There will forever be discussions in the game industry about the release of Cyberpunk 2077. Whether it is about the game being delayed after it had gone gold, or the fact that PlayStation actually removed the game from the store, CD Projekt Red lost a lot of goodwill it gained from The Witcher series with this game’s release. To this day I can’t see a yellow background with text on top of it without thinking of the developer’s communications. But the game released in December 2020, and it’s now February 2022. The most recent patch includes the PS5 and Series X versions, and it’s time to see what the game has to offer in a more complete state.

While I was hyped for the game since the first teaser trailer (which said the game would come when it was ready), I held off following the poor reviews. I had a PS5, which apparently made the experience better, but I wasn’t going to have the time to play it anyhow. So version 1.5 is my first personal experience with the game – right off the bat, I’ll say the game still has plenty of issues, but that’s hardly a reason not to play this. If the trial is up at the time you’re reading this and you haven’t dived into Night City yet, I implore you to do so. The 5 hour trial is enough time for you to get through the first act of the game, and it should give you a pretty good idea of if you’ll like the game going forward or not.

I played the trial the night it was available, starting it around 7pm and staying up until midnight. While I was excited for the game pre-release, I didn’t watch much in terms of developer diaries or gameplay demos, so I wasn’t sure quite what I was getting into. I had every intention of playing it, and didn’t want to spoil it. Playing through the game, it gives off newer Deus Ex and Watchdogs vibes. It’s a cyberpunk world that provides you different paths depending on play style, with an emphasis on hacking. The first person view point really sells this, with all the different ideas the game explores, such as brain dances, which are similar to the memory jacking from Remember Me.

I really didn’t expect to find attachment to the characters like I did. I usually find myself skipping voiced dialogue in games, simply because I need to save what time I can, as I don’t have much for games these days. However, I never even considered it playing through this. The acting (when the game isn’t bugging out) is excellent, and I even got misty eyed early shortly into the second act. Each mission helps build the world and characters around you, and they rarely feel like a waste of time. And yes, Keanu Reeves made me smile just about every time he showed up, which is often. Of course, you can’t discuss characters without talking about Night City itself, which is very much alive and absolutely gorgeous. It feels very much like a city that would be in California, if the world was as advanced as it is in the game.

The customization for how you play is pretty in-depth, with multiple attributes and multiple perks within each. There’s no way you can unlock everything, so this is where you decide how you’ll play the game. While the choices aren’t unlimited, there are plenty of branches for your character to pursue, which includes skipping boss fights if you choose to do so in the name of stealth. I appreciated that this was an option, as I was trying to keep my kill count to a minimum. I also liked looking around for alternative paths if the most direct was not possible because a certain attribute wasn’t leveled enough. It took me a while, but about halfway through I realized that I really liked hacking and stealth, so those were my main play style. However, I knew this wouldn’t always be possible, so I definitely ensured I was built for battle if need be.

While I am having an absolute blast with the game (still plenty of side stuff I need to do), the game is not without its faults. The majority of issues have been reigned in, but there are still plenty that cause frustration. Not having button inputs register; having to reload a save because your scanner interface doesn’t work for a recon mission; having characters and the world just freak out as if it has a poor internet connection in an online game catching up to lag; these are just a few of things I encountered, and this was while sticking mainly to the story missions. The more amusing issues included characters going into T-poses, vehicles in cut scenes just obliterating my parked car, and my motorcycle doing a flip as it stops after I call it. There are plenty of others, and I hope that they are fixed with each incoming patch. However, most aren’t any worse than what you’d find in a Bethesda developed game. I find this far more engrossing than any of The Elder Scrolls games, or their iterations of Fallout.

I wish that Cyberpunk 2077 had been held back so as to not ruin its reputation, as the game in its current state is quite good. Had the release state been this at launch, it would’ve likely won many awards. I’m hoping there’s a good redemption story here, like there was with No Man’s Sky. If you enjoy the cyberpunk subgenre, open worlds, and open ended gameplay sequences, you can lose yourself to Night City for many hours. Just don’t expect a game that’s bug free.

9 out of 10

Pros

• Character Customization
• Different Paths for Missions
• Great Acting
• Stunning World

Cons

• Many Glitches Still
• Button Presses Not Registering

Cyberpunk 2077 was developed and published by CD Projekt Red. The game is available for GS, PC, PS4, PS5, X1, and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on PS5. If you’d like to see more of Cyberpunk 2077, check out the game’s site.

 

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