After enjoying Elex a few years ago and seeing the recent footage of Elex 2 releasing next month, I found myself craving an RPG.
Piranha Bytes have a reputation for delivering very solid in depth RPG's like Gothic and Elex, with lower AA budget and eurojank, and you get that in spades with
Risen 3 Titan Lords, Pirate RPG, released in 2014.
The game is very open, once you get past the tutorial island (which is huge and took me hours to mop up as much loot as I could find) allowing you to visit any island in any order, and if you are not strong enough then you can try your hardest, or come back later.
Gear is out there in the world to find. You won't easily stumble across Lockpicks, Pickaxes or shovels for buried treasure unless you search really hard, and you really feel like you are making progress once you have these items.
Combat is basic melee fare, with parrying and rolling mixed with ranged weapons like pistols, muskets, shotguns and magic (magic is insanely powerful here, fireballs from the sky from a spell scroll that I have only found 1 of in the game so far)
You can have companions too, which due to the difficulty you end up relying on (local NPCs like to get involved in the fight too, to your advantage)
The first companion you get called Bones I gooseberry fool you not, is voiced by a Matt Berry impersonator. That alone is worth giving it a go.
Quests feel natural, I haven't been using map markers at all and have just naturally been completing quests thorough exploration and learning the environment. This is far from a follow the quest pointer to win game.
Character progress is similar to Souls, you have several stats from Melee and ranged, to toughness that you put points into, and skills in the game (brewing, crafting, sneaking, weapon techniques and many many more) are unavailable until you pay to learn them from an NPC, so make sure to speak to everyone.
To summarize, I haven't felt this engrossed in an RPG in a long time. It really feels like Morrowind in ways, in that the legendary loot is out there in the world to be found or looted, and I am having a blast exploring every nook and cranny for any semblance of gear upgrade.
I felt true joy when after 6 hours of playing, stumbled across a cave infested with mobs of spiders, to be rewarded with a simple Pickaxe, which had been taunting and eluding me for so long.
If you are looking for an RPG to fill the gap between now and Elden Ring, and are able to look past fairly simplistic combat, there is a lot on offer with Risen 3, akin to Greedfall mixed with elements from Elder Scrolls.
It also seems to run fantastic on the PS5.
Risen 3 is available on PS Now.