Yes, to me the sense of exploration is lost with modern games.
Modern games feel like the equivalent of sitting on an interstate highway and seeing where it takes you vs taking the twisty backroads where you can get lost and end up going in the wrong direction.
That said, a lot of the smaller/independent companies are producing really good games, but you really have to seek them out and avoid a lot of garbage there. For example I found Path Of Exile a couple years ago and it really quenched the modern take on a diablo style game.
Modern games feel like the equivalent of sitting on an interstate highway and seeing where it takes you vs taking the twisty backroads where you can get lost and end up going in the wrong direction.
That said, a lot of the smaller/independent companies are producing really good games, but you really have to seek them out and avoid a lot of garbage there. For example I found Path Of Exile a couple years ago and it really quenched the modern take on a diablo style game.