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[DieH@rd]

CD Projekt Red and Umbra Software held a presentation titled “Solving Visibility and Streaming in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with Umbra 3“ at the Game Developers Conference, and it included a very interesting detail (that I happened to overlook when I first examined the original slides) as discovered by Reddit user fughp.

The slides mention the size of two of the areas included in the game: the city of Novigrad measures 8.5 x 8.5 km for a total size of 72,25 square km, while Skellige is 8 x 8 km, meaning 64 square km. Summed up, the two areas cover 136,25 square km, which convert to just north of 52 square miles.

By comparison, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim‘s world has been calculated to measure 14.8 square miles. This means that the two areas named above are already over 3.5 times larger than the whole Skyrim map.

This is actually fairly interesting since back in June CD Projekt RED described The Witcher 3 as 20% larger than Bethesda’s open world game. We currently don’t know if that was just a preliminary estimate, or the Witcher‘s world just got bigger since then.

We reached out to CD Projekt RED requesting information to shed light on the issue, and we’ll keep you updated if we receive any relevant answer. In the meanwhile one thing is for sure: the world of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is pretty damn big.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/04...s-by-themselves-3-5-times-larger-than-skyrim/


Maybe a lot of this area will be unaccessible, just to serve as a pretty "skybox" for the distant areas.

 

[Mindman]

Can't wait for that game. Sad about the delay but it'll be worth the wait.

 

[No Love]

Wow they're going for full scale rather than 'game scale.' This game is going to be HUGE! I can't wait.

 

[sflufan]

That's a lot of area for ploughing!

 

[Levyne]

Actually sounds a bit overwhelming. I hope it's dense and interesting and not just big for the sake of being big.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

I really don't like it when games brag about stuff like this. I would rather have a densely populated/detailed world that is smaller than a massive one that is empty.

 

[iceatcs]

Wow massive, but I hope there will something like teleport. I'm not sure if I want a long horse riding all of time.

 

[Data West]

A good selling point, but I hope they're not making it big for the sake of being big.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

Hype lowering . There's no way to have anything close to Witcher 2's level of detail at that scale.

 

[DJIzana]

I can't say I'm a fan of WRPG's but I absolutely love how ambitious they are and I absolutely love how big the world is.

I actually wish that Monolith Soft could make "X" that ambitious in terms of its size of the world...

 

[cackhyena]

I really don't like it when games brag about stuff like this. I would rather have a densely populated/detailed world that is smaller than a massive one that is empty.

Yep, same for me.

 

[orochi91]

I really don't like it when games brag about stuff like this. I would rather have a densely populated/detailed world that is smaller than a massive one that is empty.

Yea, I agree the size seems absurd. Was there fast travel in the Witcher 2?

 

[SomeOneInaHat]

and looks like this...

This generation is going to demonstrate what can be done with scale and quality.

 

[nubbe]

Like in Guild Wars 1.. lots of nothing

 

[Dragon1893]

Wasn't the whole game supposed to be slightly bigger than Skyrim (120% I think Edit: yup, it's in the OP lol)? This is too much to be true. 2 areas 3.5 times the size of the whole Skyrim map? No way.

 

[Grief.exe]

Early on in development, CDPR was mentioning Skyrim so much. I really hope they aren't taking too much inspiration from that game.

Hype lowering . There's no way to have anything close to Witcher 2's level of detail at that scale.

Have you seen the screenshots?

I do get your point though, creating a large world is one thing, but filling it with content is another.

 

[flaxknuckles]

Seems like they want to have a world that feels real and has the right scale to it, instead of a toybox where everything is right next to eachother. I am okay with this. Lol at all you who are mad about it, just use fast travel.

 

[PinkCrayon]

Pointless if there's nothing to do in it.

 

[loganclaws]

This doesn't mean that this area is playable. I hate it when developers give out stats like these because it's vague BS aimed at hyping up their product. CDPR doesn't need and shouldn't resort to this kind of marketing.

