Fans Divided By Upcoming Open-World RPG’s Promise To Deliver A Map Twice as Big as Skyrim’s

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When The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim came out in 2011, its huge, explorable world felt fresh and new. While open-world games weren’t entirely uncommon, Skyrim offered a level of detail and vastness that most players hadn’t seen before. The game’s size was noteworthy, but what truly captivated fans was the incredible amount of things to discover while exploring. Since then, open-world environments have become a common feature in video games, and developers often highlight this freedom in their marketing. However, simply promising a large open world isn’t enough to excite gamers anymore.

Gamers have often been disappointed by large open-world games that don’t offer much to do. Many remember feeling lost in the world of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, unsure of what to explore. Simply claiming a game world is huge doesn’t generate excitement like it once did. This is evident with Crimson Desert, a new action-adventure game that recently revealed a map “at least twice as big as Skyrim’s playable area.” Instead of getting fans excited, the announcement has caused concern. But there’s more to the story than just the map size.

Fans Worried About Crimson Desert’s Big Map Size Promise, But They Might Not Need to Be

Recent discussion about how large the open world will be in Crimson Desert comes from the New Game+ Showcase event on January 8th. The showcase included game trailers and detailed interviews with the developers. A key highlight was an exclusive interview with the team behind Crimson Desert, a highly anticipated RPG. However, one comment from that interview is now sparking debate among gamers about whether a truly expansive open world is the right approach for the game.

During a recent interview with the New Game+ Showcase team, Pearl Abyss’s Will Powers was asked about the scale of their upcoming game, Crimson Desert. He stated the game’s map would be significantly larger than those in popular RPGs like Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption 2. This comment has sparked discussion online, with some players concerned the large world might feel empty and lack substantial content.

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A recent interview covered by IGN led to a discussion on Reddit, where many gamers voiced their annoyance with open-world games prioritizing size over substance. One commenter put it simply: a huge world is pointless without enough things to do. The popular phrase “wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle” is being used to describe this issue. However, despite these concerns, many aren’t writing off Crimson Desert just yet.

Interestingly, Powers directly acknowledged this concern during the same interview. After discussing the game’s large open world, he pointed out, “Size isn’t important if there’s nothing to do.” He explained that the goal of Crimson Desert is to create a world that’s not just huge, but also full of things for players to engage with. It sounds like the developers are actively trying to ensure the game lives up to expectations and isn’t simply a large, empty world.

Crimson Desert will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S starting March 19th. It’s already generating a lot of excitement as one of the year’s most promising new action RPGs.

What are your thoughts on open-world games that feature large maps? Share your opinions in the comments below and join the discussion on the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-01-10 23:40