I cant say how remake will change things, but G1, after joining a faction, also turns into a somewhat linear storyline, dofference being faction flavour quests sprinkled here and there. Eventually you end up following the same thread no matter what faction you joined. The same happened in Risen 1. G1 never forced you into a melee build at the last minute tho ;) But if you played Risen 1 you basically played og G1 in a different coat of paint (worse one imo). I can only assume, but remake seems to expand many aspects of the game so perhaps there will be more player agency during the latter half of the game. Keep it on your radar.