Taking the sharpest 180° around the road of disappointments. Merging lanes and going the route of the true bangers. Cutting off other clunkers in the freeway like RedFall and Fallout 76. This analogy isn’t going anywhere. Point is CDPR has gone through their redemption arc. Cyberpunk 2077, while not perfect, is now damn close to what was promised, and then some I’d say. The groundwork laid here has room for much, much more come the future.
One thing it’s lacking in is any real choice and consequence. It’s not that it has none whatsoever, it does, but not quite enough. Dialogue choices, more often than not, are binary, and don’t have long reaching story implications. They usually entail you getting or missing out on iconic weapons or some €$ and quick-hack components, or seeing a character return at a later point, even if their role isn’t significant. When it comes to elements of player choice like build making, the game certainly succeeds, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t less than it could be.
Bar the introduction and the occasional stat check that’s only there to serve as flavor text, life-paths and dialogue choices specific to your skills don’t change much of anything at all. Whatever class you decide to spec into, it’ll invariably be about combat proficiency over anything else. This game wants you to engage in the combat, you rarely get to rig against the systems to your favor. No kill any% runs are no-go here. But despite that stuff, this game is still remarkable in plenty other facets, and has an identity, and heart, like none other. Oh, and Samurai is runner-up for best fictional bands, budding heads with Old Gods of Asgard. Two of a kind them, not that there’s much competition. If I’d have to put all their songs in an arbitrary ranking:
1. Never Fade Away (Samurai)
2. Never Fade Away (P.T. Adamczyk, Olga Jankowska)
3. Down (RandBox, cover by Kerry Eurodyne)
4. Archangel
5. Chippin’ In
6. Black Dog
7. The Ballad of Buck Ravers
8. A Like Supreme
One thing it’s lacking in is any real choice and consequence. It’s not that it has none whatsoever, it does, but not quite enough. Dialogue choices, more often than not, are binary, and don’t have long reaching story implications. They usually entail you getting or missing out on iconic weapons or some €$ and quick-hack components, or seeing a character return at a later point, even if their role isn’t significant. When it comes to elements of player choice like build making, the game certainly succeeds, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t less than it could be.
Bar the introduction and the occasional stat check that’s only there to serve as flavor text, life-paths and dialogue choices specific to your skills don’t change much of anything at all. Whatever class you decide to spec into, it’ll invariably be about combat proficiency over anything else. This game wants you to engage in the combat, you rarely get to rig against the systems to your favor. No kill any% runs are no-go here. But despite that stuff, this game is still remarkable in plenty other facets, and has an identity, and heart, like none other. Oh, and Samurai is runner-up for best fictional bands, budding heads with Old Gods of Asgard. Two of a kind them, not that there’s much competition. If I’d have to put all their songs in an arbitrary ranking:
1. Never Fade Away (Samurai)
2. Never Fade Away (P.T. Adamczyk, Olga Jankowska)
3. Down (RandBox, cover by Kerry Eurodyne)
4. Archangel
5. Chippin’ In
6. Black Dog
7. The Ballad of Buck Ravers
8. A Like Supreme