#2
The Witcher 3 proves a more linear open world can still be the better recommendation, because density beats raw size. I'm not a completionist by nature. I skip busywork without guilt, but this is the one world where I detoured constantly for side quests that had nothing to do with the main story, purely because the writing kept surprising me. A search for a missing husband turns into a quiet tragedy nobody warned me about, and that happens constantly here. It doesn't wander as freely as Elden Ring, the roads and markers keep you closer to the rails. What it loses in freedom, it wins back in the quality of everything you actually find.