MrGabr

FWIW, I've been following this game since it was revealed over a year ago. They've done some pretty significant marketing over that time, with gameplay reveals, soundtrack drops, all the normal marketing things with a ramp up to release.

The person who said it's like The Witcher 3: 2 is totally right; there are several mechanics that totally feel like the devs (who worked on TW3) wanted to have or expand in TW3 but were likely told no.

It was also never originally about fire safety. It was about making it more difficult to build multi-family homes.

Lawrence Veillier, an early influence on zoning laws in the US, wanted to "do everything possible in our laws to encourage the construction of private dwellings and even two- family dwellinas, because the two-family house is the next least obiectionable type, and penalize so far as we can in our statute, the multiple dwelling of any kind... If we require multiple dwellings to be fireproof, and thus increase the cost of construction: if we require stairs to be fireproofed, even where there are only three families; if we require fire escapes and a host of other things, all dealing with fire protection, we are on safe grounds, because that can be iustified as a leqitimate exercise of the police power... In our laws let most of the fire provisions relate solelv to multiple dwellings, and allow our private houses and two-family houses to be built with no fire protection whatever" (NHA Proceedings 1913, 212)

I wonder if at some point he ever read about how 1 in 7 (or whatever) humans are descended from Ghengis Khan.

I know he says all kinds of wacko stuff about fertility rates and population collapse, but when have his motivations ever been even that bit more complex than wanting to imitate/join the cool/funny thing he found online? I seriously wonder...

The Outer Wilds

All due respect to the other recommendations in this thread (The Witcher 3 is in my top 3 favorite games ever), but I get the sense you're looking for a similar vibe - that self-paced, quiet, almost lonely exploration where, though you do have a goal, the point of the game is to wander the world and discover things. While most of these recs (and most open world games in general, so it's understandable) have a strong story focus, The Outer Wilds will give you that quiet, unguided exploration BoTW does so well.

(And I know explicitly turned down souls-likes, but Elden Ring also hits that vibe super well. If you're really stuck for something to play, it might be worth a try with one of the magic-focused builds that significantly reduce the skill needed)

I wonder if this counts as baiting for the states where it's illegal

I recently got a Kobo Clara Colour and I've been quite pleased so far. It was trivial to upload all my books from Calibre onto it. Not the cheapest, but the resolution is sharp and you can actually turn off the backlight unlike some others.

Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon is like Skyrim but with better combat and dar King Arthur themed.

Potion Craft is a game where you run an alchemist shop, entirely stylized to look like medieval paintings.

Buddy Simulator 1984 is a game about a digital companion that likes you too much.

I could give more, but I never see anyone recommend those, and you have a lot of recommendations in this thread already.

"In a world of black people, be white"

Baptists are Protestant homie

Shadow of Mordor/War are pretty awesome and sound like just what you're looking for. Less focus on stealth but its more there than Elden Ring for sure.

Also seconding the Dishonored recommendations for sure - they have the same fluid movement and fast-paced stealth Cyberpunk does so well, and I'd add Prey because it's also awesome.

Less exactly what you want, the newer Tomb Raider games are decent, though they're mostly action-stealth gunplay vs (I assume you want) swords. Same with Control.

NieR Replicant and Automata will scratch the 3rd person action RPG itch but they have no stealth.

Lies of P is awesome, but it has no stealth. It has several unique mechanics that put it way above other souls-likes for me (the parrying and single recharge of healing to name a specific few).

Looks like the latter

I ended up settling on spells in my left hand, sword in my right, dodging like a maniac.

Right up until the last 3 hours where I respec'd into exclusively two-handed sword + heavy armor because