Never have I played a game that has given me so many mixed feelings during my playthrough.
My playthrough was on patch 1.6 version of the game on a PlayStation 5.
===The stuff I liked===
I thought the setting of Night City is an interesting one. I think it’s the one distinguishing thing that makes Cyberpunk 2077 standout from other contemporary open world games. A lot of care and attention is on show with how detailed Night City is, even if the quality is not consistent across the board.
Voice acting is another highlight for the game. I very much enjoyed Cherami Leigh’s performance as female V, as well as enjoying the work of many of the supporting cast.
The side gig activities do a good job of having them take place in unique environments, so while you’re doing the same three or four objectives, I always felt that each area had me think of different ways to complete them.
===The stuff I disliked===
Going for a stealth build feels largely inconsequential to the story at large. If you want to challenge yourself by ghosting your way through missions, you’ll only end up taking much longer to play through the game. The game doesn’t react to how you complete missions, unless an optional objective specifically tells you to ghost through a level. It feels that the quest design was largely done with gunfights in mind.
The upgrade tree is expansive but uninspiring. I found myself having a hard time on what to spend my upgrade perks on. Most upgrades that are offered to you are small percentage increments, usually something like “increase critical damage by 5% for pistols”. None of the upgrades really change the way you play the game; the way you play the game at the start will largely play the same as it will do at the end. I really wished the upgrade perks was done away with and the cybernetic body parts dictated your play style, based on how the player spend their body attribute points.
Bugs. Despite being on the latest version of the game, at the time of writing, I experienced a surprisingly high number of bugs over my ~75 hour playthrough. Nothing that halted my progress to finish the game but it’s clear that this game is still riddled with problems, at least on the PS5.
Some notable bugs I had
- Random items floating in the air
- Low quality textures/shallow draw distances
- V’s voice changing from female to male when talking between two different characters (had to load a previous save to fix)
- Objects in the hands of NPCs being a couple of feet away from their hands, but moving about in the air as if they’re in their hands
- Missing voice clips/sound effects
- Enemies going into an alert phase for no reason.
The driving in the game is not very good. There is a plethora of vehicles you have access to but I found myself sticking to Jackie’s bike most of the time because it was the only vehicle that had decent handling.
The presentation. I grew tired with being made to sit down and have characters talk at me. Sitting and talking was what I remember mostly doing in the main quest. It wouldn’t be so much of an issue for me if they weren’t all presented from V’s perspective. I want to see my V physically react and emote during these dialogue moments, like you see with Geralt in The Witcher 3. Instead, I found myself getting bored and browsing on my phone than paying attention to the dialogue moments. It seems that CDPR prioritised the main quest to deliver plot via dialogue than having the plot meld nicely with the gameplay.
Overall, the game is…fine for the most part. If it wasn’t for setting of Night City, I believe the game would have completely forgettable. The game was enjoyable enough to have me stick with it for 75 hours. However, everything the game has to offer, in terms of its gameplay mechanics, other games have done them far better. There’s a good foundation for me to be interested in a sequel.
My playthrough was on patch 1.6 version of the game on a PlayStation 5.
===The stuff I liked===
I thought the setting of Night City is an interesting one. I think it’s the one distinguishing thing that makes Cyberpunk 2077 standout from other contemporary open world games. A lot of care and attention is on show with how detailed Night City is, even if the quality is not consistent across the board.
Voice acting is another highlight for the game. I very much enjoyed Cherami Leigh’s performance as female V, as well as enjoying the work of many of the supporting cast.
The side gig activities do a good job of having them take place in unique environments, so while you’re doing the same three or four objectives, I always felt that each area had me think of different ways to complete them.
===The stuff I disliked===
Going for a stealth build feels largely inconsequential to the story at large. If you want to challenge yourself by ghosting your way through missions, you’ll only end up taking much longer to play through the game. The game doesn’t react to how you complete missions, unless an optional objective specifically tells you to ghost through a level. It feels that the quest design was largely done with gunfights in mind.
The upgrade tree is expansive but uninspiring. I found myself having a hard time on what to spend my upgrade perks on. Most upgrades that are offered to you are small percentage increments, usually something like “increase critical damage by 5% for pistols”. None of the upgrades really change the way you play the game; the way you play the game at the start will largely play the same as it will do at the end. I really wished the upgrade perks was done away with and the cybernetic body parts dictated your play style, based on how the player spend their body attribute points.
Bugs. Despite being on the latest version of the game, at the time of writing, I experienced a surprisingly high number of bugs over my ~75 hour playthrough. Nothing that halted my progress to finish the game but it’s clear that this game is still riddled with problems, at least on the PS5.
Some notable bugs I had
- Random items floating in the air
- Low quality textures/shallow draw distances
- V’s voice changing from female to male when talking between two different characters (had to load a previous save to fix)
- Objects in the hands of NPCs being a couple of feet away from their hands, but moving about in the air as if they’re in their hands
- Missing voice clips/sound effects
- Enemies going into an alert phase for no reason.
The driving in the game is not very good. There is a plethora of vehicles you have access to but I found myself sticking to Jackie’s bike most of the time because it was the only vehicle that had decent handling.
The presentation. I grew tired with being made to sit down and have characters talk at me. Sitting and talking was what I remember mostly doing in the main quest. It wouldn’t be so much of an issue for me if they weren’t all presented from V’s perspective. I want to see my V physically react and emote during these dialogue moments, like you see with Geralt in The Witcher 3. Instead, I found myself getting bored and browsing on my phone than paying attention to the dialogue moments. It seems that CDPR prioritised the main quest to deliver plot via dialogue than having the plot meld nicely with the gameplay.
Overall, the game is…fine for the most part. If it wasn’t for setting of Night City, I believe the game would have completely forgettable. The game was enjoyable enough to have me stick with it for 75 hours. However, everything the game has to offer, in terms of its gameplay mechanics, other games have done them far better. There’s a good foundation for me to be interested in a sequel.