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There is no defensible single winner for map size, side-quest quality, and postgame content across these RPGs. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the strongest documented choice for authored side stories and expansion content; Cyberpunk 2077 concentrates exploration in a futuristic city; Skyrim offers broad, system-driven wandering; and Elden Ring makes discovery and combat challenge the point of its open world. Choose by the kind of content you want, not by an unverified square-mile ranking.
Map-area figures are not directly comparable because publishers and third-party guides use different boundaries. Separated regions, vertical spaces, fast travel, water, instanced interiors, and what counts as playable land can all change the result. The comparison below therefore focuses on world structure, side-quest design, and what is documented about content after the main story.
What “map size” really tells you
A large outline on a map does not automatically mean a richer adventure. A game can have a broad footprint with long stretches devoted to traversal, while a smaller or more vertically layered setting can present a new activity every few minutes. The available third-party estimates for these games do not document a common measuring method or boundary, so they cannot support a reliable overall size ranking.
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- Separated regions: A game may present several large zones rather than one continuous landmass. Whether those zones are added together, and whether hubs or transit areas count, changes the apparent total.
- Verticality: Rooftops, underground areas, caves and multi-level buildings add playable routes without adding much two-dimensional area.
- Traversal density: A compact district packed with contracts and conversations can feel fuller than a larger wilderness with fewer authored encounters.
- Boundaries: Water, inaccessible mountains, decorative city blocks and automatically loaded interiors may be included or excluded by different map makers.
For that reason, treat map size as a description of travel style rather than a leaderboard. Ask how often the game gives you a meaningful reason to leave the road, and how much of the visible world is interactive.
#1 Best Overall
- 192-page full color hardcover packed with tools and guidance to help gamemasters run immersive campaigns.
- Includes expert advice for new and experienced GMs tailored to the Warhammer The Old World roleplaying system.
- Features campaign-building tools like Grim Portents, Contacts, and Dark Threads to create dynamic narratives.
- Expanded setting details for Talagaad with guidance for adapting adventures to other regions and stories.
- Contains bestiary, magic items, downtime events, and corruption paths to enrich gameplay and surprise players.
How side quests differ from quest counts
“Lots of quests” can mean several things: a high number of objectives, long character arcs, branching investigations, repeatable contracts or spontaneous events. Those categories are not interchangeable. A publisher’s total-playtime statement is also not a quest count, and a reviewer’s praise for writing is a judgment rather than a measurable total.
Bandai Namco’s official result for The Witcher 3 advertises over 100 hours of core and side-quest gameplay. The surfaced page does not state a publication year, and the wording is a combined gameplay claim, not a promise that every player will need 100 hours or that side quests alone account for that time.
A secondary Wikipedia reference lists 244 quests and more than 300 marked points of interest for Skyrim. The reference does not establish that all 244 entries are side quests, does not include a publication year in the surfaced material and excludes the possibility that unmarked locations change a player’s experience. Use those figures as an attributed indication of breadth, not as a directly comparable score.
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| Game | World structure | Side-content emphasis | Documented postgame or expansion evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | Open-world journey across the Northern Kingdoms, including Velen, Novigrad and Skellige | Story-led quests and contracts; official claim of more than 100 hours of combined core and side-quest gameplay | Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine add story content; Complete Edition combines the game and expansions |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Open-world futuristic city | Mercenary contracts and flexible character builds are highlighted in GamesRadar’s editorial description | A uniform inventory of post-ending activities is not established by the cited material; check the edition and platform you are buying |
| Skyrim | Open-ended fantasy province with marked and unmarked places to discover | Very broad quest and location ecosystem; the 244-quest and 300-plus-location figures come from a secondary reference | A cross-game, source-backed count of post-story activities is not established here |
| Elden Ring | Vast, exploration-first world built around discovering routes and optional areas | GamesRadar emphasizes choosing another path when a boss is too difficult; the design is less about a conventional quest log | No comparable postgame inventory is established by the cited material |
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Map and world structure
The official game page identifies The Witcher 3 as an open-world role-playing game set across the Northern Kingdoms. CD PROJEKT RED’s press description specifically names Velen, Novigrad and Skellige. These areas differ in landscape and settlement density, so the experience is not simply a single uninterrupted field: you move among war-torn countryside, a major city and island regions, with quests and travel shaped by each setting.
