The game also has 3 life paths, even though they are probably only slightly different in each case (different intro and some unique dialogue choices) but for me at least, I am playing one of them now and that leaves me with 2 more to try in the future when the game is "more patched" etc. Hell, Fallout 4 has 4 unique paths (minutemen, brotherhood, railroad and institute) and after 5 years I've done 3 of them and still have one left to play fully, and I've seen the main story a bunch of times now and still happy to play through it. So I imagine Cyberpunk will be similar... it won't be too much of a chore to play the main story a few times over the coming years.
The side missions, indicated by a ! in a circle, I think, have some variety and are where I think you find the majority of "exploration" (even though it's quite light). They aren't explained until you reach/start them so you never know what you're going to get which is quite fun! The game is littered with overly verbose "shards" (like PDA notes) so there's plenty to read if you like that sort of thing. Though I find it a bit annoying that it pauses all music and you just hear a dull looping machine sound when you read them (or use any of the inventory menus etc).
I've only experienced a few minor glitches myself (on Stadia), 2 crashes (which just needed a re-load, 10 seconds effort) and one side mission I couldn't complete cos the enemy ended up on a glass roof I couldn't reach (and had to loot them, to complete it, I think). So for me it hasn't been "riddled" with bugs or anything. It has been 95% playable and the main missions and side quests are all good content.
The world itself looks great but it is a bit dead and lifeless. Cars can't react to obstructions, NPC AI is stupid (basic, let's say, because being basic isn't a bug, it's just not very fleshed out). I wouldn't say anything is missing but certainly the "intelligence" part of "AI" is lacking. Though I'm not entirely sure what improving that is going to do to enhance the experience. RDR2 NPCs and vehicles are smarter but even they, after time, become predictable.
Braindance is okay but it is incredibly basic. You don't need to do anything for the clues to emerge, and once they have, you just look around a very small area to see what is highlighted. But that's not to say it's bad, I certainly don't want to be in braindance mode for extended periods of time. But if the question is "what are the adventure game mechanics" then whatever they are I would tag the word "lite" on the end, adventure-lite mechanics. Mind you, they are even lighter in Fallout 4 (there is no detective mode in that game, for example) so Cyberpunk probably does more in that department. It's more than RDR2's Eagle eye also. But Braindances are quite infrequent, or, maybe I have loads of them in my inventory somewhere but haven't used them...!
Overall I'm happy with it. I play a few missions a day and still feel excited to go back into that world and do more. There is no secondary layer like Fallout 4's settlement system which is a bit of a shame, and there doesn't seem to be any companions either (outside of them joining you in their related quest). So its main quest or side quests on your own and that's your lot, really. This does give it the feeling of, well, the actual situation - that this is the first FPS RPG CDPR have made so they haven't necessarily taken the genre or gameplay of this nature forward, but they have covered the basics competently and like Witcher 3 there are some real vibes and feels in the quests/side quests which I guess in a way, is what they do best.
Last night as I played, and my level, stats, equipment etc is now better than "start of game" period, I really felt the Deus Ex vibe, hacking, stealthing. The world around me is less of a threat now and for me personally more enjoyable to interact with. I read some shards but as I say I don't like being plunged into paused sound/music, its an immersion breaker for me. But from day 1 the deep sci-fi/cyberpunk feeling was there without a doubt, and now on day 10 or such I am still looking forward to whatever missions I may be tasked with. Glitches or no, its an FPS sci-fi game that provides what a fan of that might want to a good degree. I do wonder if it can become or will be more than it is today (beyond just being fixed up) but even if not, it's still a worthwhile trip into a cyberpunk world.
Maybe I'm just trying to justify my purchase? Maybe. But then, maybe all the negative news is coming out of the console gaming sector and I'm not a console gamer, so don't expect me to tow the line on that. It's fine. At least, when you compare it to sci-fi/cyberpunk games/adventure games of the past (see the documentaries below) then it does fit like a glove...and all the bemoaning of bugs and irate console normies can't really take that away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sttm8Q9rOdQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VoX3vr6CCMEdit: One other mention, as I found it a good point in a video, is that there is not so much emergent gameplay. Understandably this may not really be something a lot of people are looking for (it rarely exists in linear games, like point n clicks often are), but I think it is certainly a "power play" from an RPG game in the big leagues and almost pivotal to the first-person perspective experience. It's not here in the single-player, that I can tell, but that may change with multiplayer, though I can't see how the world and its AI in its current state could really contribute to that. Emergent gameplay is quite sci-fi/cyberpunk concept in itself lol but it's pretty [blip] cool when it exists.