Zelda botw and totk

Telling people what in particular you like about Skyrim is going to get you much better feedback as there are many, many games that are similar in some ways but not others.

I can give you older and with worse tech - Morrowind is better than Skyrim

for breathtaking landscapes I would say elden ring. although style of play is waaayyyyy different.

Skyblivion Coming out this year. I personally think morrowind was the high point in elder scrolls series scenario-wise but is aged very poorly. Patching and modding the hell out of it might be worthwhile. Nehrim is cool. Fallout new Vegas works well. Cyberpunk has already been mentioned several times.

Have you tried Skyrim: Anniversary Edition, Skyrim: Special Edition or Skyrim: Legendary edition? /j

Tainted grail: fall of Avalon.

Its janky, but pretty cool in its own way.

Echoing what others said about the Witcher 3. I have over 1500 hours into both games. Skyrim is great if you like open world games with minimal storyline and just want to explore. Witcher 3 is very story heavy, but you can also just spend hours and hours ignoring the story and exploring the world. There’s quests and random little treasures and easter eggs hidden everywhere. In the Witcher you can climb up a mountain in the middle of nowhere and come across a treasure chest or a skeleton with a book of poetry, or wander through the wilderness far away from any map markers and stumble into a side quest or an interesting place to explore. It’s also just heartbreakingly beautiful.

The story does follow the events of the books and the first two games and is more enjoyable if you have experienced them, but the first time I played I hadn’t yet read the books or played the other games and it still stole my heart and became my favorite game. You might not fully understand the politics or the characters or the choices you’re asked to make for certain supporting side quests, but there’s a good journal where you can read everyone’s backstories and all the information you need for choices regarding the main quest is in the game.

Depends on exactly what about Skyrim drew you in? Do you want to be immersed in a fantasy world? The ability to roleplay a certain kind of character? Have distinct builds?

Because if you like an engaging, living open world there are so many games that do it so much better than Skyrim. The Witcher 3 comes to mind, but you’re stuck playing a specific guy with a specific personality and allegiance.

As far as roleplaying experiences go, Baldurs Gate 3 is unsurpassed if you want to roleplay a certain type of character and have people/the world react to the flavor of your character. But that’s a turn based combat game not an action one.

Skyrim in comparison never hooked me because unlike other RPGs and even its own predecessors, the game is so afraid of locking you out of content and giving you a reason to replay it, that you can sorta do everything, join every faction, and do whatever you want with little to no consequences to your actions or the world changing to those choices at all.

Skyrim is actually the last skyrim-type game to be manufactured until Bethesda announces Skyrim 2 hopefully sometime this year.

As rich and interesting as Skyrim? Turn over a rock and find any number of open world games that can match or exceed it.

As moddable as Skyrim? Now that’s a taller order…

Witcher 3. That castle ruin over there? Might have some loot. Or a Cockatrice. Or a psychological horror story of 10 parts. Or nothing at all, who knows. And you might stumble over Excalibur by that lake.

Also get the “Blood and Wine” DLC, absolutely worth it, even if you’re not into the story. And the HD Reworked mod if you like it more realistic and dark, one of the best reworks ever.

Edit: there’s now Next Gen too, huh.

Ok you want something as rich and interesting as skyrim, so I’m assuming open world games are your jam.

There are three games you should play.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2 - it’s a Western, the world is very believable, and it makes you feel like you’re really part of it. You can follow the main story line, or you could spend your days hunting and fishing. You could travel from town to town playing every poker game you can find. You can conduct train robberies, breed horses, really, there’s just a whole lot to do.

2. Cyberpunk 2077 - this is RDR2 but in a scifi dystopian future where the corpos own everything, sex is for sale on every billboard and every ad break, and the only justice is what you can achieve on your own. You’ve got a ticking time bomb in your brain and no time to fuck around. In this world where you can’t trust anyone, somehow what really matters are the friends you make along the way. (seriously)

3. The Witcher 3 - from the same studio that made cyberpunk, the Witcher 3 is truly a masterpiece of storytelling. The one caveat I have for this game is that it starts hard, almost “souls-like”. But get past that first rough hour and there is an extremely rich world with a seemingly unending collection of stories to become a part of. This may be the most skyrim-like of the games listed here, but you’re in for a treat, because this is a much better game than Skyrim.

All three of these games are gonna make you feel real feelings, they’re all actually better at telling stories than Skyrim is. The Witcher 3 in particular loves to live in the grey zone, it’ll make you make ethical choices that matter, and you probably won’t like any of the possible outcomes. But this is a good thing!

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is on sale on Steam right now. I’ve only played through the prologue, but it seems pretty good so far.

There’s the older elder scrolls games, or Dread Delusion which is a spiritual successor to Morrowind. There’s mods that change Skyrim up like ordinator. There’s not much thats really like Skyrim.