Before we begin I would like to point out that English is not my first language, I have tried to write as fluently as possible so please let me know if I have made any mistakes or such! There is a lot to read here and I struggle with English so I haven't proof read it that much. Thanks! -Vejša
Preface
Part One: Customisation and Clothing
Part Two: The World and Its People
Part Three: Relationships and Romance
Part Four: The Story + Side Quests + Gigs, etc...
tl;dr: CDPR needs to do more to make this game truly great. It needs more work.
Preface
Cyberpunk 2077 was in development for quite some time. A lot of hype, perhaps too much, was generated over this game. Luckily I did not fall into the toxic hype train, but I was excited for this game nonetheless. Having waited for this game since I first heard about it perhaps some six years ago, I was sure it would be a game that showed off the amount of development time it had on it. Ultimately, however, the game falls somewhat flat of great. Don't jump at me for this just yet, because I do love the game, so hear me out as to why I am disappointed.
P.S. This review is biased and contains story/endgame spoilers, read at your own risk. This review will also change with time as CDPR add and change things.
Part One: Customisation and Clothing
I didn't spend too much on character customization. I created my "ideal" V pretty quick - this isn't good. I figured I'd spend a lot of time crafting my perfect V, however, the options are so limited. It's almost like CDPR had a vision of what V looks like and gave us "close enough" variations on that. Perhaps that is the case, and if that's so then that is what CDPR has achieved successfully, but it was a shame to feel so restricted when I was under the impression that the options would be more unique and diverse. This didn't ruin my game and I am quite happy with my character, I just wish I could have had more from it.
Clothing is perhaps one of my biggest disappointments. I watched and read a lot about the different styles of Cyberpunk, only to find that the ingame styles don't live up to the hype. I hoped for cool outfits, with a range of fashion styles to choose from and mix. What I got, however, was the wealth to afford a Rayfield and the clothing choices of a homeless person. Why is it that in this game I walk into a store but I can't buy anything on display? I can buy the same dress, bra, coats, and pants reskinned with different colors but if I want anything more aesthetic I have to find unique items or just pretend I am wearing something more than rags. Maybe I haven't played the game enough and explored every inch of it for those cool outfits, but I would love to see more readily available styles in shops. It would also be nice to preview what it looks like on my character - I keep buying outfits only to find out they make V look like she has the worst fashion taste in 2077.
You can't customize vehicles. This was a big disappointment to many, myself included. You can be pre-custom vehicles. Why would you do this, CDPR? I have nothing more to say on that except it is completely disappointing.
You can't customize weapons, either. Sure you get mod slots but you forget they're even there. The mods barely make an impact in the game anyway, and it's almost like they were added as an after sight. You're telling me that V doesn't sit in their apartment and tinker with their guns?
Don't expect to customize V after the main screen either. No ability to change your face, like it has been hinted many other people in Night City do. No barbershops/hairdressers or tattoo parlors. You're stuck as V the way you made them the first time around. Regret that? Tough. It's weird to walk around a city and not even see one tattoo shop when everyone is covered in tattoos, and not one barbershop/hairdressers when everyone has some high maintenance style of hair.
Part Two: The World and Its People
At first glance, the world (Night City + The Badlands) is one of the game's redeeming qualities. Then you spend time in it. It's a beautiful world plagued by the common curse of open-world RPGs of being filled with absolutely nothing. It's pretty to look at, and that's about it. The more time you spend in it, the more you will see that it's a facade. Every door you approach says "Open [LOCKED]" and usually when you can enter the area, there isn't even much to do in it. This is out of the quest, by the way. I want to explore Night City in and out, at least give me some rooms to enter that are interesting.
Another issue is the supposed verticality of Night City. No offense to CDPR, but, vertical exploration doesn't mean take a lift to a preassigned floor or a flight of steps up to a balcony. I can't truly explore the height of Night City, its levels. I figured double jump would allow me to explore this verticality more but instead, I was greeted by the ability to find ways outside of the map and die. I love taking my time to explore Night City and I will continue to do so for a long time, but I was under the impression it would be more accessible and open.
The people of this world are mindless zombies. There are around 3 common walking animations I see, one that makes them walk quite literally like a zombie or a drunk, even if they appear otherwise. The crowds of the city are not immersive at all. My first issue lies in the fact that they don't seem to have a purpose. They don't seem to be going anywhere. They're either standing around with 2 lines of dialog and then silence, or they walk for a bit, turn around, and then walk back the direction they came until they're out of your field of view. Then, they can breathe a sigh of relief and despawn, having used up so much energy for their "performance" they quite literally despawn or turn into someone else entirely. I am no game designer, but it appears that these crowds only exist when you're there (and I know this is done on purpose to save on system resources) but it is not immersive to turn around and find the person you see walk past you stop existing. What I am trying to get at is the crowds look like they've only just arrived in Night City for the first time. They don't seem to "live" in it. Sure, the groups of people standing around and sitting and playing do, but those walking around seem like complete tourists.
