The main issues that has plagued my open-world-ish ruin exploration ImSim without resource gathering and crafting mechanics #Kaendor since I started drafting up concept for games is that I could never really think of a long-term gameplay loop or reward structure.
Something I am considering now is an explorer's notebook similar to the exploration tracking screen in The Outer Wilds. Expanding your log of things you've discovered and info you collected could be a motivator and goal in itself.
The downside is that I want to leave things up to interpretation by the players and not spell everything out for them.
Saving a copy of every text you find would be a start, though.
And a "map" leading to every ruin that you have been to.
Since searching for magic items would be central, a log entry on every magic item you pick up, with information where you found it and who you traded it to would also be neat.
There could also be a notebook page for every ruin, that lists every information item that was found in that ruin, and all texts that mention the ruin. Which you can click on to get to that item's or text's page.
Also the ability to take screenshots that will be added to the ruin's entry. (With a pencil drawing shader.)
And of course the ability to add your own notes to the bottom of every page.
The possibilities for lore hunting based on environmental storytelling could be interesting.
Yora