When the video game industry first started to take off in the early 1970s, it was so insanely limited. The massive leap from games then to games now is astronomical in every sense of the word. In those days, two vertically-scrolling lines batting a small white square back and forth was akin to watching Chris Evert and Billie Jean King battle it out on the court. From games that didn’t even exceed the 10-kilobyte mark to titles that nearly take up a fourth of a one terabyte HDD, it's safe to say that the growth and advancement of this particular industry has been staggering. Though gamers are generally perceived to be something for the younger crowd, those who have been around since the beginning can attest that we’ve seen incredible progress.
No single genre of game has benefited more from this massive increase of resources more than open-world titles. Games like Colossal Cave Adventure and Elite served as early conceptual affirmations, but the genre wouldn’t really come into its own until access to more powerful hardware made generating vast expanses of terrain a reality. What’s possible today was only feasible through text-based interfaces decades ago, and games have ballooned to such massive proportions today that some in-game worlds can be equated in size to real-world countries. Zork may have allowed gamers to imagine an immense, richly detailed world, but games in our modern era can outpace even the most vivid imagination in terms of size.
Updated May 27, 2021 by Jacob Buchalter: It’s been a few years since this list first came out, and the size of open-world games has only continued to grow with each new title. Not only that, but the amount of content densely packed into every square mile of pixelated goodness has improved as well. So, let’s take another look at all the open-world titles that have been released since 2018, update some entries that have had new additions to their respective franchises, and include some newer games that earned a spot on this list of open-world games with gigantic maps.
Disclaimer: deciding which game is “bigger” in map size has to both take in the actual size of the map, as well as the implied size the game lore and developers say that it covers. Because of those two factors, picking which game is bigger between two that are close is incredibly unreliable and difficult. Luckily, there are great channels like How Big Is The Map?, Mr. Ranker, and so on plus fantastic fans of the games who do all the math, which makes it a bit easier. We also tried to include as many different game franchises as possible, picking the more recent iteration in the series if the map sizes were close.
40 Biomutant
Biomutant's map is pretty small compared to many other open-world games, which might seem disappointing given how long this game has been in development. But, from what we’ve seen, Biomutant devs 101 Games must have tried for quality over quantity and packed that decently sized map with as much content as possible. Though, now that the game is out and we've had hands-on with it, that's not exactly how things ended up. The reviews of Biomutant have been less than kind, that's for sure. But, it's safe to say that it's one of the more visually stunning open worlds out there. That said, it is one of the smaller maps and there isn't as much content per square mile as we would've thought.
39 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
The culmination of roughly fifteen years of effort, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was heralded as one of the best games of 2015. An achievement accomplished partially by its map design, MGSV felt like the triumphant final statement for a series that will likely never return to its former glory. Thankfully, Hideo Kojima isn’t out of the gaming industry yet and continues to make games that still hold the spirit of the MGS franchise. Though the deserts don’t immediately seem all that appealing, the densely packed, eloquently rendered deserts of Afghanistan and Africa that are available to the player are actually just enough to make the cut for this list. The game might seem a lot bigger than something near that would be near the bottom of this list, but that's because Kojima prioritized relative scale over having his maps "represent" the entire country and so on. Venom Snake isn’t traveling the exact square mileage of this exact part of Afghanistan as it would be in reality, but it’s a lot closer than many other games on here.
38 Immortals Phoenix Rising
Immortals Fenyx Rising takes the cake as one of the most non-sensical-sounding game titles in recent years, but the actual product itself is pretty good. This game is unabashedly taking different mechanics and concepts from different open-world titles, sometimes even borrowing from its own developers with Assassin’s Creed-like combat and abilities. But, just because Immortals is a mishmash game, doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable, and getting around the rather large map and exploring new areas is quite fun whether it's by flight or by horseback. And, there is a ton of content to be found across this whole brightly-colored landscape, though most of it revolves around some pretty simplistic puzzle-solving. Overall, while Fenyx Rising isn’t exactly the most creative game, it is worth giving credit to how unique this artstyle feels for Ubisoft, and how big they managed to make the map for the first game in a new IP.
37 Dragon Age: Inquisition
Dragon Age Inquisition has always been a bit of a polarizing game. Some call it the budget-brand Witcher 3, others enjoy it for being the closest thing franchise fans have to the outstanding Dragon Age: Origins. Putting all that aside, Inquisition does give you a pretty gigantic map to explore, even if most of that time is spent running back and forth between the numerous amount of fetch quests. Additionally, in the moments where Inquisition's landscape looks particularly exceptional, it looks better than a lot of other, more recent, open-world games.