NPCs barely react to your presence, as I have said. However, I am saying it now in the fact that if you take an item of theirs, they're oblivious. They can watch you do it and will not react. How can you miss a basic principle like item ownership in a game where everyone is supposed to be like "that's mine, not yours"? There are no repercussions to this and it makes immersion a lot less achievable.
Earning respect and street cred seems to do nothing for how people react to your presence. You're still a nobody. They went with the "you do not affect the game world, just your character" principle. One thing that they forgot, however, was the stuff you pull off affects the game world. Apart from seeing it mentioned on the news, you have no other effect on the world and that is frustrating. I feel like the entire time I played the game, I didn't make any progress or lasting legend, so how can I expect to become a legend of Night City when V eventually dies?
Part Three: Relationships and Romance
The question of whether if you should bother with the romance side quests is a complicated one. So far I have only romanced Judy, being the dumb lesbian that I am, and I thoroughly enjoyed the quests. I enjoyed every moment with her. Was it worth the one cutscene at the end of it, however? No. You build up this relationship with such a good character, get your reward, and then never get texted again. Never get called again. No more quests. Come on, CDPR, really? You're going to have me do all that work for a one night stand? They even tell us "it's a relationship" and that just means nothing without, you know, the things you do in a relationship. Would it have been so hard to add some sex scenes you could activate? Dates? Meals together? A couple more lines of dialog along? Why does it feel like I never even did those quests? It wouldn't have made a difference if I did, it seems.
Friendships in Cyberpunk don't even exist. All your friends die and the prospect of making new ones is hopeless. I get that "everyone is out to get you" but this game takes it to the fucking extreme. Characters built up to be important to V end up only interacting a couple of times with the player before becoming irrelevant to the story. Your relationship with fixers is completely uninteresting, only serving to create events that boost your street cred so you can unlock things, but it doesn't even feel rewarding.
Something I enjoyed, however, that many didn't is Johnny Silverhand. Sure it feels like it was shoehorned in there as soon as they got Keanu on board, and perhaps they should have made a Cyberpunk 2023 game instead which focused on the exploits of Silverhand, but I truly enjoyed his character and the interactions between him and V. His character is written well, more than any other character. This is because you spend most of your time with him, so of course, they had to put more effort into him. As a result of this though, you find Silverhand becoming more and more the main character of the game and V just being a vessel on the side.
Part Four: The Story + Side Quests + Gigs, etc...
If there is something CDPR does very well, it's story writing. The main story is a coaster of emotions, and it is delivered well by convincing characters with high-quality dialog. You feel invested in the story, in the characters. You start as a nobody who hopes to climb the ladder to fame, to become legendary. Very soon the story diverts from this and you're taken on a wholly different ride than expected. This isn't a bad thing. The direction the story takes is a somber one that constantly depresses you. This is one of the issues with the whole Cyberpunk genre. There is never anything good happening. You climb somewhere, you get somewhere, and are rewarded with a bigger shit pile than you first started with. It's gritty and that is delivered well by this game. Personally, however, I think this game does that too much.
I was satisfied with the story until the ending. Seven endings that I know of, and they're all the same. The issue with this is that the replayability value of the game is lost. Everything I did was futile. My entire purpose as V was to make other people's lives better while I get fucked over constantly. It was not a rewarding experience and I feel punished completely for the misdeeds of other people. I don't feel like replaying the story, picking a new V and a new life path because not even the life paths add much to the game. It feels like there was a lot of cut content shoved into a couple of cutscenes. Your life path becomes irrelevant as soon as the introduction of the game is done, except for a few choices in dialog. There may be a couple of side quests or gigs available to specific lifepath characters but I have yet to come across any obvious ones. Perhaps Frank's quest where he tries to mug you? Though I didn't count that as a quest more a side inconvenience.
