Stealth, interface, and difficulty

[Guest 4616593]

I started playing Cyberpunk on a PS5 about three weeks ago. I'm not a casual gamer, but I prefer exploration to first-person shooting. A perfect game for me is Horizon Zero Dawn, which I finished.

I've read the other thread about difficulty, but decided to start a new thread since I have other concerns as well.

Now in Cyberpunk, I'm still at The Pickup, and I despair over it. Apparently stealth isn't really an option in this game, except for prominently placed enemies that are meant to be taken down from behind. Even the stealth tutorial isn't! I've tried to sneak around cover to not being spotted, but it's actually difficult to tell which way someone is looking. I've also tried to hack things to distract opponents so that I can take them down without shooting. Unfortunately, the distraction is quite short, and there are too many enemies, so I'm always spotted and attacked.

And when it comes to shooting, I sure try to take on one enemy at a time. I even tag as many as I can see via hacked cameras, which is not always all of them. Without tagging I have a hard time figuring out where the enemies are, and with tagging I really cannot tell if someone is before or behind cover. The fact that Jackie is frolicking about also doesn't help, because he's sometimes in the way, and at close range I cannot tell him from enemies at a quick glance.

I've tried throwing grenades, but it took a lot of deaths until I could entirely read the description on how to throw them. The text too quickly disappears after picking up my first grenade, and figuring out what I have to press is also difficult because the symbols for L1, L2, and L3 (same for R) really look the same. I increased the font since then, but it's still difficult for new information disappearing too quickly. And the interface itself is some poorly ported mouse-based interface, which works less than ideal on a console. The entire interface feels really rough compared to other console games.

I'm already playing on Easy, but I find that too hard. I don't play for a challenge, but for fun. Maybe Cyberpunk isn't for me, but then I would've liked to know before I bought the game. I've read all suggestions in the other difficulty thread, and most don't really apply right at the start of Act I. As for not fighting enemies with a skull, well, after I fought my way over and over through the Meat Factory, I was faced with Royce (whom I didn't kill earlier) as a boss with a fucking skull symbol.

I realize almost everybody wants something different from a game. Many want it more difficult and challenging, others less so. Why the game developers cannot cater to all of them is beyond me. Ratched And Clank, for an extreme example, even has a God-like mode that prevents you from dying in combat (but you still have other challenges).

Maybe I should just move on, but I think that Cyberpunk is too sophisticated and interesting a game to pass it (and on the other hand, to artificially limit its audience).

So, to come back to my first point, am I missing something about playing this game without shooting enemies all the time?

 

[LeKill3rFou]

For stealth, the best :
Camo cyberware, Distract enemies (to "split" group and take care enemies one by one), Optic Reboot QH, System Reset (late game), silenced Overture with head shoot (the only one enough powerful to "one shot" enemies), throwing knives with good perks and manual takedown (knockout/kill). And above all, always use Ping to locate enemies (and tag them).

I'm not a "good" player (generally, when I have to use "stealth" in games, I'm the worst^^) and I always manage to get out from the Konpeki without been detected (and even without firing any bullet)

But I agree, in my very first playthrough at release, I wondered how it's possible to use stealth in the game
And when you'll have the "thing", you will see, it's "easy" and pleasant (for me at least).

 

[shifty_dave]

Best advice I can give is to stick at it, because as you manage to do the odd stealthy thing here and there your character will skill up, and managing to do one stealth kill now will become three or four after a few more hours of play and levelling up. Hiding bodies in bins is a quick and easy way to skill up at Ninjutsu.

I'm on my second play through now and trying to focus on blades and shotguns as much as possible, but there are still times where there's no option but to pick someone off at long range or use a quickhack to take them down, and I think the same applies with stealthiness. You won't be a ninja straight away but can get there after a while.

 

[Iferrebee]

Stealth is an option right out of the gate you just need to be aware of enemy placement, enemy movements and even sounds that your approach and attack will make.

once you know the location of your targets you need to pause and watch their movements, most follow a route if they are coded to move. always hide every body you can or if its the last 2 let the body be a distraction to change the movement pattern of the remaining enemy

i started my second playthrough on very hard and will very time consuming stealth was never off the table for me.

However i came form playing gears of war where you learned the map, the choke points and the routes most other players would take to reach certain points. You always had to be 3 steps ahead so approaching stealth in this game was natural for me.

All i can really recommend is trail or error. you will either improve or not. by failing you will learn from oyur mistakes and see what you missed the first time

 

[Ydiss2077]

The PIckup can be 100% stealthed although it's not straightforward.

Now, when I first played the game I also failed with stealth in the very firsty mission after the prologue and quickly realised (on Normal difficulty at least) that it's entirely unecessary in order to complete missions; of course if you spec into stealth, it gets way easier (to the point where you can just run about undetected for about 20 seconds or just destroy 20 targets without moving but I digress). But on my later play throughs I was absolutely able to manage it. In the case of this specific job (first mission in Act 1), the final guy can only be taken down quietly if you know about the hole in the wall.

