Cyberpunk 2077 reviews began pouring in on Monday night, after developer CD Projekt Red lifted the review embargo.
This narcotically spectacular digital imagining of Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk role-playing-game arrives under an extraordinary amount of pressure in this most extraordinary of years. Since its breathtaking performance at E3 2018, Cyberpunk 2077 has stoked hype and faced multiple delays, while its developer CD Projekt Red has come under scrutiny for its reportedly brutal working conditions as its creators ‘crunched’ to get the project over the line. During a global pandemic, no less.
The result is a fascinating game that brings all of this to
bear, veering wildly from the sublime to the ridiculous as you find your way in
the hyper-violent, neon-drenched alt-future of Night City. A sprawling sci-fi
adventure of unfettered brilliance blighted by the scars of prolonged
development.
I am not sure there has been a video game city that feels
quite so alive on first glance. It is rich in detail and intrigue, every inch
designed to suck you into its world. As you stretch out from your home, into
the Tokyo-inspired hustle of Japantown, through the favelas of the
gang-controlled Pacifica --where street kids hurl rocks at busted government sentry
turrets-- and even beyond the city walls into the sweeping Californian desert
you are left in no doubt that Night City is the real star here. Definable
swathes of land that give rise to different opportunities in V’s sprawling
quest.
Much like CDPR’s previous work, The Witcher 3, this gives
you a clear goal but a wide berth to dig into gigs around the city and build up
V’s skills and arsenal as you see fit. There is no defined ‘class’ to choose
from; instead giving you free rein to drop skill points into different areas
that improve gunplay, strength, stealth and ‘netrunning’, the game’s term for
special hacking skills that aid you in both exploration and combat.
While Cyberpunk 2077’s systems are definably RPG --with vast
skill trees, enemy levels and constantly improving loot-- in feel, it more
closely resembles games like Deus Ex and its ‘immersive sim’ ilk. Encounters
can be approached in a number of ways, from all-out assault to stealthy
infiltration and even measured discussion. There is a definite sense of freedom
here; you can sometimes go hours without pulling your gun, should you wish, but
still make heavy progress.
When the action does kick-off --and it will, some missions
require the more direct approach-- there is plenty to enjoy. Gunplay and melee
combat has a punchy and satisfying kick --if not the precision of a dedicated
FPS-- while being able to hack your opponent’s cybernetic implants to
temporarily blind them or overheat their systems opens up an impressive array
of options. Go the quieter route and you can blind cameras and hack nearby
vending machines to pull goons out of position.
In truth, 2077’s interpretation of ‘cyberpunk’ can veer
towards pastiche -- there is nothing particularly revolutionary about its
corpo-controlled technoworld-- but it builds a sense of cybernetic
otherworldliness into its gameplay with some style.
So far, so good, then. But Cyberpunk 2077 currently comes
with a potentially ruinous caveat: it simply still isn’t finished. It is, in
its current state, absolutely riddled with bugs and technical hitches. To
borrow a phrase everyone’s favourite replicant Roy Batty: “I’ve seen things you
people wouldn’t believe”. Night City denizens and discarded guns float in the
air, untethered from gravity. Sound inexplicably cuts out. Multiple holo calls
from contacts dial in at the same time, talking over each other in garbled
conversations. Mission-critical enemies get stuck in lifts. Your tracked quest
will suddenly change without warning, with you only cottoning on after you’ve
driven several hundred metres in the wrong direction.
Much can be brushed off as visual quirks, but there are more
serious glitches too. Twice I have dropped dead for no apparent reason after
stepping off a slight incline (my guess being that it registered my step off a
fire escape as massive fall damage). Once I failed a mission because the
unconscious body I was transporting in a car trunk levitated up, smashed
through the back window and crashed back to the pavement, dead.
There is a certain understanding that pre-release code can
come with issues that are ironed out in time for release. I played on PC and
cannot speak to the solidity of the console versions. Indeed a Day One patch is
promised for all platforms that will doubtlessly smooth some of these over, but
the issues seem too systemic to expect Cyberpunk 2077 to be free of much of
this on release.
It is a shame because when Cyberpunk 2077 hits the high
notes, it really sings. Immersion is an overused word in games, but at its best
Cyberpunk can provide exactly that. There is a sense of dynamism when talking
to its many characters, for instance, which feel like actual conversations
rather than strained exchanges of dialogue.
While the writing itself can come off as try-hard and over
edgy --particularly from V themself-- there is a skill in its characterisation
that makes the people you encounter throughout the city its lifeblood. From
Reeves’ surly Silverhand, to the multiple fixers that hand out jobs with their
own quirks and motivations and companions that accompany you along the way.
One lengthy story thread was a mission that involved
thunderous turret sections, a daring assault on an electrical substation and a
dust-billowing motorbike sprint across the dunes outside the city. All terrific
stuff, but what sticks in the mind most is the instant connection with the
companion and the Nomad settlers outside the walls, sharing a beer in a motel
bar, making elaborate plans and raging against the machine.
That is the rich core of Cyberpunk 2077 that should most
stick in the mind, a game that has more heart and humanity than you might
expect. So it is unfortunate that, for now at least, it comes with so much
other baggage that is impossible to ignore.
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