IMHO, its gameplay is mediocre at best:

• Sluggish controls
• Character movement that is unrealistically limited without offering anything to make up for it
• Fiddly object interaction problems (e.g. candles often getting in the way of more important things)
• Bland combat mechanics
• "Open" world populated almost entirely with copy/paste combat encounters
• Little reward for exploration, since practically everything worth finding has a map marker
• A tiny handful of side quests re-used over and over with different mini-stories to make the quests seem distinct while the tasks to perform are mostly identical

This game's strengths are not the gameplay, but the lore, characters, and story. (All the things that could be had from reading the books, or maybe watching the live action adaptation.)

Oh, and Gwent. Gwent is remarkably well-designed for a mini-game within another game.

IMHO, its gameplay is mediocre at best:

• Sluggish controls
• Character movement that is unrealistically limited without offering anything to make up for it
• Fiddly object interaction problems (e.g. candles often getting in the way of more important things)
• Bland combat mechanics
• "Open" world populated almost entirely with copy/paste combat encounters
• Little reward for exploration, since practically everything worth finding has a map marker
• A tiny handful of side quests re-used over and over with different mini-stories to make the quests seem distinct while the tasks to perform are mostly identical

This game's strengths are not the gameplay, but the lore, characters, and story. (All the things that could be had from reading the books, or maybe watching the live action adaptation.)

Oh, and Gwent. Gwent is remarkably well-designed for a mini-game within another game.

What would you suggest for better open world games?

I know exactly what you mean. I started it 3 times before I got into it

In my opinion, a lot of the gameplay is fairly generic. Attacking a wraith feels the same as attacking a human

It really shines in the immersion and story, though. The first two times I played it, I was skipping all of the dialog and cutscenes (depression is a bitch), so I missed all the good parts

Once you get into the mindset of "hunting" one of the monsters and selecting the right oils and potions, it can be really fun and feel almost like "strategy". For example, there's a potion that turns your blood poisonous to vampires

It depends on what aspects of an open world are important to you.

Exploration is at the top of my list, and Skyrim is a good example of doing it well. Its world is full of unique things/places/characters to find, whether through an NPC's directions, or a roughly sketched map picked up while adventuring, or following your curiosity toward an area that looks interesting, or chasing a fox, or simply by wandering off the beaten path.

Map markers appear after you've already been somewhere so you can find your way back again, but since most of them are hidden until then, they don't spoil the experience of discovery.

And, when you find something, it's often genuinely interesting. Not yet another copy/paste monster fight or "hold the button to follow your witcher sense to the lost thing" quest. Not just checking off a task list item (or pre-placed map marker) so you can rush to the next one. The experience itself is rewarding.

Mind, I have criticisms of Skyrim, but it did exploration and environments (including soundscapes) very well, and I wish more open world designers would learn from it and build upon its strengths.

EDIT:

I would love to play a game that reached or exceeded Skyrim's bar for exploration and environmental immersion, Breath of the Wild's bar for freedom of movement and wildlife, and The Witcher 3's bar for characters and story.

Wait so you can let yourself be bitten in order to slay the vampire ? I played it in 2018 but never really did the oils and stuff

I feel CP2077 does great with regard to storytelling and exploration (plenty of nooks and crannies in and around Night City), wildlife is nonexistant though. A Witcher game played in first-person would be cool...

Such an amazing game. I’m not into RPGs but somehow got convinced to play this.

I don’t understand how I even had the energy to play 100+ hrs next to work. I often played until 2 am on weekdays, or woke up earlier to play.

I understand the complaints of the gameplay or controls, but the story and the characters are what makes this game special. It’s a journey I will never forget, some memories and feelings from it will stay with me forever

I think my favorite part of Cyberpunk 2077's open world was that it was full of activity. The encounter variety might have been a little disappointing, but I was impressed with how they made the city feel dense and populated. It was much more convincing than the miniature towns full of locked doors and fake windows that are passed off as "cities" in so many other games.

You could try The Witcher 1. Gameplay there is..unique. A little dated today but IMO has the best writing of the three.

After cyberpunk CD project red can go fuck themselves

Why’s that? I enjoyed cyberpunk. I mean, of course it was released with a fuck ton of problems, but that’s not on the studio, it’s on the money people behind the studio forcing them to release and start making their money back.

After cyberpunk CD project red can go fuck themselves

I feel like you could only think that if you're more interested in learning the setting than seeing the characters interact.

It should've never released the way it was and the fact the released DLC for that broken mess is disgusting greed on their part

What I appreciated with the first Witcher is seeing the story from all sides and I dont recall it feeling black and white. Humans were shown as hating elves for their attacks, but then you get to the elves and learn their part of why they were attacking. The writing feels raw with hints of racism, vulgarism and the like. It felt right for the setting.
The Botching story line (the barron) in W3 was probably my favorite in that game and that was a side quest. I didnt feel the same momentum going forward in the main story of W3.

I'd argue that there's plenty of that in 2 as well, and by 3 it's more about taking things to their conclusions as all the characters we've built relationships with start bouncing off each other but fair enough.

It should've never released the way it was and the fact the released DLC for that broken mess is disgusting greed on their part

the fact the released DLC for that broken mess is disgusting greed on their part

They released DLC for it after fixing and overhauling the game.