Probably one of the most anticipated games of the last decade, if not ever, Cyberpunk 2077 released last week to a very mixed reception. While most higher-end PC players have praised it for being one of the best looking titles ever to release, console players across the board have criticized it, saying that it’s like playing a PS2 title. That doesn’t even include the fact that every version of the title has been riddled with bugs, glitches, and game crashes that have left its players clamoring for an answer. After having spent almost a week with the title myself on a base PlayStation 4, here are my honest first impressions of a game I was stoked for.
Gameplay
Jumping into Cyberpunk 2077 was an experience that started off with some real power behind it. A compelling story set in an interesting world with fleshed-out characters was just what I was expecting, and it delivered. The character customizer was really easy to use yet still had enough options to make your character feel unique from others. I chose the Corpo life-path and began my journey as V. Right from the beginning, I could tell that there was a fuzziness to the game even after I turned off the film grain and motion blur settings. I just assumed that they were going for a Bladerunner look in the beginning because of the whole mega-corp angle.
I slowly started to notice other issues popping up here and there as I went along. Nothing major, but it was apparent. Characters would talk over each other causing their sentences to stop, NPCs would T-pose, and shadows and textures would at times never fully flesh themselves out. The first portion of Corpo at least takes place at night and I quickly noticed that the game looks better at night than it does in the day. It wasn’t until the next piece of the game where we get to see Night City during the day.
Unfortunately, this is where the experience really starts to sour. All of the gameplay showing a populated and living Night City almost feels like a lie. I’m not even saying that there aren’t a ton of people, I’m saying there are almost none. Driving down the streets feels like I’m the last person on earth at times. Other vehicles or characters are very fickle to come by whilst driving, which makes everything feel a little off. When they do show themselves, they’re completely robotic and don’t seem to have any kind of intelligence to them at all.
The texture issues and pop-ins are horrendous when you’re driving around this huge map. It’s really hard to navigate at times, because buildings, people, or cars will just pop out in front of you. You can’t read street signs either which really breaks the immersion that it’s going for. I also noticed my framerate dropping severely at multiple times during my playthrough so far. Most times, my game would completely crash on me and I’d have to start my mission back at the last checkpoint. I think that’s one of the worst things. Because of the in-game bugs, I’ve had to restart so many missions either back at a checkpoint or back at their start depending on if I died or had to load a save because the game was stuck in a game-breaker.
I’m usually very forgiving about bugs but when there are so many that actually affect gameplay, I can’t overlook them. There are so many broken aspects of this title that it feels like an alpha version. Playing it for so long now and seeing how under-developed it really is, is a huge bummer because of the fact that I can see a great game beneath the wreckage. I haven’t even listed all of the other bugs and glitches I’ve come across. The latest patch that was put out on Friday didn’t seem to help with any of the bugs I’ve seen so I’m really curious as to just how much more was broken than I saw.
As far as the gameplay itself goes, it’s an extremely good story with gameplay that overall feels great. The driving mechanics are a little lack-luster for me but everything else is strong. The RPG elements of dialogue and player progression are deep enough without feeling inaccessible to players new to the genre as well. The scripted scenes are by far some of the best acted and setup ones I’ve ever seen in a game title. This really does feel like a movie at times and it’s such a shame that it doesn’t look the way it was intended to.
Expectations
The game’s developer CD Projekt Red released a statement today stating their apology for not being more transparent about the state of the console versions of the game. Going from what they’re said, (which can be viewed above) I’m expecting that this next little patch that we’ll get within the next 7 days will at least try to kill those game crashes. The January and February patches are most likely going to take aim at the video issues. While CDPR says that they will be fixing these issues, they also say that we shouldn’t expect a next-gen experience on PS4 or Xbox One.
I wouldn’t expect to have these consoles looking like a next-gen or higher PC experience but they need to be held accountable for how bad they do look. A game shouldn’t look as blurry or choppy as this one does. It seems like they just thought that they could hide these issues with a blurry filter over the game to get them by while they figured something permanent out. I’m really going to be expecting a lot not only out of this game but the team as well. This year has seen some of the most demanding titles on the PS4 specifically and I never had an issue with any of them, The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima included.
Verdict
While fun can be found, I would not suggest anyone buy Cyberpunk 2077 in its current state unless you’re willing to become a test-subject. I’ve heard that people on higher-end PCs aren’t having as many issues with the game but I can’t confirm that personally. Hopefully, it can at least be playable and look good by February. It doesn’t have to look fantastic, it just has to look worthy of someone’s hard-earned money and not an unpolished mess. The current state of this game is a total disservice to just how magnificent it has the potential to be. It’s a shame and hopefully, CDPR and all developers will learn from this going forward. Transparency is key.
