As someone who has bought the game because of the hype, I can tell you right away, you are paying for the story and really nothing else.
Read Dead Redemption 2 is a blend of Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come Deliverance. But not in a good way. It is unfortunately nothing at all like GTA 5, even though it shares the same exact engine. It has neither the smoothness of movement nor the gunplay of the re-released GTA 5 title.
My experience with the game has been very subpar, and reminiscent of just about every modern open world rpg. i enjoyed playing the intro. but as soon as the game opened up, my horse fell down a hill and died. i didnt know what to do so i restarted the game thinking it would reload at the end of last mission, just like gta 5. nope my horse was still dead. i went and grabbed another horse. a guy attacked me and i had to kill him. and immediately i had a bounty on my head. great, i figured i ruined trying to be a good guy in the game. then i realized im missing all my weapons. after a while i figured out i needed to return to my horse. ok grabbed the saddle and put it on the new one. before i made it to base it slipped and fell into a river. now i could not even retrieve the saddle.
i accepted this level of b.s. from an indie title like Kingdom Come Deliverance. but for rockstar to go the same route and make a game that is literally impossible to enjoy because every single mistake makes the game unplayable. and on top of this i could not load any of the previous saves. Aside from this, I notice the movement is clunky and stiff, like GTA 4. First person view does not have ADS (sights) and weapons look goofy. Combat is pretty basic and cheesy. Gunplay is not not the least bit enjoyable. Just cover, autoaim, shoot, repeat. Deer die from just 1 arrow (very realistic). It seems like they just put realism in all the worst possible places. And I keep respawning like 15 minute rides away from my missions. It has no enjoyable elements from any GTA games, like being able to break the law and die and just start where you left off last mission... Like they just went back in time and unlearned everything they learned from making GTA 5
And this is exactly what is wrong with modern open world rpgs, they are all story and all content. They are not fun or enjoyable. If you are looking for a fun open world game, pick up FarCry 5. A game that very dynamic, smooth, fast, and full of action, and none of the b.s.