Review: Cyberpunk 2077

A bug in the system.

Title: Cyberpunk 2077
Platform: PC, Google Stadia, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 (reviewed on PS5 Backwards Compatibility)
Developer: CD Projekt Red
Publisher: CD Projekt Red
Release date: Out now
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series: 2021
Tl;dr: An incredible game with a fantastic narrative that is hampered by bugs, glitches and crashes.
Price: Â£50/$60
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In 2013, CD Projekt Red teased a brand new futuristic title based upon the role-playing game franchise, Cyberpunk. The Witcher developer’s new teaser trailer garnered a lot of attention from gamers worldwide, however, those people would have to wait seven long years before they got their hands on CDPR’s newest project; Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk 2077 is set in Night City, a city pulled straight out cyberpunk pop culture like Bladerunner or Ghost in the Shell. You play as V who can choose between three life paths: Nomad, Streetkid, or Corpo. All paths begin very differently but eventually lead down the same path for the main narrative. I opted to take the Streetkid route. V had just returned to Night City after being away for a while. Upon returning, he decides to help a friend who borrowed money from a shady guy which leads you to try and steal a car. This is where you meet Jackie Welles, a street thug who eventually, through a montage of action and comedy, becomes your best friend.

V and Jackie meet a local fixer named Dexter Deshawn who hires you to steal a biochip known as the Relic by the Arasaka Corporation, however, this job goes terribly awry after certain events which I won’t spoil here as it is truly incredible but after this, you meet Keanu Reeves’ character Johnny Silverhand, a rocker boy terrorist who is fed up with the world’s state.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a futuristic first-person RPG. It’s baffling to me seeing as you never really see your custom-made character unless when equipping gear in the inventory screen, photo mode or the occasional mirror found throughout Night City. Anyway, V has different weapons and cybernetics at their disposal which leads to interesting ways for dealing with enemies in Night City. For example, you can hack an enemies neural system to cause them to overheat or shock them, followed by rebooting their optics so they are temporarily blind, this is where I took the opportunity to rush up to them and lop their head off with my very sharp katana!

However, Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t all fun and games as the launch, especially on consoles, has been met with game-breaking glitches and bugs as well crashing often. A lot of people have experienced different things such as PS2 level character models, enemies and NPCs, cars randomly flying over the map, or blowing up as you get in. For some friends, their narrative experience has been ruined by glitches that pull them out the experience. I have experienced a few of those but my biggest problem was the game crashing literally every couple of hours resulting in lost progress.

I don’t want to talk negatively about Cyberpunk 2077 as I am in love with it and on PS5 via backwards compatibility, the game is stunning with a stable 60 frames. As I mentioned earlier, the narrative is so incredible which includes a bevy of side stories with the various characters you’ve met along your journey through Night City. But I think Cyberpunk 2077 could’ve benefitted from a little more time in the oven. Unfortunately, CD Projekt Red was under pressure due to the game’s high demand from the fanbase to release the game after several delays. It’s a somewhat similar scenario that Square Enix experienced with Final Fantasy XV, however in this case, it lacked narrative rather than being overwhelmed by bugs.

Overall, Cyberpunk 2077 is an incredible game with tons of potential and an outstanding storyline which is unfortunately hampered by poor performance issues. Thankfully with patch 1.05, some of the issues have been addressed but the game still crashes on PlayStation 5; I cannot speak for Xbox Series X/S but I imagine it isn’t fixed on their platform either. I would highly recommend you wait until the big fixes patches in either January or February or maybe you can wait until the next-gen versions in 2021.

The Good

An amazing narrative with great characters that breath character into Night City.
Beautiful and visually stunning on PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility.
In-depth side stories that feel like their own game stories.