 

[MayMay]

It certainly does sound very impressive on paper. I just hope they keep the incredible detail they had in the TW2 areas - but it seems really unlikely now.

 

[DieH@rd]

Just Cause 2 was 20x20 miles, that's 400 squared miles. That was big, but still manageable because of the fast modes of transport.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Skyrim was already filled with nothing, what will this be like?

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Any one in here read a title like that and think "damnit seriously! Skyrim took me forever to beat I don't need a game bigger than Skyrim"

Or am I the only old codger with limited gaming time

 

[Nafai1123]

That's one big ass city.

 

[Dennis]

 

[Damaniel]

Daggerfall had a giant world too, but 99.9% of it was copy-pasted, unnecessary landscape that nobody ever wanted (or needed) to see. Bigger isn't better if what's there isn't compelling to begin with.

That said, I trust CD Projekt Red to get it right, and I'll be buying this on day one. Hopefully they'll be able to fill all that space with stuff worth seeing and doing.

 

[ironcreed]

Jesus, it will take forever to explore. I'll gladly take it.

 

[charsace]

I would lol if their was only one more area left to unveil.

Can't wait for this game to come out.

The old Elder Scroll games were massive and also a slog a lot of the time.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

Early on in development, CDPR was mentioning Skyrim so much. I really hope they aren't taking too much inspiration from that game.



Have you seen the screenshots?

Not talking about graphical fidelity but how rich each area was in terms of character and how many things there were to do.

 

[Spinluck]

My god.

Do you guys see the previous titles ever being released on PS4?

I'm on the fence about just buying them on PC, or continuing to hold out with hope.

 

[Tex117]

Apparently so is the hyperbole.

 

[Interfectum]

Some of you need to have more faith in CDPR.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

That's a hefty promise. I'd be surprised if they deliver in a way that's satisfying.

 

[ClearData]

What would you even do with all that space? It sounds like you could play the game for a year just exploring.

 

[VanWinkle]

and looks like this...



This generation is going to demonstrate what can be done with scale and quality.

Every screenshot of Witcher 3 makes me furious, because the over-over-sharpening makes it look so much worse.

 

[sflufan]

Do you guys see the previous titles ever being released on PS4?

No.

 

[jon bones]

man that is a huge turn off

 

[Dennis]

What would you even do with all that space? It sounds like you could play the game for a year just exploring.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

I really don't like it when games brag about stuff like this. I would rather have a densely populated/detailed world that is smaller than a massive one that is empty.

Precisely. In this case, it's probably not too much of a bad thing that they're going on about the game's scale, but it's really not something I care about hearing. A lot of my favorite games have a smaller, but very dense scale.

 

[flaxknuckles]

What would you even do with all that space? It sounds like you could play the game for a year just exploring.

That sounds awesome.

 

[wiggleb0t]

Actually sounds a bit overwhelming. I hope it's dense and interesting and not just big for the sake of being big.

CDPR is quality over quantity imo. Will surely be a sense of overwhelming though that adds to the immersion of 'rules/limits' in virtual worlds.

 

[Angry Grimace]

The problem is that that Skyrim game-density is a good compromise between size and having a world with nothing in it.

 

[okayfrog]

This doesn't mean that this area is playable. I hate it when developers give out stats like these because it's vague BS aimed at hyping up their product. CDPR doesn't need and shouldn't resort to this kind of marketing.

I don't see how this is vague BS. All they noted was the size of the cities.

 

[boeso]

This is going to melt PS4's..

 

[velociraptor]

I HATE games like this.

Great, now I have to travel one million miles just to go from one objective to the another.

 

[Zemm]

It's not the size that matters, it's what you do with it.

These stats just don't interest me, it means nothing.

 

[kittens]

I don't normally post response gifs, but:

 

[chickdigger802]

hope geralt learns some teleporting signs.


or gets a flying mount.

 

[Einbroch]

If there's nothing to do in said space, it's a negative.

 

[Odrion]

.