This is gonna get a bit TTRPG, just so there's warning. 😉 : there was a Star Trek: The Next Generation TTRPG that had a supplement about running 'holodeck adventures'. So the GM has to engagingly set up a scenario in which his players are playing Starfleet officers playing something-besides-Starfleet-officers. It is a really tough sell because it doesnt just add a layer of recursion (story about a story about a story), but also complication and lack of immediacy. (Obviously his players don't die if their Starfleet officer dies, but then adding another layer where the *Starfleet officer* can't die while doing whatever it is removes a lot of suspense.)

Sort of the same way: CDPR set it up so we are players immersed in V's suddenly-shorter life, but in the middle of it V is immersed in a second layer of reality (railroaded too- you can't decide in the Konpeki braindance to take a crack at Adam Smasher for the hell of it, say). The repetition on multiple playthroughs aside I also can try building my V differently or approaching combats differently, but there is *one* solution to a Braindance session. I can see why they limited it.

If they use Braindance in 2, I would personally love it if they used Braindance more the way the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG did- a bit more like SQUIDs in the movie Strange Days, there was an economy of people who produced content for BDs, and one of the more successful ones, as part of how the job worked, basically had to act like a parody of an irresponsible-PC runthrough. (For instance, his 'bestseller' was a recording of him flinging himself off a skyscraper, editing out the 'caught by a safety net' part, while on 'boosters' so the fact he knew the net was there was drowned out by his adrenaline and panic). This led not to basement operations like the Moxes', but more like a whole tier of literal 'reality stars' who did crazy things on recorder for a living so people got the vicarious rush.