Rank #2
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That regional structure is why a raw area estimate is a poor proxy for how full the game feels. Novigrad supplies urban conversations and investigations, while Velen and Skellige provide different travel rhythms. The official sources establish the regions, but not a common measured area that can be fairly compared with the other games in this list.
Side quests and narrative weight
The Witcher 3 is the clearest fit for a player who means “engaging side history” when asking for side quests. Its side content is presented as authored story material rather than merely map-clearing tasks, and the official Bandai Namco result advertises more than 100 hours of combined core and side-quest gameplay. Because that figure combines both categories and has no year stated on the surfaced page, use it to understand the intended scale, not as a guaranteed completion schedule.
GamesRadar’s editorial roundup also treats Witcher 3 as a benchmark for narrative-rich open-world content. That is a critical assessment, not a controlled count, but it aligns with the game’s emphasis on named characters, local conflicts and consequences that sit alongside the main plot.
Postgame and expansions
The official page identifies Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine as expansions that add story content. This is a different category from simply wandering after the ending: the expansions supply additional authored adventures. The Complete Edition combines the base game and those expansions, while the official material also describes a Remastered offering with platform distinctions. Confirm which edition your platform sells before assuming the expansions are included.
Rank #3
- ENTER THE WORLD OF SKYRIM: Experience the legendary open-world RPG as a tabletop adventure, exploring Tamriel through branching quests, iconic factions, and rich Elder Scrolls lore.
- COOPERATIVE OR SOLO PLAY: Designed for 1–4 players, allowing you to adventure solo or team up to face dragons, uncover conspiracies, and shape the fate of Skyrim together.
- OPEN-ENDED QUEST SYSTEM: Choose how you approach each mission—diplomacy, stealth, or combat—as your decisions permanently impact the story and the world around you.
- DEEP CHARACTER PROGRESSION: Build unique heroes with evolving skills, gear, and abilities inspired by the video game’s iconic progression systems.
- HIGH REPLAYABILITY: Modular scenarios, multiple quest paths, and varied character builds ensure every campaign feels fresh and every journey through Skyrim is different.
CD PROJEKT RED’s press center has announced Songs of the Past, described as introducing a new region, quests and characters. The captured announcement does not settle its release or availability status, so do not treat it as playable or purchasable without checking the current platform listing.
Cyberpunk 2077
Map and world structure
CD PROJEKT RED classifies Cyberpunk 2077 as an open-world role-playing game set in a futuristic city. That premise produces a different sense of scale from a province or collection of wilderness regions: density comes from districts, streets, interiors and vertical routes rather than from a single pastoral horizon. A city can feel busy without being geographically enormous, but no shared area measurement in the cited material allows a numerical comparison with The Witcher 3, Skyrim or Elden Ring.
Side quests and player builds
GamesRadar describes the game’s mercenary contracts and freedom to shape a character build. Those observations point to two complementary forms of side content: jobs that send you into the city’s local problems and build choices that change how you approach them. They are editorial descriptions, not an official contract total or a standardized writing-quality score. If your priority is a modern urban setting where exploration and character specialization reinforce each other, Cyberpunk 2077 is the natural candidate in this group.
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Postgame decisions
The supplied sources do not establish a comparable inventory of Cyberpunk 2077’s activities after the main ending, repeatable endgame systems or new-game modes. Edition and platform matter, so verify the exact product description for the version you plan to play rather than assuming that every release contains the same additions. This is a limitation of the available evidence, not proof that no post-ending content exists.
Rank #4
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Skyrim
Map and discovery style
Skyrim is built for unscripted wandering across a fantasy province. The secondary reference surfaced for this comparison attributes 244 quests and more than 300 marked points of interest to the game, while also noting unmarked locations. Because the source is not the original publisher and does not show a year, and because “quests” are not defined as side quests, those figures should not be placed in a league table against the Witcher 3’s time claim.
The important practical distinction is discoverability. Skyrim rewards following a road, climbing toward a landmark or investigating a location that is not announced as a major story beat. That breadth can feel less curated than The Witcher 3’s character-focused investigations, but it gives you more control over what kind of adventure emerges from a play session.