36 Cyberpunk 2077
Just this once, let’s not only talk about the controversies surrounding Cyberpunks development and release. Yes, the game came out unfinished and honestly quite broken, but that’s been talked about to death and CD Projekt seems to be hard at work trying to slowly build the game into what they initially promised. No, outside of all that talk, Cyberpunk 2077 is a pretty big game and Night City is a decently huge open-world. Granted, there isn’t much to do in it, at least not much that isn’t almost immediately repetitive. But, that doesn’t take away from the fact that this city is one of the most beautifully crafted we’ve ever seen. Sure, you can’t walk into most buildings and yes most of the population spawns in only when you’re looking at them, but the size of the city itself is pretty huge.
35 Horizon Zero Dawn
Without a doubt, Horizon Zero Dawn has one of the most unique concepts and settings we’ve seen in a video game in years. Alloy is an enjoyable main character, the overall narrative is confusing at worst and incredibly interesting at best, the gameplay loop is fun if not a bit repetitive, and the world is just so visually appealing. The nature aspect of this game is wonderfully crafted, and the machine animals work perfectly to contrast it. While suffering from the same repetitive open-world tropes that other games do such as the Assassin’s Creed games, HZD still does a fantastic job for a game developed by a studio best known for their FPS work. Plus, with the extra areas (and enemies) added in The Frozen Wilds DLC, HZD has quite a bit of landscape to traverse and immerse yourself in.
34 Watch Dogs: Legion
Sadly, Watch Dogs: Legion just simply didn’t do a lot to keep people hooked. The whole marketing was centered around the “you can play as anyone” gimmick, which was done relatively well, but the core gameplay left a lot of fans wanting more. That said, this representation of the not-so-far-off future of London in 2030 was incredibly well rendered. It doesn’t pop in the same way other futuristic games like Horizon Zero Dawn or Cyberpunk 2077 manages to, but it’s accurate and gigantic.
33 Death Stranding
Death Stranding was Hideo Kojima’s next game, after MGS5, and it’s likely his most ambitious title yet. Some may see it as a “walking simulator”, but there’s actually quite a bit of depth to Stranding’s mechanics. The game takes place in a scaled-down post-apocalyptic alternate version of the United States, where the afterlife and reality have sort of blended together, creating all sorts of weird phenomena such as the Beached Things and Timefall. You’ll get to experience this all and more as you travel across all three of Death Strandings maps, each one a bit smaller than the last. For a game where travel, connections, and delivery is the core concept, Death Stranding sure has a lot of land to travel, and plenty of ways to get across it. It’s not gigantic, especially in comparison to the games near the end of this list, but considering how every single piece of it is fully traversable, the game is still quite the achievement.
32 Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima was a real welcome gift in the mess of the year that was 2020. It was peaceful, violent, chaotic, calm, thrilling, and boring all at the same time. Honestly, this game was a real walking contradiction that shouldn’t have worked, but it did. In it, you take control of Jin Sakai as he takes back the island of Tsushima from the Mongols after their successful invasion during the times of Feudal Japan. GoT isn’t a gigantic open-world game, but it is one of the most expertly-crafted ones we’ve seen in quite some time. Every area feels like it was built with so much care and ranges from beautiful riverside areas with sakura blossoms everywhere to bloody battlefields with fiery hellscapes in the background. Sucker Punch Studios, known for the Infamous franchise, has always been great at making open-world games that are fun to explore, but GoS shows notable improvement in its ability to create a world full of enjoyable side content and activities.
31 Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
San Andreas was one of the first games to really prove that a full-scale cityscape could be accurately rendered in a video game. Sure, 2001’s Grand Theft Auto III is generally considered to be one of the best early representations of such an environment, but that title’s map only barely exceeds one square mile. In comparison, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas manages to be much larger and feel much more alive than what we saw in GTA III. Plus, while the series’ first fully 3D game offered up a decent depiction of city life, San Andreas let players explore the city, as well as a vast, impressive countryside, desert, and mountainscape area.
30 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
While not even close to its predecessors in terms of size or scale, Bethesda’s Skyrim is often considered to be one of the greatest open-world games ever created. It’s developed a bit of a reputation for its relatively unstable nature, but an absurdly dedicated modding community and an overabundance of ports and re-releases have helped to ensure that the exploits of the Dragonborn won’t soon be forgotten. Seriously, it's still so immensely popular that it has us putting out new content about it, even to this day. Honestly, it might be decades before the gaming community is truly done with Skyrim.
29 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Slightly outclassing its sequel in terms of map scale, Oblivion and Skyrim are both equally beloved open-world titles in the eyes of just about everyone. Though both of these games may be showing their age as the ninth console generation is well underway, these titles are proof that graphical fidelity isn’t a necessity of quality game design. A more than an adequately sized map for the time, Oblivion offers so much content scattered across its map that hardcore fans will likely keep coming back to it for years to come.
28 Fallout 76
Originally, Fallout 4 was in this spot, but, while it had a unique artstyle and quite a bit of content, Fallout 4 was never a game known for the size of its map. To contrast it, Fallout 76 had controversy after controversy since it first released, and is one of the most infamous games of the decade, but it has a real big map and genuinely does improve upon some aspects of the franchise. In fact, according to some faithful fans online, Fallout 76 is about four or five times bigger in size than its predecessor, though sadly with much less to do. So, while we won’t congratulate 76 on its design or content, we do have to give it props for managing to create an online multiplayer experience on a map of such a grand scale.
