Starfield's map covers a much larger area of land than Skyrim, but exactly how much bigger its scale will be will inevitably come down to the number of star systems and planets in the game and their playable areas. There are also other aspects to consider when trying to compare such vastly different landscapes, such as the fast travel system that Bethesda traditionally uses for its discoverable locations. Fast traveling in Skyrim is the wrong way to play, but players will likely have more than a few reasons to use a similar system in Starfield due to its sheer vastness.
At Xbox and Bethesda's June 12 summer showcase, Todd Howard revealed a lot of information about Starfield, including how much ground it's going to cover. According to Howard, there are over a hundred star systems and over a thousand planets to be discovered. These planets are procedurally generated, which means Bethesda used a created algorithm to construct the makeup and foundation of these planets, but developers have finely tuned other aspects of them to make the universe feel unique. This process shouldn't get confused with other sandbox-type games where every time a new world is started the landscape changes; Starfield's universe is different from No Man's Sky and is more of a traditional Bethesda creation - just on a much larger scale. This new world scale that Bethesda chose for Starfield calls into question just how much bigger it actually is from the studio's previous and most well-known open-world RPG, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.
Going by the numbers that Howard gave during the gameplay reveal, Starfield's map, while not looking so different on-screen as any other sci-fi open-world game, one would assume the game's universe would be at least one thousand times the size of Skyrim's map, or possibly even bigger, given that it covers over a hundred star systems. That said, it's impossible to calculate and translate just how much bigger that is in reality, as what's less readily known is how many unique discoverable locations Starfield's 1000 explorable planets will have, which means Skyrim's map could still be more immersive, even if covering less of a physical expanse.
Skyrim's Map Scale Doesn't Stand Close To Starfield's Universe
Compared to Starfield's vast universe and interconnected systems, Skyrim's world area is only about fourteen and a half square miles in total. Going by the numbers, this doesn't seem like it could even be close in terms of scale. Most in-game walks across Skyrim don't take very long to complete if they stick to a consistent trail, and taking shortcuts while running can reduce the time even further. One YouTuber, ThrillSeeker, even did a VR jog across the world to see how long it would take him to complete, and it was around three hours long. Currently, there's no way of knowing what Starfield's 1,000 planets actually mean regarding the travel time across the entire universe, and it could take days or weeks - even while being in a spaceship that has access to high-tech travel systems such as hyperdrive. But what's even more overwhelming is that Todd Howard didn't mention how many moons there were in the game, leaving even more options potentially open.
Moons would make the scale of the game's map even more expansive. As seen during the gameplay reveal, one planet on the map didn't have any moons, while others had upwards of five moons in orbit. At this point, and until further information comes out, it's pure estimation as to how expansive Starfield really is; there could be an additional two- or four-thousand moons throughout the star systems that players can land on to build bases, mine materials, complete missions, even create specific mods for. Hopefully, this makes Starfield feel like Skyrim in space, but there will surely be a traditional Bethesda fast travel system that players will be able to utilize if they want to.
Skyrim's Unique Locations Might Make Starfield Feel Barren
Skyrim doesn't match up to Starfield's scale - not even close - but size doesn't always mean the map layout is better or more immersive. One of the many aspects that Skyrim is known for is its ability to pull players into a world teeming with adventure, lore, and unique locations; every part of the game tells some story or leads to unconscious but satisfying exploration, sometimes for hours. There are around three-hundred and forty discoverable locations in total on this somewhat smaller open-world map, but that number is closer to 700 actual unique locations, making it sure feel like there are endless dungeon crawls to find in Skyrim. It's going to be difficult for Starfield to give players a similar feeling of inter-world connectedness and immersion with its many planets and moons, and it'll be a true disappointment if Bethesda sacrificed its most beloved video game element simply to create a game of larger scale.
Parts of Starfield's gameplay showed signs that the studio stuck to its roots as much as it could for a game of this size. Of the one star system shown on the galaxy map, there were four unique locations already discovered, and that was from a zoomed-out perspective. There are likely plenty more than that in that system alone. Translating that over to a hundred more systems, it's easy to understand why Xbox and Bethesda delayed Starfield into 2023 because there's a lot of unique locations that need to be looked over and polished before launch. Although the game has made a good recovery, the last thing Bethesda wants is another Cyberpunk 2077 for such an ambitious game.
Considering everything, it's not fair to judge either game by the size and scale of its maps: both titles are vastly different in plot and setting. Nevertheless, Skyrim's smaller open world is likely minuscule compared to what's coming in Starfield's universe, but Starfield's might not pack the same sort of punch, depending on how it's handled. Given Bethesda's history, however, it seems likely that Starfield will be a big 2023 contender for video game of the year award, following in Skyrim's footsteps.
Source: ThrillSeeker/YouTube