The Outer Wilds might be the kind of games you're looking for.
And if you are open to a more linear structure there is FPS like bioshock which have amazing world building and have very light RPG elements.
There is also the "walking simulator" genre, with games like firewatch, gone home or SOMA. But it's also quite linear.
I was also confused until the last line. The article was written before the earnings call which was last week, before the firing of the new cars team...