Cyberpunk 2077

Review

As a huge fan of Cyberpunk 2020, for a long time I wanted to see Cyberpunk as a movie, or video game, and when this game was announced, I was instantly excited. I didn't need the hype, I was already sold purely on the knowledge that, after 25 years, I finally get to play a Cyberpunk videogame. The bar was very high for what that needed to be, and CDPR did not disappoint.

Usually when you play a named character in any roleplay game, every aspect of the character comes "pre packaged", and you have little to no choice on how the game begins. This is not the case in Cyberpunk 2077, where the only thing about V you have no choice in, is their name.

When creating your character, you have a lot of choice, including gender, voice, and even the appearance of your genitals. Some of the choices you make here do have an affect on the game, and you do not get to change any of this later on, not even your hairstyle, so don't rush it.

After you have decided on the "aesthetics" of V, You then pick the stats for your character, which you get to advance throughout the game. These stats mostly affect the abilities you have, but they also have an affect some some dialogue choices.

Once you are settled on Vs style, sound, and attributes, you then get to choose how you are thrust into the dark future, by picking your lifepath.

The options before you are Nomad, Streetkid, or Corpo.

The most obvious effect of this choice is how you start the game, and although it does affect dialogue, and some minor events, it has little to no affect on the overall main plot. Having said that, the beginning of any story can set the tone, so in this regard, the biggest effect this choice will have is on you as a player, and how you may play your version of V.

Following the games lifepath introduction, you fast forwarded, via montage, to where V is now living their life as an aspiring Edgerunner. V is gaining a reputation, building contacts, and life is on the up. Vs work soon pays off, when they are introduced to Dexter DeShawn, a renowned Fixxer, with a job that will change Vs life, and set them on a path, where you as a player, get to see how truly horrific humanity can be.
Night City is rich in it's history, culture, and diversity, and as you explore, you will get to meet all sorts of characters, each with their own stories to tell, and uncover a world that is steeped with lore, and intrigue.

I started my first playthough as a Streetkid, with the intention of advancing towards a Netrunner.

Upon starting the game, I was astounded by the graphics, and felt that First person was a good choice by the developers, I felt immersed from the very start, and remarked that I wanted to play in VR. As I walked around, I felt that CDPR had faithfully captured the look and feel of Night City, as I imagined it, though I do think it could have done with a smog effect, and more claustrophobic, and run down, living conditions in Vs apartment. The world itself felt cramped and overpopulated, with very obvious social stratification, and exploitative advertising everywhere you looked, which is exactly how Night City is supposed to be.

The first mission of the game, with Jackie, was a really good introduction to how dangerous 2077 is, as you are tasked with finding a missing person. You track the missing person to a location, occupied by a gang that is abducting people, for the purpose of harvesting their 'cyberware'. You find the victim in a bath of ice, on the edge of death, and discover that her 'bio monitor' is being jammed by a hacked 'shard', which is preventing it from alerting 'Trauma Team' (medical corporation) of her status. upon removing the shard, her bio monitor calls Trauma Team, who respond instantly, due to her 'Platinum Package'. You take her outside, ready for Trauma Team to arrive. When they do, they step out of the ambulance armed, and wearing full body protection, and proceed to set up a defensive parameter, in full military fashion, before tending to the victim, leading you to consider what society must be like, for that kind of protocol to be necessary.

The games immersion is further enhanced by the astounding soundtrack, which is all original, including the music on the radio. The audio helps give character to the world, by highlighting the diversity of culture with appropriately themed radio, and well placed score. "The Rebel Path" playing, during the 2020 flashback moments, made me feel "bad ass", "Scavenger Hunt" an "You Shall Never Have to Forgive Me Again" made me feel like "shit was about to go down", and "Rite of Passage" made me feel that "this is bigger than me", and gave me a sense of dread. The sound engineering was spot on, and really added atmosphere, for example, when walking around a nightclub, I felt like I was walking around a nightclub.

Throughout the game, you have many interactions, which includes small talk, goofing around, and moments of loss, which is only enhanced by the realistic facial expressions, gestures, postures, body language and the first person perspective. This enabled me to develop a genuine emotional connection to the characters.

