I had been massively burned by empty and dull mission based open world games.

Some “open world” games merely tick the boxes of having a somewhat large area and the ability to traverse it. That alone turns out to be incredibly boring to many of us.

Give me a game world that’s interesting and rewarding to explore. Unique encounters. Unmapped discoveries. Surprising characters. Varied environments. This aspect of an open world is one of the things that Skyrim did fairly well. I wish more game designers would run with the idea.