How Long to Beat All Hail the Orb: Story, 100%, Routes

Updated 2026-10-15: Replaced our earlier route estimates with HowLongToBeat's submitted times, refreshed the PlayTracker averages, and removed a frame-rate figure and a pre-hotfix achievement rule we could not source.

TL;DR: The story takes about 4 hours on HowLongToBeat, and a full 46-achievement run about 5. Since the April 26 Hotfix #2 you can keep playing after the ending, so nothing is permanently missable.

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How long to beat All Hail the Orb? (quick answer)

The spread is narrow. Rushed main-story runs on HowLongToBeat average about three and a half hours, the fastest PC submission is 3 hours, and leisurely completionists land closer to 7. The PC sample is small (dozens of submissions, most of them completionist runs), so treat these as a guide rather than a guarantee.

Current status: October 2026

All Hail the Orb released on April 20, 2026 and has 46 Steam achievements. The official news feed records Hotfix #2, "The Devotion Continues," on April 26, which added post-story play, then Hotfix #3 on April 30 with a cloud-save overhaul and a fix for the chest softlock that could stop you finishing the final Obelisk, and Hotfix #4 on July 6 for localisation. The official achievement list is the source of truth for the completion count.

Key takeaways

• Main story: an evening, by HowLongToBeat's count
• All 46 achievements: about an hour more, or a few hours more at a relaxed pace
• PlayTracker average across all owners: about five hours, with a lower median
• The average owner earns about half the achievements
• Since Hotfix #2, the ending no longer locks you out of missed achievements

How long is the main story?

The story runs through the Obelisk stages: the achievement list tracks five numbered stages and a final one, and "The End...?" unlocks when you complete that final stage. Everything between the opening click and that moment is the main run: recruit cultists, build the automation chain, explore dungeon rooms, and push your resources high enough to feed each stage.

HowLongToBeat's main-story submissions average just under four hours, with a median a little above it. Rushed runs come in around three and a half. If you read every line of dialogue and let the automation run while you poke around, plan on the upper end.

Duuro Plays, reviewing it on a ROG Xbox Ally X in launch week, finished in "two long sittings" and wrote that "Steam says I spent 6.6 hours with it." That's a launch-build playthrough before post-story play existed, so it's a fair picture of a thorough first run rather than a speedrun.

The dungeon map opens up room by room. A few achievements have no public description, so rooms you skip on the way to the Obelisk are where cleanup time comes from. (Screenshot: All Hail the Orb, LeGingerDev)

GODEEPER: The automation chain is more nuanced than it looks once you hit the mid-dungeon stage. All Hail the Orb Tips Guide: 100% Completion →

The two 100% routes (post-April 26 Hotfix #2)

Before April 26, the game ended once you completed the story, and there was no way back in for an achievement you'd missed. Hotfix #2, titled "The Devotion Continues," changed the end game: you can now keep playing as normal after the story and pick up what's left.

That leaves two ways to clear the list:

Route A: plan achievements during the main run Check the list before you start and pick up milestones as you pass them. This is the route HowLongToBeat's completionist figure mostly reflects. Read the All Hail the Orb achievement guide first so you know which unlocks need deliberate action and which fill in through normal play.

Route B: story first, cleanup after Finish the story without worrying about achievements, then use post-story play to mop up. Lower stress, more time: expect to land nearer HowLongToBeat's leisure completionist pace of about 7 hours.

If you've already finished the story, Route B is your only path. If you haven't started yet, Route A is the quicker way to a full completion.

GODEEPER: Understanding the ending before you reach it helps with achievement routing. All Hail the Orb Ending Explained: What Happens After →

What the average player actually does

PlayTracker estimates about 101,000 players. Its averages: 4.9 hours of total playtime, a median of 4.4 hours, and 23.7 achievements out of 46.

That median sitting above HowLongToBeat's main-story time while the average owner holds only about half the list tells you how most people play: they finish, or nearly finish, the story and stop. The Steam list explains why the second half is slower. The early unlocks are Devotion milestones (100, 1k, 10k, 100k, 1M) and the first Obelisk stages, which arrive as you play. Later ones ask for 25M and 75M Gold, 4K Duckinite Ore, 400K Knowledge, 50 ducks and all 9 Alchemy recipes, plus five with no public description.

If you're reading this, you're probably not the average player. Knowing that split helps you plan your run before you start rather than react to it after.

Orb Mastery runs on its own counter in the trophy chamber. On the Steam side, the late Gold, Ore and Alchemy goals are what separate a story run from a full completion. (Screenshot: All Hail the Orb, LeGingerDev)

Performance on the late game

Duuro Plays hit slowdown on the ROG Xbox Ally X: once particles and streaming resources piled up, "frame rate could absolutely crawl." Hotfix #2 added a setting to toggle all major particles on and off for exactly that late-game case, and Hotfix #3 added another round of performance work on the Chasm area.

