If RDR2 is to be compared on its linearity of the missions and how restrictive its storytelling is, consider this:
I admit that RDR2's plot is pretty nonsensical and inexplicable with character decisions made for you at every turn making you feel completely helpless, exasperated, and mired in some creep toward inevitable and cursed fate. The narrative of how Dutch goes about bumbling around with his merry band of ignorant fools is really the worst part of the game.
However, many of your actions via the free character of Arthur Morgan are reflected in good/bad honor system that leads to different cutscenes, dialogues, items, and perks, not to mention the ultimate outcome in the life of the player character. It's a small difference in the big scheme of absurdity, but I feel it integrates quite naturally and there are umpteenth opportunities to influence it in either direction.
Furthermore you can dress your character however you want, with many options in beard and hair styles, not to mention crafting clothes that actually derive from the materials you hunt for and gather. The clothing sets offer small bonuses but they're not significantly tied to any gameplay contrivance and even serves immersive function to protect you from the elements. The weapons can be upgraded by parts and fittings, has various types of bullets that one can also craft, and there are challenges based on their skillful usage. It' just a small example of many of the choices at your disposal that might not affect the world per se, but does affect your representation interacting at all times in the constantly streaming, dynamic open world. The thing is, these type of facetious choices and light survival elements are the easiest things to implement in this type of game.
I feel CP2077 offers reactivity more contained in a mission, every mission handling pathways on which the player decision can influence the outcome. This is labor intensive, as the choices are heavily dialogue based and run on specific scripts and actions that only exist in one mission. The first few missions are especially fine examples, which offer many options that cater to player volition leading to diverse and compelling outcomes. But the majority of content exists in strait jacket narrative and a bubble of exclusivity not influencing other content in meaningful way. And I think the overall direction of story suffers from this as character development or relationship, let alone the world at large, feel particularly disjointed and existing in its own dimension. At least in the very end your ongoing relationship with Silverhand nets you another option to tackle the ending, but even then, supposedly hidden, as it's a secret! Why do they hide one single outcome toward which the player had contributed at many significant parts of the story?
Another glaring miss from this game that I felt was missed opportunity was the backdrop of ongoing Night City mayoral election. Even after some point in the game the winner was eventually declared on newscasts, I kept getting gigs and dialogs that still assumed the race was on and designed around sabotage or espionage for one candidate or the other. If CDPR was able to focus on a little reactivity of its proceedings and tie the loose ends this side story would've been a very nice chance to boost immersion and provide some cool atmosphere of a dynamic world. But done poorly, it produced a worse effect than would have if the missions were completely unrelated.
