
The Collectible Grind
Let’s talk about those achievements. The game has a whole list of "Special Missions" or achievements tucked away in the logbook. Some are simple, like defeating a certain number of ghosts. Others require you to find specific golden ghosts or perform certain environmental interactions that are incredibly easy to miss. If you are going for the gold rank on your end-game report card, you’re looking at a serious time commitment.
It’s not just about the hours; it’s about the focus. You have to be willing to revisit floors you've already cleared.
Why the Multiplayer Changes the Math
ScareScraper is the wild card here.
If you venture into the online or local multiplayer modes, the question of "how long" becomes irrelevant because it's technically infinite. A single run of ScareScraper (5 or 10 floors) takes about 20 to 40 minutes depending on the skill of your team. If you get addicted to the loop of clearing rooms and fighting the bosses at the top, you could easily sink another 50 hours into this game without even touching the story mode again.
ScreamPark is different. It’s a collection of mini-games. It’s fun for a party, but it’s not where the meat of the game is. You’ll spend maybe two hours there across the life of the game unless you have a very competitive group of friends who really like shooting ghosts with cannons.
The "Stuck" Factor: What Slows You Down
What actually eats your time in this game? It’s rarely the combat. The ghosts aren't usually that hard once you learn the "slam" mechanic.
The real time-sink is the environmental puzzles. Luigi's Mansion 3 loves to hide progress behind a mechanic you haven't used in three floors. You’ll stand in a room for ten minutes blowing air at a fan wondering why nothing is happening, only to realize you needed to flash your Strobulb at a tiny green light in the corner.
Specific floors are also notorious for padding the time:
- The Boilerworks: Lots of back-and-forth and navigation puzzles.
- Tomb Suites: The puzzles here are multi-layered and can be frustrating if you don't spot a hidden lever.
- Paranormal Productions: This floor is brilliant, but it requires you to understand a "movie set" logic that can take a minute to click.
Comparing the Trilogy
It’s wild to see how much this series has grown.
The first Luigi's Mansion on GameCube was basically a tech demo that lasted 6 hours. Dark Moon (the second one) on the 3DS was about 12-14 hours but felt longer because of its mission-based structure.
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Luigi's Mansion 3 is easily the longest. It feels like a "full" console experience. It doesn't have the repetitive "go back to the lab" interruptions that Dark Moon had, which makes the pacing feel much more natural. You just keep going up. Higher and higher.
Final Practical Breakdown
To make it simple, here is how you should plan your schedule:
If you are a Speedrunner or Rusher, you can probably blitz through the main path in 10 hours, but you'll miss the soul of the game. You'll be underpowered and probably frustrated by the final boss.
The Average Gamer who wants to enjoy the atmosphere and find a few gems should plan for 14-16 hours. This allows for some light exploration without getting bogged down in the minutiae.
The Completionist who wants every gem, every Boo, and the "Rank A" hotel at the end needs to set aside at least 25 hours.
Pro Tip for saving time: Don't obsess over gems on your first pass through a floor. Some gems are actually easier to get once you have more practice with the mechanics or after you've cleared the "boss" of that floor. You can always use the elevator to go back. Also, buy the "Gem Finder" and "Boo Finder" cartridges from E. Gadd’s shop if you’re struggling. They save hours of aimless vacuuming.
The game is a masterpiece of animation and charm. Whether it takes you 12 hours or 30, the level of detail in every room makes it feel like time well spent. Just remember to use Gooigi. Seriously. Half the time people get "stuck," it's because they forgot the green guy can slide through vents.
Next Steps for Your Playthrough
Before you start, check your controller's drift. Since the game relies heavily on precise aiming with the Poltergust G-00, a drifting joy-con will turn a 15-hour romp into a 20-hour nightmare of missed shots. If you're going for 100%, start collecting gold immediately. You'll need it to buy the finder items from the shop, which are essential for locating the more obscure Boos without spending hours wandering hall-to-hall.