I absolutely loved Arx Fatalis. Same for Ultima Underword. Some of those super old school pseudo 3-D ones like Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder I managed to dig up and get running as well. Any other "small open world" games like Arx? I played through Gothic and also loved the heck out of it.

My "Small Open World" Game List
Updated 1/9/2016 (* = I finished this game)

I've broken this list into "Full Open World" games like Gothic, and "Individual Open Maps" games like Deus Ex, where you move between separate map areas but have freedom to explore and do as you will within that area.

Full Open World

Arx Fatalis (of course!) *

Eye of the Beholder *

Gothic 1 *

Gothic 2 + Night of the Raven Expansion

Might and Magic VI

Risen

System Shock *

System Shock 2 *

Ultima Underworld 1 *

Ultima Underworld 2

Wizardry 8

Individual Open Maps

Deus Ex *

Deus Ex 2 Invisible War (yeah I kinda liked it) *

Deus Ex 3 Human Revolution *

Dishonored

Thief 1

Thief 2 : The Metal Age

All comments and suggestions appreciated! It goes without saying this is meant for "good" games not a comprehensive list

Hiya and welcome to the forums

There's the upcoming http://www.underworldascendant.com/ which I very much look forward to play. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Might_and_Magic_VI:_The_Mandate_of_Heaven from 1998 is pretty darn nice too I think.

Thief Gold from 1999 and Thief II: The Metal Age from 2000 might be enjoyable for you too, they are available on both GOG and Steam. As the name implies, they are focused on stealth, but they got large explorable levels, interesting lore, magic and other interesting stuff going on. Highly recommended. Thief 3 is a bit weaker and the somewhat recent Thief 4 should, well, be avoided really.

And if you enjoy Thief 1&2, then I recommend Dishonored and the upcoming Dishonored 2, which are developed by the Arx developers.

Oh yeah, there's VtM: Bloodlines too. Somewhat similiar to Deus Ex, but with vampire powers instead of cybernetic powers. Superb game.

Wonderful! Thank you for the welcome and the information. The Thief games I've always wanted to try out. That reminds me I also played System Shock 1 and 2 which were awesome games in this genre (though sci fi of course). System Shock 1 can be a bit hard on the eyes but worth it.

+1 to Freddo's recommendations.

A few of my own:

For small open world games, Gothic I and II are my favourites. Check out Risen I, which is by the Gothic developers and extremely similar to Gothic II in many ways. The Witcher I sort of counts as one too, I'd argue. Dark Souls also has elements of that sort of thing, but obviously has its own style. Maybe Morrowind- it's not exactly super-small but it's very atmospheric and detailed. I've heard Wizardry 8, Betrayal at Krondor and a few other 90s cRPGs have that first person exploration thing going for them as well, but I've never played them.

Games that play a bit like Arx: Arkane's next game, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. Thief I and II are fantastic (check out fan missions + the Dark Mod after you're done)- Thief runs on the same engine as System Shock 2, but requires a bit of patching to get working well unless you use the GOG version. The final mechanically similar game that comes to mind right now is Deus Ex (the original).

Thanks. Like I said I fnished Gothic 1, and am on Gothic 2 (with expansion) however after that point it seems fan opinions start to differ. From what I've seen the feeling seems to be Gothic 3 is passable with some sort of community patch, but after that things get bad. And that Risen is better (but also not as good as the two originals). It sounds like you've played some or all of them perhaps? What is your opinion on the best post Gothic 1/2 games?

Wizardry 8. That's another to add to my list. In fact I think I'll keep one updated on the first post to track these suggestions!

I've played Gothic I-3, Risen I and parts of Risen 2 and Gothic 4.

Gothic 3 was my first Gothic, and I still enjoy it despite its inferiority in many respects. Patch 1.75.14 is essential, and the game is mostly bug-free with it. Turn on Alternative AI in the options and the melee combat becomes passable, but I'd still recommend playing a mage (go to Varant as soon as possible to improve your magic).

Overall, don't go in with high expectations about the conclusion to the story. Just enjoy it for what it is; a beautiful, large and diverse world full of details. It has lovely vistas, areas, music and so on. Lots of different cities, NPCs and monsters of various types make it good fun to explore the three regions. It's a bit like a cross between Gothic and Oblivion.

Gothic 4 should be skipped. Risen I is a solid spiritual successor; in many ways better than Gothic I and II, if not reaching the same moments of greatness. Solid combat system and skills, good atmosphere, characters and storyline, pretty great dungeons and the island is really nicely detailed like the Valley of Mines. It's probably their most polished game overall.

Play Risen 2 and 3 if you can't get enough of PB games; they have their major flaws i think, but retain enough of the Gothic/Risen charm and systems that a fan might like them. I maintain that the worst Piranha Bytes game is still a damn sight more enjoyable than the games many companies make.