I've always really enjoyed the STALKER games. They have lots of exploration, really good gunplay with ballistics modeling (bullet drop, wind interference, etc) and are absolutely rock hard. The games have an absolutely incredible atmosphere, with amazing sound design (use good headphones). The enemy AI is pretty smart, great at flanking and playing defensively. STALKER on its normal difficulty setting is harder than Far Cry 3 on its hardest setting. For the most fun experience, play on 'master' difficulty, which will kick your ass until you grow a beard. STALKER on master is one of the most immersive, intense and difficult experiences made for years.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is extremely fun, too. The game is linear, but there's lots of exploration within the levels themselves. It has the absolute best first person melee combat in any game, except for maybe Zeno Clash or Riddick. The archery and sneaking are also lots of fun. The story is pretty crappy, but it takes you through a lot of really fantastic environments, including ancient temples and stuff. It has a "kick" attack that is extremely satisfying to use.
Fallout: New Vegas is pretty great, especially if you like exploration. I'd skip Fallout 3, which is a pretty cookie cutter experience, but New Vegas takes the basic gameplay framework and builds an incredible world around it. It's one of the only actual RPGs released in the last few years, in that there are a lot of meaningful choices to make in the story, like every Obsidian game, and the writing is a lot better than FO3. Lots of memorable characters, locations, factions and gear. Play on the hardcore mode with the difficulty turned up for added fun.
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