For those like myself that played everything, maybe you skipped this game.

Drakan: The Ancients' Gates for Ps2

It was in my backlog for years and I thought it was another action-adventure generic game but with a dragon, but nothing like that.

I'm just a few hours in but so far

* Open world with empty spaces and without forced hand holding

*Simple combat mechanics, but mobs hit hard and can kill you in a few hits so you have to be careful

*You can explore where you want, even high level places, so you can try to go there and loot

*Measured game economy. Sparse but useful loot.

*Intelligent level design and enemy placement. Mobs will ambush you, and not being careful will get you killed if a couple mobs surround you.

*Really atmospheric visuals and sound. (I'm at one of the first maps, the Swamp, and it's awesome)

*I found a couple secret doors

Maybe later with the dragon (you get one) the gameplay changes, but so far it's amazing.

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