to get it out of the way: the people at/above the creatives of cd projekt red that pushed this out years before it was ready don't deserve a shred of credit for this. the artists who toiled behind the scenes for THREE YEARS after its catastrophic launch deserve all the credit. because, yes, this game is brilliant.

for one, while the combat isn't exactly challenging, it is hugely flexible and a blast to push to its limits. i really enjoyed specing into pistols and stacking up headshots in slo-mo. ridiculous and game-breaking, but loads of fun.

phantom liberty, too, is excellent, and leaves me with a lot of faith for the eventual sequel considering the expansion's director is seemingly taking the lead. looking forward to playing that in the 2060s.

the world of both the base game and the expansion is a delight to explore, and has a meaningfully overwhelming, oppressive mood. i truly feel like i barely scratched the surface, even after 70 hours. there's a feeling of endlessness to the city here that you don't get in GTA (for now, at least). dogtown, especially, is richly dense and rewards off-the-map exploration. it's no elden ring, but i got a real sense of satisfying virtual tourism that i haven't felt since rdr2. from a pure design perspective, i hope they scale up the PL model for the sequel.

and while i understand the controversy over the first-person camera, i think it was undoubtedly the right call here. it is genuinely immersive, especially when paired with the ridiculous graphics. and yes, this game is in large part carried by its expensive, jaw-dropping visuals, but the art direction makes that feel like money well-spent.

what really makes this game special, though, is the quality of writing and narrative behind it. with the exception of the panam/aldecaldos questline (it was... so weak, sorry), the side content is nearly indistinguishable in quality from the main game, especially in writing. the sinnerman quest, in particular, is brilliant. that conversation at the lunch table is so well written it feels out of place. i had more fun in those 2 minutes than i did the entirety of the time i labored through starfield.

both keanu reeves and idris elba bring real weight to their characters, and both campaigns have richly satisfying options and conclusions. phantom liberty, in particular, had me genuinely stressed about every dialogue choice i made in the final hour. i haven't gotten around to bg3 or disco elysium yet, but i genuinely can't recall the last time a game got me so invested in the choices i made. there is no clear-cut "good ending" and that is a serious accomplishment, in my mind, for what is essentially an rpg-lite action game.

i felt genuine relief when reed forgave me, in his own way, after i chose to let so mi die.

and, johnny... i honestly don't think this game would work at all without keanu reeves. CDPR deserves it flowers for not only securing such great talent for a game like this, but also for giving keanu such quality material to work with. i really do care about johnny in a way i don't about every other video game character, save arthur morgan.

it's really worth seeing through most of the side content here, if for no reason other than the interactions/development you get with johnny. johnny and v's friendship felt earned and real. plenty of movies can't pull that off.

i honestly don't know how you can pull off a sequel to this game. the core concept of the narrative is so critical to its success. there is no cyberpunk 2077 without johnny silverhand poking around in your head. the ticking-clock and the grounded, human plot are the perfect contrast set against the corporate espionage and fatalistic tone of the world. how on earth do you follow this up without johnny? i am genuinely curious and excited to see what CDPR dreams up.

i am pretty in awe of this one. as far as AAA games go, few are willing to take such bold steps and push for such bittersweet narrative endings that feel earned and satisfying, especially with so much spend behind them. blockbusters of this quality will probably only get rarer as the industry continuously shoots itself in the foot year-after-year, but it does leave me a little hopeful knowing there will never be a shortage of talent out there. if the C-suite can just get the fuck out of the way, you might just get more games of this quality (that ideally aren't finished 3 years after release).