Released: 10th December 2020
Developer: CD Projekt Red
Publisher: CD Projekt
Certificate: 18
Formats: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Format Played: PlayStation 4 (Base Version)
With the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2015, Polish developer CD Projekt Red were on top of the world. They had crafted one of the most widely beloved and critically acclaimed games in history. Yet this success had another side; the arrival of staggering expectations for their next project. Cyberpunk 2077, perhaps the most anticipated title of the last decade, has finally arrived and by most accounts it’s quite a mess.
Based on the tabletop game by Mike Pondsmith, Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in Night City, an independent territory in the western United States. You are V, a mercenary looking to make a name for themselves however they can. Starting out as a street kid, nomad or corporate employee, the player begins their journey with a major heist gone wrong. After inserting a revolutionary biochip into his head, V finds a virtual construct of the deceased terrorist Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves) boring his way into his mind. V’s quest to decouple Johnny and save his own life plays out across three acts and countless side objectives.
While Cyberpunk’s central plot doesn’t have the same emotional gut-punch as CDPR’s last title, it’s still a capably told story. Once again, the writers have proven themselves adept at creating likeable characters and then building quest lines that bring out the heart of relationships between them. Jackie, Judy, Panam, River, Johnny Silverhand, Takemura; all of them are very well fleshed out and draw the player into their individual struggles. The side-quests that pair you up with each of these characters all have some highly memorable and emotional moments and I really got invested in each of them. V is defined by your choice of gender and dialogue options; while both voice actors go for an edgy, nonchalant attitude, the tribulations the protagonist goes through are still conveyed really well. The story is definitely engaging, but it’s integrated into a wider package that leaves much to be desired.
During its time in development, many ambitious promises were made for Cyberpunk 2077; it was said to be a true role-playing experience, a seamless world that would react to every choice you made and an exorbitant number of ways to make an impact on those around you. What the game delivers is competent, but far from the heights of the genre. Following a character path that matters little after the first fifteen minutes of play, player builds are defined by body attributes (a maximum of 20 which cannot be redistributed) and perk points (which can be reassigned using a Tabula Rasa). Across 50 levels, you can choose to be an agile, rifle wielding assassin or a subtle tech hacker to name a few.
The customisation does have a limit however and this is the first major disappointment of the game; when heading to a ripperdoc to modify your body, the upgrades on offer don’t add to your gameplay decisions. Instead, they only improve your stats in a specific way. Outside of building your own specialised play-style, choice and narrative consequence still plays a part, but not quite as much as you’d expect. For most major missions, you won’t see things unfold in a variety of ways depending on your approach, nor will characters comment on a combat or stealth-oriented completion all that often. Crucial junctures in the story will see V decide how his or her life will pan out, but the wider effect on the world is missing.
Perhaps the biggest issue with Cyberpunk’s design though is its wider activities; Night City may appear to be a sprawling metropolis with lots to do, but when you actually get down to playing it, the depth rings incredibly hollow. You can only go into buildings on quest-lines, can’t interact with anyone outside of shop vendors and have no opportunity to buy new apartments or properties around the city. Instead, your only activities are shooting up gang members, driving in the occasional race and getting into fist-fights.
It’s a similar style to The Witcher 3, but considering how bustling this futuristic setting is, the lack of things to do is a major let-down. As the game’s prologue comes to an end, you’ll see V partying with Jackie and getting more acquainted with Night City; this stands as a huge missed opportunity. You see these elements once and can never partake in them yourself. Because of constant stat and equipment changes, I found myself heading to drop points to sell off items I didn’t need all too often which also gets in the way of the world’s immersion.
Of the many open-world components Cyberpunk 2077 fails to properly implement, the police force is by far the most hackneyed. Rather than flying in on armoured vehicles like we saw in trailers, the police have instead discovered the ability to teleport. They’ll spawn in instantly upon a crime being reported and then immediately give up the search once you’ve fled within a block or two. On top of their terrible use, the police have no part to play in the wider gameplay; sometimes a quest will ask you to team up with an officer or two, but for the most part they’re completely worthless within the overall experience. Making do with the slim list of activities, it took me 70 hours to beat the game, exploring every possible narrative route. While it’s a healthy amount of content, the gameplay still struggles to sustain the campaign all the way through.
