A friend of mine bought Elden Ring at launch, sank roughly 40 hours into it, then quietly shelved the whole thing. When I asked why, he never said it was too difficult. He explained that he opened the map, spotted three more regions crowded with question marks, and felt his entire weekend evaporate before he had even left the table.
That feeling is the real boss in most open world games. Not the dragon, but the sprawl, and the nagging sense that every icon is a chore you somehow owe the game.
Because I spent years grinding ranked ladders where wasted minutes meant wasted rank, I developed an early allergy to busywork. Here are the shortcuts I genuinely rely on to keep a 100-hour game feeling like a hobby instead of a second job.
1. Decide What You Are Playing For Before You Touch the Map
The biggest time sink in any open world game is doing the things you never actually wanted to do in the first place. You clear a fort, collect 12 gold and a sword worse than the one already on your back, and wonder where the entire evening went.
Before I unlock the full map, I deliberately pick one thing I am chasing. In Elden Ring that target is a specific build, while in a survival game it might be a base I am genuinely proud of. Everything that does not serve that goal becomes optional rather than mandatory.
Ask of every icon: "Does this make my main goal more fun?" If the honest answer is no, skip it without any guilt, because the game will never grade you.
This sounds obvious, yet it is the difference between a focused 30-hour run and a bloated 90-hour slog you abandon halfway through. Direction beats completion almost every single time.
2. Turn On the Quality-of-Life Settings the Game Hides From You
Modern open world games ship with a surprising number of grind-reducing options buried two menus deep, including auto-pickup, quest tracking, fast travel from anywhere, and reduced encounter rates. Most players never bother to look.
Spend ten minutes inside the settings on day one. Switch on map markers for collectibles if the game offers them, then enable subtitles and clearer waypoints so you stop wandering in circles hunting for one stubborn NPC.
While you are in there, investigate the accessibility settings every player should know about. Options like hold-versus-toggle, aim assist, and combat assists are not cheating; they simply reduce friction, and friction is exactly what turns a fun game into homework.
On platforms like the Steam Deck, tuning graphics down a notch for a stable frame rate also saves real time. A smooth game is one you keep playing, not one you abandon because traversal feels like wading through mud.
3. Batch Your Errands Instead of Backtracking
Open world games love sending you across the map for a single item and then back again for the next. If you treat each quest as a separate trip, you will burn half your playtime simply in transit.
I keep three or four quests active simultaneously and only set out when several of them point toward the same region. One loop, several objectives, and far less time spent staring at loading screens.
Think of it like running errands in your car. Nobody drives to the store, returns home, then immediately drives back out for milk. You cluster the tasks, clear the whole zone, then move on for good.
A simple loop that works
- Sort your quest log by area rather than by when you originally picked things up.
- Pick the region holding the most overlapping objectives.
- Clear it completely, sell your junk at the nearest vendor, then leave and rarely return.
4. Learn the Patterns So You Stop Repeating Fights
Nothing devours time like dying to the same enemy ten times because you are essentially guessing. Every failed attempt becomes a run back, a reload, and a depleted inventory of healing items you have to refill.
Spend two attempts watching instead of swinging, because most tough encounters are really just a short loop of tells you have not learned yet. Once you read that rhythm, the fight drops from a 20-minute wall to a two-minute formality.
If you want a proper method for this, I wrote an entire breakdown on how to read boss patterns instead of brute-forcing them. The same instinct that wins fights will also save you hours of repeated runbacks.
Do not over-level just to skip the learning. Grinding XP to trivialize a fight usually takes longer than simply learning the three moves that were beating you, because skill scales better than stats.
5. Use Fast Travel and Mounts Shamelessly
Some players treat fast travel like a moral failing and insist on riding across the entire map for "immersion." That is perfectly fine if travel is the fun part, but in most games it clearly is not.
Unlock travel points early and use them constantly. Whether the game hands you a mount, a glider, or a grappling hook, prioritize it first, because mobility is the single biggest multiplier on how much you can accomplish per session.
I think about it like queue times in competitive games. Time spent traveling is time not spent doing the thing you actually logged on for, so cut the dead air and your real playtime becomes denser and more satisfying.
6. Drop the Completionist Habit (Or Make It Pay)
The 100 percent mindset is where open world games quietly go to die. Chasing every feather, every shrine, and every radiant quest is a wonderful way to resent a game you genuinely used to love.
If clearing every icon genuinely relaxes you, then absolutely do it, because that is a valid way to play. Just be honest about whether you are enjoying the process or merely obeying a checklist the developers planted there to inflate the runtime.
This is partly a design conversation. A tight game like Hades respects your time by design, and it is worth understanding who Hades is actually for before you assume every game should sprawl. Different games want different things from you, so match your effort to the one in front of you.
Time spent versus payoff, roughly
| Activity | Rough time | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|
| Main story beats | Varies | Almost always |
| Build-defining gear hunts | 1-3 hours each | Usually yes |
| Generic camp clears | 10-20 minutes each | Only if fun |
| 100 percent collectibles | Many hours | Only if relaxing |
7. Treat Save Slots and Sessions Like a Pro
Busy players lose more time to lost progress than to almost anything else. You forget where you were, which quest you were on, and what build you were pursuing, so you waste the first twenty minutes of every session just reorienting.
Before you log off, deliberately park yourself somewhere useful, whether that is beside a vendor, a quest giver, or right outside the next objective. Future you will start playing instantly instead of squinting at a map.
Pick one goal, turn on the helpful settings, and batch your travel. Learn patterns instead of grinding, use fast travel freely, and skip the busywork that bores you. Log off somewhere useful, and a giant game stays a treat rather than a tax.
None of this is about beating the game faster purely for its own sake. It is about spending your limited hours on the parts you came for, whether that is the story, the builds, or just vibing in a pretty world with a controller in your lap.
Am I missing the point of open world games by skipping content?
No. These games are built as buffets, not exams, and the designers fully expect most players to skip plenty. Eating only what you enjoy is using the game correctly rather than breaking it.
Does using fast travel and assists make the game too easy?
It changes the texture, not the challenge. The hard part of most open world games is the combat and the decisions, not the walking, so cutting travel and friction simply gets you to the good parts faster.
How do I tell if a game respects my time before I buy it?
Read a couple of guides and walkthroughs, then watch how much they talk about padding. If reviewers keep mentioning bloat or filler, expect to lean hard on these shortcuts, while tighter games like Hades or Stardew Valley flag themselves almost immediately.
Try one of these on your next session rather than all seven at once. Pick the habit that fixes your biggest annoyance, whether that is travel, grind, or decision paralysis, and let it stick. The goal is simple: log off feeling like you played a game, not finished a shift. See you out there.
