PLATFORM: PC, PS4, XBOX ONE (ALSO PLAYABLE ON PS5 AND XBOX SERIES X) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Much has been said about Cyberpunk 2077 over the last few days. Eight years after it was first announced, its launch has been rather turbulent to say the least, particularly for those playing on PS4 and Xbox One. This review is based on the PS4 version of the game running on a PS5 (full-on new-gen versions aren’t due until sometime in 2021), with the first post-launch (December 11th) update installed. With that in mind, let’s see how things are looking.
Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t mess around. After creating your character, known as V, you’re immediately sent into Night City, a futuristic megacity where you quickly discover a world filled with cybernetic body modification, copious amounts of sleaze, depravity and violence, and warring underground factions. And that’s before we consider the task at hand – stealing a biochip from a shady corporation – and the fact that an arrogant asshole rocker named Johnny Silverhand (“played” by Keanu Reeves) makes his presence known inside your brain…
Playing a lot like what you might end up with if you crossed Fallout with Watch Dogs with a little bit of Deus Ex on the side, Cyberpunk 2077 is an open world RPG that allows players to either follow the main missions or branch off to do their own thing. It takes a little while to get going – the first Act is something of an extended prologue, with the city really opening up when Act 2 begins. There are tons of missions to undertake (although no real additional “activities” to speak of), plenty of weird and wonderful sights, characters and events hiding around almost every corner, and the city itself is a stunning place to spend time in, especially when the right song comes on the in-car radio at the right time (Cyberpunk has possibly got the best radio selection since GTA San Andreas) and you find yourself just cruising around taking it all in.
When it comes to tackling the game’s missions, it’s usually a case of “get in, sneak around or kill everyone, do the thing, then get out”. If you want to take the stealthy route, you can hack into cameras to check your surroundings, interfere with enemies from afar with your cyber abilities and generally mislead and misdirect the opposition until your route is clear. Or, if you’d prefer to go in all guns blazing, that’s fine too – and the adrenaline-pumping Doom-esque music during combat does a fantastic job of ramping up the tension (although it seems a bit out of place when it occasionally doesn’t turn off afterwards and you find yourself wandering around the streets with this ultra-dramatic metal riffing blasting through your speakers).
And, of course, being an RPG means there are plenty of ways to beef up V’s abilities. If anything, there might be too many ways – two types of skill points are awarded as you level up, which can be spent across several different skill trees, and certain items can only be used when various other stats reach a required level. V can also install cybernetic upgrades to add more power and additional “quickhack” techniques that allow for overheating enemies, glitching weapons, controlling cameras and turrets and that sort of thing. The menus and skill trees aren’t the most user-friendly – spread across multiple screens with no shortcuts between each one and some incredibly small text that makes a lot of the words borderline impossible to read, this is certainly an area that could use some post-launch attention.
But, as you may have seen elsewhere, Cyberpunk is dealing with some rather more pressing issues at the moment. Some undesirable lighting effects have already been patched out, so no need to worry about those, but playing on PS5 has proven to be a bit of a minefield as far as stability goes. Crashes have been much less frequent since the post-launch patch (what was initially a “once every half an hour” occurrence is now “once in about ten hours”), but they’re still an issue at the time of writing. “Minor” bugs are also prevalent, with NPCs talking over each other and repeating dialogue, objects and characters clipping through each other (if you’ve ever wanted to see the world through Keanu Reeves’ eyes, Cyberpunk inadvertently allows you to do it), items floating in the air, cars getting stuck on the environment, and crazy physics that send things flying around the screen. If you’re able to look at these smaller issues as a source of wacky amusement rather than a cause of frustration, you’ll be fine, but complete crashes really are quite an inconvenience, no matter how often they happen.
In terms of visuals and atmosphere, Night City is up there with the absolute best videogame locations. The neon-lined skyscrapers make for an impressive backdrop to the bustling streets and dingy alleyways – relentlessly noisy and unpredictable, it might not be the sort of place you’d want to live for real, but it’d be an absolute blast to visit for a few days. Gameplay on the whole is great fun – driving and shooting feel satisfying, although enemies have a tendency to spot you much easier than you’d like when you’re sneaking around trying to be quiet – and the soundtrack always seems to fit the mood perfectly.
To sum up, Cyberpunk 2077 is a remarkable game that is currently marred by some undesirable performance issues. At the time of writing, new-gen consoles seem to fare better than last-gen, so those with a PS4 or Xbox One might be advised to check up on how things are looking before jumping in but, on PS5 at least, the only real concerns are the potential for crashes (save your game often!) and your own personal tolerance for minor bugs and glitches. It should be noted that Cyberpunk‘s developers have got an excellent track record for fixing this sort of thing (The Witcher 3 wasn’t the greatest when it first arrived but it’s now considered one of the best RPGs ever made), so it’s reasonable to assume that, given a bit more time, Cyberpunk‘s problems will be ironed out. Let’s go with a solid 3 stars for now, but fully expecting to bump it up to 4 in the coming days / weeks as and when any new updates and patches arrive.
