hidden side content to discover.

Compared to previous Assassin's Creed games, AC Shadows isn't the longest or the biggest, but it does have a pretty large map with plenty of scenic areas to get lost in. Here's how it stacks up, size-wise, to previous installments, including more open-world entries like Valhalla and the most recent game, Mirage.

AC Shadows' Map Is Smaller Than Valhalla's

Smaller, But Denser

Excluding Mirage, which was a lot less open, Valhalla was the most recent Assassin's Creed game. With its dual maps, Valhalla has a bigger map than AC Shadows. In an interview with IGN, Shadows' creative director, Jonathan Dumont, compared it to AC Origins in of map scale. Valhalla's map is commonly estimated at 120 square kilometers (46 square miles), which means Origins and Shadows are slightly smaller at what appears to be more like 80 square kilometers (31 square miles).

This is mainly because of two specific factors of Valhalla's map, the first being its dual settings. In AC Valhalla, you can jump back and forth between Norway and England, which simply means there's more landmass to go around. That's not even to mention the small parts of Vinland, and the more ethereal settings like Asgard and Jotunheim, that you're able to explore at certain points. Then, there's Valhalla's naval gameplay, which means countless square kilometers more are added by the inclusion of wide open seas.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Is Smaller Than Odyssey

To use another recent point of comparison, Assassin's Creed Shadows is also significantly smaller than Odyssey. Again, this has a lot to do with the ability to sail between islands; set amid the Greek archipelago, and also including naval combat, Odyssey has a lot of wide-open space, including the sea.

If we exclude water, Odyssey's map is only about 130 square kilometers (50 square miles), which is still slightly bigger than the entirety of Valhalla.

Odyssey is the largest Assassin's Creed game by area, if you include the sea: it comes in at 256 square kilometers (99 square miles), making it significantly bigger than even Valhalla and Black Flag, which is set in a massive area of the Caribbean. Therefore, it's no surprise to see Shadows coming in a little smaller.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Is Bigger Than Mirage

Mirage Features A Smaller Setting

Shadows' map may be surprisingly small when compared to earlier entries; however, it's part of a more recent trend in which Assassin's Creed games tend to have smaller, more condensed maps. Frankly, I found AC Odyssey and Valhalla a little too big - the amount of content was staggering, and I didn't even come close to 100% completion in either. It seems that was a common criticism: the term "Ubisoft bloat" has since often been levied against games similarly jam-packed with sidequests.

AC Shadows Is The Happy Medium

The Goldilocks Of Assassin's Creed Games

Perhaps in an attempt to fend off that criticism, there was Assassin's Creed Mirage: a far smaller, more linear game with most of its content set in and around the 9th-century city of Baghdad. Its size is an estimated 2.30 square kilometers (0.89 square miles) - not the smallest AC map, but the smallest in recent memory. In effect, Shadows is the happy medium. It's a lot bigger than Mirage, but nowhere near as big as Odyssey. It has plenty of side content to keep open world fans entertained, but not enough to make it intimidating.

That's also reflected in AC Shadows' estimated runtime. It's expected to take around 80 hours - probably a bit more - to 100% the game, while Odyssey could easily take over 150. Don't get me wrong, that's still a lot of content, but it's a lot more approachable in of completion.

In addition, Shadows' smaller size means that its scaling is a lot more accurate. Of course, it's nothing close to the real size of the part of Japan it depicts, but it feels closer. Since it's only trying to depict a few regions, it can do so in more detail. Cities can appear larger, and there can be greater distances between adjacent regions.

So, Shadows may not have the biggest AC map to date, but that never really feels like a problem. There's plenty of content to keep you busy, and plenty of land to explore as you immerse yourself in the feudal Japanese setting of Assassin's Creed Shadows.