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)

Here is a few I can think of that are a bit similar

• Sable
• Bastion
• Planet of Lana
• A Short Hike
• Spirit of the North
• TASOMACHI: Behind the Twilight
• AER Memories of Old
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Btw, you should definitely try Elden ring if you haven't already

Horizon Zero Dawn is on steam. Amazing game. Open world. I haven't played the second one yet but I need to.

There was one called Immortals Fenyx Rising that I remember being quite similar to BotW. Unfortunately it's Ubisoft

Immortals: Fenyx Rising

Crimson desert. You'll never finish it.

Enshrouded

Horizon zero dawn is live action breath of the wild

Skyrim

Admittedly it's a bit older

I haven't seen Sable suggested, but it's a very pleasant indie game with a lot of BotW in its DNA. It's not as large and content filled as some of these suggestions but it does have a great sense of style and is more tonally similar to Zelda.

Palworld full release is coming next month

I would imagine horizon zero dawn and the Witcher would be what you're looking for.

Honestly. Try Dragon Age Inquisition. It isn't "open world", but it has MASSIVE regions (that people complained were too big). Lot's to explore, plenty of side quests and puzzles. A base you can customize. Armor too.

Edit: Honestly, play on easy if the combat is too annoying.

Genshin is the only one I know of. Its monetisation is predatory, but it's a huge open world action-RPG with tons of discoverable chests and environmental puzzles. Also it's very f2p friendly if you're not susceptible to hype and FOMO - I've been playing for 4+ years with most areas 100% explored (and 70+ characters unlocked) without ever spending a pence.

I enjoyed botw and totk, so you might also enjoy Enshrouded. Open world, lots of craft ability, base building and combat is fun and challenging. It's a little less cartoony than Zelda but definitely not as intense as Elden Ring. They are still in early access but the next big update should be 1.0.

V Rising. It's basically goth Terraria. You're playing as a vampire who just came out of a thousand-year hibernation, and your whole goal is to find and kill Dracula. You start by bullying skeletons with your bare hands to harvest their bones, and go all the way to building an enormous automated castle that can process thousands of units of raw materials.

I kind of cringe at suggesting this, but Genshin Impact is if Breath of the Wild used a gatcha payment model instead of $60 up front.

Crazy that I didn't see anyone else mention this one, but you should check out Cloudheim. It has a free demo on steam.

The oft forgotten ~~Gods and Monsters~~ Immortals Fenyx Rising is a shockingly good BOTW-like. Booted it up the other day because I noticed I had it from when they gave it away for free some time ago, and it was such a pleasant surprise. In some ways (combat, traversal, dungeon design, writing) it’s even better than Zelda. Do yourself a favor though and remove most of the HUD and puzzle hints via the ingame options and pirate it if you can so you don’t have to deal with Ubisoft Connect and Denuvo.

Really enjoying outward right now. It feels like a mix of botw Elden ring and a healthy dose of modded skyrim

No Mans Sky comes to mind

I wasn't exactly crazy about the story personally, but its there, and the game feels fairly Minecraft-y to me since you also mentioned that game.

I didn't play it at launch, and I know that left a bit of a bad taste in a lot of peoples mouths, but in its current state I think its pretty amazing.

Sable

It's like Breath of the Wild without combat.

Crimson Desert is very inspired by BOTW/TOTK, and a bunch of other games, rolled into one. It's also on PC*.

*it uses Denuvo tho.

• Witcher 3
• Ghost of Tsushima
• Crimson Desert
• Dragons dogma 1/2
• Skyrim
• Oblivion
• Kingdom come deliverance 1/2
• Lego Batman?
• Guild Wars 1/2
• Genshin/wuwa/ open world gacha of choice

Not quite Minecraft but open world and lots to do.