Cyberpunk 2077, 60 Hours In

Back when I garnered my impression of Cyberpunk 2077 with a strong 9.5 rating, I realized that I had gotten exactly what I wanted out of the title. I’ve made a habit of not getting too excited for things, as doing so can lead to letdowns at even the smallest shortcomings. The game’s massive scope, ambition, and polish in enough places subset the worry that the bugs would ruin the experience on my new, beefy hardware.

So, with that being said, how does Cyberpunk hold up now that I’ve spent 62 and a half hours in Night City? Well, the farther I got, the more I fell in love with the title. At several points, I would take a look at the game’s map and realize just how much content I had left to sift through. Unlike other open-worlds where quests are copy-pasted, there’s a breadth of side gigs that are just as captivating and tense as any main gig, which I wrapped up about 30 hours in.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. I ran into lots more bugs. There were a few ones that are still prevalent to this point. One is that when an NPCs is holding an item you see that item duplicated/floating in place, breaking the immersion in conversation. Another is the subtitles appearing when I load a save that’s in the middle of dialogue, which is solved by turning the subtitles on and off again. Otherwise, just a few side gigs are still bugged, with the opportunity of them being fixed soon. CD Projekt RED has done a great job of hot fixing Cyberpunk 2077 in December.

Gavin Drea’s performance as male V is immaculate. You can hear a broad spectrum of emotions and nuances in a Brooklyn accent, and the dialogue is believable enough to benefit the vocal stylings of Drea. It’s the first time in a long time that I felt a protagonist encompasses a wholly human personality, while still being as powerful and socially-influential as one can be in a game where conversations are a focal point.

Aside from the game getting some necessary beneficial patches, there’s also the first piece of downloadable content coming in early 2021. The best part? It’s free. Cyberpunk didn’t opt for a $30 season pass like all the big studios push, as CD Projekt RED earned a boatload of cash on the game even with the controversies strewn about near its launch. They will have to contest with their shareholders in court and have a blemish on their reputation due to the crunch and state of the game on consoles, but it looks like they’re erring towards goodwill in giving the consumers a product worth being proud of in the end.

With all this in mind, and as I wrap up the last of my side stuff, I have full faith in the future of Cyberpunk 2077. It’ll hit a more respectable price in the coming months and have tons of bugs ironed out to create a more respectable experience. I’ll surely be giving it another go, either as a Streetkid or Corpo, to see a whole different side of Night City. It’s a shame the game came out the way it did to the masses, but I feel lucky enough to have had the right computer to handle it. Here’s hoping everyone else gets to play Cyberpunk the way I did.