Huge cities and entire archipelagos: rating of games with the largest worlds

One of the main features of modern video games is the huge open worlds that allow the gamer to travel to points of interest as he wants, while observing beautiful views or just enjoying the surrounding scenery. Of course, not always a huge map brings at least some pleasure, especially if it is stuffed to capacity with various activities of the same type, but that’s a completely different story. Today I would like to list ten projects, the size of the map of which surprises to the core and makes you think about how much video games have now advanced technically.

Important: all dimensions in square kilometers are approximate, since, of course, it is not possible to accurately estimate the area of ​​the virtual world in real units of measurement.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – 39 sqm km.

For many gamers, Skyrim is a reference role-playing game, also because of the huge and rather busy map. In this virtual world, many biomes have been collected, literally at every step you can find some hiding places, secret caves with treasures, plus local NPCs live their own lives and create the feeling of a living virtual world. You can go to the mountains and meet a huge troll, climb into someone’s house in the village and steal supplies, go on a hike and run into a side quest, or do something else. The case when even without a plot the world is overflowing with activities even with such an impressive area.

Red Dead Redemption 2 – 75 sq. km.

The setting of the Wild West, a horse and a revolver in a holster simply cannot help but create exciting events, so the open world in Red Dead Redemption 2 is filled to the brim with them. You can, of course, go through quests and scout forests and swamps, or you can just roll into an order, bumping into robbers, rich people with gold in their closets, alligators or grizzly bears, fishing near reservoirs, collecting skins of wild animals or hunting for criminals. Although the game world seems insanely large, it does not feel like an empty vessel with plastic decorations – it is really a well-designed landscape with a sea of ​​​​points of interest and random activities.

Grand Theft Auto V – 130 sq. km.

Many gamers agree that Grand Theft Auto V is the best open-world game precisely because of its fullness – in the urban part of the island you can find interesting events, activities or entertainment opportunities literally on every corner. Shops, well-developed city traffic, intense nightlife, shootouts in the ghetto and chases from the cops – even if you want, it will not be boring here. But outside of Los Santos, there is also something to see – from rednecks on tractors to an abandoned lighthouse, sawmill and sheriff’s department, the game gives a lot of interesting events, although the map itself does not feel that huge.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – 217 sq. km.

It is difficult to imagine a player who did not like the third “The Witcher” – this is certainly one of the best RPGs in the history of mankind. Here, secondary quests are worked out better than the plots of some full-fledged video games, and even outside the main campaign there is a sea of ​​\u200b\u200binteresting things – you can travel and fight monsters of various calibers, visit pubs and meet the fair sex, look for friends and enemies in side quests, brew potions and save rare ingredients for them, make your way through the swamps in search of valuables. And, of course, it’s better not to get out of towns and cities without a horse.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – 256 sq. km.

Ubisoft has always had problems with open worlds, but Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, with its huge map, is almost the culmination of a mindless desire to make locations as big as possible. In the end, the game world really turned out to be huge, but at the same time absolutely boring, poor in points of interest and lifeless. You can run ten minutes from point A to point B without seeing anything along the way – only the scenery of the virtual world in the background. Sometimes, of course, there are random enemies, but the language does not turn to call it a fascinating content. A clear example of the fact that a large map does not at all promise the pleasure of studying it.

Arma 3 – 270 sq. km.

Gamers just love the Arma 3 simulator for the detailed study of a very impressive map, but, of course, due to the nature of the genre, there are no side quests or points of interest here. But there are many biomes, fairly realistic graphics and the ability to completely immerse yourself in the world of military clashes with various weapons and military equipment. While RPG gamers usually criticize empty space, in this case, fans of the franchise idolize the developers for the opportunity to use a variety of tactics and strategies thanks to such a huge digital foothold.

Just Cause 3 – 370 sq. km.

Around the size of the world of Just Cause 3 there have been disputes literally from the day of release, but we can say approximately that we are talking about an area of ​​370-400 square kilometers. And although visually the locations and islands of the game look more than attractive, most of the activities are simply related to battles against numerous enemies. Yes, a gamer can entertain himself by traveling around the world with a hook or a variety of vehicles, breaking into outposts and blowing up everything around, but, of course, this is not what you expect from such projects. But the map, of course, is really huge – it will take 8 hours of real time to go from one edge to the other.

Ghost Recon Wildlands – 440 sq. km.

Another vivid example of the fact that Ubisoft is contraindicated in making video games with a large open world – Ghost Recon Wildlands seems eventful for the first two hours, and then the player realizes that all activities are copied and multiplied a hundred times just to stretch the gameplay, but to certain points of interest not a helicopter has to fly up to 15 minutes in almost complete silence. Moving around this world, you can safely pick up a smartphone and scroll through the feed of social networks – nothing will happen to you on the road anyway. At most, you will find another roadblock with five enemies that you will kill faster than you say “Ubisoft, why is it scarce there?”.

Death Stranding – 846 sq. km.

The project, which is clearly going to be included in the treasury of iconic releases, boasts an incredible size of the virtual world, which will have to be explored in most scenarios on foot. And although there are also enough side activities in Death Stranding, as well as points of interest, this world feels alive also because of the mechanics of the project themselves – the player will feel every pebble, every river, mountain slope or plain, learn to balance with a heavy load on his shoulders and bypass enemies unnoticed. Even if there were no sidequests in the game, the world would feel extremely pleasant and rich due to the development of every square centimeter.

Final Fantasy XV – 1813 sq. km.

Among modern video games, with the exception of space simulators and racing, Final Fantasy XV is the project with the largest virtual world – almost two thousand square kilometers. And although it’s scary to even imagine how to draw it all, it’s definitely impossible to call the map empty or lifeless – at any moment the player can stop the car (you will have to move mainly in a stylish convertible), get to the point of interest and either see a gorgeous view or discover an exciting quest , or run into a boss the size of a huge mall. Yes, in a game with a large world, the bosses are of the appropriate size.