RELATED: Skyrim: The Best Mods Included In Anniversary Edition

It is that sense of openness that has made the series one of the most influential in gaming, where even action games have aimed to topSkyrim’s size and interactivity. Now, open-world games seem to be focused on giving gamers a dynamic world full of sights to explore, side quests, and naturally occurring events in a similar manner to Skyrim. At 15 square miles, Skyrim’s world is huge, but there are bigger. Let’s take a look at other gaming worlds bigger than Skyrim that should keep players busy for a long time.

Updated January 16, 2022 by Michael Llewellyn: While it’s true that Skyrim is far from being the biggest game out there, it is still huge and deeply packed with lore, quests, and variety that can take hours to explore and discover everything the game has to offer. It’s more than just having a wide-open space to explore. An open-world needs to have varied terrain and a wealth of things to do. Final Fantasy 15, for example, hasn’t been included on this list because despite having a 700 square mile map it’s mostly made up of empty space and very few populated towns to explore and interact with. This list has been updated with more recent titles from the last two years that offer huge open worlds bigger than Skyrim and a wealth of content to discover.

13 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – 21 Square Miles

Release: 2015 Developer: CD Projekt Red Platform: PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt was released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC in 2015. A Nintendo Switch port followed in 2019 which holds well up compared to the bigger more powerful consoles.

RELATED: The Witcher: Things Only Book Readers Know About Ciri

The fact that The Witcher 3looks and runs so well on the Nintendo Switch is relative to just how good masterful the developers at CD Projekt Red are creating vast in beautiful worlds. At 21 square miles, the world of The Witcher is significantly smaller than others on this list, but it still feels and looks huge. The cities, towns, and villages are distinctive and the map is packed with secret caves, dungeons, and hundreds of quests.

12 Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – 22 Square Miles

Release: 2008 Developer: Ascaron Platform: PC, PS3, and Xbox 360

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel was released on the PC, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360 in 2008. It is a traditional top-down open-world RPG that is widely considered to be the best game in the series by fans. Much of this is down to the size of Sacred 2’s huge open-world map, which is 22 Square Miles in total.

In addition to the size of the map, there are caves and dungeons to explore that can be up to levels deep and surface dungeons and buildings can be up to four stories. Furthermore, the world is split up into different regions with distinct climates, terrain, architecture, and NPCs.

11 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – 28 Square Miles

Release: 2017 Developer: Nintendo Platform: Switch and Wii U

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released for the Nintendo Switch and the Wii U in 2017. Despite being released on an older machine in the Wii U, Breath of the Wild is still home to one of the most beautifully made open-world games in the last decade.

RELATED: The Best Nintendo Switch Games Of 2021

While it isn’t as packed and filled with towns like The Witcher 3 or even Skyrim, the world of Hyrule is vast and open to be played and approached in any order. The serene wildlands of Hyrule stretch up to 28 square miles and are a pure joy to explore.

10 Red Dead Redemption 2 – 30 Square Miles

Release: 2018 Developer: Rockstar Platform: PC, PS4, and Xbox One

Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in 2018 on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC. It is a Western-themed action-adventure game that is the closest that fans can get to realize their cowboy fantasies to their fullest.

The game is 30 square miles and is one of the most densely packed and beautiful games of a generation. Many of the towns are gritty, dirty, realistic, and look like they have been ripped from the set of HBO’s Deadwood. The world itself is huge and packed with seemingly endless activities, hunts, and side quests.

9 Grand Theft Auto 5 – 31 Square Miles

Release: 2013 Developer: Rockstar Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One

Grand Theft Auto 5 was first released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2013. An enhanced version of the game was released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2014 and PC in 2015. Even though GTA 5 is technically a last-gen game, it is still seen as the benchmark for open-world games with a modern-day setting.

Grand Theft Auto 5’s world isn’t just bursting at the seams with places to go and things to see, but it is teeming with life, personality, and a realistic but albeit satirical representation of California. Additionally, it features a great cast of memorable characters and protagonists.

8 Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey – 90.7 Square Miles

Release: 2018 Developer: Ubisoft Platform: PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC in 2018. It was also released at the launch of the Google Stadia game streaming platform in 2019. Odyssey is set in Ancient Greece during 431 BC.

