I loved Death Stranding – it’s weird, beautiful, and the soundtrack is incredible (RIP Low Roar) but it’s kind of an acquired taste and you have to be cool with the “hiking simulator” aspect.

If you’re into open world sandbox RPGs, you can’t get more open world sandboxy than Kenshi! It’s all third person point of view and you sort of manage a whole squad opposed to a single person. There is a whole base building mechanic, there’s a tech tree that you can research through, you can create and sell your own weapons, you can do you trading runs in between cities, you could be a lone Ronin wandering the desert sands, or a religious zealot being a xenophobic jerk who hate robot people (there are robot people), aliens (mhmm, them too) and women (ofc)! The possibilities are endless, especially since there’s no actual storyline! Oh, there’s a bunch of little Easter eggs about how the world (def not Earth, too many moons) got to this point but you’re not gonna spawn in a dungeon being pointed at the big bad (is the slave start in Rebirth canon? I have so many mods I’ve forgotten) you’re probably just gonna appear in the middle of the canyon, and then make the mistake of fighting goats, but the goats are stronger than you, so they beat you into unconsciousness, and while you’re lying there, waiting to become conscious once more some bandits rob you and a slaver comes by and picks you up and sells you into slavery. It’s a good time I promise. Oh, but be warned, there’s a lot of skills and it’s kind of grindy, a little like a single player MMO. It’s great and I love it.

Keep in mind that there are different schools of thought on what makes a good open world game.

I love exploration and discovery without much guidance, so point-of-interest markers and repetitive copy/paste events (as found in Horizon and Witcher games) bore me. Responsive controls and good user interface are also important to me, so Red Dead Redemption 2 was a miserable experience that drove me away, despite the great environments and character building. Some people consider those games masterpieces, though, so I have to assume their priorities are different from mine.

Subnautica is an outstanding example of what appeals to me. Beautiful world, unconfined exploration, excellent soundtrack, a story told through discoveries rather than exposition, multiple ways to accomplish things, and a departure from the usual “kill everything” approach to success. Fair warning: it is a first-person game.

Skyrim shares some of these strengths and can work pretty well in third person with mods like True Directional Movement and TK Dodge RE. Be aware that modding Skyrim is a deep rabbit hole that can quickly become a full time job. One way to solve this is using the Wabbajack tool to semi-automatically install a well-tested mod collection.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits looks like it shares some of its design with Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom, which is encouraging. I haven’t played it yet.

Outward absolutely nails the sense of adventure and discovery. It’s pretty low budget and janky but it is probably the best open world RPGs I’ve played in recent years

Geocaching

RDR2

Pre-cata WoW

Sable and Tchia are both fantastic third person open world games.

Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen is fun to play, although a bit more in the vein of classical RPG than what you’ve mentioned. Plus there’s a new DD game coming out soonish, so if you enjoy it you’ll have a new title to enjoy soon.

Elden Ring

I loved Days Gone. The combat/story/exploration/rpg elements all really hit the sweet spot for me. The progression was really satisfying too, once you get to the point you’re taking on entire hordes

Elden Ring is such an easy choice. Just a fantastic open world that encourages exploration and discovery. I think you should give it a second shot OP.

Diablo 4

I just finished Ghostwire: Tokyo and enjoyed it more than I expected given the tepid reviews. It’s first person but I found the combat satisfying. It’s easy to play in small doses if you don’t have much time. If you have PlayStation Plus Extra, it’s in the catalog.

Ghost of Tsushima was really good!