Ubisoft's upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows returns to smaller maps instead of going the massive open-world route.
Assassin's Creed Shadows: Official World Premiere Trailer
"It's pretty much comparable to [Assassin's Creed] Origins, so it's smaller than Valhalla in terms of territory," Simon Lemay-Comtois, associate game director at Ubisoft Quebec, said in an interview with VGC on June 11. "There's a body of water around Japan, but it's not like Greece was, [which] was half water. With Japan, that's not the case. We have the coastlines and Lake Biwa is a very big lake, but [the map is] about the size of Origins."
With the release of Assassin's Creed Mirage, the developer returned to its roots with smaller maps and a focused stealth storyline. The game also saw one of the most linear narratives in the franchise's history.
Over the years, Ubisoft has tried to strike a balance between its massive, sprawling maps and smaller worlds. The largest map was Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, at around 130 km² in size, and 256 km² if you include the sea. It took gamers around 50 hours to beat the main storyline of the game alone without full exploration.
