Gaming

There is a great indie game called Dredge where you are a fisherman who has to manage an upgrade their boat by catching different varieties of fish, while following a story. You start going up against these lovecraftian creatures on your journeys, gets very weird and cool. Also the art style and graphics are gorgeous.

Sounds very up your street in terms of forming a relationship with the vehicle, there are survival aspects on how long you can be out at sea for and things. Plus lots of fun stuff on the way to discover

Maybe Titanfall 2? Not an open world, linear level progression, some quick navigation puzzles.

It's more oriented towards combat though. so may not be what you're looking for

I don't know if you like "retro" gaming, but for me it is the kind of feel of Mass Effect 1, or even Fallout 3 or New Vegas (which is not the largest open world). Maybe Fable 1?

The Legend of Zelda games, specifically the gamecube era, might be something you'd like. Twighlight princess and windwaker for example...

Metro Exodus has some sections like that, but also some annoying open-world parts.

They're sort of open-world, but Sunless Sea and its sequel Sunless Skies might be up your alley. They're based in the same fictional universe as Fallen London if you're familiar with that.

Have you played games like My Summer Car and Jalopy? They might be too focused on car simulation compared to what you're after, but they're worth a look.

There's also the Dying Light's expansion campaign The Following, which is based around travelling in a car which you have to refuel and upgrade with scavenged materials. It's open world, but it fits the rest of your description well. The main game has no vehicles at all, but I'm pretty sure you can skip right to the expansion if you want.

Far Lone Sails

But i get attached to vehicles in all games. Lol
Halo, GTA, Saints Row, etc

Kentucky Route Zero.

It’ll be a very different experience from Half Life, but I’d recommend Spiritfarer! There’s a sort of hunger mechanic, although it’s for the other characters that stay on your boat. Your ship is upgradable and you can place all sorts of structures on it. By the end of the game, it really feels like it’s uniquely yours.

LucasArts adventure games of old can feel like being on a journey. Indiana Jones. Grim Fandango. Full Throttle.

Potentially the Uncharted series? Only 4 is available on PC but there's a lot of set pieces with wide open settings that can be explored freely, tons of action sequences, and plenty of puzzle solving.

Haven't played it myself yet, but it looks like they went for that feeling a bit with Darkest Dungeons 2.

Perhaps Barotrauma would be interesting to you? Most of the game can be boiled down to navigating a submarine from point to point, with stops to gather resources and complete objectives along the way.

It also has fuel, maintenance, upgrades, etc.

The Walking Dead series by Telltale Games ticks a lot of these boxes. You travel, fight, solve puzzles, manage relationships, and make meaningful choices. It's got a lot in common with FTL even though it's a completely different genre.

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