One thing I will say about the story is how much I was under the impression that you could make a difference to it. This is not the case and the only choices that truly matter are during the "point of no return" portion of the game. Anything before that doesn't have much of an effect except opening up a couple of other endings that don't change much. Either way, the same thing happens to V eventually. There is no happy ending, not even one that's remotely positive. You have seven endings and can't find a way to write one that allows you to continue after the story? If I am honest, this removes the "open" aspect of the game. You have no true effect, it is a linear game in an open world. This is a mechanic that I thoroughly hate. i hope that CDPR offers us more endings eventually - there is no point in DLC otherwise. DLC should be treated as a continuation of the story. If it isn't, then it should have just been added in the base game. V's story has to continue, I don't want to be thrown back to the autosave before the no return point and suddenly a whole new side story exists out of nowhere. That would be poor writing, low effort and really inconsiderate to the majority of players. The story just disappoints me in the end, leaves me depressed and hopeless for the future of this game. Don't bullshit us with a "create a new character for a new storyline" rubbish. I love V.
The side quests in this game are strong. Sometimes even stronger than the main quest. Not a bad thing, of course, but after completing the main quest the side quests eventually become null. They have no purpose when you don't even see the results of your work. You get a text message saying "Thanks, V!", a couple of eddies, and some street cred. If you're lucky you get another gun which you'll forget the name of within ten seconds. The mini, self-contained stories within these side quests are really enjoyable though, and I don't regret completing any of them.
I think I ignored most of the gigs. They didn't seem that interesting, and I kept getting harrassed by a fixer every two minutes, which didn't motivate me into doing many of them. They're mostly your common fetch/kill quests for some extra eddies, reputation, street cred and enjoyment. They're fun but not truly engaging.
Part Five: Gameplay and MechanicsI hoped that this would have been one of the games strongest points. It isn't. It is lacking. Everything in it is lacking. It is obvious that CDPR have no experience with FPS RPG games.
First off is the walking. The movement in this game feels horrible. I've turned down the sway as much as I can and I still feel like I am leaning in the direction I walk. The sound effect paired with the walking feels like it is layered on top of every other sound, sometimes there isn't even a sound at all. It doesn't feel like walking but much more like gliding while watching my legs imitate a walk. Eventually I got used to it and it doesn't bug me as much, but it did annoy me a bit.
Guns and melee weapons are just fine. That's all. I know it's an RPG with FPS elements, but you spend so much time shooting, finding guns, stabbing people that you can't seperate the two. Unless you're running a full stealth, no kill playthrough, the guns and knives are vital. More work needs to be done to make the weapons feel satisfying. Smart weapons are useless because it's not a mechanic that works as well as demonstrated. That's a big shame for me, but it is reminiscient of the smart pistol in Titanfall which was also another dislike of mine. At least the smart pistol in that game worked.
I mostly used a sword through my playthrough, though it didn't feel like I was slicing and chopping through people but more like I was giving them a minor cut and their arm happens to fall off as a result of that. It's just barely enjoyable and becomes too easy eventually.
I enjoyed the hacking minigames and hacking people/robots/objects. It wasn't too challenging but also felt like I wasn't some sort of overpowered hacking god which gave challenge and options to a lot of scenarios. I rarely used any that killed or did damage to people as I was running a stealthier playthrough.
Braindance might as well not even be in the game in this stage, apart from the three or so times that you use it, you forget it exists. You can jealously watch other people use it, enjoying it, but not yourself. There was no point in getting excited for braindance, no point in having a Night City Wire episode about it if it was barely a feature in the damn game. Why can I buy braindances in stores but not use them? It feels unfinished and I am hoping that CDPR release recreational braindance because other than the convenient times you use it, it's just another thing that NPCs can do that you can't. It breaks immersion.
You can only sit down in certain spots. Why? What if I want to sit on a bench and people watch? What if I want to sit on a stool at a food vendor and eat some yakisoba? Can't do it. Seems like a bit of an oversight that V has to spend their entire day standing up, waiting to be offered a seat or they have to go back to their apartment in order to rest. What happens with this is that V becomes some superhuman that never needs to rest, but then we're supposed to worry about stamina and V's increasingly deteriorating condition? Breaks immersion, again.
You can only sit down in certain spots. Why? What if I want to sit on a bench and people watch? What if I want to sit on a stool at a food vendor and eat some yakisoba? Can't do it. Seems like a bit of an oversight that V has to spend their entire day standing up, waiting to be offered a seat or they have to go back to their apartment in order to rest. What happens with this is that V becomes some superhuman that never needs to rest, but then we're supposed to worry about stamina and V's increasingly deteriorating condition? Breaks immersion, again.
