Most of all, I enjoy games with lots of exploration, finding things and finding things out. Interesting wilderness and interesting towns are huge plusses. So is atmosphere.
1st or 3rd person is fine, single player or party is fine. Not into online games.
Much prefer turned-based or maybe pausable combat, and less combat is better.
Really don’t like the sense that an RPG is on rails. Better to have little or no story line, than to feel hemmed in by story (especially yet another story about saving the world).
Not much into post-apocolyptic, modern weaponry, or zombies. Which probably means the standard faux-medieval, which is fine with or without magic. But open to other settings.
Not overly fussy about graphics, although I have my limits. :)
Age of Decadence, perhaps? Other than that, it’s hard to find one that meets all the things you want.
You might want to consider Divinity: Original Sin 2. Even if the main game doesn’t exactly work for you, the mods potencial in that one is beyond the roof.
To be fair, Age of Decadence is probably not the best game for “interesting wilderness” or outdoors exploration. There are outdoors areas, but it’s not what I’d call the normal open-world type land.
Let’s clarify our terms here - I’ll say up front that I haven’t played Age of Decadence but it’s been on my radar for a while. But when you say it’s not “on-rails” you’re saying it has tons of options, but I don’t get the impression that there’s much actual exploration involved, which was one of the OP’s criteria.
Avernum: Escape from the Pit is nonlinear and turn-based with a substantial exploration focus. quite a bit of combat but I can’t think of many RPGs that don’t have that.
I’m going to recommend one of my favorite indie RPG series, Eschalon. It meets most of the OP’s criteria, has both a great sense of nostalgia and a modern sensibility, and yet is probably not something the OP has played already.
Best of all, Eschalon : Book One is FREE on Steam right now.
The newest Wasteland game - turn based combat, some exploration. (negative is post apocalyptic).
One of the Shadowrun games.
Might and Magic X Legacy
Darklands (ugly these days, but I think has the things you want)
Divine Divinity / Beyond Divinity
Steve Jackson’s Sorcery Complete
Seconded. I played Eschalon Book 2 all the way to the end, which is rare for me. I like the mechanics and there is a lot of exploration, it’s an “older school” title with a lot of fog of war to uncover on the world and mini-maps.
I also think roguelikes are a good choice. But for something different consider Balrum
As for something that I think meets the spirit of your request but not necessarily all the bullet points, I think Trails in the Sky does a great job of fostering a sense of adventure as you roam from town to town doing adventurer stuff (solving crimes, acting in plays, fixing streetlamps, etc)
