So after roughly 14 hours into the game I've finally reached the second area of the map which looks about as large as the first. Also looks like there's another piece of the map further south which suggests I've at most only uncovered 1/3rd of the area of this map. That's a pretty big map.
Lots of back and forth fast travelling today for little minor quests. Wish the camp leaders would give me the quests right away and not wait until I leave camp forcing an extra trip there and back each time. Dealt with a couple more raider camps a ripper hideout and stumbled across my first sleeping horde which I undoubtedly woke up like an asshat and got destroyed. Oh well I gave it a few tries and killed my first horde while being pretty severely undergeared.
The new area is a big lake area with a bunch of snowy mountains around so it's a nice change of scenery. My suspicion that Deacons wife might still be alive hasn't been confirmed but the door has been left open. Turns out the gravestone was ceremonial and he never found her body. Can't wait to see what this game throws out next. Critics definitely suck these days, this game is pretty damn good. At least an 8 or 8.5!