How long is this game and are there ways to speed up the process?

[Doctor Fetus]

I spent more than 25 hours and I still feel very far away from beating the game. I Just gathered all lvl 2 chips and came to search for the first lvl 3, and Oh God, bases now have 10 floors and not 5. I like this game but it gets very grindy and repetitive. So:

How long is this game in average (I play on normal btw)?

Is it mandatory to clear all floors and all bases fully?

How can I speed up the process? Should I stick to a shotgun, get a lot of grenades or maybe snt else?

Please no spoilers if possible!

[Krolik Bunny]

You need T4 cheaps and game will end pretty fast after dat , that's all.

[Morphic]

Well it kinda depends on general playstyle and whether you want to "actually enjoy" the game or "just finish" the game.(You could theorectically "beat" the game in about ~10 hours)

You don't have to clear every single Floor. Honestly you shouldn't even worry about killing stuff unless they are a threat or you plan on shutting off power to that section for a while. Basically you should be "rushing" for the Tech Chips you need, once you have the Chips; you don't really need to worry about that area anymore. Unless you need Materials/Resources of course.

Also, keep in mind that all areas slowly get more and more infected; which makes for more numerous and stronger enemies in that area. So while you are faffing around in one place, slaughtering everything... all the other areas are getting harder or "repopulating". Swapping out the Thermal and Oxygen Filters helps by making this "repopulation" go at a slower rate based on the Mark level of the Filter.

As for clearing speed... IMO, Shotgun is great early on but kinda tapers off later. It's still great for when you get swarmed and a general clearing weapon. The "Pistol" kinda sucks early and even mid-game but, when you research more advanced Barrels/parts, becomes really good.It gets high crit chance and you can basically turn it into a Sniper Rifle and 1-3 shot most enemies within ~3 seconds. Grenades are suicidal most times since they can get "hung up" on enemies. Some enemies end up being very fast so a wrong throw could cause you to blow yourself up with your own Grenade. However you can find/research stun grenades and those are incredibly helpful and you won't have to worry about killing yourself with those lol. There is also another weapon you can find that can help clear entire rooms quickly but it's kinda hidden. It's basically a Plasma Grenade Launcher, crazy strong, crazy AoE, can easily kill yourself.

Personally, I'd keep a Shotgun as you main weapon but pack a Pistol, Melee Weapon(batons early game for the knockback but, IMO, switch to knives later once you have researched), Stun Grenades and bring a couple Marsmara(whatever the drug that lets you see enemies through walls). Then ignore rooms with tons/strong enemies unless you feel you need to get in there. Constantly Research stuff, you can queue up to ~5 things iirc. When you notice your queue is down to 1-2, run back to queue up more stuff.