This is a good game. Far from perfect, but good. I enjoyed most of my hundred hours in it. But you probably should not expect The Witcher 3 here, even though I had some complaints about that one, too.
Firstly, it's a shooter, not a slasher. Personally, I find it as a good shooter myself. It was fun shooting at things here, although, I was usually using like 2 guns (a submachine gun for rapid fire and a gun with a silencer for more precision and stealth and I changed the exact models only a couple of times). With a perk from Phantom Liberty, which started highlighting vulnerable areas it became even more satisfying. My only complain is that NPCs practically never threw grenades at me, which prevented me from getting 2 related achievements. I think I saw a grenade from NPCs maybe once. Don't know if I was just too efficient killing them or it was a bug, but this felt strange to me.
Secondly, I think open world here is even less interesting. This is partially because I prefer "middle ages" to "modern" or even "futuristic" setting. But partially because side quests are... Mostly forgettable. I am not talking about NCPD hustles, but about gigs and actual side quests. There are some good ones or, at least, those, that do have good moments, but for the most part they feel like fillers and have little to no visual impact on the world of the game. They can be fun even without that, of course, but overall nothing special. And I think the best ones were "spy" missions, where you needed to investigate things, and depending on what you've found (or not), whom you talked to or not, results changed. I think Witcher 3 had way more truly interesting side quests.
But I think the main point of attraction here is the main story and Phantom Liberty. Main game's story does have side quest lines, which are engaging, too, but they are nothing compared to the main plotline and Phantom Liberty. Those truly immerse you in the story. You are not a talking head talking to other talking heads: all cinematics are done from your first person perspective and you do feel in the action, and it is good. If you watch it as a movie - you probably will still enjoy it.
Choices are still mostly flavor, though. There are certainly some, that do change the available endings or particular details in those endings, but for most part it's pure role playing without real consequences. But the endings... Those... They differ a lot. Neither is perfect, in my opinion, there were little things, that irked me, but each one of them stirred either deep emotions in me or made me think. Not just about the world, but about my own life.
And this is great. There are too few games with stories like this. You can see real progression for Johnny and V. Something that felt clear-cut in the begging truly becomes muddled by the end of the game and making certain decisions does become harder. Surprisingly, what most would consider "bad" choices do lead to somewhat better endings. They are bitter, but they do feel... Real, I guess?
This is, actually, another good thing about the game: it feels real. Yes, some things are futuristic here, since it's the future, and some are exaggerated and overly pessimistic, since cyberpunk genre implies that, but there are lots of things, which are relevant to us now. It makes you ask yourself things. For example, do you really want a world where you can feel this level of loneliness tearing you up, making you insane just because you want to survive?
If this does not make it a good story, I don't what does. And with a fun gunplay, and some interesting mechanics related to cyberware - it is really a good game. Even if the original release was really bad. But that's also a lesson: if you care to put in time and effort - you can build a good thing, which will be remembered.
