Map sizes are nowhere near an exact science. Who knows if my statement in the title is right, who knows if this image from reddit is right, and sizes are arbitrary in games anyway.
That said, check out this modified image from reddit.
I don't have a finished map to present but sticking with a similar style, I tossed The Forged Kingdoms onto the end.
If you can't read the itty bitty bottom left corner, here is a zoomed in crop (the original reddit image)
The Forged Kingdoms is 1,048,576 km2 (404857.5 mi2). Just let that sink in for a bit. It's over three thousand times larger than The Witcher 3, Grand Theft Auto V, Breath of the Wild, and Skyrim combined.
In fact, it's over a million times larger than one of my favorite games (The Witness).
On that note, I definitely tend to prefer smaller open worlds. I hate games that just throw in massive empty or repetitive spaces and somehow expect the world to be fun... Forged Kingdoms excluded of course!
The truth is that large open worlds really do suck and all games listed above would be worse if they were larger. The Forged Kingdoms only benefits from the large map because it is not played like a traditional RPG.
This is what I'm calling "room for expansion." If a player builds a log cabin, they need just a few trees. If the player expands the cabin into a farm, they need more wood and they need room for plants and animals. If the player adds an inn to serve excess food and make extra money on the side, they once again need more space and more wood. If a blacksmith decides to set up shop and sell to travelers, they also need more space and more resources.
Before you know it, the players original log cabin is at the heart of a massive city with thousands of citizens. Instead of expecting the player to explore every square foot of the world and find interesting content under every rock, the player can start with a mostly blank canvass and write their own stories.
That said, check out this modified image from reddit.
I don't have a finished map to present but sticking with a similar style, I tossed The Forged Kingdoms onto the end.
If you can't read the itty bitty bottom left corner, here is a zoomed in crop (the original reddit image)
Spoiler for Hidden:
The Forged Kingdoms is 1,048,576 km2 (404857.5 mi2). Just let that sink in for a bit. It's over three thousand times larger than The Witcher 3, Grand Theft Auto V, Breath of the Wild, and Skyrim combined.
In fact, it's over a million times larger than one of my favorite games (The Witness).
On that note, I definitely tend to prefer smaller open worlds. I hate games that just throw in massive empty or repetitive spaces and somehow expect the world to be fun... Forged Kingdoms excluded of course!
The truth is that large open worlds really do suck and all games listed above would be worse if they were larger. The Forged Kingdoms only benefits from the large map because it is not played like a traditional RPG.
This is what I'm calling "room for expansion." If a player builds a log cabin, they need just a few trees. If the player expands the cabin into a farm, they need more wood and they need room for plants and animals. If the player adds an inn to serve excess food and make extra money on the side, they once again need more space and more wood. If a blacksmith decides to set up shop and sell to travelers, they also need more space and more resources.
Before you know it, the players original log cabin is at the heart of a massive city with thousands of citizens. Instead of expecting the player to explore every square foot of the world and find interesting content under every rock, the player can start with a mostly blank canvass and write their own stories.