RELATED: Assassin’s Creed: Awesome Time Periods The Series Should Explore

It is the second game in the series to use an ancient setting after Assassin’s Creed: Origins which used an ancient Egyptian setting. Odyssey is a massive 90.7 square miles and is an epic from start to finish with beautiful and colorful visuals and some of the best world-building this generation.

7 Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla – 38.5 Square Miles

Release: 2020 Developer: Ubisoft Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S

As the most recent entry in the Assassin’s Creed series, one would expect Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla to boast a larger map than its predecessor. That’s not the case, however, as in terms of map size, Valhalla is less than half the size of Odyssey.

In fairness to Valhalla, Odyssey has a heavy focus on exploring the Mediterranean Sea, and Valhalla’s varied terrain across Norway and Britain has more landmass to explore. The content in Valhalla has also been expanded with its new maps, content, and upcoming DLC. As such, there is more than enough to explore for open-world fans.

6 Forza Horizon 5 – 41 Square Miles

Release: 2021 Developer: Playground Games Platform: PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S

Released as one of the big hits for the Xbox in 2021 alongside Halo Infinite and Microsoft Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 5 stands as one of the best racers available on any platform.

The game offers a larger open world than its predecessors with huge and varied landscapes to explore. There are mountains, volcanoes, jungles, and several towns to discover all manner of quests, missions, races, and secrets.

5 Dragon Age Inquisition - 45 Square Miles

Release: 2014 Developer: BioWare Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One

Despite being critically acclaimed at the time of its release, BioWare’s most recent entry in their dark fantasy series, Dragon Age: Inquisition stands up well as one of the best RPGs available. Far from being underrated, it’s certainly become an overlooked RPG in recent years. BioWare’s award-winning hit deserves more praise from RPG fans.

RELATED: Offline RPGs On PC You Need To Play

The visuals hold up very nicely despite being a cross-gen game and the world is a joy to explore with secrets and lore that fans of Skyrim will appreciate. Accompanied by an epic score, dark storyline, and an outstanding voice cast, Inquisitionis a huge game that should be in any RPG fan’s library.

4 Xenoblade Chronicles X – 154 Square Miles

Release: 2015 Developer: Monolith Soft Platform: Wii U

Xenoblade Chronicles X was released on the Nintendo Wii U in 2015. It is the second game in the Xenoblade Chronicles series and is considered a spin-off due to its departure in design and gameplay, such as a user-created avatar and other MMO-like mechanics.

It’s a massive open-world RPG, at 154 square miles the player gets to explore an uncharted planet full of dangerous monsters and creatures. While the game isn’t as densely packed as other games on this list, exploration is still just as compelling.

3 Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands – 170 Square Miles

Release: 2017 Developer: Ubisoft Platform: PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands was released in 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC. It was a departure from the linear mission style of its predecessor Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. Wildlands is set in an open-world fictionalized version of Bolivia.

The player is tasked with capturing divisions of the map and liberating the areas from the control of the cartels. The game’s huge world allows players to use the environment and implement the day and night cycles to gain tactical advantages.

2 Death Stranding – 230 Square Miles

Release: 2019 Developer: Kojima Productions Platform: PC, PS4, and PS5

Death Stranding was released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 in 2019, with a PC release in 2020. It was developed by Kojima Productions and created by the man behind the Metal Gear Solid series Hideo Kojima.

The world of Death Strandingis an enormous 230 square miles designed with Horizon: Zero Dawn’s Decima engine created by Guerilla Games. It’s a huge sprawling world that takes a long time to traverse, but it is also a beautiful one and one can’t help but be drawn in by the game’s sights and sounds.

1 Just Cause 3 – 390 Square Miles

Release: 2015 Developer: Avalanche Studios Platform: PC, PS4, and Xbox One

Released in 2015 on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC, Just Cause 3 is an open-world action game developed by Avalanche Studios. At 390 square miles, it is the biggest game in the series and provided the player with more verticality than ever before.

Just Cause 3 doesn’t have a great narrative, but it is a videogame that provides its players with an incredible amount of creative freedom. In terms of being able to perform death-defying stunts, the game is the closest gamers will get to play James Bond or Ethan Hunt in a Mission Impossible movie.

MORE: Open-World Games That Are Suitable For Children