Cyberpunk 2077 – LOST IN HYPE – Review

At long last, Cyberpunk 2077 has been released, and it’s safe to say that things have been a little problematic. This game has received endless amounts of hype and we’ve been expecting it to be as breathtaking as Keanu Reeves.

So is it worth picking up? Read on to find out!

The Peculiar Story of Cyberpunk 2077…

The narrative in Cyberpunk 2077 is definitely a bit of a mixed bag. Starting off as either a Corpo, Street Kid or Nomad mainly makes a difference in how V’s journey begins. These intro quests feel quite bland and do not really flesh out V as a character… But rather act purely as a differentiator between the three life paths. These life paths do not seem to add much to V’s character. They do offer an occasional additional dialogue option (more on this later), as well as a small handful of different additional characters being associated with these different paths. 

After completing this intro sequence, V meets Jackie, a mercenary on the lookout for big scores. This is where the main story begins! One big issue with the early game is the six month time skip in which the game throws you into. A cutscene filled with a montage of Jackie and V’s adventures. After this, you are expected to take for granted that Jackie is now basically V’s best friend… And honestly, this just feels forced. Also doesn’t help that these adventures seem more interesting than the quest that you’re stuck with after the cutscene ends. However, If you don’t mind time skips, then this probably won’t bother you nearly as much as it did me.

Interesting Dialogue Choices & Quests

The game is broken up into multiple streams of main quests. The best of these is easily the Johnny Silverhand questline. He is the most well thought out character in Cyberpunk, offering insightful comments and information that often makes you question what is actually unfolding before your eyes.

Johnny sometimes acts like your moral compass. Whereas other times, he just does not seem to care at all about your decisions. 

Johnny provides a lot of the depth and weight to choices that you have to make, constantly getting in your ear about different characters motives, and how your decisions could affect them and others. These moments often tend to be the most entertaining also as Johnny sometimes acts like your moral compass. Whereas other times, he just does not seem to care at all about your decisions. 

The dialogue in Cyberpunk 2077 tends to either be interesting. With your choices having a decent bearing on how the narrative will progress, or absolutely dull, with your choices having no bearing on the outcome of a situation. This dialogue is all mixed together, seemingly at random. Leaving you to wonder which dialogue choices will bear consequences and which can be just thrown aside and not worried about at all.

It is understandable that for a story of this magnitude it would be very difficult to dramatically change the outcome based on certain dialogue options. However, it would have been really interesting for there to be a bit more variance in outcomes, especially considering the time and effort that went into the creation and scripting of all these dialogue options. 

Does Cyberpunk 2077’s Gameplay Live Up To The Hype?

Similarly to the story, the gameplay is a little inconsistent, especially during combat. The weightiness of the firearms feels great, with weapons that encourage you to experiment with the various guns at your disposal. However, the melee combat feels tacked on, as if it were a last-minute inclusion. Whilst it does work on a technical level, it’s often better to avoid it if you have other combat options available. This is quite disappointing, especially because the design of the melee weapons look incredible.

The melee combat feels tacked on, as if it were a last-minute inclusion.

Stealth is also an option at times if you are looking to avoid a firefight. But just like the melee combat, it does feel a little clunky. The main use of the stealth mechanic seems to be just to give you time to hack certain objects in the environment, as part of the preparation for a shootout. And whilst hacking is a viable tool, it often feels like too much of a time investment to be worthwhile. You can often just go in guns blazing to complete objectives quicker anyway. 

Body mods and upgrades are a key part to facing the increasing threats that lie around the city. For the most part, these body mods do make a difference to the gameplay, even if only slight. Many of the modifications work as stat boosters or to provide V with special abilities. They don’t really alter the gameplay to a massive amount, but do help with health boosts, extra carry space and sometimes targeting assistance for certain weapons.

Welcome To Night City!

The world of Cyberpunk 2077 looks absolutely stunning. Exploring Night City is definitely one of the most gripping parts of the game. The city is littered with some unique and entertaining characters, and this is where Cyberpunk really shines. There are endless opportunities to stop crimes for a few eddies, the game’s currency, or take on side quests from random characters in the world. These really show the diversity of Cyberpunk 2077.

The variety in the game’s open-world is immense! One moment V may assist an ex-cop with the loss of a loved one, and the next, V is trying to track down sentient vehicles to return them to a depot. The way these quests are written is clever and they’re often quite memorable due to their emotional weight, or humour. Especially when referencing other pop-culture.

The way these quests are written is clever and can often be quite memorable due to their emotional weight, or humour, especially when referencing other pop-culture.

Now we can’t talk about Cyberpunk 2077 without mentioning the myriad of bugs that have come to the forefront. From minor texture glitches to partially loaded environments and characters flying about, all of these are here. Whilst these can be quite frustrating to see throughout the course of the game, rarely are they actually game-breaking. Thankfully, CD Project Red is working hard to ensure that all of these bugs get fixed! 

Decision

So, is Cyberpunk 2077 worth the pick-up? Well, it depends. If you are okay with sitting through up to potentially 5 hours of gameplay to really start getting into the game, and can handle the often very average character interactions during the main story, then sure. This is a game that is definitely at its best when exploring the world rather than just focusing on the main story. So, if you’re looking for an amazing narrative that will get you hooked, it might be better to look elsewhere.

Reviewed by Samuel Incze

Game by CD Projekt Red. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.

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