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Cyberpunk 2077 (2020, Playstation 4) Review


IS IT PLAYABLE?


Also for: Stadia, Windows, Xbox One


Let me guess - you want to know what state Cyberpunk 2077 is in, after more than one year of patching and hotfixing. It was infamously released in late 2020 riddled with bugs and graphical glitches, and downright unplayable on last-gen consoles. Sony even removed it from their online store soon upon release. So how far have CD Projekt Red come in fixing it? Is it worthwhile? Is it even playable?

In short the answer is "far enough, yes and yes", but with reservations. At its current state, it is a two-faced beast. Go ahead and play, if you're aiming for a thrilling and cinematic first-person escapade set against the backdrop of a futuristic city, full of violent crime and depravity. But if you're eager to delve into the sandbox of said city and really explore its systemic ins-and-outs, you're in for a mediocre time, because the open world feels so lifeless and hollow.

From a visual and narrative standpoint, I've got no complaints. Night City is the main attraction. Behind its electrifying front, it paints a grim picture of humanity. It is full of political scheming and gang warfare, from the greed-stricken corporate elite exploiting consumer weaknesses, down to the tribal nomads of the wasteland struggling to break free of the system. Every part of the world is beset by distrust, as the population fights over the crumbs left by the wealthy. Drugs, cybernetic implants and software serve as means of escape. "Brain dances" put you in someone else's body, letting you escape the drudgery for awhile. But faulty black market hardware could fry your brain instead, making that escape a one-way trip.



All this, and so much more, is delivered through the amazing storyline. I played the PS4-version on a PS5, and performance-wise I'm happy to report that Cyberpunk 2077 is patched to where its strengths outshine its flaws. I played the game the way I wanted, without any fatal bugs and glitches. It never plain crashed on me, and I could finish all the quests that I started. I still encountered some graphical glitches, but nothing too distracting, especially considering the story itself is centered on faulty hardware implants interfering with your senses.

Whether opting for a male or female protagonist, you play as V, a seasoned mercenary with one of three possible backgrounds. I picked that of a female streetkid, and have yet to see the corporate and nomad paths (I will try them out once the PS5-upgrade is out). Fem-V:s voice actress, Cherami Leigh, does a commendable job of channeling the vulnerable human behind the gritty facade of cyberware and tattoos.



The writing, voice acting and staging is great with some really strong character interactions and thrilling scenarios. The main questline and sidequest dialogues are all directed completely in immersive first-person, with motion capture and facial animations of the highest order. The gallery of side characters is good, and the surprisingly fine-tuned dialogue reveals character insecurities and vain aspirations once you get down with the jargon.

The character designs instantly give life to the NPC:s, and I felt excited to see each one's story through to the end. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Jackie Welles (Jason Hightower) and the bewildering Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves), who plays a surprisingly big role. And the great romance with Judy Alvarez (Carla Tassara) went through highs and lows I've rarely seen in video games.

While dreaming of immortality, it's obvious all of them are struggling to find their place in this world. No matter what the city promises in terms of wealth and fame, the chances of succeeding are slim, and it's affecting to see tough people open up their hearts to you in first-person. This perspective is a great choice, adding a new dimension that brings us closer to the emotional truth than expected.


Another feature I really dig are the braindances, where V steps into the recorded reality of another human being to solve some sort of detective mystery. It might be a murder case; trying to find the culprit by entering the final moment of the victim's life, digging for clues in both their recorded vision and hearing. These are not hard to solve, but they add a voice to the city's most unfortunate souls.

For all of the reasons stated above, I would encourage a playthrough for fans of story-driven RPG experiences with adequately good gameplay mechanics.

Without excelling in any way, the gameplay features are surprisingly solid, given the game's reputation as a half-finished release. Combat is serviceable - heck, sometimes even fun - with your standard set of weapons and mods to choose from. However, I played on normal difficulty and found it too easy. The game provided me with so many free healing items that I could keep regenerating non-stop throughout the playthrough.


The many combat encounters are well-enough designed, that you can theoretically utilize the surroundings (and exploit the dumb AI) in a number of ways to make short work of your enemies. But it is easier said than done since the screen is full of visual clutter. The user interface and stark color scheme, as well as the debris and loot in your surroundings, all distract from the useful stuff like hackable cameras, mines and turrets.

Playing in a stealthier, more methodical way feels more like a detour than going in guns a-blazing. It also forces you to enter the cumbersome menus, which were clearly designed with a mouse in mind, and only haphazardly ported straight to consoles.

