Two weeks ago the Cyberpunk 2077 hype train was going at full speed…a week ago it crashed in a blazing inferno and now it’s been removed from one of the largest gaming platforms available – the PlayStation Store.
I was lucky enough to get a PS5 pre-order back in September so my experience was not as hellish as those experienced by people playing this clearly next-generation game on a base PS4 or Xbox One, but it still wasn’t all sunshine and daisies.
I pre-ordered the steelbook edition of the game as well as the collector’s edition game guide thinking the promised dense and incredibly immersive world would leave me overwhelmed and in need of guidance. It did not.
While I sat for four hours waiting for the game to install – something that required two discs similar to Red Dead Redemption 2 two years ago – I browsed through the ‘world compendium’ that was included in the game box.
It gave some detailed lore about the history of the world I was about to experience as well as what I should expect, to some extent it wasn’t necessary.
After the game finally installed I was ready to jump in and experience Cyberpunk 2077 for hundreds of hours – I was in for 35.
I had heard the main story was short, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be. I was hoping that once you finish the main plot you would get to come out the other side and continue to build on relationships you had made and finish any quests you had left over. You could not.
The game does the terrible thing of booting you back to before the point of no return, something I can’t stand from video games, you could easily have had the ending chuck you back out like so many other Western RPGs do, but instead I found my character reverted to before the big crescendo of a finale.
The length isn’t the only issue, but it might be the one I cannot forgive.
I’m sure you’ve read over the internet the multiple bugs, glitches and crashes this game has been having, especially on the previous generation of consoles, and the next-generation isn’t without similar problems.
It’s no where near as bad or as game-breaking as some others but having the game crash at least once every time you sit down to play it is a bit of a pain.
Luckily the auto-save feature comes in handy, with you rarely having to do a whole quest over again before getting back to the point you crashed at, but it shouldn’t have to be like that, it shouldn’t be that often.
Another bug I consistently experienced was the appearance of my character model in a mirror. The very first time I looked in a mirror my model was completely naked, another time he was naked but with the wrong genitals, then, after the initial day-one patch, he would appear with anything but the hair/hat on the top of his head – he would be completely bald.
It’s clear to everyone that this game should have been delayed even further and it will be very interesting to see how (or if) the Covid-19 pandemic impacted on its development.
Remember, this game should have come out earlier this year, when the next-generation was still months away, if the backlash now is bad, imagine how much worse it would have been then.
I can see a bright future for Cyberpunk, and I do have faith in developers CD Projekt Red. With a little more polish, a few more additions such as the ability to change your characters look during the game, and this could be one of the best RPGs I have ever played.
I did enjoy the story, I enjoyed the combat, I enjoyed the look and feel of Night City. I didn’t enjoy the constant bugs, the many crashes and the inability to do a lot of things a standard RPG should include.
I won’t be returning to Night City anytime soon, but when I do, I hope to return to a game with its feet firmly planted on solid ground.
Connor Mountford 