Or for that matter Doom Eternal, the latest Medal of Honor or Call of Duty? For context I did a lot of gaming back to Doom and the 7th Guest but haven’t really been into it since the original COD / MOH. The only thing I’ve played recently are A Chair in the Room: Greenwater and the 13th Doll. Back in the day you bought a book to help you play the game. Now do you go to a web site or is there like an in-game help system to make the suggestion that you should feed your horse or that guy probably isn’t your friend?
I don’t know what you consider “overwhelming”, nor do I know about the games you listed. But as much I hate reddit for most things, it is probably one of the best places to find game info. Most gaming subs I’m a part of are nice, mature, and informative. Also, fandom/wikia for whatever game are usually pretty decent, though not always up to date with the latest patches/updates, etc.
These days, the first 10 minutes or so of gameplay is usually essentially a tutorial to teach you the controls. That is, as you’re playing, text keeps popping up on the screen to tell you “push the L stick upwards to walk forwards,” “press the circle button to vault over an obstacle,” “press the touch pad to bring up your inventory. Now press R1 to navigate to the crafting menu,” etc. The first time your horse gets hungry, the game will freeze the action and pop up a window explaining the horse hunger mechanic, and walk you through feeding him the first time. Most games also include a full manual you can access via the menus, but of course reading it is tedious. Many games also display tips, pointers, and shortcuts during load screens. If I ever don’t know how to do something or suspect I’m missing something, yeah, I just look up an online guide, or if I can’t find an answer already published, post a question on Reddit and someone will answer.
In depth walkthroughs can still be found on the internet but most stuff is presented in short articles or videos. You just do a Google search for whatever is troubling you (“where can I find the legendary bear rdr2”) and you’ll have a dozen options with the info.
As for overwhelming, it’s hard to say. I found RDR2 to be sedate in pace but waaaay too long. I’ve played it in two big multiweek chunks since its release and still haven’t finished it. Dunno about Cyberpunk, but it’s made by the same guys who do the very dense Witcher games.
Bigger games also have their own dedicated wiki, for tips and guides. Here’s the one for RDR2. If you’re stuck in a mission, just read the mission page.
Read the previews/reviews, watch some Youtube videos. If you find the game subject/environment appealing, and you think the gameplay might be fun, give it a shot. Games have advanced since the original DOOM, but they are still made to appeal to many people.
If you’re coming back to the PC, I recommend you just bite the bullet and learn mouse/keyboard controls. It’s not that hard, and it’s vastly superior to the traditional x-box-style controllers, allowing for better/finer control.
I’ll await your next post, in which you tell me why you won’t learn keyboard/mouse. 
Well, I’ve never owned a console so the only things other than a keyboard and mouse I’ve used are the Oculus Rift touch controllers.
Just moved from The Cafe to The Game Room.
Honestly, military themed shooters haven’t changed all that much. The graphics and sound are better, but the control schemes are substantially the same, and so is the gameplay. So picking up the latest COD or whatever isn’t going to be all that different than the last one you played.
However, a lot of the games these days are made with a primary eye toward the multiplayer game, if not both eyes aimed squarely at it. So if you’re looking for first-person story mode stuff, you may (or may not) be disappointed, as that’s not the primary “game” any longer.
If you’re not familiar with sandbox games, that may be a learning curve; rather than have the older-style “cutscenes, gameplay, cutscenes…” style of game where you progress through the various missions/tasks and win the game, sandbox games have a huge open arena with lots of stuff to explore and do, and only some of it actually applies to the actual single player storyline. So it’s easy to get distracted and spend a lot of time on “nonsense” that doesn’t advance the storyline.
On the flip side, and IMHO, there’s a lot more hand-holding for players now than there used to be. No need to keep a map or a set of notes of NPCs, quests, and objectives on a separate piece of paper. Again IMHO, but there seem to be fewer ways to irrevocably bork your game, no matter what silly thing you might’ve done a chapter ago.
I was going to say that even if you aren’t overwhelmed, your computer from 15 years ago would be.
That’s true. There are more “player aids” built in- automatic mapping, etc… than there used to be. Not sure if that’s better or worse though. I haven’t been as engaged in newer games since they started all the handholding as I was with the older ones with slightly higher stakes.
Speaking as someone with absolutely no sense of direction - either in virtual worlds or in the real one - I am eternally grateful for recent advances in handholding technology.
If you ever played the Grand Theft Auto games of 15 years ago (looks like Vice City released in 2003) you won’t find that RDR2 is fundamentally different - there’s still hand-holding to start with, followed by an open world you can mess about in, with missions in order to progress the story. Of course, RDR2 is tremendously more beautiful and rich in content, but (frustratingly, to my mind) the missions/tasks are just as prescriptive and formulaic as fifteen years ago.
I’m almost in the same position as you, also gamed a lot from Doom through COD. It’s fun returning to gaming, ism’t it? I’m amazed at the quality of graphics (playing Tomb Raider 2013 now), but the gameplay hasn’t really advanced much.
When I need help I do the following:
- look at a walkthrough video on Youtube
- go to IGN (Google* IGN game_name walkthrough)
- Google game_name walkthrough, to find other walkthroughs
If it is a very specific problem that is not clearly covered in a walkthrough I simply google for the problem: with sufficient descriptive search terms I always find someone having the same problem and someone providing an answer.
- Actually don’t use Google but a more privacy-respecrting search engine.
So I’ve never done a lot of gaming. I did do some casual gaming, but mostly enjoyed the ever-improving graphics and exploration shooters provided. Back in the day I’d often play in “god” mode to avoid the pesky challenges of getting through the game from getting in the way of that.
Recently I told a friend in no uncertain terms that being such a casual gamer I’d never bring myself to spend $60 on a video game. A week later I purchased Red Dead Redemption 2 for $60.
So I guess I’m starting off by saying that I’m both a liar and a cheat. 
RDR2 is perfect for me. The open world is huge and beautiful. You can just go wherever you want from the beginning, but the storyline is well crafted in that it “guides” you towards exploring the large variety of areas on the map in an interesting fashion. The story (and voice acting) is pretty good for a video game too.
I’m finding it relatively easy to play. As others suggested the first missions are largely tutorial like. There’s never any doubt about what you have to do with any of the story or side missions. Some of them are a little tricky with the actual execution but not above my skillset after a couple of tries. If anything, I wonder if it’d be a little too easy for an experienced gamer. I’m a very casual gamer and haven’t run into anything yet that I’d consider overwhelmingly difficult.