I'll second that Underrail is very good. It's like Fallout 1 crossed with the John Carpenter movie Escape From New York.

What about Pillars of Eternity or Divine Divinity: Original Sin?

I haven't played those yet but it seems like they might be similar although they are class-based, but with various choices to do ingame. Also, there's always BG and Planescape in terms of roleplaying and an open-world, you might as well add Lionheart to that (but people say that midgame it slows down, I did stop playing it midgame too, not sure if it was during some orc/kobold cave or where, I did finish the city I think.)

But! Darklands and A Serpent in the Staglands (the latter being a game that tried to be similar, or so I hear) are both classless, open-world, free roaming games with lots to do, so that might be your thing! But the combat is real-time with pause, if you don't mind. I think both have pauses.

And Age of Decadence is supposed to have an open world and lots of choices, unless they changed it down the road.

And if adventure RPGs are your thing, you can try playing Quest for Glory, which might not be what you were looking for, but it's a great adventure game with replay value as each class has their own solutions to playing the game.

Oh, and Two Worlds 1 and 2 are classless, and they are actually good! But they aren't turn-based.

If you'd like another steampunk and magic game, Technomage is the way to go. Underrated gem for the consoles and PC.

Good call on Age of Decadence... I haven't played it yet, but I believe it was heavily inspired by the freeform character building and "choice and consequence" from games like Fallout and Arcanum. I've heard the setting is inspired by the Roman empire in decline, but it may also take place long after a highly advanced civilization so there is ancient technology around.

I've played Two Worlds 1 and it felt more like Oblivion crossed with Diablo's focus on loot. I liked it, but it's very different from Arcanum. I haven't played Two Worlds 2 yet.

I've also been meaning to play both Darklands and Serpent in the Staglands, they both sound really interesting.

Age of Decadence does have classes and you really have to focus on just a few skill lines which might make the scope of the skill-selection narrower than some RPGs (but it's not a bad thing in the slightest and serves the game and replay value. ) Each class can essentially choose any skills and play the class how they want, and each skill has elaborate implementation through the game so if you choose different skills each time you play, you get access to different options, and each class is completely different too.

Age of Decadence is roughly in the same ballpark, but I wouldn't say it's a spiritual successor to Arcanum.

It's not open world and doesn't claim to be. AoD doesn't have any "wandering around the countryside looking for stuff" parts to it. It doesn't actually have "classes" because any character can begin with any set of stats and learn any skills. Instead it has "backgrounds" which determine who your character's friends and enemies are right from the start.

For example, a Thief background gives you good relations with the thieves, bad relations with the city guard, and you begin by getting a mission from the thief Guildmaster. At the same time, you're free to leave or betray the thieves and align your character with any other faction - even the city guard.

It's a great game (I've finished it five or six times already), but it's not much like Arcanum.

About the emptiness of the world, you have to consider how small the development team was, and how much resources were available.
It would be impossible to create a world like GTA V at that time.
I think they did a pretty good job.
In Fallout, it also makes sense, it's a post-nuclear world, death and emptiness is to be expected.
I don't find the world boring, there's many random encounters, and also special encounters.
I wish more cRPGS used Arcanum and Fallout as inspiration.

I didn't mean it as a criticism! I actually liked the world map a lot, especially in Fallout where, as you say, it makes sense given it's a post-nuclear wasteland. I did think it felt a little odd for Arcanum though. It made all the cities feel disconnected from one another, without roads between them or any meaningful indication of interaction. Given that the world has such a long history, I was expecting there to be regular trade routes, and many smaller villages and farms between the big cities. Generally, the Fallout-style world map didn't seem as appropriate for a fantasy setting.

But the cities themselves were great, and I enjoyed all their associated quests. It's also nice to have a game so focused on these specific communities within the world. The main storyline was great too.

I would like to see a sequel of Arcanum from Obsidian – Dvoika Games =)

Wow, to be honest I didn't expect much of a reply to this, thank you for all your suggestions and info. I'll certainly have a look at underail, and as many of your other suggestions as time permits.

There is an action-RPG called Silverfall that is kind of in the ballpark. It's real time combat with up to 3 party members at once. You have elven mages and swamp druids threatened with obsolescence in the face of steampunk-like tech developments.

It's light on the RPG elements compared to Arcanum, but there are some similarities, particularly the magic vs. technology choices you make. Like Arcanum, regardless of your race or class you have a magic/tech meter that you move along, thereby unlocking new exclusive abilities. Although it's not at the center of the main plot, most of the role-playing dialogue options focus on how you handle the magic vs. tech situations. Certain party members (Druids) respond better to a nature character while others (Goblin inventors) prefer a technology-inclined character. There's also an expansion called Earth Awakening that integrates with the main campaign and focuses much more heavily on these themes.

Just don't expect narrative brilliance. It's an ARPG but with more depth than many of its kind.

I keep hoping it will show up on GOG but it is on Steam.

Thank you for the heads-up. For those who want to vote for it on the wishlist:

<span class="bold">Silverfall</span> (the original game)

<span class="bold">Silverfall: Earth Awakening</span> (the sequel)

<span class="bold">Silverfall Gold Edition</span> (both parts)

Am I missing something?

Any chance they are actually working on a sequel?

No.

There is a chance that they are working on a new game in the setting World of Darkness