Atlas is the latest title released by Grapeshot Games, the maker of the action-adventure Ark: Survival Evolved game. Atlas is a piracy game of apparently unprecedented scale – it is said to be able to accommodate 40,000 players at once. Released in December last year, Atlas remains an Early Access Game, however this has not impacted on the sheer scale of the map.
There is much to keep you occupied in the latest release by Grapeshot Games, from sailing, civilisation-building and of course exploring one of the largest-ever online game worlds.
And there are obvious comparisons with Grapeshot’s other title Ark: Survival Evolved.
Ark: Survival proved popular with players because of the quantity of things to keep you occupied.
Gamers racked-up hundreds of hours traversing Ark’s massive map and still finding new things to do.
And Atlas’ map is even larger, meaning gamers have even more to keep them entertained.
READ MORE: Atlas patch notes and server status latest
Atlas vs Ark: Survival Evolved map size:
Atlas’ map is made up of 700 unique landmasses across an incredible 45,000 square kilometres.
This means the map equates to 1,200 times the size of the Ark island.
The Atlas map is indeed so large it would reportedly take about 30 hours to travel across in a straight line.
And other have calculated it would take about 42 hours to traverse diagonally.
Atlas players can explore thousands of Discovery Zones and 10 unique world regions with their own distinctive resources, creatures, secrets and environments.
READ MORE: ATLAS game UPDATE PATCH NOTES
Some players have complained about the lack of larger continent-sized land masses.
However the developers believe the maps’s structure is justified as the pirate game is focused around life on the high seas.
And it is believed larger land masses would only detract from this by encouraging players to remain land-lubbers.
Other gamers have questioned why the map is not, in fact a globe.
However Grapeshot have explained how globes don’t translate to perfectly square maps without massive distortion.
READ MORE: Atlas game release time UPDATE
Atlas will also incorporate sextants, items used to increase the area of map you can see around you.
The grid squares are to help you read the map rather than being things you will encounter in the world.
The idea is that the game is performing hand-offs from one piece of hardware to another as you navigate, but you shouldn’t experience that in-game.
And despite the map’s enormity, 40,000 people playing simultaneously means the map will have to expand.