Open-world games are not new; in fact, they’ve been around for some time. The original Legend of Zelda for the NES gave gamers a glimpse of how much fun an open-world game can be, and ever since that landmark game developers of open-world games have endeavored to give gamers larger and larger worlds to explore.

There will be many open-world games that gamers will be surprised didn’t make this list, such as Grand Theft Auto 5 or Fallout 4. Those two games have large world maps, but even they are nothing compared to the games that did make this list. Here are the games with the largest maps for players to explore.

Updated April 15, 2024, by Jeff Drake: Open world games aren't going anywhere. In fact, the genre seems to claim more and more market share with each passing year. Along with this expansion comes larger and larger game worlds to explore in an effort to outdo the competition. The worlds of many recently released open-world games are so large that players need to invest close to 100 hours to discover the entire map. Space-based open-world games have become so large that it would take more than one lifetime to explore the entire map.

32 The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

The Largest Zelda Game Yet

• 46 Square Miles (Approximately)

When the first Legend of Zelda game was released for the NES, it blew people's minds. It had a large game world that the player could freely explore. This was relatively new at the time. Sure, there were games that had large game worlds, like those in the Might and Magic and Ultima series, but Legend of Zelda's world felt much more interactive.

Fast-forward 37 years to Nintendo's latest offering in the Zelda franchise, Tears of the Kingdom. This game uses (basically) the same map as Breath of the Wild, but expands on it with floating islands and a vast underground area as large as the surface world.

31 Elden Ring

Dark Souls, But Bigger And Better

• 30.5 Square Miles

Perhaps the most well-known game on this list, Elden Ring is the latest offering from FromSoftware, the developers of the Dark Souls series. The map in Elden Ring is big, but not as expansive as many open-world games. That being said, the map in this game is big enough that players will spend dozens of hours exploring it.

The difficulty curve of Elden Ring inflates the time it takes to fully explore the game world. So, it seems larger than it is in terms of square miles due to the slower pace that players, especially players new to the game, are forced to take.

30 Skull And Bones

A Spiritual Sequel To Assassin's Creed: Black Flag

• 241 Square Miles

For many fans of the Assassin's Creed series, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag was the high watermark that the other games in the series never reached. This is partly because it gave the player their own pirate vessel and allowed them to explore the open seas of a vast game world. Sure, other games in the series give players the ability to travel via ship, but not as a swashbuckling pirate.

Skull and Bones, also from Ubisoft, takes this concept to the next level. The map is three times the size of the map in Black Flag, there are more customization options, and the ship-to-ship combat is more engaging (and exciting).

29 Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Explore The World Of Pandora

• 98 Square Miles

Gamers who have been aching for the opportunity to explore the world of Pandora, vividly portrayed in the Avatar movies, can now rejoice. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora brings the strange, yet familiar, world of Pandora to life. The game world itself is presented in impressive detail, and is large enough that players can spend hours getting lost in the wilderness.

According to many players, this game is lacking in a few areas; however, there are almost no complaints about the game world itself. It is large, highly detailed, and filled with perilous encounters and natural wonders.

28 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Get Lost in a High Fantasy Game World

• 49 Square Miles

Gamers who were impressed with the size of Skyrim's map might want to give The Witcher 3 a try. Why? The map in The Witcher 3 is over twice as large as Skyrim's. Not only that, but there are more varied terrain types as well — more than just mountains, grasslands, and endless tundra.

The game world in The Witcher 3 is also quite a bit more colorful. Skyrim faced more than a little criticism over the drab colors used for the game world; this game has a much more vibrant world to explore. It's like Skyrim, but with the color palette of Oblivion, and more diversity in terms of biomes.

27 Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

Sail The Open Seas As A Pirate

• 65 Square Miles

The sixth major installment of the Assassin's Creed series brought the player from the mainland into the wild and untamed Caribbean. Set in an alternate 15th century during the age of piracy, players explore the West Indies and command naval ships as pirates fight for independence.

