Xbox One Games With Huge Open-World Maps

A plethora of open-world video games are available on the Xbox One. As such, it can be difficult to narrow down which game to play next, as the sub-genre of gaming is being flooded with new titles across a multitude of genres due to its rapidly increasing popularity and presence at the top of gaming sales charts.

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But which one of these games has the biggest world to be explored? From the frozen plains of Skyrim to the wastes of post-apocalyptic West Virginia, there are many large open-world maps available on Xbox One.

Updated on September 29, 2024, by Mehrdad Khayyat: Being an open-world game is not just about creating a massive map and scaling things up pointlessly. It always comes with a bigger responsibility for the developers to not only add details to every corner of the map but also reward players for exploring it.

Maps in video games, however, have sometimes gone too big, which makes exploring every bit of it almost impossible, though that also promises a non-repetitive experience to enrich the explorations. However, that’s not always required.

6 Square Miles

Whereas Elden Ring and Forza Horizon 5 are still fairly recent, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain hit stores back in September 2015. Despite releasing so early in the Xbox One’s lifecycle, the game offers a visually stunning open world that is a joy to simply ride across on a horse, provided no enemies get in the way.

Many people were skeptical as to how well the iconic stealth series would adapt to modern open-world game design, though the development team did a fantastic job of blending the two inherently opposing genres.

27

L.A. Noire

8 Square Miles

Rockstar’s open-world detective simulator was one of the greatest hits when it launched globally on PC and the seventh generation of consoles, and hopefully, it did reserve enough value for the studio to deliver a remaster on Xbox One and PS4 later on.

The map size in L.A. Noire might not be as big as that of Grand Theft Auto 5, but it was indeed big enough to roam around and find street crimes in. This expansive map had multiple districts representing different cultures and styles of living. That being said, the exploration in L.A. Noire was not as rewarding as that of the later Grand Theft Auto titles.

26

Watch Dogs

9 Square Miles

The first entry in the Watch Dogs series brought the darkest and most intense story as well. Although the series might have been paused by Ubisoft at the moment, Aiden Pearce still remains a memorable character.

Watch Dogs was one of the few games that let go of the highly canonized cities in the US, like Los Angeles or New York, and built its world based on Chicago. The game did a great job in recreating Chicago’s metropolitan area, and the map size was also big enough for players to roam around and visit a variety of unique locations.

That being said, the game lacked enough side activities offered in the city, which made roaming around in Chicago almost pointless.

25

Immortals Fenyx Rising

10.4 Square Miles

Released in November 2020, Immortals Fenyx Rising is an open-world action-adventure game set in Ancient Greece, where the world has been turned to stone. Mechanically and visually, Immortals shares a lot in common with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Coming from the developers of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, it shares quite a bit of its DNA with that series, too. Its open-world environment is huge and a lot of fun to explore, with tons of side quests and content to discover. Thanks to its Myths of the Eastern Realm DLC, Immortals has gotten even bigger, with the game taking its players to a new map that features mythological China.

24

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

15 Square Miles

Everybody and their grandma knows about The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. It was late 2011, and the world had the pleasure of playing one of the biggest Bethesda games on the planet. This is undoubtedly an aged game, but truth be told, it still holds up.

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Skyrim is a detailed game full of random encounters, upgrade options, and missions, making it a real RPG experience for a lot of people. What makes all of this better is the fact that it has one of the biggest open worlds on the Xbox One.

23

Fallout 76

16 Square Miles

Fallout 76 was also developed by Bethesda but stands out for being an online action RPG. This means that the open world can be experienced with friends, family, or strangers, just like real life — well, in a way.

It also needs an exact time and money investment, which makes the experience even more realistic. But, jokes aside, this is a game that will likely keep receiving new content for many years, making its already big open world even more vibrant with time.

22

Fallout 4

16.6 Square Miles

Fallout 4 was a mixed bag for many players. Some people loved the Commonwealth and the addition of a voiced protagonist, while others felt that the streamlined RPG mechanics made the game feel a bit more casual than it should’ve been.

Regardless, the improvements made to the Fallout formula by Bethesda shouldn’t be ignored. Fallout 4 can allow for a great time once players let the game breathe and explore the wealth of astounding locations present in the title, and doing so can take a great deal of time.

21

Cyberpunk 2077

16.79 Square Miles

While some people were initially disappointed that the world of Night City and its outskirts was nowhere near as massive as the open world of The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 more than made up for it by letting players explore one of the most dense and jam-packed open-world games of all time. After all the bugs were ironed out and new content was added to the game, players could check out the gloriousness of Night City for themselves without anything standing in the way.

Cyberpunk 2077 features a massive urban landscape that players can get lost in for hours on end, with the sheer wealth of things to accomplish in this game is mind-boggling. Players won’t even notice the hours fly by as they progress through the main story, complete numerous side missions, help out Fixers, obtain new vehicles, and find every secret there is to discover in this open world.

20

Mafia 3

28 Square Miles

The third installment in the Mafia series delivered the largest map ever in the franchise’s history. Depicting the fictional city of New Bordeaux in the United States, the map featured a good variety of distinct areas. From downtown neighborhoods packed with skyscrapers to swampy regions on the south of New Bordeaux.

Probably the reason why Mafia 3‘s map didn’t feel big enough was a lack of density. Although the map size is almost as big as half of Los Santos in Grand Theft Auto 5, it still feels way smaller when the player roams around the city. It is also worth noting that some parts of the map cannot be traveled by a vehicle as the player must proceed on foot. The lack of meaningful non-quest activities that players can do in New Bordeaux, is another reason that makes it feel empty.

