Yeah, RDR2 is Rockstar through and through. The initial part is a linear tutorial where it punishes or annoys you if you don't do exactly what it wants you to do but once you setup camp you are free to do what you want. I have ~30 hours in it and i think i'm still at the first camp. The second it let me off the leash i just went out exploring. Some activities are gated by some story beats but they're mainly at the start. It's a great looking game, with a lot to explore and discover and the story is apparently good too. I guess i'll find out when i continue on with it.
However, RDR2 has animation-priority with very few cancels so the game feels very "heavy" to control but it is more "deliberate". You can't button mash, once you commit to an action, the action has to play out before you can do something else. Some people hate it but once you get used to it's measured and deliberate approach it becomes second nature. It's a cowboy game, so take you're time pardner.
It's also a Rockstar game so it has the usual Rockstar annoyances, mainly the story missions are linear as hell and easy to fail if you think for yourself, but i find them less aggravating in RDR2 than in the GTA games which wind me the fuck up. I like watching GTA, I don't like playing it myself much.
Death Stranding is similar to RDR2 in that both have vast open landscapes to explore and a sense of wilderness to them. Death Stranding is Kojima complete with 45 minute cutscenes (of awesome). Again it is a very measured and deliberate game and also has moments of tension between hours of solitude and exploration. Again, i haven't advanced far in Death Stranding but i'm definitely going back to it.
