Cyberpunk 2077 Analysis - Dystopia Inside and Outside the Video Game

Night City is a surprise in the good and the bad.

Much noise around him, as it always happens when something is released that has been praying for years and years. Cyberpunk 2077 has been with us since last December 10, and the server can assure without fear that it has not left absolutely anyone indifferent.

A premiere that has caused all kinds of impressions and that has polarized the gaming community like never before. We wanted to take it easy, get away from that whirlwind of criticism and praise to immerse ourselves in Night City with all the calm possible of such a turbulent 2020. Because yes, we've been playing it since its launch, we've been scrutinizing it like never before, and now it's time to be accountable.

The time has come to bring you the analysis of Cyberpunk 2077.

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Cyberpunk 2077 - The RPG we've been waiting for?

Before getting into the matter, I want to make a couple of clarifications. For this review, I have been playing the PlayStation 4 version on a PS5. That means that I have been able to avoid the performance problems that have been seen in the current generation of consoles and their base models, as well as being able to enjoy a rate of 60 frames per second at all times. Also, I have missed the population density of Xbox and the very powerful graphics of the PC version.

It goes without saying that I consider a launch like the one that has been made for PS4 and Xbox One unacceptable, although, fortunately, these problems are something that has a remedy and that, in fact, has already improved a lot with the patches that have been arriving.

I'm not going to fool you. If it has taken almost a month since the launch of the game to publish this analysis, it is for two reasons: the first, to study it and enjoy it thoroughly so that, with the residue left, the good and the bad can be correctly balanced; the second was to wait to see how the CD Projekt RED arrangements evolved.

Jackie Welles is a character from Cyberpunk 2077 who does not go unnoticed due to his nature

It has been 8 years of waiting and, with its lights and shadows, the Polish studio has launched an open world video game with an exceptional design and a plot that, with the heart in hand, surprises like few others. Behind its neon lights, its explosions, and that campaign that almost presented it as a "futuristic GTA" hides a story that is worth discovering.

But let's not anticipate events. Let's go by parts.

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Grand Theft Auto looks like, Cyberpunk

The idea that we are facing a hypervitaminized GTA is something that greatly damages the work of CD Projekt. Let's be clear, throughout its main campaign it gave the feeling that we were facing a hooligan and free open-world game that would take us to a futuristic city. And it is the worst mistake that could be made.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person action RPG. There is a lot of shooting, there is a lot of lines of dialogue, there is a lot of character progression and there is a lot of decision to make. In the first few minutes, you have to deal with an editor who has been talked about a lot, as well as with a backstory for your character that determines his way of being and his possibilities.

One of the Cyberpunk 2077 NPCs is Hideo Kojima

And here the first problem appears. It seems that the Polish studio has desperately wanted their game to make noise, neglecting the consistency and the care of the details that we would have expected from those who signed The Witcher 3. In the beginning, you run into an editor who lets you modify the genitalia, but not lets you fiddle with the character's complexion. In the beginning, you come across 3 character branches that affect the first 10 minutes of the game and some specific decisions, but nothing influencing, in the plot.

It is like a singer who manages to hit a very high note but then is not able to maintain the tone during his performance. It attracts attention, but immediately it disappears because everything else falters.

What is wrong with this? Which is extrapolated to the entire game.

My name is V

The PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 has had serious problems with the games

The protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077 is V. You are V and the game makes sure that you are clear at all times. You are someone who has to move through the worst parts of Night City and end up challenging a huge megacorporation while discovering that your existence is hanging by a thread.

There is a very interesting twist in this title that catches you totally off guard and helps you want to keep moving forward, one that of course you will not discover here. And it's something that, in a way, annoys. Because it shows that the studio can do things well and that it still has what it takes to make a good story. What is the problem then? Everything that surrounds the plot.

AV, you can turn it into whatever you want. Forge alliances or sow enemies with different factions, modify his body to improve his skills in combat, dress him however you want, or even dive into his skill tree while raising his reputation to hone him to your liking while forging a legend in Night City.

Having a car or a motorcycle is essential to move around Night City

From that point of view, it does everything you would expect from an RPG. The level system, progression, and character statistics. Even weapons have a damage gauge and the ability to generate altered states. Cyberpunk 2077 is also open to you playing one way or another depending on how you improve your character.

