The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Hidden Kingdom's map has a lot to live up to, with the map size of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, being fairly massive. BOTW's rendition of Hyrule was one of epic proportions - it's by far the biggest, most explorable in the series. As a sequel, TOTK will not only have to match BOTW in terms of size but grow upon what its predecessor was able to establish with its version of Hyrule.

Doing so will be no easy task. Breath of the Wild was the first Legend of Zelda entry to be a true open-world experience. As such, it had to expand the reaches of Hyrule, connect its disparate biomes, and design an overworld in a way that exudes adventure. Nintendo accomplished these goals, as BOTW’s open world experience remains unmatched to this day. However, this success came with a cost. Zelda games following BOTW will have to match its unmatched sense of space. This is the problem facing Tears of the Kingdom - it has to pinpoint what it takes to grow beyond BOTW’s shadow.

Related: Major BOTW Characters Likely Returning In Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

TOTK Will Have To Be More Than 31 Square Miles To Be Bigger Than BOTW

Link looking surprised in front of a background showing BOTW's map.

Luckily for Tears of the Kingdom, there is a fairly precise number for how big it needs to be in order to be larger than Breath of the Wild. The best estimate of BOTW's map size is 31 square miles. With the help of dataminers, Redditor Chubby_Bub found that BOTW's map's dimensions are 8 by 10 kilometers (which roughly equates to an area 30.9 square miles). For TOTK, this means it will at least have to be as big as Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - the largest map of any game on the Nintendo Switch - but not as large as games like Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 or FromSoftware's 2022 GOTY winner, Elden Ring.

How Tears Of The Kingdom Can Make A Larger Map Than BOTW's

Key art for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with one of the game's logos, showing a decaying Master Sword through the series' Z icon.

Though The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has obstacles to overcome, the game has an excellent way to make a bigger map than Breath of the Wild's: floating islands. According to YouTuber Trick Theory, Breath of the Wild was Director Aiji Aonuma's way of amending a self-perceived failure he and the Zelda team committed with Skyward Sword. According to Trick Theory, Aonuma said of Skyward Sword's aerial overworld, "I actually really wanted to explore the space that connected those areas, and I think it's really unfortunate that we weren't able to do that," further stating, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a result of what we wanted to expand and make a better Skyward Sword."

Of course, Breath of the Wild lacks Skyward Sword's aerial environments - but Tears of the Kingdom has them in spades. Though not much is known about the game's map, Trick Theory's video shows Nintendo has patents that feature diagrams of how Link can travel between Tears of the Kingdom's floating islands. If Link can explore the grounded environments of BOTW and the new floating islands, TOTK will not only amend for Skyward Sword's alleged mistake - it will also allow for the map to expand in natural ways that don't interfere with the careful balance of BOTW's Hyrule.

As of now, one can only speculate about Tears of the Kingdom and its map. Though it is expected to expand upon Breath of the Wild's rendition of Hyrule, it could just as easily not take place in the Kingdom. Regardless, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's floating islands and Nintendo's patents show that Breath of the Wild's follow-up has great potential for growth.

More: Every Legend Of Zelda Setting That’s Not Hyrule

Sources: Chubby_Bub/Reddit, Trick Theory/YouTube