To continue, press “B”.

To continue, press ”=”.

I hate when games do this, and Cyberpunk 2077 does it twice when starting for the first time. It greets you with two screens that you must dismiss with the push of a button before you get into the menu. Why, CD Projekt Red? Why? That is not the kind of a first impression you want. It makes for good variety in the introduction segment of my reviews, though 🤷.

(I later discovered that the first “screen” is an intro video. It just does not appear to be one in the first seconds. I am so used to games starting with a pointless screen to dismiss that I immediately canceled the video without knowing and landed on the actual screen to click away.)

Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to its second birthday, and the hype surrounding it and CD Projekt Red came crashing down hard on last generation’s Xbox One and PS4 consoles.

(Like the meteor wiping out all dinosaurs about 66 million years ago.)

CDPR has been very busy since then, and in February 2022, they finally released the next-gen update for current-gen (🙄) consoles. This finally incentivized me to purchase a copy for myself and see if this game is as good as it could have been without its many issues at launch. According to recent reports, I am not the only one doing so.

Unlike the Witcher games, CDPR decided to go with a first-person experience for a deeper immersion into the colorful yet dark and gritty world of Night City. The game’s art style is reminiscent of The Ascent, a twin-stick shooter I played last year. In contrast, Night City is a vast Open-World metropolis with a few rural places surrounding it. Geralt’s companion Roach has morphed into a car, and dirt roads and farm tracks have been paved over and are now asphalt. You can walk, drive, or use fast-travel stations spread across town to get around.

In its simplest form, you can reduce the combat system to be just a Shooter. Cyberpunk 2077 adds a couple more mechanics on top of that for more variety if you choose so. You can go the stealthy and non-lethal route or become a proficient hacker (aka Net-Runner). I am a simpleton, so my character is a tank that sh*ts bullets (although I also like to sneak when I can). Despite the options, from what I have seen, there is no way to play the game without ever firing a gun. Hacking is more than manipulating computers. It seems like everybody is somehow connected over an unprotected Wi-Fi, and you can utilize a person’s cyber implants against them. Ever heard of 2FA 😉?

CDPR has shown in The Witcher games that they are masters in storytelling. You can find the same mastery in Cyberpunk, which I was most interested in. You will meet many different characters with their own traits and agenda. There is a lot of action RPG stuff to do, a skill tree, an inventory – the typical Open-World role-playing experience, if you will.

Let’s get into the details, shall we?

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