Bashing machines is cool. Looting ammo crates, absolutely. Biking, yeah okay, but I prefer to walk. Opening doors, fine (it is hard to get inside otherwise). Using the binoculars, excellent. But there is so much more we could do in terms of interacting with the surroundings. I really got a kick out of lighting a bonfire at a campsite, and playing the church organ is good fun. It creates a kind of satisfying emotional response. So here is a few ideas (not all of them mine, though):
Have a drink: I know, this is not a survival game and it shouldn’t be. However, how about picking up one of the glasses in the kitchen to have a drink of water? That could restore one HP. And if you have another glass after five minutes, you’ll restore another HP. That would allow for regeneration without using health packs.
Have a snack: The left-over food on the plates in the dining rooms have probably gone stale by now. But how about having a snack left in one of the cupboards or the fridge? A box of Spunk could restore another 3 HPs (“Spunk” is actually a Danish candy - google it yourself!). Or a tube of “Kalles Kaviar” - everybody loves that on a cracker.
Light the fire: As @nugar mentioned in another thread, the mantle pieces have apparently never been used. And, like @Saddletank mentioned recently, it would be so nice to cuddle up next to a open fire after a hard day of machine bashing.
Take a nap: Don’t laugh, but just as I always lock the doors, I also “tug in” my character in a safe house before leaving the game. Well, I’ve grown attached to the guy! How about letting the character lay down on the mattress, when you click it? I would feel better knowing, that my character was fully rested, when I returned to the game later
Play my tape: Ok, this might not be easy in terms of copyrights. But it would be sooo cool, if we could listen to the mixtapes we’ve picked up.
Exploring houses becomes a bit tedious after you’ve done 100. That would be nice to spice that up a bit.
Please add ideas to make the open world experience even better than it already is.
Btw: If you do a Christmas theme, as I believe @SteampunkPagan has suggested, please don’t forget the mistletoe and a nice “tomteflicka” underneath it