It’s pretty objective heavy in the beginning to familiarize the player with all of the various mechanics. Once you’ve cleared out your first area it opens up a bit more and you’re free to roam and tackle whatever you want outside of the story missions. I believe there’s a video capture mode you can use to disable the HUD. Oh and yeah the handling and everything else about your vehicle do improve with the various upgrades. Tires play a big part in that.

As for Firewatch, yeah it’s sadly become a modern trend of the genre. Multiple endings used to be standard but they’ve become the exception. I think it’s still an engaging experience and I expect this studio’s next game will expand and improve on a lot of the aspects that this one fell short on.

I haven’t played through it again myself but I have watched someone else’s playthrough. It’s interesting seeing what other people bring to and get out of the game.