Some features feel rushed and unfinished, particularly crafting, which has its own skill tree. By the time you can craft something you'll already have found something far superior. Also the components you need are all generalized and labeled "Crafting components". Where's the fun in that? The other skill in need of some tinkering is hacking. It gives you an edge you often don't need, by utilizing an interface too clunky for my liking. Also, the hacks are too few, and using them often alerts the enemy, forcing you to resort to your guns anyway.



Now on to the really ugly side of Cyberpunk 2077. This story takes place in a severely unfinished open world. If you decide to stray from the main game and venture into the systemic wasteland of Night City, you won't find much to digest. It seems like loads of core components are still missing, and I doubt we'll ever see this game as it was originally envisioned by the developers. Although Night City itself shines in visual design - the huge map seems handcrafted down to the smallest detail - it totally fails to evoke the sensation of a populated place.

In the space between map markers virtually nothing happens. No chance encounters, no enemies roaming the wastelands, no mini-games. Hidden quests? I didn't find any, although I searched extensively. A store in every corner provides items you'll soon replace with random loot. An underwhelming amount of pedestrians stare blankly into the void as they wander aimlessly. If you gaze at the Night City streets from faraway hills outside the city, it seems like the streets are bustling with traffic. But as you drive closer the low-resolution cars just vanish into thin air.



Speaking of cars; given the lifelessness of the city, driving around is extremely dull, and the game's focus on cars is ridiculous. They even have an entire lore section in the codex. Apart from a few rail-shooting sequences and a short questline of driving challenges, you can't do anything with them except drive from quest to quest - which takes longer than simply fast-traveling. During certain missions you can use the extra time to chat with NPC:s, but the dialogue is non-essential enough that the quest designers made the scenes skippable. 

The wastelands outside the city are in the sorriest state. I took a detour to explore the huge junkyard, and the debris wasn't even connected to the ground. I clipped straight through heaps of garbage, rubber tires and car husks on my way towards nothing. The world outside of the city is a big blank slate, needed to be filled with tribal wars, raging scrapped droids, dumped corpses, drug stashes, human trafficking, detective mysteries - just about anything will do.



Simply put, the sense of a populated world is non-existent outside of the directed main quest scenes. But it doesn't stop at that. Most events and minor side jobs are also very dull. They're already marked out on the map from the outset, and but a few are worth pursuing. The rest can, at best, serve as palate cleansers between intense main story missions. Enter a location, kill someone, steal something, or sabotage something, and then leave.

For all the reasons above, the world is a bloated and hollow backdrop. A lot of the effort they dumped into designing it feels wasted, and the rich skill tree doesn't open up the experience in any way. Leveling up your character is simply a game of numbers; of damage output, defensive stats, reduced hacking time or stealth thresholds. You keep doing the same things, only more efficiently.

And that's the two-faced nature of this game. In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - CD Projekt Red's masterpiece - the developers added depth by telling dazzling stories about every little settlement, encampment and secluded cabin. Cyberpunk 2077 tries to replicate that by adding scraps of dialogue transcripts at every quest location. But it doesn't cut it. Most of these transcripts are interchangeable. They tell the same story - if you can call it that - on repeat. The visual storytelling, if it even exists, chokes on all the aforementioned visual clutter from the interface and Night City itself.



Again, I won't deny that the world design is brilliant from a visual standpoint. The neon-lit architecture, the signboards of naughty ads, the sun reflecting on the high-rises of megacorporations in mid-day - stuff like that makes the game look like an interactive postcard. Every screenshot looks like a carefully framed loading screen. I won't hesitate to add it to my list of game locations you have to see before you die.

If I had followed the game's strict main quest and detailed side quests, I would have enjoyed my time much more. For a while I even felt compelled to award it a four-star rating. CD Projekt Red:s storytelling crew can make their games excel even as their gameplay features feel merely decent. Nowhere is this so apparent as in Cyberpunk 2077. The story and visual design take charge, and the gameplay plays a supporting role, and then they mesh to become a cinematic thrill ride. But if you let the narrative rest, and the support has to take center stage, the game loses its direction and becomes busywork.

But I refuse to abandon all hope that we'll one day see a more fully realized Cyberpunk 2077. With the upcoming PS5- and Xbox-releases they have a rare second chance to set things straight. If that happens I might be back with a second review, or an update in a separate entry.

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