I know this might sound strange, but I'm a fan of the Farming Simulator series, and other well-done life simulators. I enjoy the nice balance between arcade-style play and realism and the wide-open modding community that Giants (the publisher) encourages!
I've also enjoyed Skyrim and the Fable series over the past few years, and wouldn't mind giving Assassins Creed a try some day soon!
I've not played a farming Sim. But I have read some reviews in old PC magazines. Seems to be a strong niche for that kind of game.
I've not played the Fable series. I might give Fable 3 a crack.
I've played it since the original came out about 10 years ago, sometimes the lack of structure gets to me, but its an overall good game if you're into open world gaming like minecraft.
Fable is like Skyrim, but takes itself a little less seriously and doesn't quite have the challenge that Skyrim has (I'm 2 years in and still haven't beat Skyrim, but Fable II and III both only took me about 6 months of casual gaming).
My favorite simulator was Age of Empires and age of Mythology. I had farm simulator but I never played it.
I spent hours on AoE, but gave it up after the latest one...it was just awful! The originals (along with the Command & Conquer series) ate up waaaaayyyyy too much of my time in high school and university!
Oh boy I was hoping someone will mention the Age of series down the line. Really loved it and one of my fondest memories.