Pros:
1. The city itself, it seems alive. I love the feel of the crowd, how the people act natural waiting for the green light, use their phone, drink something and so on. The "underground" area of the city was really well designed, I love the mature feeling of it and the sick theme of harvesting implants from people, it's just so fitting for the world you are creating.
2. The things you get to do in your apartment. I know it's fluff, but it makes the game more believable. I loved the armory and hope that there is a fixed amount of weapons you can carry so preparing with info and choosing the right gear for your approach is a thing, the wardrobe and being able to control the day / night cycle. I hope more "routine" cyberpunk stuff like this gets added, that makes coming home every once in a while a useful thing.
3. I like how you can modify weapons with tech to get different effects on them. More of that, please. Go crazy. I'd love if those mantis melee blades can also get some mods on them, maybe a skilled engineer can rig some crazy grenades. Speaking of which, hanging on the wall with the blades and melee kills look sick, I really, really hope that you can use those mantis blades with a skill such as that power slide and slice sideways while doing so, chopping of the legs of enemies. Fun stuff.
4. Different approaches to quests and multiple branching paths and the possible outcomes. I love it how V gets the idea of trying to f&*$ Dex over so she can make friends with the corporate lady. I love the mention of being able to f-&8 her over and helping the Malestrom gang even more. The power of choice you have really gives you the feeling that you are in control and not acting on some written scripted quest. Also, the fact that you can please two factions in the same outcome, both the corporates and Dex got what they wanted from you. Back to the corporate lady.. how she treats you, the choices you can make during the conversation, the possibility of becoming violent and the different outcomes depending on who you do that to: that Royce dude wasn't so smug when the barrel was pointing at him. I imagine you'd get another smack on the head if you tried that with the corporate soldier. This kind of reaction and how different types of NPCs behave in certain manners towards you is amazing. I hope that if you go deep enough with one of the factions, they will start treating you more as a friend.
5. Implementation of "RPG" type skills in an action game. I loved how this was handled in The Witcher 3 and I think what I saw in the demo is the "next gen" of that. It's brilliant, and the idea of being an unfinished product is even more exciting. That reflex inhaler and how you made a classic RPG Dash skill transition into FPS real time play and how you control that is quite the thing. I hope you go deeper on this and have plenty more skills like these. That power slide being showcased quite a few times looks very fun to use, I like how you can use it in different ways, offensively to flank or defensively to avoid damage from things like that laser beam on the Royce fight. I also like the synergy between skills, like speed enhance then power double jump to shoot a shotgun to the face of an enemy that was 20 meters away and 4 meters upwards 1 second ago.
6. Combat. It will also be at cons because there are things I like and things I don't. So, first let me start by saying that it doesn't feel bullet spongy at all. This was and is my biggest concern regarding combat. Keep it like that, please. I will mention it again, I love how different tech mods give different effects on guns. Bosses also look interesting, and I see 2 types of bosses which is cool. I hope for a lot of interesting bosses and unorthodox approaches, maybe sometimes the boss is a puzzle or the boss itself is not such a powerful fighting character but the situation in which you have to fight him is very hard (you against 50 guys, surrounded etc.). Hacking that Maelstrom guy's weapon is another interesting concept. Maybe a more skilled net runner can hack things like those turrets or even that corporate flying bot?
7. World reactivity. I liked how the scavs wanted to get revenge on you. I hope that on bigger, more important side quests or even main quests, if you royally piss off one of the factions they will interfere in your playthrough and try to get revenge which can develop in a side quest chain of keeping your ass safe from said faction or even try to side to hinder your main quest progress or interests. Maybe kidnap your romance interest / friends which starts another side quest and so on.
8. Presentation. I love how everything feels natural, Dex feels like a badass gangsta boss, his discussion setup (picks you up with a car, rolls around the block once or twice and drops you off) really gives you the impression you were talking to a true a real kingpin. Same with the corporate lady, felt very.. corporatey cold. Love the different type of feeling you get when dealing with different types of organisations.
Negatives:
1. Combat. The enemy AI didn't seem all that bright, it might be okay for lousy gang members but if we ever fight those corporate soldiers it would be pretty uninspiring if they would run around in the open like that. Some of the weapons are really inspired, like special purpose guns like the smartgun, but I think that this type of weapon should have a more skill dependent mechanic. Sort of how that wall bullet reflection mod worked towards the end. If the use of RPG type skills is brilliant, your shooting game could do with some improving.
2. Lack of equipment we can use. For a world so technologically advanced, with cyber implants and mechanized arms, robots and high tech guns I find the lack of grenades and special equipment usage underwhelming. Maybe that is something you are not ready to show us yet, since I did notice the anti personnel mines. I hope that we will get a lot of nifty gadgets and special purpose grenades to use or even combat "pet" equipment like that robot you purchase in the demo.
3. Weapon diversity. Again, it's probably not the focus of the demo but I hope there's more than just 1 or 2 pistols, 1 shotgun, 1 or 2 rifles etc.
Suggestions:
1. Create more social elements and moments in the game. The Witcher 3's scene with Geralt drinking with his mates and talking about what they've been up to lately is the best example. These scenes should be mostly optional, I will mention at point 2 about the non optional ones. So anyway, these should be like a small gather around of your current collaborators / companions to discuss jobs, how to handle them, short time consequences of your recent actions or plan / collect info about a more serious job. This should be done in social environments, like everybody gathering at a bar or at V's home etc. Small teasers about personal life or chosen friends should sometimes come around, like Dikjstra asks Geralt about him and Triss. These can work as some kind of a summary where if you ever feel that there are too many details and side quests and that you might have missed some details about them you can always catch up on stuff by gossiping with your companions.
2. Non optional ones. I am guessing that the main narrative story is structured in a number of chapters, acts, call them what you will. My suggestion is that, instead of having a narrative perspective on the consequences, these will be told in dialogue. Each act can be separated by some kind of social event or gathering, sort of how the balls Geralt attended weere, only this time you are attending the party of whoever's party (corporate Militech, Maelstrom, Dex) you sided during your playthrough and you discuss the outcome, consequences and opinion of your choices in the concluded act with companions and important NPCs.
Keep it up guys, you are the true golden triple A standard of gaming. And one small edit, I LOVED the trauma paramedic commando team and how they treated you vs. their patient.