Stealth is 100% viable in this game. I might even start doing some guides on my Youtube channel (a stealth focused guide channel for Elite Dangerous Horizons )

 

[lyin321]

Ofcourse V/you will have difficulty with stealth at the very beginning. V still doesn't have any tools/perks to help them. Once you get ping (quickhack) you will be able to highligh in red your enemies. That will make it so much easier to sneak around. Learn to look at your mini map. The enemies are shown as cones there and you can use it to see easily where they are facing. Hmm another useful tip....The ping thingy is your major one, but once the game opens up to you and you begin to earn/buy more and more tools stealth will become even easier. Not to mention the perks. Don't forget this is a future world, where all your enemies are connected. If you don't have some means of separating and making sure the enemy is off the group network (by either one shotting them with Silenced weapons (you can add silencers/scopes/mods to weapons) or knives (otherwise they will hear you as they should)you will just have an advantage against that enemy, but quickly be discovered.
....honestly, a base V is maybe a little too good at sneaking
Grenades are similar (although not as complex) problem. You have nothing yet. V is more or less completely human at that point. You will get ways to visualize where you are throwing the grenade, it's radius if you choose to. You will have multiple ways to do that.
So pretty much the most important thing is to make use of your mini map. Enemies will appear on it (and where they are facing) once V can hear them (I think).
...and as not fully RPG game, where the skills on screen are all important, you will have to learn your tips and tricks along V

...the UI is actually very good. Except driving....this is the perfect universe for us to follow some guiding light and not just the mini map

 

[Premaine]

Play around with your build, armor- etc. Optical camo and the tranquilizer arm rockets are probably your best bet. I find that stealth generally just isn’t the move, most missions that start off stealthy often end after a bloody and chaotic battle. I have more fun just fighting everyone tbh

 

[lyin321]

Play around with your build, armor- etc. Optical camo and the tranquilizer arm rockets are probably your best bet. I find that stealth generally just isn’t the move, most missions that start off stealthy often end after a bloody and chaotic battle. I have more fun just fighting everyone tbh

If you want to be sneaky without sneaking, make a katana melee build. I haven't tried it on 1.5, but if nothing has changed too much, eventually you will be so quick and do so much damage, that you don't need to bother sneaking. You still have to be careful and get creative with enemy groups ofcourse, but generally it's very interesting and unique playstyle.

 

[Davin_Dittrich]

I'm terrible at stealth in general and most stealth in Cyberpunk is not about being sneaky as much as it's about being far away from a target and either killing it with a silenced gun or Quickhacks. The latter is the FAR easier approach and needs way less equipment to be easy to do.

One general tip I can give you for overall exploration is to try and get to high ground to see the flow of your proximity, how most of your enemies are placed and how easy it is for them to spot you. Then either go for long-range kills supported by hacking (especially lowering resistances can be the difference maker between one shotting your target and just alerting it!) or just hack them to death.

One thing worth noting is that you should always look out for cameras, not just to avoid being spotted but also to get a hold on your situation and to get off some easy hacking to soften up your enemies. In terms of long-range stealth, hacking can make a huge difference.

In close-range you will need as much knowledge as possible or else you will be seen sooner or later, so be patient in every bigger room you enter and first scan for targets. Patience is key, especially early on when you don't have the gear to become a "ghost" yet.

 

[Guest 4616593]

Thanks for all your suggestions! I'll try to apply them when there is an opportunity.

Before posting here I checked YouTube on how others solved The Pickup, but in the three videos I checked, all the players went in with full frontal assault.

I didn't always like stealth. In fact, I outright hated it originally, which still makes me wonder why I got Metal Gear Solid 2 at the time. But I grew fonder over time, and it was my weapon of choice in Horizon and Death Stranding.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Before posting here I checked YouTube on how others solved The Pickup, but in the three videos I checked, all the players went in with full frontal assault.

My path

Spoiler

I kill Royce directly (so easy, I don't want to pay and I want to keep the 10K eddies for me).
So the fight with Royce & Dom Dom in the main room is not stealth indeed. But after that, until to get outside, I kill them all with a silenced Overture and by "hands" when the dudes look elsewhere. So they are "alerted" and search due to the mess with Royce, but it's easy to not been detected nor enter in combat (almost without any skill, perk or cyberware, I generally "rush" the Heist as fast as possible by avoiding to do anything else than the main quest)

Yes I know exactly where enemies are, but with Ping, it's not a problem

And if you want an Overture (uncommon) early game, there is one with the legendary cop pants, not far from V's appartment

 

[Guest 4616593]

Thanks, LeKill3rFou, that sounds like a very good plan!

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