and they were on the right path
No. Stats-driven design with no actual cybernetic prosthesis customization nor locational body part damage is NOT the right path.
In those trailers, year before the release, I saw a girl with her cybernetic jaw putting aside, I saw Jonny with one of his arm replaced by a silver badass prosthesis, I saw Kowloon Walled City style neighberhood, I read introductions about different gangs. And see what I got?
Cyberwares just add little to none appearance changes. My legendary tier high tech skin harden cyberwares that was suppose to boost my armor is not even better than a piece of low tech but high level cloth that was made of freaking cloth! Even my high level sunglass that made of glass, or my high level headband that made of some scrap of cloth provides pretty huge amount of armor making my cyberware feel ashamed for been that expensive! And all those cyberwares, no matter how my V was fully implenmented with those, no matter how much damage I took in a fight, they will not at all been damaged even a single bit! They are no different from some random magical "Ring" or "Neckless" in those fantasy games. Where is "CYBERPUNK"???!!! Was this game called "CYBERPUNK" because you can choose your sex organ in the character creation?!
And so much about Kowloon Walled City style neighberhood, there are just a few compounds, one is V's apartment, one is the Cloud, Japan Town seems to be in the right style, but no matter which on of those, you just get access to a very limit area of them, nothing truely vertical, everywhere is flat! Even those Rio de Jenairo style slums provides more layers than those compounds! And the rest of the Night City? I can't even tell if I was play CP77 or GTA!
As for those gangs, what are they? Just some random NPC to fill the map? Nobody from those gangs never ever think of going somewhere else, just stay put, waiting V to come by and sneak upon them! Are they criminals? I don't know. Sometimes they harass some random civilian NPC for days and days and days none stop. Guess they got a Best Hard Working Gangster Prize to win. And after I wipe off some gangsters from a certain gang that has a fearsome name, nobody came after me. Like they were all individuals. Like they were all not from a same gang. Like their gang boss don't know who to deal with such situation. Nothing changes. No consequences.
And the more I play the game, the more I know deep in my heart that they are NOT on the right path! Elemental damage weapon that turns standard bullets into fire, poison or shock magical missiles; Taking shock damage doesn't cause any of my cyberwares to malfunction; The choice on which cyberwares I use leads to a way smaller impact than those perks; The quests that seems to have a time limit doesnot have a time limit at all; The customization of gears seems to have a lot of choice doesn't have that much; All that matters is the level of the gears. It's a mix of Boarderland and GTA, not a Cyberpunk. It's not as bad as that Ghost in the Shell movie comparing to those two anime movie direct by Ashii Mamoru, but its gameplay is not to qualified as a cyberpunk. Its gameplay is just another okish sci-fi. They are not on the right path.