Not at all. It always looked like something in between for me. Humanity is still struggling but moving forward, and most people live under various kind of regimes but no big bad Empire.
Weirdly I prefer it to the first and second episodes. I wish they would make a sequel, tough I don't mind them focusing on their newer IP, The Talos Principle.
Quite slow paced and inventory management is a mess, but a very good game otherwise!
I heavily recommend the Explorer difficulty if you aren't familiar with CRPGs, on Classic the game is quite hard even in Act 1 if you don't know how to play them.
Not at all. It always looked like something in between for me. Humanity is still struggling but moving forward, and most people live under various kind of regimes but no big bad Empire.