SystemShock7: The issue is actually very simple: W2's UI is designed to work with a game pad. That means, that it does not use a hardware mouse. That right there, completely cripples the UI, especially if you played W1 and know what a great UI looks like. (or maybe W1's UI is not great, but surely looks that way when compared to W2's UI).
And, as I am sure you are aware, a gamepad is not a standard PC controller, but a console controller, therefore the association with consoles.
Nolenthar: W2 UI is designed to work with both a keyboard and a gamepad, you're right, but it doesn't avoid the game to be fully playable with keyboard and mouse, and to be even easier to play with that (people complain about selection with game pad).
I call that a smart move, in case they export the game, that's at least something they don't have to change.
Consoles are crippling games, not because they are consoles, but just because they are done for the masses. And the mass, as it's said earlier here, are pretty much for casual, easy, quickly digested computer game. It doesn't apply to most of the PC gamers which are rather niche gamers, ready to spend one month wage for latest computer, but are, strangely enough, not ready to buy all the crap that is released by game companies. Some gaming companies are fighting piracy by doing great games, such as CDPR, other game companies are fighting piracy by spending loads of money in very intrusive DRM, forgetting to do a good game, and still thinking that they can avoid piracy with DRM.
The game was NOT designed for KB+M, it was designed to use a game pad. No one can say the game was designed for KB+M if there is no hardware mouse implementation, period. That is a simple fact.
And it is not "the masses of casual gamers". It is because of the masses of console owners, period. Obviously gaming companies are going to want to tap that market, but it is frustrating that said gaming companies are crippling game interfaces for the PC in favor of the console. That is not to say console owners are at fault or are to blame for owning a console: the blame lies on the gaming companies who decide to cut corners on multi-platform games by designing games with the lowest denominator ( ie, console controls) as the standard, rather than making the game all it can be, and then adapting it to the lower standard.
The terms "dumbed down" and "crippled" are used a lot, and I guess console players don't like those terms, but the simple fact is, a game pad, in comparison to a KB+M, is a very limiting controller on what it can do, which in turn limits interface options and functionality. Sure you can walk with one leg, but that doesn't make it the same as walking with two. And sure you can play W2 with a KB+M, but interacting with the console interface is like you going from point A to point B hopping on one leg, when you could easily use both legs.