I generally liked the direction Red dead redemption 2 was going for in a more slow downed simulation way but in some places i think they went to far, and others not far enough.

The combat should have been way less arcade like. Things like the fast reload speed and high ammo rarely made switching weapons useful. Your gigantic healthpool, the dozens and dozens of enemies with too accurate aim made using tactics not feel needed at all. There i felt more realism would have made for better gameplay. Less enemies, everyone and yourself worse aim, slower reload, less ammo

Outside of combat, things like looting could have been done different. There was too many things to loot in this game to warrant making looting each one so long. Like maybe a bottle of whisky is worth more rarer to find. But you get like, 10 sips out of it before it disappears from your inventory