From this standpoint, Cyberpunk is a case of highs and lows. For CDPR’s first time in the first-person-shooter business, Cyber’s combat is very engaging, guns are divided into three classes; power, smart and tech; they use rounds that can richochet off surfaces, home in on enemies and store up a charge respectively. Pistols, rifles, shotguns, heavy machine guns and snipers are all at your disposal and how you choose to specialise is well in tune with the skill system. Upon entering combat, numbers burst from enemies as you shoot them and pyrotechnics fly all over the place. It always remains satisfying to blow off a gangster’s head and the same is true of the hacking.
Using the scanner with L1, V can unleash a vicious cyber assault by frying the enemy circuits, unleashing a toxic contagion or even temporarily blind or distract them in stealth. You can mix and match cyberdecks to fit the situation and once it’s upgraded, you can wipe out an entire group without leaving your hiding place. I personally specced V to be a hacker with skills in pistols and snipers; the two sides of my playstyle gelled fairly well throughout the adventure. At times, I felt rather overpowered short-circuiting the enemy systems for an instant kill, but it definitely showcases Cyberpunk at its most enjoyable.
As for the other gameplay facets? Unfortunately, they’re just plain insufficient; stealth is relatively simplistic; you receive a damage bonus for hidden attacks, sneak up behind enemies for takedowns and hide them in lockers to avert prying eyes. The big problem with stealth is that there’s little transitions for the artificial intelligence to work with; they’ve either caught you or they haven’t and in the case of the former you’ll have to shoot your way out without being able to slip back into the shadows in the combat zone. In fact, that’s a heavy critique of the combat in general; enemy AI is incredibly weak, mostly just taking cover or rushing you with little in the way of tactics. For all the deadly tech available in this dystopian future, the gang members and robots you’ll face don’t feel all that threatening outside of higher levelled foes that can kill you quickly.
Finally, there’s the hand-to-hand fights and melee weapons and these are both very poor. There’s a serious case of jankiness with these armaments. When tackling fist-fights, you’ll find opponents hitting you when out of range and seemingly skipping animation frames to create an incredibly frustrating side activity. A lot of this comes down to the first-person perspective which has always faced great challenges with melee combat. Control issues can get in the way too, most notably the circle button in my case; mapping conversation skips, crouching and dodging onto one button leads to a lot of awkward moments. Driving has its rough spots too with vehicles being incredibly prone to spinning out on the roads; despite the many cars you can purchase throughout the title, there wasn’t much effort to differentiate their overall feel. By attempting to cover so many different gameplay styles, inevitable faults have slipped through the cracks.
A lot has been said about Cyberpunk 2077’s disastrous and its unfinished state remains clear to see two months later. I bought my copy for the PlayStation 4 slim and performance was incredibly mixed across the board. The system is often straining under the pressure with frame rate drops being very common when driving around the city and engaging in direct combat. That’s before getting to the bugs; phone calls and vehicle views will stop working, doorways will not load or fail to open entirely, graphical effects persist after their duration has expired and sometimes quests will become stuck or fail to mark themselves as complete. As of the 1.11 update, some game crashes do persist, even if they’re not as prevalent as the original version.
At the very least, the game does proceed with relatively minimal load times; the crucial elements of the story are also well-presented, even as the quests surrounding them break. When you look beyond all of these issues, Night City still looks stunning; it’s an incredibly varied and detailed landscape that embodies the game’s wider history. The glistening towers of the City Centre are constantly contrasted with the wide open, lawless nature of the Badlands; of course, you’ll need a powerful PC to experience the visuals at their best. Despite everything that’s broken in the final product, the audio design is spot-on all the way through; every weapon has a satisfying crunch to it, the voice acting for the main cast is impeccable and the original soundtrack features a wide array of radio tracks to capture every kind of futuristic mood. There’s no doubt that the look and audio design of Cyberpunk are very well done, but without the technical consistency to back it up, you’ll find yourself having to squeeze the immersion out of it.
After all the ludicrous hype and overzealous promises, Cyberpunk 2077 is a massive let-down that’s only saved somewhat by its worthwhile story and combat elements. What CD Projekt Red have essentially done is replicate what they did with The Witcher 3, proceed to abandon all of their greater ambitions and throw in a helping of bad business for good measure. It’s certainly not the RPG we’ve all been waiting for, even if sci-fi fans will get some enjoyment out of it. Right now, most are better off waiting for the title to be fixed and inch a little closer to a finished product.
Rating: 5/10 (Mediocre)
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