Interactive map reveals how large video game worlds would be in real life

One of the big questions that always comes up whenever a new open-world game releases is “how big’s the map?”. Well, thanks to a recently released interactive map, we now have a much better idea of how our favourite virtual worlds stack up to reality.

The map takes 50 of the most popular open-world games of all time and works out how large they are in comparison to the UK. In the mix, you’ve got Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, GTA San Andreas, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and – seemingly one of the largest games of all time – Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.

The top 5 isn’t overly surprising, with Daggerfall in first place, Guild Wars Nightfall coming second, 2009 racer Fuel coming third, The Crew 2 coming fourth, and the original Crew landing in fifth place. Daggerfall in particular is unbelievably huge, totalling over 161,000km2.

Assuming all the data is indeed mostly correct, it’s surprising to see how small the likes of Breath of the Wild, Grand Theft Auto V, and Skyrim are compared to the top 5. Obviously those games are more densely packed with quality content than, say, The Crew, but it’s nevertheless strange to see them dwarfed on the interactive map.

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It also brings to light other fun facts, like Skyrim being almost 4-times larger than Fallout 3, or Red Dead Redemption 2 being almost double the size of the original game.

I’m having quite a bit of fun just messing around with it and comparing all my favourites. I’m honestly not sure how accurate the numbers are – these things are always super hard to get right – but, for the most part, they seem close to what I’ve heard being thrown around before. So, what’s been your biggest surprise when messing around with the map?