I had done the same, but I loved The Witness also. There is a mood unique to games like that which I think The Witness had boiled down, which is a sort of "mela

I had done the same, but I loved The Witness also. There is a mood unique to games like that which I think The Witness had boiled down, which is a sort of "melancholic exploration". Exploration, fueled by a lack of distractions and freedom to explore, and uninturupted by big ideas or strong emotions. Was it a 90 hour immersive story, no way, but it's an atmosphere I love and that few games provide. It is probably why I also loved Fallout76 and Cyberpunk2077 from release day while others didn't, bugs excluded, to me both were huge worlds that I could wander and explore on my own terms. The gameplay mechanics best suited for that I think get discussed as "environmental storytelling" but I think in this case the storytelling was pretty light and it was the atmosphere that I was there for. Just existing in these worlds is enough for me to enjoy for a while.