To start off I will say GoG need to have half ratings as I would give the game 4.5 stars or 9 out of 10. After playing over 150 hours of this game I can say the game play is really enjoyable allowing you to approach scenarios in different ways with only a small handful of missions giving optional objectives with small bonuses to play a certain way (mostly stealth). In those missions you can ignore those optional requirements and still complete the mission without issue although not getting full rewards this will not impact your ability to complete everything. The story is well done and keeps you engaged with a few twists depending on the ending you choose that really make you feel for some characters that you would otherwise think irredeemable. I deliberately picked the ending I was least interested in first and did not expect the outcome I got. I went in expecting it to be the worst ending siding with the corporation but what happened was a gut punch I didn't expect and something I feel most people will miss. I think the game does need to be docked 10% of the full score due to some features that are missing and I hope these get patched in as time goes on I am currently running on 5 year old hardware (was high end parts when built) and have had minimal bugs (once getting catapulted off my bike, once flying away from a window when trying to climb in and one quest where I had to reload and redo it as I was unable to retrieve my weapons after completing the objective) I am able to run the game on ultra with no noticeable frame drop from medium settings which the game defaulted to (although my computer does run 5 degrees Celsius hotter when I set it to ultra). I would definitely recommend trying the game just be aware you will need a decent rig to run it smoothly but it doesn't need to be a top of the line system like some would suggest.
The game has plenty to do and explore yes it is not as big as Fallout but the studio is also not as big as Bethesda. I didn't encounter any bugs while playing and found the ability to respec my character amazing especially after I accidentally took a perk that only worked when I was alone when I constantly had a companion with me. The game is definitely front loaded with content with there being a huge amount of side quests to do in the first few areas and not so much in the final zones however you are not constrained in the order you complete things. You can potentially go through the main story to unlock every area then go back and do the side quests separately to avoid this being an issue as plenty of quests have you planet hoping anyway. The companion stories were excellent at helping you form an attachment to the characters however it is clear more effort went into some than others which for me wasn't an issue as I stuck mostly with the same two companions. I would recommend getting the game when it is on sale however as there is no post game sandbox mode so you will always have one quest left in your log (as you have to load a save) if you want to play the open world after completing the story. There is also a lack of exploration once you have completed the quests you find as there are no random events and I didn't come across many "secrets" out in the world. Overall I would rate the game around 7.5/10 losing points for the fizzling out at the end and no open world post final mission it would have been good to see the world after I saved it from the board. I have not started the DLC yet so I am unsure if this adds much to the core game but as a stand alone it is worth getting if you can get it on sale.
