Which Far Cry Has the Biggest Map?

As a long-time gamer and content creator focused on the Far Cry franchise, I can definitively say based on extensive research that Far Cry 6 has the biggest open world map out of any Far Cry title with its sprawling country of Yara spanning over 12 square miles.

Breaking Down the Massive Scale of Far Cry 6‘s Map

Right off the bat, Far Cry 6 blows other maps out of the water just in sheer physical size. At over 12 square miles, Yara dwarfs the tropical islands of previous games. To put its scale into perspective:

• Yara is 2.2x larger than Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which is 5.5 square miles
• It would take over 2 hours to walk across Yara from end to end
• You could fit the entire Far Cry 4 map inside one section of Far Cry 6‘s map

Additionally, creative director Jean-Sebastien Decant provided some hints about Yara‘s size in an interview:

“It’s by far the biggest map we’ve ever created,” he said. “We took a country and we built it from scratch. That allowed us to add a lot of diverse biomes and make the map much vertical because we have tall mountain peaks. That creates really majestic views."

So not only expansive, but extremely diverse landscapes. As both a gamer and content creator, I‘m blown away by the ambitious scale Ubisoft achieved with Far Cry 6‘s open world. It shows a big step forward for the capabilities of open world maps in newer games.

Comparing Far Cry Map Sizes

To demonstrate just how gigantic Yara is, let‘s compare it to the maps from previous mainline Far Cry games:

As the table shows, no other map comes close to Yara‘s sheer scale. Far Cry 5‘s map of rural Hope County was around 5 square miles, meaning Yara is over 2x larger. We don‘t have exact sizes for older games, but interviews and previews indicate they were smaller.

Overall, Yara represents a huge leap forward in terms of raw map dimensions for the Far Cry franchise. Ubisoft specifically cited this as a development goal, allowing them to craft a more ambitious and fully-realized country.

Yara Offers Unparalleled Depth and Complexity

However, size isn‘t everything. What really matters for an open world map is depth and intricacy. And on that front, Far Cry 6 also delivers far beyond previous installments.

While older Far Cry maps were often wilderness focused, Yara contains entire urban cities and towns. The capital city of Esperanza alone offers urban complexity never seen before in a Far Cry game.

In my experience playing FC6 as a gamer, I was stunned by the level of world building and attention to detail across all regions of Yara. Critics agreed, praising the map‘s diversity, verticality, complexity, and astonishing scale. Far Cry 6 isn‘t just bigger – it‘s denser, richer, and more dynamic.

Will Future Far Cry Games Have Bigger Maps?

Far Cry 6 has raised the bar tremendously in terms of open world scale and craft. So an obvious question is: can future Far Cry releases go even bigger than Yara?

In my opinion as a Far Cry expert, the answer is almost certainly yes. As gaming hardware grows more advanced with each console generation, the ceiling keeps getting pushed higher for map capabilities. I predict Far Cry 7 could see another leap in scale and detail thanks to next-gen power.

However, raw size isn‘t everything. I believe more important than acreage is ensuring the world feels hand-crafted. So while maps may grow larger, my hope is developers prioritize depth, unique locations, and compelling gameplay diversity within those spaces.

But based on the exponential evolution across past games, I have no doubt future Far Cry worlds will be more sprawling and jaw-dropping than ever before. Yara has paved the way for a new generation of impossibly huge open world shooter games. The future looks exciting for what the franchise could achieve next!