"Add semi open sections in some plot points..."
Reminds me of what Out of Touch does and how they sometimes have sections at the beginning of an arc where it's just a bunch of the characters walking around. You get to walk to different locations, talk to the group at each location, and examine each location. There's even sometimes optional stuff included, like extra bits of story or lore. My favorite thing to do is to go to the Subway/Train Station in that game and examine it, almost every character goes "Why the fuck am I here? What was the point of even coming here?"