'Assassin's Creed Origins' has "doubled" its map size compared to previous games.

Assassin's Creed Origins screenshot

Assassin's Creed Origins screenshot

The upcoming instalment of the action-adventure video game franchise is set to take on the vast expanse of an Egyptian style desert, and developer Ashraf Ismail has said the map is set to be "at least twice the size" of previous game 'Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag'.

He said: 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."

But Ashraf believes that no matter how big the map is, it's what "content" you place inside it that matters when it comes to gaming.

He told Game Informer: "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."

'Assassin's Creed Origins' will be released later this year, although Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot previously said the developers want to spend as much time as possible perfecting it because they believe it has the potential to "go to the next level".

He said: "What we saw in the development of the next [Assassin's Creed] was that we had an opportunity to take it to another level. So we said we'll take all the time it takes to make the experience fantastic. It was feasible because we have other games. There's a huge potential in this game to revolutionise the IP, so we said, 'Let's make sure we change our model so we have more time and that we can bring back a greater experience.'"