The game received plenty of positive reviews for its stunning graphics and naval gameplay. One of the biggest selling points of the game was just how large it was, and the expansive seas to sail.

26 World Of Warcraft

A Large Game World That Keeps Getting Bigger

• 80 Square Miles

Dungeons & Dragons players flocked to their computers in the late 90s as a new genre of online play launched called MMORPGs. Titles such as Meridian 59, the first subscription-based game, paved the way for later games like World of Warcraft. However, when Blizzard Entertainment's crowning achievement launched, players around the world were astonished by the sheer size of Azeroth.

As a sequel to the RTS franchise, WarCraft, the MMO launched with two fully-fleshed out continents, Kalimdor and The Eastern Kingdoms. Each continent by itself spanned around 41 square miles from tip to tip. Combined, the total landmass for players to explore totaled nearly 80 square miles, an incredible feat for the genre.

25 Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Explore The Ancient Aegean Region

• 50 Square Miles

The Assassin's Creed games are great, and some of the entries in the series have large game worlds. However, many gamers complain that even though the game worlds in the series are large, they can also be painfully generic. This can make large game worlds seem smaller than they actually are.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey offers a scaled-down map of Ancient Greece for players to explore. This includes many of the larger islands in the Aegean, like Melos and Euboea

24 Day Z

Survive The Zombie Apocalypse

• 86 Square Miles

Bohemia Interactive went for a different approach when designing their open-world game. In 2018, they released their survival horror title known as Day Z. Inspired by a mod built for Arma 2, the game takes place in the zombie-infested, post-Soviet country of Chernarus.

Like any horror game, the goal of Day Z was to gather materials and survive as long as possible. If being lost in a zombie game wasn't enticing enough, Day Z came with an open world full of hidden dangers.

23 Arma 3

A Huge, Realistic, Game World In Which To Wage War

• 104 Square Miles

The goal of Arma 3 was to create a realistic military tactical shooter in an open-world setting. According to the ratings it earned, developer Bohemia Interactive must have succeeded. With over 20 vehicles and 40 weapons to play with, the third installment was released with limitless capabilities within its military sandbox.

The events of the game take place in the near future on a series of islands in both the Aegean Sea and the South Pacific. Altogether, the photorealistic environments presented in the game span nearly 104 square miles, making a perfect sandbox to get lost in.

22 Lord Of The Rings Online

Walk In The Footsteps Of The Fellowship

• 125 Square Miles (Estimated)

This game started with a small map. The length of the map could be walked in a relatively brief amount of time. That was in 2007. In 2023, Lord of the Rings Online's map has been expanded to enormous proportions. In its current version, this game allows players to experience walking across Middle Earth.

It really is impressive how much the developers have added to this game over the years. The problem is, there isn't a clearly defined size of the map. The best estimates put the size of the game world at approximately 125 square miles.

21 Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising

Large Scale Battles On Gigantic Maps

• 135 Square Miles

One of the earlier iterations of military-style games in an open world was none other than Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. This tactical shooter, developed by Codemasters, threw players into realistic, modern infantry combat in large-scale battles. This installment, in particular, acted as a standalone sequel to Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis.

The game takes place on the fictional island of Skira, off the coast of China. The island offers a whopping 135 square miles of play area from top to bottom, delivering a very realistic island battle map.

20 Xenoblade Chronicles X

An Expansive Alien World To Explore

• 154 Square Miles

This sequel managed to improve upon the original Xenoblade Chronicles in every way, but one of the biggest improvements was the size of the world map. Xenoblade Chronicles X takes place on the planet of Mira. This planet is the new home for humanity after Earth was destroyed and the colony of New Los Angeles was established there.

The world map in Xenoblade Chronicles X, for the most part, resembles the mountainous areas of Colorado. This game is unique among the games on this list in that the player can explore the world in a large mechanized battle suit.

19 Burnout Paradise

Arcade-Style Racing In A Giant Game World

• 200 Square Miles

The Burnout series is known for fast-paced racing action coupled with less-than-accurate, arcade-style physics. It's loved by players for standing apart from the usual racing game; near misses and causing huge crashes are encouraged, rather than something to avoid. Something the series is less well known for is having large maps.