Do you prefer to go crazy with a shotgun in hand or are you more of stealth and hacking of devices and people? Do you want to shine your electrified katana or are you going to stand on a hill to shoot with your precision rifle? What if you rebuild the scene to get clues that give you an advantage? During the first hours, these decisions constantly arise and make you enjoy all the options that are open to you.

However, you end up seeing the cardboard. The very low artificial intelligence of the enemies ends up making it more enjoyable to jump into shootouts directly than to consider other options. The hacking system looks dated. Decisions in conversations, for example, are limited to one or two important and other superficial ones that are useless. And Neurodanzas, which are what is used to reconstruct events in certain missions, are not exactly abundant despite how interesting they are.

Something goes wrong when a game gives you so many tools but doesn't make them all have the same relevance. And more when this was one of its most important premises. Apprentice of everything, master of nothing.

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What happens to Night City?

Cyberpunk 2077 supports Ray Tracing

I fooled around with a Corpo to pay a robot to a gangster group and, in the end, I killed the group, I kept the robot and the Corpo money. I have tried to scam members of an enemy gang and I have even helped a vending machine that was considering the meaning of life.

I'm not going to fool you, Cyberpunk 2077 has offered me many missions that I have loved. He even made me destroy some decorative flamingos because a car (yes, a car) was terrified because of him. But, on the other side of the coin, it has also got me into chases that have been solved by a completely stupid AI, or missions that have just been broken.

A silly stroll through the city serves to discover a lot of things to do, but only in the form of missions. Characters who call you on the phone to propose orders or sell you vehicles, or who simply appear marked on the map to see what they can offer you. There is a lot to do, really. The problem is that this open world is not organic.

Leaving aside the small population that appears in the PlayStation version, the feeling that Night City conveys is that it is a beautiful and overwhelming setting, but inert. Something you can look at, but not touch. It is like seeing the set of a theater or a movie. It looks good from the outside, but all the seams are visible inside.

The point is that Cyberpunk 2077 is not a movie, it is a video game, and to top it all open world. His world is not well built from the point of view that this medium should offer, and less when look where we have things like GTA. Passersby are stupid to rage, and sometimes they don't even react when you hit them, or they just disappear when they feel threatened.

If you want to make a believable and immersive game world, you can't just hide behind breathtaking settings. You must offer life. You must make sure the traffic knows how to react to you, not that it gets stuck without knowing what to do as soon as you leave a car in the middle of the road, or that the NPCs do not flinch when you kill someone right in their face.

For every good experience I've had, Night City and the game have thrown me a jug of cold water that has taken me out of the dive. Cars randomly exploding or falling from the sky, NPCs that did not react to absolutely nothing, or errors that have directly forced me to restart the console.

Cyberpunk 2077 Screenshot

The worst thing about this is that these problems that stem from the behavior of the world are not something to be fixed with patches. They are something that needs to be reprogrammed, and CD Projekt RED right now has other priorities.

The Bittersweet Taste of Cyberpunk 2077

One of many possible versions of V

I want to make it clear that I have thoroughly enjoyed Cyberpunk 2077. I was very happy when I managed to break the emotional wall of Panama and get to know her in-depth, it "screwed up" me to be at the funeral of a good friend and it has weighed a lot to want to connect more with Johnny knowing what it was up to me doing it. CD Projekt RED has been able to play some notes with exceptional skill and mastery.

It's an absorbing experience if you connect with her, but she also constantly trips. Its world is breathtaking, its atmosphere is brutal, and its characters have immense charisma. I love them, but the backpack that I have carried to do this path has been weighed down more and more because of the problems that arose while playing.

It is too inconsistent and limited a game. It does not live up to its name, nor that of those responsible. It has moments in which it shines enormously, and others in which it frustrates like few others. I must admit that I have laughed, that I have fun, and that it has even agitated me. I've had times when I didn't know what to say in conversation.

But also others in which I have had to laugh at their "broken" aspects. It is disappointing that something so ambitious and great has gotten out of hand for this team because what they had was really good and they have not been able to take it on the right path either at the development level or at the organizational level. I have enjoyed Cyberpunk 2077, but not at all as expected.

Johnny Silverhand is the best character in the game