Side-quest variety
Skyrim’s evidence supports abundance more strongly than it supports a uniform measure of narrative depth. A quest count can include different kinds of objectives, and marked points of interest can contain anything from a brief encounter to a substantial dungeon. Choose it if you value a large pool of activities and the freedom to make your own route; choose another game if every side mission must be a tightly authored drama.
What to expect after the main story
The cited material does not provide a source-backed total for Skyrim’s post-story activities, repeatable endgame loops or new-game options. Treat its open-ended structure as a reason to keep exploring, not as evidence of a quantified postgame package. Edition and platform details can alter what is bundled, so check the current listing for the version you intend to use.
Best Value
- Welcome to the new world: taking on the role of a Hunter, players are tasked with going on a research expedition to a newly discovered continent known only as “new world”.
- Living and breathing ecosystem: utilize the surrounding environment and wildlife to your advantage;Subgenre:Action role-playing game (RPG)
- Online drop-in multiplayer: when the battle is too daunting to take on single-handedly, hail up to three other hunters to assist during quests by sending up a sos flare to a worldwide server.
- Hunt to craft new Gear: defeat monsters and collect loot from fallen foes to craft equipment and weapons styled after the monsters that have been slain.
- SEAMLESS gameplay: players and monsters can move from One map area to another freely and without loading screens whilst gameplay also dynamically transitions between night and day.
Elden Ring
Exploration and perceived size
GamesRadar’s 2026 roundup characterizes Elden Ring’s world as vast and highlights the ability to explore elsewhere when a boss is too difficult. That is a useful description of how the world feels: progress often comes from finding another route, cave, legacy area or upgrade opportunity rather than completing a conventional chain of side missions.
“Vast” is editorial language, not an area measurement. The available sources do not establish a validated square-mile figure or a postgame-content inventory, so Elden Ring cannot be declared the largest on this evidence.
Side content and difficulty
Elden Ring suits players who treat exploration itself as the side activity. The freedom to leave a difficult boss and search elsewhere makes the world a problem-solving tool: you can change direction, discover resources and return with a different approach. That structure is less comparable to a dialogue-heavy quest list, so a player seeking long character conversations may experience its side content differently from a player seeking secrets and combat challenges.
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No source in the supplied material establishes a like-for-like inventory of Elden Ring’s activities after the ending, repeatable modes or new-game features. Confirm the edition and platform-specific contents before using postgame as the deciding factor.
Which game fits your priorities?
| If you want… | Best-supported fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Side stories with substantial authored writing | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | Its official presentation emphasizes the Northern Kingdoms and story expansions, and Bandai Namco claims more than 100 hours of combined core and side-quest gameplay. |
| A dense futuristic city and build experimentation | Cyberpunk 2077 | It is officially an open-world RPG in a futuristic city, while GamesRadar highlights mercenary contracts and character-build freedom. |
| The broadest “wander anywhere” fantasy sandbox | Skyrim | The secondary reference reports hundreds of quests and marked locations, with additional unmarked places, although the categories are not standardized. |
| Exploration as a response to combat difficulty | Elden Ring | GamesRadar’s description centers on a vast world where you can pursue another path when a boss blocks progress. |
How to check the edition before buying
- Identify the exact title: Look for the game name plus its edition, not just the franchise name.
- Read the included-content line: Confirm whether named expansions are bundled or sold separately. For The Witcher 3, the Complete Edition is the package described as combining the game and its expansions.
- Match the platform: Official pages distinguish platform offerings and Remastered versions. A feature available on one platform or release may not apply to another.
- Separate announced from playable: An announcement such as Songs of the Past is not proof of current availability. Check the store page’s release status and included content.
- Decide what “postgame” means to you: Write down whether you mean free roam after the ending, paid story expansions, repeatable activities or a new-game mode, then verify that specific feature.
Bottom line
Do not choose among these games by an unqualified map-size ranking: the underlying measurements are not consistent. Pick The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the strongest documented package of narrative side quests and story expansions, Cyberpunk 2077 for urban contracts and build freedom, Skyrim for unscripted breadth, or Elden Ring for exploratory discovery around difficult combat. The edition and platform you select determine which expansions and other additions are actually included.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