19

Red Dead Redemption 2

29 Square Miles

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the greatest open-world games ever made. Rockstar Games truly knocked it out of the park with this title, proving to players once again that they still have all the chops of a major AAA studio despite the majority of their efforts going into updating GTA Online.

The story of Arthur Morgan is a brilliant one, with the world being unbelievably massive. In fact, the areas present in the first Red Dead Redemption title can’t even be explored until the epilogue, which is just a huge flex from Rockstar.

18

Elden Ring

30.5 Square Miles

FromSoftware’s stellar track record in their so-called Soulsborne series – partnered with the fact that Elden Ring was the series’ first open-world release – made the action RPG one of the most highly anticipated releases of the decade thus far. Any fears of a Cyberpunk 2077-like launch were alleviated when the game received an eye-watering Metascore of 96, and players finally got to explore an open world from the minds of Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin.

Elden Ring‘s map is enormous but filled to the brim with memorable discoveries, unique enemies, and punishing boss fights. Not an inch of the game’s massive open world is wasted either, with secrets and side quests hidden around every corner of the map.

17

Assassin’s Creed Origins

31 Square Miles

After Ubisoft felt like the Assassin’s Creed series fell into a rut, they decided to change things up by taking a page out of The Witcher 3. This led to the development and release of Assassin’s Creed Origins, which focused on the roots of the series and leaned heavily into the RPG side of things.

Bayek is a pretty fun protagonist to control, with the shifting sands of Egypt making for a captivating setting. While this formula was something that fans grew to hate, there’s no denying that Assassin’s Creed Origins felt fresh and engaging when it came out, in no small part because of the vastness of the open world.

16

Far Cry 6

34 Square Miles

Ubisoft has a great track of building massive maps. The French publisher delivers big open-world games year after year, and they do come with giant worlds. Far Cry 6 might not feature the biggest Ubisoft-created map, but it is still big enough when compared to the standards of the franchise.

Yara is a massive tropical island with lots of beautiful landscapes that leave players in awe. There are numerous non-quest activities to get involved in on the map, and it is fully explorable on foot or using vehicles. The map is more vibrant than Far Cry 5‘s Hope County, which makes exploration a pure joy.

15

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

38.5 Square Miles

2020 was an important year for Ubisoft. The company had several major AAA releases, such as Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Watch Dogs: Legion, and, of course, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Valhalla received even more attention than expected when Cyberpunk 2077 was delayed again around the time Valhalla was set to release, making it one of the few major releases on ninth-generation consoles at the time, putting a huge weight of expectations on the game.

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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is set in medieval Norway and a large part of Britain and features gorgeous maps with a colorful and bold fantasy art style that makes the game stand out from its predecessors. While there’s no denying the world’s beauty, fans of exploring are sure to enjoy the size of the map, too.

14

Forza Horizon 5

41.5 Square Miles

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Forza Horizon 5

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Released

November 9, 2021

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Forza Horizon 5 enjoyed being one of Xbox’s biggest and best first-party launches since the ninth-generation consoles were released, with Halo Infinite being one of its only other competitors. The game lets players travel around a huge map that provides a stunning fictional rendition of Mexico.

The map offers a wide range of biomes for players to explore and travel across, each with its own unique visuals and surfaces to consider when picking a vehicle. There is also an incredible range of cars to drive, ensuring that the gameplay never gets stale.

13

Grand Theft Auto 5

49 Square Miles

Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the biggest and best open-world games on Xbox One. One of the main reasons for its acclaim is the sheer amount of detail that is present, as well as the artistically beautiful lighting and environments. The game’s world is inspired by Southern California, which in itself is a lovely place.

GTA 5‘s enormous open world is like a giant playground for the players to mess around in, largely thanks to the huge range of vehicles and weapons on offer that let gamers create mayhem.

12

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

52 Square Miles

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is widely regarded as one of the best open-world RPGs ever. The game was clearly built with dedication and love, exemplified by the meticulously detailed world that is a delight to explore.

The game’s stunning world is not its only standout feature, as the many characters within the world are brought to life through gripping quests that will force players to make numerous tough decisions. The variety of locations that the player visits in The Witcher 3. While the story begins in Velen and Kaer Morhen, the players then discover Skellige Isles, which delivers a refreshing experience. The exploration in The Witcher 3 is always rewarding, and that’s why players love to visit every inch of the map in this game.

11

DayZ

86 Square Miles

A survival game where players can either join forces or battle against each other to survive in a zombie wasteland, the gameplay of DayZ is nerve-wracking and rewards player investment as they slowly understand how the game works. Given how massive the playing space is in every session, it’s easy to see why DayZ can be a bit overwhelming for beginners.

It takes a while for players to come to grips with the massive sandbox and what the most efficient way is to tackle both zombie hordes and hostile human players. DayZ may seem like a simple game at first, but it won’t take too long for this title to wrap its tendrils around a player as they clock in numerous play sessions in no time.

10

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag

90.2 Square Miles

With the release of Skull & Bones, more people have come to realize just how amazing the fourth mainline Assassin’s Creed game really is. Black Flag was celebrated by many to be one of the greatest video games ever made and continues to hold up pretty well to this day.

Navigating the Caribbean on a pirate ship and exploring the wealth of secrets that lie within makes for a great time. Sure, the vast majority of this open world consists of a massive water body, but it ends up fitting in the world pretty well and makes exploration a blast to engage with.

9

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

90.7 Square Miles

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey features one of the biggest open worlds ever seen in a video game. How much of this world is justified is debatable, but there’s no denying that the sheer scale of this gorgeous world should be celebrated.

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Odyssey can be a bit too overwhelming to get into, but players should be fine as long as they prioritize the main story and don’t get sidetracked too much. Sometimes, huge open worlds can be detrimental to a game’s overall quality, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a great example of the same.