I 100% have assumed this was going to be an RDR/GTA5 style open world game that I could just ignore the story of and go around exploring.
The games I've liked have been skyrim, and GTA5 (I hated RDR), and in both of those I didn't really pay any attention to the story (except as a way of getting money to buy more gear). It was just more about driving/riding around and looking at stuff for me.
Deus Ex puts the player in an extremely small, dense area where they have tons of options. The game reacts to the way the player approaches each situation, sometimes dramatically warping the story depending on what they do.
CP2077 is a GTA clone, too. It's in the uncanny valley, though: cops don't chase you, they just spawn behind you. Even in closed rooms! It's not part of the sci-fi lore as if this was a Minority Report or something, it's just a very naive implementation.
The parts of the game that resemble Deus Ex are arguably better, but I could poke hole in that, too.
note that "extremely small" is only in comparison to modern open world games or MMOs. All 3 deus ex games (ignoring the shooter I never played) felt bigger than e.g. Skyrim to me which is large but feels empty
Yeah, Deus Ex is mostly around a smaller area and a lot more depth. Every mission and most locations have multiple ways of being tackled (because of the focus on stealth, hacking or pew pew as true options for everything)
I 100% have assumed this was going to be an RDR/GTA5 style open world game that I could just ignore the story of and go around exploring.
The games I've liked have been skyrim, and GTA5 (I hated RDR), and in both of those I didn't really pay any attention to the story (except as a way of getting money to buy more gear). It was just more about driving/riding around and looking at stuff for me.