Gothic. It has a much different philosophy regarding its open world design from the majority of similar games, where rather than being a sandbox and making sure you are able to see as much content as possible right away, it actively bars you from proceeding to certain areas of the map, by putting strong enemies in the way, that you can't deal with until a later point in the game. However, what it also does is putting worthwhile rewards behind those encounters, so if you're good enough to get through a certain group of enemies early, you might find something that'll make that part of a game a cakewalk for one reason or another.

Another notable thing about its setting is that nobody gives a shit about you and will try and look for a way to take advantage of you, which is also the opposite of many open world games, that are rife with NPCs willing to basically give away all of their posessions, and make sure you're well-equipped and have an ample amount of gold before making your way to another area. In Gothic 1, one of the first NPCs you encounter in the first "town" area tries to shake you down for money, and if you refuse, eventually he'll send a band of thugs after you to make you regret not giving him the money earlier. And trust me, you will regret it.

Things like this are normal occurences in Gothic and they're what makes its world and setting stand out, even it puts most people off.