Open-world games are notorious for their massive sizes and years-long dev cycles, often having little to show for it when all is said and done. Sometimes, though, a project will hit the shelves against all odds and on an unbelievably short timetable. Some of these games are triumphs of technical wizardry…while others are held together with duct tape.
28 Xbox One Games With Huge Open-World Maps
The eighth console generation allowed for some massive open-world maps; here are some of the biggest available on Microsoft's Xbox One.
Either way, rapid-fire development of huge sandboxes is a spectacle worth examining. These open-world titles prove that a tight schedule can still generate big results.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
6 Months
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
- Released
- April 30, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Genre(s)
- FPS
Ubisoft’s in-house teams are famous for their assembly-line approach, but Blood Dragon takes efficiency to a new level. Developed in half a year, this standalone expansion reuses nearly every asset from Far Cry 3: weapons, AI routines, wildlife, and the map geometry in some cases. Nevertheless, the end product is no lazy cash grab. Blood Dragon is a synth-heavy homage to 80s action excess soaked in neon, complete with Michael Biehn hamming it up as a cyber-commando.
By doubling down on satire, the team converted old content into something that felt wholly original. The six-month sprint is obvious in its recycled environments, but the bombastic personality makes Blood Dragon a minor miracle. Players can sense the developers having fun with their limited toolkit, shoving in joke tutorials, VHS tracking artifacts, and one-liner dialogue every chance they got.
A Short Hike
~7 Months
A Short Hike
- Released
- April 5, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E For Everyone
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Solo developer Adam Robinson-Yu built this serene mini-open-world in an impressive seven months. The secret? Smart scoping. Every open-world element is pared down: a tiny island, a single climactic quest, and a handful of lovable NPCs with simple side activities. There’s no combat, no crafting, and no leveling. Instead, A Short Hike leans into gliding and climbing mechanics that just feel good.
The lo-fi art style is inviting and quick to produce, allowing the developer to fill out the world with quirky details. Seven months isn’t enough time to create the next Skyrim, but it’s more than enough to deliver a perfectly-formed gem. It’s a very personal game, with plenty of polish that conceals its rapid production cycle.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
9 Months
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- Released
- October 29, 2002
WHERE TO PLAY
GTA 3 changed the gaming landscape in more ways than one, becoming a massive hit in the process. Vice City managed to capitalize on its success in only nine months. How did Rockstar pull it off? By treating Vice City as a gigantic expansion pack. Nearly every system - driving, shooting, etc. - was carried over, and the devs spent most of their time swapping out assets for a Miami-inspired aesthetic. New vehicles and a banger 80s soundtrack were dropped in, plus a celebrity voice cast that boosted the game’s profile.
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But those nine months still show. The title is prone to the same bugs and physics glitches as its predecessor. Mission design occasionally relies on trial-and-error tedium. However, the atmosphere is still iconic, even decades later. For nine months of work, Vice City delivered a blockbuster sequel that has stuck in players’ minds, and will continue to do so, for years to come.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations
~11 Months
Assassin's Creed Revelations
- Released
- November 15, 2011
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Language, Mild Sexual Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action, Open-World
After Assassin’s Creed 2, Ubisoft kicked its sequel pipeline into overdrive. Revelations arrived one year after Brotherhood, and it shows. Almost everything is borrowed from the prior entries, with Istanbul’s cityscape swapped in as the main attraction. Instead, Revelations focuses on refinement in the form of tweaked parkour animations, a new hookblade for navigation, and a bomb-crafting system.
Most of the work went into cinematic fanfare and wrapping up Ezio’s story. The rushed development is clear in the recycled side content and anemic innovation, but for diehard fans, Revelations delivers a tight experience. Even if it’s built on reused assets, the map maintains a charming vibe. Eleven months isn’t enough for reinventing the wheel, but Ubisoft’s fourth mainline entry is worth it to see the conclusion of Ezio’s arc.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
~12 Months
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
- Released
- November 16, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
Riding high on Assassin's Creed 2's success, Ubisoft Montreal had to exploit the momentum quickly. Brotherhood started as planned downloadable content before being reimagined as a full standalone sequel, all in roughly a year. This frenetic schedule forced heavy asset recycling - the Anvil engine, combat systems, parkour mechanics, and entire sequences originally cut from AC2 were repurposed wholesale. What could've been a glorified expansion became much more ambitious.
The short timeframe shows its hand in the occasionally repetitive mission design, but Brotherhood introduced innovative features despite its constraints. The multiplayer mode was a franchise first. The Brotherhood recruitment system, letting players build and deploy their own assassin network, felt fresh. Most impressively, the team managed to put together a refined combat system with more polished mechanics than its predecessor. For a game that was essentially pieced together in months, Brotherhood stands as one of the series’ strongest entries.
Saints Row 4
~14 Months
Saints Row 4
- Released
- August 20, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Open-World
After Saints Row: The Third, Volition got to work building a sequel in record time. Saints Row 4 shipped in just over a year, and the process left scars all over the game. Originally planned as a DLC expansion, SR4’s environment is a replica of the previous game’s city, with only minor cosmetic tweaks. The difference? Superpowers. By incorporating mechanics like flight, speed, and telekinesis, Volition turned a recycled playground into a hilarious superhero fantasy.
The short dev time meant rampant bugs and a slew of other technical problems at launch. Be that as it may, the daring premise (alien invasion) and all the chaos that results from it make the jank worth it. Saints Row 4 is a Frankenstein’s monster assembled from old assets and new ideas, one that shouldn’t work, but does.
Fallout: New Vegas
18 Months
Fallout: New Vegas
- Released
- October 19, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Genre(s)
- RPG
When Obsidian was contracted to make a new Fallout, they were given eighteen months to build an open-world RPG. They succeeded…but only barely. New Vegas should have its own "Wanted" poster for its launch bugs and unfinished features, much of which traces back to the punishing schedule. Dialogue and quests are built on the same tech as Fallout 3, with new scripting layered on top like spackle.
Many locations are empty, and whole questlines had to be cut or reworked at the eleventh hour. Despite this, New Vegas is conspicuous for its writing and world-building. Obsidian spent their limited time shaping memorable factions, nuanced choices, and a dizzying amount of branching dialogue that ensures that no two playthroughs are identical. The world may be technically flawed, but it’s alive in ways most open-world games only dream of.
The Biggest Open World Games, Based On The Size Of Their Maps
Open-world games are beloved for their massive maps. Here are some of the biggest open worlds that gamers can explore in the genre.