Billion dollar franchises have always included a big dumb story, CoD, Warcraft, Diablo, Elder Scrolls ect. Even Doom has a story it's just there to be pushed aside, but still is a story. Pushing aside the story is part of what makes that game great fun.
The ludology/narrative split in games is always there even if you pick only one side. Walking sims still have gameplay and multiplayer first person shooters still have lore & world building.
It literally has scenes where you do not shoot things, are not allowed to shoot things and cannot shoot things so that you can listen to Samuel Hayden tell you what you have to do. Or Vega. Or Olivia. You have passageways in levels that are empty of gameplay with voice over that cleverly looks like gameplay but is the same as a walking simulator. It has rooms that lock you in and give you 30sec of voice over and visuals to tell you what's happening and you get a power up at the end.
It has a fleshed out world with characters, big green blocks you can touch to get lore and story progression via action. Smashing the argent accumulators opens hell and progresses the story.
You may have ignored all that, but it is there.
'Just gameplay' is beat saber or DDR or a gameplay prototype. Go play them.
The ludology/narrative split in games is always there even if you pick only one side. Walking sims still have gameplay and multiplayer first person shooters still have lore & world building.