# HowLongToBeat Scraper - Game Completion Times (`lulzasaur/howlongtobeat-scraper`) Actor Scrape game completion times from HowLongToBeat. Search games and get main story, extras, completionist hours with min/max/median stats, developer, publisher, platforms, genres, and community data. - **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/howlongtobeat-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community) - **Categories:** E-commerce - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $10.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## HowLongToBeat Scraper Scrape game completion times from [HowLongToBeat.com](https://howlongtobeat.com). Search for any game and get detailed completion data including main story, main + extras, completionist, and all styles times with min/max/median/average statistics. ### Features - **Search games** by name across the entire HowLongToBeat database (68,000+ games) - **Completion times** in hours: Main Story, Main + Extras, Completionist, All Styles - **Detailed stats** for each category: median, average, min, max, and poll count - **Game metadata**: developer, publisher, platforms, genres, summary, release date, Steam ID - **Community stats**: currently playing, backlog, completed, retired, review counts - **Speedrun times** with min/max/median stats - **Co-op and multiplayer** invested time averages - **Review scores** from the HLTB community ### Input | Field | Type | Description | Default | |-------|------|-------------|---------| | `searchQuery` | string | Game name to search for | (required) | | `maxResults` | integer | Maximum games to return (1-100) | 20 | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | Optional proxy settings | none | ### Example Input ```json { "searchQuery": "Elden Ring", "maxResults": 5 } ```` ### Output Each result contains: ```json { "gameId": 68151, "gameName": "Elden Ring", "gameAlias": "Elden Ring Tarnished Edition", "gameType": "game", "imageUrl": "https://howlongtobeat.com/games/68151_Elden_Ring.jpg", "developer": "FromSoftware", "publisher": "Bandai Namco Entertainment", "summary": "The Golden Order has been broken...", "platforms": "Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S", "genres": "Third-Person, Action, Open World, Role-Playing", "releaseDate": "2022-02-25", "reviewScore": 93, "steamId": 1245620, "mainStoryHours": 60, "mainPlusExtrasHours": 101.2, "completionistHours": 135.5, "allStylesHours": 105.4, "mainStory": { "averageHours": 60, "medianHours": 60, "minHours": 36.5, "maxHours": 87, "polledAvgHours": 60, "polledCount": 1693 }, "mainPlusExtras": { "averageHours": 101.2, "medianHours": 98, "minHours": 65.1, "maxHours": 239.5, "polledAvgHours": 104.4, "polledCount": 4859 }, "completionist": { "averageHours": 135.5, "medianHours": 129.3, "minHours": 92.3, "maxHours": 321.9, "polledAvgHours": 141.7, "polledCount": 3786 }, "allStyles": { "averageHours": 105.4, "medianHours": 100, "minHours": 59.2, "maxHours": 306.8, "polledAvgHours": 110.8, "polledCount": 10338 }, "speedrun": { "averageHours": 3.8, "medianHours": 3.7, "minHours": 0.9, "maxHours": 10, "polledAvgHours": 4, "polledCount": 20 }, "coopHours": 52.1, "multiplayerHours": 28, "communityStats": { "playing": 445, "backlog": 14141, "completed": 20405, "retired": 1339, "reviews": 7204, "totalSubmissions": 46516 }, "url": "https://howlongtobeat.com/game/68151", "scrapedAt": "2026-04-25T00:00:00.000Z" } ``` ### How It Works 1. Authenticates with HLTB's search token system 2. Searches for games using their internal API 3. Fetches each game's detail page to extract rich `__NEXT_DATA__` with full completion stats 4. Converts all completion times from seconds to hours 5. Outputs structured data with both quick-reference hours and detailed min/max/median breakdowns ### Use Cases - **Gaming analytics**: Compare completion times across genres, platforms, or developers - **Game recommendation engines**: Filter games by completion time to match player preferences - **Content planning**: Estimate coverage time for gaming content creators - **Backlog management**: Prioritize your gaming backlog by time investment - **Market research**: Analyze game length trends across the industry # Actor input Schema ## `searchQuery` (type: `string`): Game name to search for (e.g. "Elden Ring", "The Witcher 3", "Zelda") ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of games to return (1-100). Each game detail page is fetched for full completion stats. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Optional proxy configuration for requests ## Actor input object example ```json { "searchQuery": "Elden Ring", "maxResults": 20 } ``` # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "searchQuery": "Elden Ring" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/howlongtobeat-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "searchQuery": "Elden Ring" } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("lulzasaur/howlongtobeat-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "searchQuery": "Elden Ring" }' | apify call lulzasaur/howlongtobeat-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/howlongtobeat-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "HowLongToBeat Scraper - Game Completion Times", "description": "Scrape game completion times from HowLongToBeat. Search games and get main story, extras, completionist hours with min/max/median stats, developer, publisher, platforms, genres, and community data.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "AMysjUks2Vrm0ffo1" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/lulzasaur~howlongtobeat-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-lulzasaur-howlongtobeat-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~howlongtobeat-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-lulzasaur-howlongtobeat-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/lulzasaur~howlongtobeat-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-lulzasaur-howlongtobeat-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "searchQuery" ], "properties": { "searchQuery": { "title": "Search Query", "type": "string", "description": "Game name to search for (e.g. \"Elden Ring\", \"The Witcher 3\", \"Zelda\")" }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of games to return (1-100). Each game detail page is fetched for full completion stats.", "default": 20 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Optional proxy configuration for requests" } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```