Revisiting Cyberpunk 2077 (and finally finishing it) - Allegedly the 'most played game of 2021'

 

Over a year ago I first bought Cyberpunk 2077 and wrote a quick opinion of it, mostly about the fact that it was getting a bit of an unfair drubbing for being a bugfest - That whole "Cyberpunk 2077" thing...Did a glitchy game really warrant mainstream news coverage? (theanxiousclown.blogspot.com) 

...and back in that piece I said that it arrived at the worst time possible, right slap bang in the middle of a bit of a game glut where I had far too many other games to play. Ironically nothing's really changed this year but for some reason it sat there on my shelf taunting me with its gaudy yellow box, inviting me to dive back in and finally polish the thing off (or at least make a decent headway into it). 

So fresh save, fresh game install (thank goodness for the SSD in the PS5 which quickens up the painfully slow loading times in this game quite considerably) and a lot of updates / patches...and Cyberpunk 2077 has indeed ended up being one of my favourite games of 2021. 

The thing that initially put me off this game was the really old fashioned "PC Games of Yore" user interface (it even has a floating cursor ffs!) - Like most RPGs it's a confusing mess at first, until you begin to work out where everything is, which stuff you need and which stuff you don't. I still find the weapons / inventory load-out stuff very clunky but once you begin to realise how much your backpack can carry (and how many times mid-firefight you're going to need to swap weapons) you start to get the hang of things. 

Likewise with the mods and perks for your character's stats. Again, this stuff is clunky but you get a handle for the level-up stuff and for the perks and begin to see your character change from getting their arse handed to them on a regular basis, to becoming something a bit more weapons grade - and able to hold their own in a firefight. I wanted to get through the game and so chose a fairly easy level for combat and was so glad I did, particularly as combat happens in this game at the drop of a hat. 

Storywise it's a fairly cheesy Gibson-esque tale of a heist gone wrong, of revenge, and of your character's newfound imaginary (not imaginary) friend, played by none other than...

Yup Keanu Reeves playing Johnny Silverhands. Not quite looking as dazzling as he does in that Unreal5 Engine demo but still recognisable as the lovable internet darling that we can't shut up about. 

Johnny ends up as a construct on a stolen biochip which you just happen to be carrying around in your head, and as his construct begins to interfere with your own personality and decision making, the story begins to become a lot more interesting - to the point where you end up with a serious case of split personalities, and a moral choice or three to make as the game draws to its close. 

Yep there are multiple endings, and I managed to polish off two of them and can imagine there being several more. One thing that surprised me about Cyberpunk 2077 is that if you blitz through the main campaign (not getting too distracted by the side quests) it's actually very short but thankfully CD Projekt Red saw fit to give you a decent checkpoint right before the final showdown, allowing you to pick and choose which direction you go in, and even to go back once the game is completed to hoover up all those side quests. 

Bug wise there are still some howlers. Scenery / character texture draw-in is still a huge problem not cured at all by using a PS5 to play this on. In fact it pays not to drive too fast in any of the game's vehicles because that's when the scenery draw in gets worse, almost like the streets can't render quickly enough to cater for your movements. 

Most of the time though the game is pretty as heck, with a real sleazy grimy atmosphere underpinning the stunning futuristic architecture and character / vehicle designs. 

I remember playing The Witcher 3 and not really taking to it at all, and I initially had the same problem with this but with the luxury of time off, and time to get my teeth into the campaign properly I ended up pretty impressed with Cyberpunk 2077 and still think I'd like another dive in if it ever warrants a proper PS5-optimised version.