Finished the game last night. A short breakdown of what I thought.
The Good
- By far the most ambitious and immersive open world created to date; takes the idea of "living/breathing" to another level.
- The wild west setting is perfectly realized. It's a brutal, harsh, and depressing world, filled with fraud, criminal mindsets, deception, and utter disregard for life.
- Fantastic storytelling with a host of well-developed characters. You know you're invested in a game's story when you start liking and hating some of its characters.
- It's not often that control is taken away from the player, and despite the cinematic nature of the game, a lot of in-game conversations don't force you into cutscenes.
- NPC AI is great for the most part.
- Despite being an open world game, it manages to deliver cinematic moments and set-pieces due to a linear approach to its mission design...
The Bad
- ...though this linearity is sometimes too enforced, and you have to do things in flow exactly the way you're "meant" to in order to progress.
- The control scheme and user experience are both unintuitive and require getting used to.
- The final chapter is bloated and largely unnecessary. I was yawning my way through it and just wanted the game to end at that point.
The Ugly
- Sluggish character movement and aiming remain an annoyance up until the very end. I never got used to it, and it certainly doesn't bode well for the online component.
- Having to rely on auto-aim to compensate for the above.
- Awkward cover system that often positions you right in the line of sight of enemies.