Summary
Though theAssassin’s Creedseries hasn’t technically always been open-world, all of these games at least still offer large historical cities and locales for players to explore at their own leisure. However, as the series has gone on, these playable environments have become much larger and a lot more immersive. As part of the Ubisoft tradition, these maps will always be littered with side quests, towers, and plenty of secrets to uncover about both the Assassins and the Templars, so having a bigger map often results in more overall content.
At the same time, it also helps to add diversity to the core gameplay, allowing players to stumble into all kinds of areas that have their own distinct culture and aesthetic. Needless to say, this series isn’t afraid of providing gianthistorical sandboxesfor fans to enjoy, but when matching them all up, these are the games that have the largest play areas in the series.
This is specifically referring to the Frontier area of the map that Connor will explore early inAssassin’s Creed 3. This huge patch of land is crawling with Red Coat guards and Templars, so making use of the game’s new tree-climbing is heavily advised to stay out of sight andremain stealthy.
Because New York acts as the primary hub of the game where players can visit plenty of shops and interact with characters, it means the Frontier is more for combat and hunting. Of course, it’s also just nice to gawk at because of how visually interesting the area is, with lingering remnants of the Civil War showcasing the brutality of the conflict.
Unity’smap may be fairly big in size, but a lot of it is made up of tight alleyways and indoor areas, to make players feel closer to the ordinary citizens residing inrevolutionary France. It’s not uncommon to see massive groups of people in the middle of a city square waving pitchforks and banners to express their frustration, but this would be a lot harder to do if the map was too big and made up of flat landscapes.
As a result, Ubisoft got clever with the environmental design withUnity, giving players more than enough to explore while also allowing them to interact with regular people everywhere they go. The modernized parkour system inUnityalso makes navigating Paris an absolute joy, especially with how incredible it looks from a high vantage point.
Coming in a bit larger than Paris is a different notable capital city, London, which is the setting ofAssassin’s Creed Syndicate. So that players can get across the map as quickly as possible,Syndicateintroduces the grappling hook, which either Jacob or Evie can use to scale a building in no time at all. However, while it can be easy to get lost in the beauty ofVictorian London, players won’t be able to get too carried away with sightseeing as they’ll eventually stumble into the many gangs that occupy the city.
From industrial workshops to peaceful libraries, all the way to the Big Ben, players are free to explore every inch of London with the game’s dual protagonists, and thankfully, there are plenty of challenges to prevent the gameplay from ever feeling stale.Syndicaterecently received a 60FPS upgrade on the PS5, so there’s never been a better time to dive into Victorian London with the twins.
Assassin’s CreedRogue’smap is based in the North Atlantic Sea, meaning there’s actually a lot more sea than land, which helps to explain why it would end up being so big. Players assume control of Shay, an Assassin who eventually comes to learn the true secrets of his creed, leading him to eventually join up with the Templars.
While there’s plenty ofside missionsand hunting areas that players can partake in when stepping foot on land, there are also tons of naval battles that encourage players to upgrade and enhance their own ships to stay safe when sailing the seas. Simply put,Rouge’smap is the perfect size for anyone who doesn’t mind ship sailing being a big part of the core gameplay loop.
Originsis the first game in the series that tookAssassin’s Creedintothe RPG genre. As a result, the map needed to be large so that players would have enough quests and enemies that they could encounter to earn as much EXP as possible. While Ubisoft certainly succeeded in achieving this, with the map being incredibly vast and full of things to do, it’s also staggering just how much detail has gone into the villages, tombs, and pyramids scattered around Ancient Egypt.
Unlike many of the games that came before it,Originsfeatures a lot of wide-open landscapes, providing a nice contrast between gorgeous sandy dunes and small narrow villages.Originsis another game that Ubisoft has been updating since release, so it’s well worth trying out, especially with all the incredible DLC packs now available.
Once players arrive in England during the first few hours ofAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, they’ll be free to explore an entire country in any way they like, whether that be through following the main quest, or wandering off in an entirely different direction. Despite the playable area being so massive, Ubisoft somehow managed to make it feel densely packed with activities, including drinking games, orlog, random encounters, and more than enough side quests to earn plenty of EXP.
On the other hand,Valhalla’smap size has also beena topic of divisionthe fanbase, with some falling in love with the new sense of freedom, while others felt it to be a bit exhausting. One thing that is clear though is that open-world fans will have an absolute blast playing through everythingValhallahas to offer.
It’s long been argued that the fourth mainlineAssassin’s Creed,Black Flag, has some of, if not the best ship traversal of any video game. This is the reason why the staggeringly large map is so satisfying to explore, as the fluidity of the sailing mechanics, alongside the banter and songs shared between the crew members, make navigating the glistening ocean a ton of fun to be a part of.
Black Flagis based in the Caribbean, so the map is essentially split up intonumerous different islands, all with their own unique aesthetics and designs. While players will find themselves sailing a-plenty throughout a typical playthrough ofBlack Flag, that’s far from a bad thing, since Ubisoft really hit it out of the park with the ship traversal and naval combat in this game.
Before Ubisoft began toning down the size of theAssassin’s Creedmaps, they first reached their map-size peak withOdyssey, which officially contains the biggest map in the series, and one of the largest in modern gaming. Ubisoft had the grueling task of replicating not only mainland Greece, but also all of the islands surrounding it, of which there are more than 20 to visit in the game.
Not only would these all be designed with immense detail, they also all contain challenges and unique resources which can help gear the player up for the chaotic war between Athens and Sparta. When taking over each region, players will then be able to initiate a Conquest to claim it for their side, and with how big the map is, this makes players feel as though they have truly embarked on a long and arduous adventure across the entirety ofAncient Greece.
