I love them if they’re done right. Bethesda and CDPR do it right every time. I do really enjoy Ubisoft’s open worlds back in the day, such as the old AC games (Rogue and before), Watch Dogs games, etc. Of course, RDR2 is also a masterpiece in this design. You mentioned Days Gone and I enjoy that one too, it’s designed in a way that doesn’t feel exhaustive.

Problem is, because of the scope of the games, it tends to take too much time. If the devs don’t make the exploration and side activities fun and worthwhile, it’s easy to lose steam and get burned out.

I do find some of them great for killing time, though. I’ll sometimes load up Watch Dogs 2 and free roam, do multiplayer activities, hunt down collectibles as I listen to cybersecurity podcasts. Same with RDR2 if I’m listening to podcasts about America or traditionalism.