All the hype, all the delays, and all the controversies have come to... this?
What are the Specifics?
What's the Game: Cyberpunk 2077
What's the Style: First-Person Shooter, Action, Single Player, Role-Playing Game
Release Date: April 16 Sept 17 Nov 19 Dec 10, 2020
Company: CD Projekt Red, best known for its Witcher series, most notably The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
Synopsis: You are V, a moderately customizable merc in Night City, a futuristic metropolis a la Los Angeles. When a heist to jack some cutting edge technology goes south and gets you and your best friend killed, you awaken to discover that the cutting edge technology you boosted contains the personality of Keanu Reeves - er, "Johnny Silverhand," legendary Night City merc and musician. Do you give in and let this relic of a bygone Night City take over or do you fight to retain control of your own meat sack?
What Persuaded Me to Pick It Up?
I played through 2015's The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt at least three times. I adored that game. So when the same studio that developed that game released the extended gameplay trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 after the reveal at E3 in 2018, it was an exciting look at a game that I'd heard about when I started looking into CD Projekt Red after falling in love with the Witcher 3. I was immediately all in. I'd preordered the game a year later, and was excited about its release in April 2020...
Despite the numerous delays, I was still looking forward to picking it up. That final one-month delay meant that it was coming out on my birthday. Happy birthday to me!
What Do I Love About It?
Night City is a helluva place! Ignoring the bugs and glitches for a moment, it is an expansive and varied open-world map with cool level design and readily available fast travel mechanics so you aren't wedded to the subpar driving experience.
What I enjoyed most was building out the characterization of the protagonist in my mind.
In my initial playthrough, I selected the Nomad storyline. I treated my protagonist like a scrappy, DIY-minded grease monkey. Accordingly, I focused on spending my skill points on the Technical Ability and Intelligence attributes.
In my second playthrough (still in progress), I've selected the Corpo storyline and have been focusing on Reflexes and Stealth, trying to model my character into the Arasaka ninja that I'm imagining she was hoping to become before being booted out of the company at the beginning of the story.
When I play as a Street Kid, I plan to lean heavily into the Body and Intelligence attributes, which would be befitting a streetwise Night City denizen who grew up fighting and scrapping to survive in that difficult place, relying on his fists and his wits.
When I make up these backstories for my versions of the characters in my mind, I also try to play the game in accordance with how I think the character would be. For instance, my Corpo character is a hard drinker, driven to the bottle by the loss of her best friend and the years of selling her soul to Arasaka. She wields an Arasaka katana and dons Arasaka attire, still trying to prove to herself that she could have hacked it if she hadn't been pushed out.
Meanwhile, for my Nomad character, he was trying to be a consummate professional. He liked Jackie, but it was more of a business relationship than a personal friendship given how the story introduces them. Jackie was happy to a grab drink at Afterlife when they're going there to meet Dexter DeShawn. My Nomad V, however, didn't take a drink then or later when meeting Rogue. He wanted to be sharp, keep his mind on the task at hand. He could relax with a brew once work was done, though.
This "choose your own adventure" style of playing is part of why I replayed the Witcher 3 so many times. You can make different choices in the game to get different endings. I'm eager to see how my choices affect the story.
One example of choices having consequences is when some Scavenger gangers said something like, "Don't think we forgot when you came and killed our friends before." They're talking about the first mission from the beginning of the game! What if I hadn't killed their peeps, what would have happened?! Who knows? ... I will! Right after I play through the game again...
What Do I Not Like About It?
Crashes.
Generally, I am not one to get too bent out of shape if the weather changes wildly or the nonplayable characters stand in T-poses in the middle of the sidewalk. For me, the bugs and glitches were mostly hilarious to watch on Twitter and YouTube. Despite all of the media coverage of these shortcomings, it was only the mission-breaking bugs that bothered me.
The crashes, on the other hand, were absolutely maddening! Driving to an objective... CRASH. Fast traveling back to V's apartment... CRASH! Crafting components... CRASH!!!
There were nights when the game crashed four or five times over a couple hours of play. Because I had to relive it so often, the way the game loads became super annoying. A video intro, then a title card, THEN a menu, and FINALLY a loading screen! It would take another three minutes after each crash for the game to load back up so I could get back to crafting components. Wasting my playtime!
Speaking of crafting and wastes of playtime, I seriously spent a minimum of two hours of my total 40+ hours of Nomad character playtime pressing, holding, and releasing the X-button. I would craft uncommon, rare, and epic components for crafting weapons. I would dismantle gear so I could craft its components into upgrades. I would craft crap guns so I could sell them and reap some "eddies," which is the slang term in the game for the fictionalized future currency "eurodollars." (Don't get me started on the right-winger nightmare of a combined American and European monetary system.) It was not how I would have preferred to have spent my time, but my dude was supposed to be a grease monkey and I wanted him to craft his own gear!
Additionally, I found the driving mechanics to be subpar. For all the game's fixers to be constantly pestering you about cars that they have for sale, the cars aren't fun to drive. There's no emergency brake, no vehicles with manual transmissions, and the differences in handling for the different vehicle types don't amount to much.
Finally, the first-person perspective doesn't feel like the best choice for some of the gameplay elements. Fighting with a katana in a first-person game is kinda obnoxious, it makes it weird to remain stealthy, and for all the work that you (and the developers, for that matter) put into customizing your character's appearance when you rarely see it is a gonk move.
Any Section That Stands Out?
It isn't one particular section, per se, but many of the missions and side quests have several options for you to make it through the missions that work with your playstyle, attribute configuration, and patience.
Do you want to be a super stealthy ninja and play the game like a first-person version of Metal Gear Solid? Go for it! Want to run in guns a-blazing and like Neo in the Matrix? Fire away. Want to use your quickhacks to short circuit, overheat, and blown up your enemies? Thou art a netrunner now, son.
The ability to play a mission how I want to play it is great. For me, I hate it when a sudden stealth mission is shoved into the middle of an otherwise run-and-gun experience or when you have to run-and-gun when you're typically going slow and stealthily. So mostly having that freedom stands out for me.
What Can You Get Out Of It?
Headaches. Potentially seizures. Easter eggs. For those with patience and an active imagination, you can wring out some fun.
My Verdict? Sure.
The game was fun enough for me that I'll be playing through it three times, but it is no Witcher 3, which was easily one of my favorite games on PS4. Period. It might be different once the patches make the game whole and totally playable, but as of writing, this game is still undercooked.
I am holding out hope that CD Projekt Red can sort out the bugs and glitches, put out some killer DLC, and maybe make the proposed Night City Online worthwhile. Might even update the review once the situation improves...
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