No eating/drinking animations. I would love to, paired with above, sit down at a table and eat. It's not a big concern but that animations would be nice to see as apart from a couple of scripted events it feels like V becomes Kirby with the rate they consume food and drink. I also hate that V gets drunk after one sip of alcohol. The drunk effect in the game adds nothing to it. Your speech doesn't slur, you don't stagger, you don't even get blacked out. Your screen just goes a bit strange and it's fine a few seconds later. Not a bit concern but it does feel like it was only half-assed.
Why can't I ignore calls? I'm in a conversation with someone and goddamn Delamain calls me about a rogue taxi, or some fixer forces a job upon me. This causes an overlay where two people are talking at once and ruins parts of important dialog where I was trying my hardest to listen (I am visually impaired so subtitles are difficult for me). Where is my choice to turn down calls? I'm collecting gigs upon gigs I have no enthusiasm for because they're all the same. I get a phone call and my option is "T to answer" or I can wait it out and it automatically answers for me. Why does it assume I want to answer? They're annoying. Let us ignore phone calls.
Driving in this game is abysmal, I prefer fast travel and running. I had to fork out over 130K eddies just for a decent vehicle that handles well, and I still hate how they feel. Why put so much effort into how it looks and not how it performs? The only time I enjoyed driving was during the races and you can only do four or five races? You never see another street race again and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Why put so much effort into a street race mechanic and use it for a side quest most people won't even do?
I never even crafted once in this game. You don't need to in order to get far and it seems it was only added because every other game of this type has that same mechanic. I have tons and tons of crafting components I've never used and it's a shame.
There's a limited choice of cybernetics and none that truly chance your appearance. The only change is your hands which is a shame. Many people hoped for aesthetic cybernetics that could change your appearance and they don't exist in this game except for NPCs. The cybernetics themselves aren't that interesting and barely useful to be honest.
Looting. Why is this game even more of a looter than Borderlands? I hate running around collecting literally everything I find to get higher stats. I hate having to pick up every damn item on a table just to get one thing I wanted, then to scrap the stuff I don't want. Give us a scroll menu so we can choose what we want to take.
Dodging is unintuitive and I hate the double tap feature on keyboard. Get rid of it or let us rebind it.
The time slowing mechanic is horrifying and I had to get rid of it as quickly as possible.
The game isn't challenging enough on the hardest difficulty as I am basically invincible due to the insane amount of health stims I find.
Double jump is great except there's no point for it as you spend 99% of your time on the ground floor running from A to B.
Dialog choices are fine. Nothing more than fine. It's better than Fallout 4, but not the best I've seen.
One of my biggest concerns is the lack of freedom in this game. Most of us were under the impression you have choices at every corner, but the story and gameplay is too linear to allow that to happen. None of your choices matter, side quests barely affect the ending and romancing is futile after you've finished their quests. Why give us the illusion of choice? Why do we have to deal with the consequences of everyone else's choices but we never make our own? V feels locked into the main storyline no matter what you do and you can't escape the eventual fate that awaits you. Futile.
ConclusionOverall the game is decent. It isn't extraordinary and certainly not the best I have played. It is a shell of what we were expecting, even with my reduced hype. The game appeared as if it offered more than it did, and the developers let that ride. They teased us with features that barely even make it into the game, blowing them up to be bigger and more impactful than they are. A lot of it seems unfinished, rushed, missing and lazily made. There is a spark of a better game but that's it. If CDPR doesn't light that spark then this game is, to me and many other people, a disappointment. There is so much more left to be said, to be done, but it has to be sorted soon because once you finish the main story, your interest to even replay the game dwindles. There is so much more that I wanted to write about this game, but I can only critique it so much before i get sad that it wasn't the game many of us expected. Thank you CDPR for the work you put into it. I just hope you continue to work on it now it is released and provide a better experience. I hope the DLC changes the outcome of the story, and brings meaning to everything I have done. Listen to the people here, they don't feel satisfied. I have a lot of positives about this game, but this review is my experience with the negatives.
When I play a video game, I look for a release from the cold, harsh reality of life - especially with the kind of life I have lived. This game spent more and more time just reminding me that life is shit and you might as well kill yourself because everything you do has no purpose, no meaning. No matter how hard you try, just give up. I guess that is truly Cyberpunk, huh?
-Vejša
When I play a video game, I look for a release from the cold, harsh reality of life - especially with the kind of life I have lived. This game spent more and more time just reminding me that life is shit and you might as well kill yourself because everything you do has no purpose, no meaning. No matter how hard you try, just give up. I guess that is truly Cyberpunk, huh?
-Vejša
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tl;dr: CDPR needs to do more to make this game truly great. It needs more work.