27 Far Cry 5
The maps in the recent numerical entries of the Far Cry series are all pretty close in terms of map size, but they always seem to get bigger with each new entry. We were already excited (along with everyone else) for FC6, but now knowing the map will likely be even bigger, the excitement only grows. Far cry 5 takes place in Montana, but with the Dead Living and Lost on Mars DLCs, there's even more for fans of the franchise to explore. Sure, the Dead Living DLC takes place in the same area, just at night, but there are enough changes to the overall gameplay and environments, in general, to make it feel new. So, while Far Cry 5 might now have quite the same lush and colorful environments as Far Cry 4, it is a substantially larger game.
26 PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
While PUBG isn’t exactly as much of a household name as Fortnite or Apex Legends anymore, the game is still one of the titans of the battle royale genre. competition. With a whopping seven different maps of impressive scale, Blue Hole doesn’t seem to be lacking initiative when it comes to the development of new content. That said, other than the size of their maps, most of the other big BR games have a lot more cosmetics, characters, and other options to choose from, so it all depends on what you’re looking for.
25 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Breath of the Wild is generally considered to be one of the best games in a franchise already posited by many to be one of the greatest in gaming history. An extension of what was a very ambitious open-world early NES game, Breath of the Wild has such an incredible amount of content packed into its breathtakingly beautiful map that most will doubtlessly be playing far past the 100-hour mark. And honestly, it's just so much fun to run around and explore in this game! Just as Ocarina of Time’s Hyrule Field was considered to be an impressive feat on the Nintendo 64’s hardware, the fact that Nintendo managed to fit such a vibrant, captivating game on the Switch and even the Wii U is nothing short of mind-boggling.
24 Red Dead Redemption 2
With Red Dead Redemption 2 coming out in late 2018, it only makes sense to replace the first game with the much-anticipated sequel. As is tradition for Rockstar Games, RDR2 is a visual spectacle in every sense of the word. The accurate footprints Arthur leaves behind in the snow, physically picking items up off the shelves in the stores, or slowly hunting an animal and making sure it doesn’t catch your scent. It doesn’t matter what you do in RDR2, it's beautiful. You might expect a game of this caliber to have a gigantic map to match, but it’s really not all that large. Rather, Rockstar chose to keep things a bit smaller so that they could fit as much diverse wildlife, activities, and other events into every square mile.
23 Mad Max (2015)
The 2015 Mad Max video game was a pretty big surprise. Usually, movie adaptation games are poorly made at best and shovelware at worst, but the Mad Max game was pretty good. It wasn’t incredible, but it did a good job incorporating the feeling of the setting, the importance of vehicles, and the over-the-top battles. In it, you drive around with your trusty mechanic Chumbucket to gather parts and construct the “Magnum Opus” or perfect vehicle. To do this, you’ll be fighting other cars with your car, using a variety of weapons mounted onto it such as grappling hooks, snipers, flamethrowers, and more. Frankly, while the game world is mostly desert, there is quite a lot to do and explore. And the way this game gets around having an outer barrier is incredibly unique. Basically, drive outside the map and you’ll enter a gigantic sandstorm where it's incredibly dangerous but you can also find rare gear in the form of Mutha Loot Crates. Basically, because there are rarely any moments where Max is traveling by foot, the map is pretty huge in this game, and it's serviceable for an all-around pretty decent game.
22 Grand Theft Auto V
The culmination of what must have been years of hard work and dedication, Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto V may very well go down as one of the most successful and largest open-world games ever to be released. We’ll be coming up on the eight-year anniversary of the game's release in September, yet it still manages to be so incredibly popular. Nowadays the developer seems to be a bit too bogged down in support of microtransactions and micro-DLC for GTA Online (which has pretty much become an entity entirely separate from the base game), but the basic GTA V experience is still incredibly fun to experience.
Endlessly entertaining and detailed nearly to a fault, the sheer amount of playable space available in Rockstar’s mega-hit is impressive, especially since it’s brimming with weird people to meet and ramps from which to vault a flaming sports car.
21 Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag is arguably the last AC game with relatively strong ties to the overall futuristic subplot of the series. While Miles is only casually referred to in Black Flag, the 2013 release continues to stand as one of the best original-era AC games in the franchise. By original-era, we of course mean the games that came before Origins, since that's the AC title that completely changed the style of combat and a lot of the overall gameplay in general. Like Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Black Flag has a gigantic map, but a lot of that explorable area is just water you sail across. Sure, Ubisoft gives you plenty of activities to do on the open seas, but that doesn't change the fact that it's all ocean. That said, given a ship and a piratical mindset, the possibilities are just about endless.