RDR2‘s Frontier is Nearly Twice as Big as Skyrim‘s Northern Reaches

After galloping across picturesque prairies and scaling snow-capped peaks across countless hours in these two epic open worlds, I can definitively say Red Dead Redemption 2‘s map boasts a frontier nearly double the size of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim‘s rugged realm.

Let‘s examine the ambitious scope of both games‘ landscapes and what exactly goes into creating such staggeringly large virtual kingdoms for players to get lost in…

Crafting Vast Game Worlds is No Small Feat

Developing fully interactive maps on the scale of RDR2 and Skyrim is a massive undertaking, demanding huge teams of designers, artists and programmers working for years to carefully handcraft believable environments down to the last tree and hillside.

Rockstar‘s old west setting was inspired by the diverse American frontier time period, while Bethesda‘s fantasy realm took cues from Scandinavian vistas. Recreating these regions virtually with technology constraints took incredible effort:

• RDR2 leveraged aerial photogrammetry scans to accurately model real-world topography across America‘s heartlands. The dev team visited forests, swamps and prairie to capture geographic data assisting landscape rendering.
• In contrast, Skyrim‘s world composition relied more heavily on artist interpretation rather than raw photo reference, having to imagine a fictional pre-industrial northern fantasy continent.
• Restrictions in graphics memory and processing power, especially on early 7th gen consoles for 2011‘s Skyrim release, limited just how sprawling developers could make their worlds even with clever optimization tricks.
• As toolsets and consoles improve, map sizes can keep growing – RDR2 shows what was possible just 7 years after Skyrim launched to push boundaries even further!

The efforts certainly paid off, with each game praised for their picturesque vistas players can ride off towards to escape reality for hours at a time. Their success has even inspired upcoming sequels like Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI to attempt crafting bigger worlds than ever before!

But how do these living landscapes quantitatively compare size-wise? Read on for some hard data…

By the Map Numbers: RDR2‘s Frontier is Nearly 100% Larger

When comparing just the absolute square mileage measurements, Red Dead Redemption 2‘s playable map is confirmed to be almost twice as large as The Elder Scrolls V‘s already-expansive realm:

To put that in perspective, you could fit two entire Skyrim game worlds inside RDR2‘s boundaries with room to spare – that‘s a whole lot of virtual wilderness!

Scaling up the frontier this drastically from 2010‘s original Red Dead Redemption took an insane level of effort:

• Red Dead Redemption featured a frontier spanning just 5 square miles, meaning RDR2‘s terrain grew over 500% larger!
• The earlier title was already considered one of the most ambitiously sized 7th gen console games when it launched, so the sequel‘s map remains a crowning achievement of open world design showcasing just how far sandbox gaming has come.
• Skyrim itself also expanded the map versus predecessor Oblivion in 2006, but only by around 30%, and much of this was unexplorable mountain terrain enveloping the playable center.

So while Skyrim‘s complete realm still delivers an epic quest full of things to discover, there‘s no denying RDR2‘s authentic-as-possible wild west simply provides more territory to cover on horseback between its various ranch towns, Indian settlements, swamps and sweeping canyon vistas.

Saddle up – we have a lot of virtual ground to cover comparing how these landscapes actually play!

Beyond Sheer Scale: How These Worlds are Filled Makes Gameplay Feelings Differ

However, square mileage measurements alone don‘t fully convey how these gorgeous game worlds truly feel to immerse yourself in.

The types of activities sprinkled throughout the land, richness of surrounding flora and fauna bringing environments to life, density of unique discoveries worth exploring off the beaten trail…these factors all influence the moment-to-moment experience just as much as raw map dimensions from a bird‘s eye view.

And this is where some key differences emerge:

• Skyrim‘s craggy, mountainous terrain creates more feelings of wonderment and danger discovering rugged ruins half-buried under ice and isolated clans dotted atop snowy cliffs. But steep mountain slopes also make large areas of the world physically off-limits, funneling players along specific paths.
• RDR2‘s flatter topography means players can freely roam across practically its entire frontier in any direction. Feature density does thin out between towns, but surprises still await those who veer far off road. Herds of bison grazing the plains or stranger‘s campfires glowing in nighttime forest clearings make landscapes atmospheric.
• Skyrim‘s condensed size allows for more hand-crafted dungeons and settlements packed together driving a sense of adventure every few minutes on foot. RDR2 spaces similar discoverables further apart to maintain its frontier ambience during lengthy horse rides. Different design philosophies that both have merit!

So in summary, while RDR2‘s American heartlands are confirmed to be geographically larger, Skyrim delivers a more concentrated shot of meticulously-designed delights hidden around every mountain pass that amplify its comparative smallness through intentional content pacing.

At the end of the day open world greatness is subjective – but the fact these long-running series keep expanding in scope shows players can‘t get enough escapism into picturesque realms!

The Ever-Evolving Art of Crafting Open Worlds

As new console generations unlock unprecedented processing power, world sizes in upcoming game sequels threaten to make even the sprawling maps of Skyrim or RDR2 feel quaint by comparison.

Bethesda have described their in-development Elder Scrolls VI as their "largest project ever" according to concept maps, likely building on Skyrim‘s engine innovations to render epic landscapes at higher fidelity than seen before.

Based on early Starfield trailers, we know Bethesda‘s fresh IP will feature full planetary scopes, complete with futuristic cityscapes. Red Dead‘s parent publisher Rockstar will assuredly picture equally bold frontiers for any RDR prequel or franchise return as well down the line.

But endless scale alone does not guarantee engrossing worlds that respect players‘ time. Ubisoft receives flak for creating gorgeous yet bloated maps overstuffed with samey content in recent Assassin‘s Creed entries or padded Far Cry sequels. Maintaining density of handcrafted activities across thousands of kilometers proves extremely difficult, risking burnout dealing with relative emptiness between injected hotspots of fun.

So while technology will continue allowing literal worlds of endless potential playspaces far eclipsing any current maps, developers must strike the right balance between size and substance when sculpting living, breathing game sandboxes we want to exist inside for 100 hours+.

This takes us back to what made Skyrim and RDR2 special – beyond impressive technical scope, their worlds felt tailor-made for adventure and wonder wherever your dusty trail or snowy pass may lead next.

I hope this expanded dive helped properly convey why while RDR2‘s western frontier is factually much larger than Skyrim‘s fantasy Northlands, there is nuance when contrasting how these genre masterpieces leverage scale.

Let me know your thoughts, and happy trails adventuring partners! rides horse into sunset