Looking a bit more like a game all the time.

Having more and more little things in the universe definitely helps make the system you're in feel alive.

Games like Fallout/Skyrim have things everywhere and you're constantly navigating the world.

In space games, you don't have obstacles like that and the game drags on. The world needs to feel alive and constantly have things to do in order to hook the player...

At least, that's my working theory...