For a standard playthrough, Map Map - A Game About Maps takes roughly 4 to 6 hours to complete. If you want to track down every optional secret—like the elusive Raven King's treasure clues—expect your completionist run to take around 7 to 9 hours. While some player reviews mention the game is a bit short, its dense, marker-free cartography puzzles pack a satisfying punch without overstaying their welcome.
If you are wondering exactly how long is Map Map game compared to other cozy indies, you aren't alone. Released in late May 2026 by developers Pipapo Games and publisher Rekoup, this charming adventure puts you in the shoes of a 12-year-old kid acting as the dedicated cartographer for a quirky crew. Traveling via a rustic floating houseboat, you are tasked with charting unknown islands to uncover the Raven King's legendary treasure. Because the game actively refuses to hold your hand with glowing waypoints, your actual playtime will heavily depend on your real-world spatial awareness and deductive reasoning.
How Long Is Map Map Game for a Standard Playthrough?
When looking at a Playtime Breakdown, the numbers are clear: a Standard Playthrough: 4 to 6 hours, while a Completionist Run: 7 to 9 hours. The Main Campaign: 6 primary islands relies entirely on your own observation because there are No Quest Markers to guide you. These are the Estimated hours based on early player reviews, as the community has collectively charted out the optimal paths through the archipelago.
Your first hour will feel relatively breezy. You land on distinctively shaped landmasses where simply matching a uniquely curved tree to the coastline is enough to progress the story. But as you push deeper into the game's later chapters, the difficulty ramps up significantly.
By the time you reach the mid-game, you aren't just eyeballing distances anymore. You are actively utilizing a compass and plotting coordinates. Because of this "thinky" puzzle design, a standard run where you focus solely on the primary crew quests will clock in right at that 5-hour mark. Players who rush and look up solutions might hit the credits faster, but rushing defeats the cozy, observational purpose of the entire experience.
| Playstyle | Estimated Playtime | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Playthrough | 4 to 6 hours | Main story quests, basic mapping, 6 primary islands |
| Main + Extras | 6 to 7 hours | Main story + solving most accessible environmental riddles |
| Completionist (100%) | 7 to 9 hours | Finding all optional treasures, mastering advanced tools |
Completionist Run: How Long Is Map Map Game if You Find Every Treasure?
For the perfectionists, the playtime extends significantly. Finding every optional treasure pushes the game into the 7 to 9 hour territory. The game doesn't just hide collectibles in bushes; it hides them behind complex environmental riddles that require you to cross-reference multiple visual clues.
Take Island 5 (the second-to-last island), for example. The Steam community forums have been flooded with players who are completely stuck looking for the final optional treasure here. To solve it, you must first Align the sticks-X marker on the high rocks. Next, you need to Locate the faded painting near the starting point. Then, Navigate toward the landmark known as the boot. Finally, Drop into the beach-side pseudo-cave to find the final treasure on Island 5.
Figuring out these multi-step orientation puzzles without looking up a YouTube walkthrough is where the bulk of your completionist hours will go. The game refuses to give you a glowing trail to follow. If you want the Raven King's treasure, you have to earn it like a real explorer.
The Arsenal of a 12-Year-Old Cartographer
Your playtime is directly tied to mastering your toolkit. You start with just a pencil and a blank parchment outline, but Pipapo Games slowly drips new mechanics that complicate the gameplay loop.
This is THE CARTOGRAPHER'S TOOLKIT, dedicated to Mastering Navigation Mechanics. You start with basic tools but soon acquire the Compass Rose, the Map Grid, and the Scale & Telescope. Eventually, you unlock The Sextant. At this stage, the gameplay ratio shifts heavily to Puzzle Difficulty: 78% / Tool Usage: 22%. It requires pure Observation and Logic. Because there is No Hand-Holding in this Thinky adventure, Every new tool adds 20 to 30 minutes of learning time.
Once you unlock the telescope and the sextant, the game transitions from a simple walking simulator into a genuine navigation challenge. You have to scan the horizon, measure the exact angle between two distant ruins, and plot intersecting lines on your map grid to find a buried secret. You are constantly learning, applying new rules, and experiencing satisfying "aha!" moments that make the hours fly by.
Why Player Reviews Ask: How Long Is Map Map Game Really?
If you browse Steam discussions or Reddit threads, you will inevitably see player reviews mentioning that the game feels a bit short. It is a natural byproduct of the game's high quality: players simply want more maps to map.
Players often ask themselves, Where is the Raven King's treasure? But because there are No quest markers here., they realize it is A thinky puzzle design. Ultimately, it delivers A concise, memorable 5 hours.
Interestingly, the conversation around the game's length was amplified by a strange controversy right before launch. A massive, globally popular gacha game introduced a limited-time cartography mini-game that heavily mirrored Map Map's core mechanics. However, that rival event was only 6 short stages long and lacked any real depth. In contrast, while Map Map might only be 5 hours long, those hours are filled with bespoke, hand-crafted puzzles rather than repetitive filler. There is no combat, no grinding for levels, and no arbitrary time-gating. It respects your time, delivering an experience that ends exactly when it should.
Comparing Playtime: Map Map vs. Other Thinky Games
If you are weighing the 4 to 6 hour playtime against the game's price tag, it helps to look at the broader landscape of indie puzzle games. Map Map was heavily featured in the Thinky Direct 2026 showcase alongside similar brain-teasers.
- Carto: Another map-manipulation game that takes roughly 5 to 7 hours to beat.
- A Monster's Expedition: A log-rolling puzzle game that takes about 8 hours for the main path.
- Paper Trail: A top-down paper-folding adventure that clocks in at around 6 hours.
When viewed in this context, the length of Map Map is perfectly industry-standard for a bespoke indie puzzle game. The developers intentionally avoided padding the experience with tedious fetch quests.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: How long is the Map Map demo? A: The widely praised Steam demo covers the introductory mechanics and the first couple of islands, taking most players about 1 to 1.5 hours to complete.
Q: Are there multiple endings in Map Map? A: No, the game features a single, heartwarming narrative conclusion surrounding the adventure crew and the Raven King's treasure, though your map's completion percentage will vary.
Q: Can you go back to previous islands? A: Yes. Your floating houseboat acts as a hub, allowing you to return to earlier islands to hunt down any optional treasures or landmarks you missed the first time around.
Q: Is Map Map worth it for its playtime? A: Absolutely. If you value quality over quantity and enjoy spatial puzzle games that require real observation and logic, the 4 to 6 hours you spend with the game are highly rewarding.
Ultimately, Map Map - A Game About Maps is exactly as long as it needs to be. It introduces a brilliant spatial puzzle concept, iterates on it with increasingly complex navigation tools, and bows out before the mechanics grow stale. Whether you spend 4 hours rushing the main islands or 9 hours hunting down the final pseudo-cave, it is a masterclass in zero-friction, high-reward game design.
Sources
- Steam Community Discussions: Map Map - A Game About Maps (May 2026)
- Thinky Games: Map Map - A Game About Maps Showcase
- Gamecity Hamburg: Prototype Funding & Release Announcements
- HowLongToBeat: Map Map: A Game About Maps Early Player Submissions