With Ever-Increasing Maps, We Have to Ask… When Is a Game Too Big?

There’s a lot to love about open-world games. Ahead of you is what could be a beautifully rendered frontier, and when you open the map screen, a massive grid stretches out. But when it’s absolutely covered with question marks, icons and fetch quests, you might lose your sense of wonder and feel dread. No one wants to feel that way when gaming

A large map size is great, but developers need to strike a balance. Games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla include side activities tied to living off the land, such as hunting and fishing. But the Assassin’s Creed series has also been criticized for having too much to do with little payoff. And when a game starts having you do a list of chores, it crosses the line from entertainment into a second job.

You only have a few hours a week to unwind, and spending twenty minutes of that time running across an empty desert just to talk to an NPC is tedious. Even talking to an AI-powered NPC that remembers what you did in Act 1 won’t necessarily save you from boredom. 

You can tell a game has become too big when the scale replaces the substance. Instead of demanding larger worlds, players should advocate for deeper ones. A compact, tightly designed city block where you can walk into every building is way more rewarding than a barren planet. 

Games don’t need to be infinite. Instead, they just need to be interesting. The next time a studio brags about a map size, ask yourself if you’re buying an adventure or just a really expensive digital hiking simulator.

Oscar Collins

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Modded

With almost 10 years of experience writing about cars, gear, the outdoors and more, Oscar Collins has covered a broad spectrum of topics during his time as a blogger and freelancer. Oscar currently serves as the editor-in-chief of Modded, which he founded to spread his love of cars with an international audience.

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