The game is a very solid, very engaging third-person shooter with some more interactive cinematic elements and quick-time events than the average shooter. The game puts it's focus on the characters and the story (both of which are very, very good) and uses the incredible atmosphere and visuals to rope you in.
This is as linear as it gets in terms of single-player games (something I welcome in a market that is suffering from open-world, "checklist gaming" overload); but I can forgive the linear nature because of how gorgeous everything is. I'm someone who doesn't mind linear gameplay, and I often take the time to absorb the environments.
The shooting is par for the course, gunplay is varied a bit because you're using weapons designed by Nikola Tesla. Some of these guns are really cool, sporting innovative (for the era) secondary fire modes.
Every context sensitive action takes place within a cinematic context, so you always feel as though you're part of the story. Dying/failing takes on a similar form and your characters always have reactions to those instances.
The frequent bursts of gameplay are balanced with equally frequent bursts of cinematic storytelling, but it's all seamlessly integrated and all unfolding in real time. At no point in time have I ever been taken out of the story with a jarring cut to the action, or vice versa. The game flows together like nothing I've ever seen. If you're someone like me who appreciates video games as an alternative form of cinematic storytelling (interactive), then you might enjoy this.
I've just passed chapter 5 and I've been playing for roughly 4 hours.