When I first played cyberpunk back in 2020 I simply gave up due to the glitches and horrible frame rate. I had given up on the game and forgot about it, preferring to play better triple A titles at the time. Now in 2023, I stumbled upon the game by accident in a brand-new PS5 updated version and decided to give it a 2nd chance.
And let's just say that I was blown away.. what an amazing game! The story, the writing, the characters, the combat, everything was simply amazing!
The setting:
The game is set in Night City, a city that never sleeps. The city is alive at all hours of the day and is loaded with streets, shops and places you can explore. The city is so massive and feels so alive that I have never seen anything even close to it's size in any other video game. The sheer size of things you can explore is simply shocking. I have never seen a game with that much content and size. The cities are alive and animated with millions of NPC's surrounded by Neon lights and sewer fumes. It's like they made "Blade Runner" come alive.
The story:
In Cyberpunk 2077 you play as "V" a kind of mercenary/ gun for hire who goes around the city doing different job until something goes wrong during a job where he witnesses the death of an important man after having stolen precious tech. The precious tech eventually gets damaged and requires V to merge it into his own system in order to keep it functional, but after an accident he is incapable of getting rid of it and starts interacting with the AI on that system. Furthermore, he is unable to remove it without dying. The problem is that this tech is slowly killing V forcing him to seek a solution in order to stay alive. You will have to deal with corporations, thugs and criminals in night city in order to save yourself and perhaps those you love.
The combat:
The combat is great. You can use a variety of weapons and abilities to take down enemies. You upgrade your character by specializing in certain areas. You can approach situations in various ways. Likewise, you can hack enemies, physically punish them, be a sneaky ninja, use different buffs and weapon upgrades which is very reminiscent of an RPG. The first game that comes to mind when looking at the combat is the "DEUS EX" series.
The gear follow a kind of level system comparable to Diablo. You have common, uncommon, epic, rare and legendary items which scale with your level.
The characters and voicing:
Generally I think most games have boring and predictable stories, but Cyberpunk 2077 has one of the best stories I have ever seen in any game. You could literally adapt it into a movie, and it would become an instant bestseller. Keanu Reeves plays a big part of the story, serving as your "phantom AI" which makes it especially interesting how you see the backstory and current motives of every character. The game is long and very detailed. You will form relationships with different characters and will feel the void when they pass.
The game is a 10/10 in its current form. I know that upon release the game was a disaster, but now it's patched and perfected and worth playing. If you love DEUS EX, sci-fi movies similar to Blade Runner. You will simply love this game.