Just How Massive is Elden Ring‘s Map Compared to Other Games?

As a hardcore Souls fan who has put over 200 hours into exploring the lands between, I can definitively say Elden Ring‘s open world map is an absolute mammoth. Weighing in at a whopping 30.5 square miles according to exhaustive calculations, it dwarfs the size of past FromSoftware games by an order of magnitude.

To put Elden Ring‘s scale into perspective, here is how it compares to some other influential open world games:

As you can see, Elden Ring‘s lands in between are no joke when it comes to scale. FromSoftware went all-out in creating their largest and most ambitious game world to date.

How FromSoftware Designed Such an Epic Map for Elden Ring

Creating such an expansive open world running seamlessly with no loads could have been a recipe for disaster.

But what has always set FromSoft‘s design apart is their meticulous worldbuilding and attention to detail. Elden Ring is no different, filling every nook and cranny with things worth discovering and perfectly pacing when the map opens up.

As veteran Souls guide writer Fextralife puts it:

"Despite having the largest map FromSoftware has ever designed, there is very little dead space or pointless filler in Elden Ring. Every area is densely packed with dungeons, enemy encounters, small side areas, NPC quests and hidden secrets. They masterfully balance freedom and guided progression."

Rather than overwhelming you all at once, sites of grace subtly direct you along golden paths towards Demigods without explicitly railroading your adventure. Once you defeat these shardbearers and earn great runes, more of Elden Ring‘s six richly distinct regions become accessible.

And with fast travel connecting discovered sites of grace, crossing long distances becomes trivial late game. I put over 100 hours into my first playthrough and still discovered exciting new dungeons just wandering around on Torrent.

Immense Scale Meets Best-in-Class Open World Design

When it comes to open world games, bigger does not always mean better.

Just look at Ubisoft sandbox sequels that balloon to ridiculous size without moving gameplay forward. What ends up happening is you get a lot of repetitive content and empty space just for the sake of it.

But even at 30+ square miles, Elden Ring stands head and shoulders above other AAA open world games because FromSoftware puts compelling content and mystery around every corner.

As ardent Souls veteran Iron Pineapple argues:

"Elden Ring doesn‘t waste your time with traveling across empty spaces or doing repetitive open world activities. Instead you constantly stumble upon new enemy camps, mini-dungeons, and reward loops worth pursuing to power up your character."

The Lands Between have captured the hearts and minds of players because they deliver the same carefully crafted worlds From is known for on a scale never thought possible before.

The New Gold Standard for Open World Design

Elden Ring‘s expansive map marks not just an ambitious leap in scale for FromSoftware, but a watershed moment for open world games overall.

Demonstrating you can create a massive interconnected world space driven by rewarding exploration and emergent journey‘s rather than map icons and waypoints spammed everywhere.

A world that uses its vastness not for padding but instead packs excitement, challenge, and mystery into every last kilometer for us to unravel. Many critics already consider Elden Ring one of the greatest open world games ever made for this very reason.

So while WoW, Skyrim, and BotW pioneered expansive 3D game worlds, Elden Ring shows what the next evolution of truly living, breathing open world looks like with its landmark map.

One packed corner to corner with surprises that begs to be picked apart and conquered bit by bit by brave Tarnished like us. After pouring everything I had into my maidenless journey across the Lands Between, I for one can‘t wait to dive back in for NG+ and discover even more of its secrets.