Neither changes completion time, but on a handheld they change whether the last stretch feels smooth.

Step-by-Step

1. Read the achievement guide before starting and note the five achievements with no public description.
2. Let the Devotion and Life Essence milestones come naturally; they unlock as you play.
3. When dungeon exploration opens up, go wide before following the Obelisk path. The slow late goals (Gold, Duckinite Ore, Knowledge, Alchemy) are easier to finish if you start on them before the final stage.
4. Before triggering the final Obelisk stage, check your achievement count against the list.
5. Post-story cleanup is a real fallback, but using it as your main plan adds time.

Tips

Find the duck early. The All Hail the Orb tips guide has the location, and the duck achievements (first duck, 20 ducks, 50 ducks) run through the whole game.

On a handheld or older PC, turn on the particle toggle from Hotfix #2 before the late game. It won't save time directly, but a smoother frame rate makes the long automation stretch easier to sit through.

Don't treat the dungeon map as optional. Treating it as optional and planning to clean up after the Obelisk is fine since Hotfix #2, but it costs real time.

At $6.99 for about four hours, whether it's "too short" depends on how you value your time. It's roughly a movie ticket: same price, about the same length, and it either lands for you or it doesn't.

Hotfix #2 changes how you should plan your run. Before it, the choice was binary: chase achievements during your run or accept you'd miss some forever. Now there's a third option: finish the story, take a break, come back for cleanup. That's the path most casual completionists should pick. It's slower in raw hours, but mentally easier than juggling a checklist while the Devotion counter climbs.

If you're aiming for all 46, the resource milestones are what quietly anchor your pace. Gold tops out at 75M, Knowledge at 400K, Duckinite Ore at 4K and Life Essence at 100k. Glance at those counters as the automation runs so you know which one is lagging before you reach the final Obelisk stage.

Related Reading

• All Hail the Orb Complete Guide 2026: Hub for alchemy, automation, secrets, endings, and achievement tips.
• All Hail the Orb Best Build Guide
• All Hail the Orb Tier List: Best Unlocks
• Mina the Hollower How Long to Beat? 20-30 Hours (2026): A longer comparison for story and completion time.
• Fatekeeper How Long to Beat: 2 Hours Now, 15 Planned: Another short-form completion-time comparison.
• All Hail the Orb Secrets: Hidden Rooms, Duck, Alchemy: Hidden rooms, the duck, and alchemy.
• All Hail the Orb Review: A Short, Cheerful Cult Classic: The broader review of the clicker and dungeon loop.
• All Hail the Orb Stamina Guide: Super Beds Explained 2026: How stamina changes cultist output.
• All Hail the Orb Obelisk Guide: Stages and When to Advance: When to advance the Obelisk.

References

• All Hail the Orb on Steam
• All Hail the Orb official announcements: Hotfix #2 post-story play, Hotfix #3 save fixes
• All Hail the Orb Steam achievements: official 46-achievement list
• HowLongToBeat: All Hail the Orb
• PlayTracker Insight: All Hail the Orb
• Duuro Plays: All Hail the Orb review (ROG Xbox Ally X)

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How long does it take to beat All Hail the Orb? A: HowLongToBeat lists the main story at about 4 hours, with rushed players finishing in about 3½ and the fastest submitted run at 3.

Q: How long to 100% All Hail the Orb? A: HowLongToBeat lists completionist runs at about 5 hours, and leisurely completionists take closer to 7. Since Hotfix #2 on April 26 you can keep playing after the ending to pick up missed achievements.

Q: Can you miss achievements permanently in All Hail the Orb? A: Not anymore. Before Hotfix #2 on April 26, finishing the story ended the game and you could not go back for missed achievements. The hotfix changed the end game so you can continue playing and collect them after the story.

Q: Is All Hail the Orb worth 100%? A: Yes, if you enjoy clicker and idle games. All 46 achievements fit in a single save, most are resource and Obelisk-stage milestones you reach by playing normally, and the post-story mode removes the pressure of missing one.

Q: Does All Hail the Orb have New Game Plus? A: No New Game Plus mode is listed. Hotfix #2 added post-story play, which lets you keep going after the ending, but it is not a replay with carry-over.

Q: What is the average playtime for All Hail the Orb? A: PlayTracker estimates about 101,000 players, with an average total playtime of 4.9 hours, a median of 4.4 hours and about 24 of the 46 achievements earned on average.

Q: How many achievements are in All Hail the Orb? A: All Hail the Orb has 46 Steam achievements. Most track Devotion, Life Essence, Gold, Knowledge and Duckinite Ore milestones or Obelisk stages; five have no public description, and none are permanently missable since Hotfix #2.