Fun and bad writing are subjective. Would you care to be more specific on why it’s not good?

Why not? Seems like a fun adventuring game that lets you travel from planet to planet solving problems/doing tasks for people. Seems similar to what the OP is looking for.

I know there has been some controversy around it, but Star Wars Outlaws might be worth a look.

You can make of it what you want, but you have to make the effort. There is a mission for base building, and mission boards for doing cargo, bounties, exploration, etc. The game does start out with the storyline, but it doesn’t force you to stay on the story past a certain point, you are free to go off and do what you want, but it also doesn’t hold your hand, and you have to figure out a lot of mechanics on your own.