Burnout Paradise gives the player a huge 200-square-mile map to explore at their leisure. Races are simple to start. One great aspect is that there's no set course during a race. Players are free to pick their own route to the finish line.

18 Death Stranding

Earth After A Cataclysmic Event

• 230 Square Miles

Many gamers play Death Stranding and can't help but think about how they'll never get to play the game from the PT Demo. This game feels like the movie Serenity, which ended the Firefly television series. It was well-received but also felt (in a tiny way) like too-little-too-late.

One thing this excellent game has is a gigantic map to explore; the map in Death Stranding is 230 square miles located somewhere in the post-apocalyptic U.S. The map is big, but a fair portion of the map is mountainous terrain. This type of terrain makes for great sweeping views of the game world, but it also makes the map feel smaller.

17 True Crime: Streets Of L.A.

Not All Of Los Angeles, But Most Of It

• 240 Square Miles

True Crime: Streets of L.A. is one of those forgotten open-world games from the PS3 and Xbox 360 era. This game is centered around the Los Angeles area, and the game's 240 square mile map manages to cover a large portion of the city.

True Crime: Streets of L.A. was lost in the mix of open-world games that included Fallout 3, GTA 4 & 5, Red Dead Redemption, and Watchdogs. This game may have had a bigger map than those games, but that doesn't make it better. There are few gamers, who have played all these games, that would probably rank True Crime: Streets of L.A. as the best.

16 Just Cause 3 & 4

Large Islands Filled With Dangers

• 395 Square Miles

The Just Cause series is famous for giving players a huge world to explore, and Just Cause 3 and Just Cause 4 are no exceptions with maps covering approximately 395 square miles. Just Cause 3 takes place on an island in the Mediterranean called Medici. Being a Mediterranean island, it has a mostly rocky, mountainous terrain with sparse vegetation and several small picturesque towns.

Just Cause 4 takes place in the fictional country of Solis, which is located in South America. The mountainous terrain allows for some great views, and getting around via parachute in both games is a great game mechanic; though there are also many vehicles the player can use. The vehicle list includes attack helicopters and even a wing suit that's jet-powered.

15 Test Drive Unlimited 2

Hit The Open Road And Drive For Hours

• 618 Square Miles; 1,800+ Miles of Road

Technically, Test Drive Unlimited 2 has two maps, but when added together they total 618 sq. miles. This provides a large open world for the player to explore as they wish. Besides participating in races the player can also purchase new cars and real estate. The two maps are both islands; one is the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and the other is the Spanish island of Ibiza.

The 618 sq. miles might not sound like an overly large map, but (in total) the player has over 1,800 miles of road to explore. After reaching level 10 the player can quickly commute between islands for a change of scenery.

14 Final Fantasy 15

A Huge World With Varied Biomes

• 750 Square Miles

The Final Fantasy games have always featured unique fantasy worlds. With the fifteenth game, Square gave us an enormous world to explore. The game world in Final Fantasy 15 is approximately 750 sq. miles in size; however, many areas of the map are separated from other areas with impassable terrain such as mountains.

Although this game has a large world map, it is very sparsely populated and is mostly flat terrain. Still, the world is beautifully designed and contains varied ecosystems ranging from harsh deserts to dense forests. Overall, it provides some nice scenery for a road trip.

13 Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

Explore A Vast Tropical Island

• 781 Square Miles

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is set in the fictional South Pacific island of Aurora. This is a huge island with a lot of open wildernesses containing numerous biomes, such as mountains, deserts, swamps, and forested areas. There are populated areas of the island as well. All of this can be explored. However, with a map size of 781 square miles, it's going to take a while.

In Ghost Recon: Breakpoint's case, more is not better. The map has humongous sections of land that are completely empty of anything with which to interact. In that regard, it's pretty accurate, but that doesn't make it fun. To be fair, the Ghost Recon series is not the first example to come to mind when asked about open-world games.