My only complaints with interactions, is how quickly, and frequently, the characters push you to respond, sometimes before you have even had chance to review the options, or how a phone call comes in, while you are in the middle of an interaction. In real life, an unexpected phone call, while you are in the middle of a conversation, or doing a task, is disrupting, however, in this case it actually interferes. I have ended up selecting options I did not want to select, both in the initial dialogue, and with the phone call. My biggest complaint with interactions though, is that the button to skip dialogue is the same button that is used to crouch and stand. To often I ended up unintentionally skipping dialogue, when I wanted to stand from a crouched position, or duck behind cover, while dialogue is going on.

Of all the interactions in the game, my favorites were my interactions with Judy Álvarez, a skilled 'braindance' artist, and tech genius. Unlike other games with a romantic component, where there is either already a history, or it "just happens", my romance with Judy had a build up. It felt like the attraction developed, through a friendship, to a loving relationship.

When I first met her, I thought she was hot, but a stuck up bitch, though as I got to know her, I soon realized that beneath that façade, there was a lot more too her. A caring selfless person, in a nightmare world. I found myself caring about what was going on with her, and dropping what I was doing, to help her out. Eventually she asked me to help her with a project, which turned out to be a date, an experience that felt very personal.

The immersion was broken a little, by some minor graphics glitches, but overall I really enjoyed the date, and learning about Judy's past, Thankfully none of it was interrupted by Delamain, ringing to tell me that one of his cars was in the area.

Soon after the date, things became even more intimate, with a sex scene, which felt like a natural progression to the romance, rather than being "just thrown in there". The romance didn't end there, as the dialogue for the next day only added to the experience, where Judy gave me the "key" to her apartment, and there were further interactions as a couple. Unfortunately, on my playthrough, I didn't get the game ending I would have liked, resulting in Judy leaving Night City, and me. I actually felt hurt, further testament to the effort the developers have put into realistic character interactions. I really hope that they add more to the romances and relationships in future DLC, and expansions.

Throughout the game, an element of the main plot invoked a strong sense of urgency. Although an important part of the story, the constant reminder of this plot device caused me to feel heavily pressured into viewing most, if not all, of the side quests as extremely trivial, and compelled me to complete the main story as quick as possible. As a result, I missed out on a large portion of the game, however, having completed the game, and getting the ending I did, I see this as quite a clever moral lesson. My desire to live, and fear of leaving everything behind, prevented me from "living" and caused me to loose everything I had, including Judy.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and I am eager for more. I felt highs and lows, and constantly wanted to know what happened next. Even though I already knew quite a bit of the lore, from playing the table top game, which lead me to accurately predict some of what was going to happen, there was enough fresh story, mystery, twists and turns, to keep me engaged. It was also fun for me to see so much reference to Night City's 2020 era, which reinforces the way I have been approaching Cyberpunk 2020 as an alternate universe, which diverged in the 90's.

Cyberpunk 2077 is not without it's problems. Although I have few complaints about the overall gameplay, there are a number of bugs, and a failing AI, that needs urgent attention. I haven't experienced as many issues as others, with my experiences mostly being graphics glitches, spawning issues, and assets behaving incorrectly, which while immersion breaking, were definitely not game breaking, however other people have reported some serious problems, making the game unplayable, though these reports mainly on console, and lower end, or older, PCs. I also had issues with recording and streaming, which is apparent on my YouTube playthrough. While the game ran smoothly for me, I had juddering issues with OBS, which I didn't notice until I had already played for 10 hours.

After trying all sorts of lower demand graphics settings, I can only put this, and the various glitches I have experienced, down to the games AI (which constantly streams the games assets from the storage device) putting sudden heavy loads on the CPU. Hopefully these problems will be dealt with expeditiously, through future hotfixes, and patches.

Gameplay wise, I had no issues, except when it came to driving. I did find vehicles a little hard to control, and felt that the breaks could work a little stronger. I also felt that the minimap could do with zooming out while driving, or for there to be a cyberware option, that displays your route on the road, to give you more of a chance to react to the GPS, when your need to turn.

Conclusion

My experience of Cyberpunk 2077, even with the unfortunate bugs and glitches, is extremely positive, and after completing it, I am still playing it. I do not see me tiring of this game any time soon, and look forward to any expansions. One addition to the game I would very much like to see is VR support, Cyberpunk 2077 is begging to be played in VR, and if CDPR were to add that feature, it would be even harder to get me off it. I recommend this game to any fan of the genre, but I would strongly recommend that you either get it for PC, with sufficient hardware, or wait to see what the next gen console release has to offer later in 2021, to avoid the problems that console players have been experiencing.