Is Starfield Bigger than Skyrim?

This article is part of a directory: Starfield: Complete Guide & Walkthrough

For a long time, Skyrim was considered one of the largest universes made by Bethesda. However, with the release of Starfield, that claim seems to be losing its plausibility, making players wonder if Bethesda’s new IP will indeed be larger than The Elder Scrolls 5. In this map comparison, open-world RPG fans will finally find out if Starfield is bigger than Skyrim based on the latest information about its map size.

Starfield and Skyrim Map Size Comparison

image showing starfield's star map next to skyrim's world map.

Given that it features 1,000 planets, with each having a few square miles of explorable area, Starfield is much larger than Skyrim. The map of Bethesda's Skyrim spans approximately 15 square miles, which is comparable to the expanse of just a single planet within Starfield.

In Skyrim, it takes players approximately 3 hours to traverse the entire map on foot. Conversely, in Starfield, each terrain tile might require around 1 hour for players to cross.

Starfield’s Map Vs. Other Bethesda Games

Split Image Starfield Inspiration From Other Bethesda Games

With a map size of 62,394 square miles, The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall used to be the biggest Bethesda game, followed by Fallout 3. However, pre-release estimations yield that Starfield might have 1,000,000 square miles of traversable area.

Here’s a map comparison between Bethesda games to put that in perspective:

Bethesda Title	Map Size
Starfield	1,000,000 mi2 (estimated)
The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall	62,394 mi2
Fallout 3	16 mi2
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim	14.3 mi2
Fallout: New Vegas	13.4 mi2
Fallout 4	10.8 mi2
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind	9.3 mi2

How Can Starfield’s Star Map Be So Large?

Starfield uses procedural generation to expand planetary environments. This has allowed developers to create an entire galaxy with 100 star systems and over 1,000 planets.

This is not Bethesda's first utilization of procedurally generated biomes. The company had employed this technique much earlier, in 1996, when they created one of the largest maps in gaming history for The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall.

Is Starfield Bigger Than No Man’s Sky?

image showing starfield's cover art next to no man's sky art.

According to the developers of No Man's Sky, the game's open-world universe features an astounding 18 quintillion planets, which significantly surpasses the number of star systems in Starfield.

While Starfield incorporates procedural generation, its map size is not as expansive as that of No Man's Sky. In No Man's Sky, procedural generation is employed to generate new planets, whereas Starfield utilizes this feature to create diverse planet biomes and terrains. It's important to note that the number of planets in Starfield remains fixed.