Assassin's Creed: Origins Director, Ashraf Ismail, was interviewed by Game Informer  over some questions that fans had for the upcoming game based in Egypt this time. You can watch the 47 minute Skype interview here, where Ismail made an appearance in an attempt to answer them.

The point I want to focus on is the size of the game map. I've played every game in the series so far, making it a point to get each one as close to the release date as possible. One of my personal key objectives is to try and unlock every part of the game map and collectibles as early as possible before I finish the main missions.

Unfortunately, my enjoyment for doing this waned when I played Unity, and I was less excited to open the entire map with Syndicate. With the latter, I prefered changing between Jacob and Evie Frye and upgrading their armor and weapons than unlocking every part of the map. That task became rather tedious, and I only did it when I wanted to take control of a mission specific area.

When discussing the size of the map and whether it mattered, this is what Ismail has to say about it:

If I compare it to previous games in the past, I don't actually know the exact numbers [for Origins], but I would say that it's at least twice the size of Havana from Black Flag. At least. Having said that, I don't think of the size of the city is what matters. It's really the content, the experience that you have inside of it. It's how alive it is. So we filled these locations with quests, with making each city feel unique to itself, why was it important to Egypt.

Besides wondering how long they can continue the AC franchise, I'm hoping that travelling each part of the map will at least be more exciting than it has become lately. I must agree with him, it's not really the size that matters, but rather the content and how much it actually keeps me intrigued and wanting to play.

Does it matter to you? Will a huge map put you off or make you excited? Let us know.

Source: GAMESPOT; GAME INFORMER