While exactly particularly deep, I've always considered archery in mountain blade to be a good baseline for what I'd like the gameplay to be - rewarding, but with challenges to overcome.
Arrow count is limited. You can go all in and just pack a bow with three quivers, but even then you should make your shots count.
At the start, you get crappy hunting bows, crappy arrows and shit bow skill, meaning you'll have to use cheese tactics to drop anything but a naked looters.
Still, you'll get hosed by shields pretty bad, it's possible to aim for the legs, or wait for the exact moment when the enemy lowers it,
with some skill and practice, it's even possible to sneak a headshot in. Feels really satisfying when you do.
Will skill increase, you get faster draw and the reticle get tighter. There's a separate skill for horse archery which lets you shoot accurately in full gallop.
For a noticeable damage increase, you will want proper war bows which have stat requirements both in terms of raw strength and draw ability, but you get rewarded by potential one-shot kills.
There is a legitimate trade-off when picking bow vs. crossbow. Basically, M&B got the basics down really well.
I don't really like it when the game throws all kinds of magical arrows and special moves at you, turning archers into machinegunners, but if that's your jam,
I think I've seen some mods doing exactly this, especially for the first one.
