I’m going to just come right out and say that I seldom complain about the things that I do not like, but something I want to get off my chest is that Cyberpunk 2077 is a horrible video game despite the reviews online. Its concept is not revolutionary, nor is the gameplay.
After all the hype and CD Projekt Red’s large expenditures in advertising this game, claiming them to be the “new true” open-world game for first-person shooters, this game was nothing more than a generic Call of Duty game with some extra fluff and better advertising.
Let me preface this argument by pointing out the horrible delays in regards to the release of the game. Announced in 2012, CD Projekt Red promises to bring their new game to public in April of 2020. Setting the tone to the unexpected pandemic in 2020, the video game was delayed a total of 6 times. Preorders for the video game prior to the April release had to wait for almost half a year to receive their order while CD Projekt Red constantly sent out emails apologizing for this delay as a cover-up excuse for not having a ready product in time.
Before getting in-depth into the mechanics of the game and why I believe that this video game is unacceptable, I would like to state what CD Projekt Red did right in this game. I went into the video game with moderate expectations. Playing the video game for the first time, I was introduced to a simulation and fantasy-like world called Night City. The graphics were overall immersive, complete with unique futuristic details. I loved exploring the map and often find myself lost in the depths of the city.
Despite eight years of production, hundreds of millions in production costs, as well as thousands of man-hours, the game was buggy, unstable, and poorly designed. Non-playable characters, also known as NPCs, are poorly implemented and often break the game. Meanwhile, driving physics is frustrating, and a mod patch must be downloaded to resolve these issues. Thus, it begs the question, why didn’t CD Projekt Red include these mods in the game in the first place?
Moving on to the RPG aspect of Cyberpunk 2077. I find the RPG system to be complete garbage and in need of a complete revamp. Let say that your character finds a gun during combat; you play with it, and within ten minutes, you will find yourself an even better weapon with a measly three higher DPS stats which only barely increases your current DMG stats. That minute increase in DMG stats would barely show any effect on your character skills and strength.
Another aspect I despise is the character skill tree. One of the major reasons why I think the RPG system is poorly designed is due to the variability of the skill tree. As a gamer who doesn’t want to spend over 3 hours customizing the character’s skill for a meager upgrade on the stats, the skill tree is tremendously frustrating and confusing.
Lastly, the game is outright unplayable in PS4 and XBOX One generation of consoles. Console overheating, poor graphic performance, crashing, and glitching are amongst the most common problems of the game. While refunds by CD Projekt Red were initiated towards purchases on digital copies of the game, customers who made physical purchases would mean that they would have to visit game stores in-person to receive refunds for the game, which were especially difficult during the social distancing due to the pandemic.
References
Cyberpunk 2077. (2020). [Photograph]. https://techradar.com/reviews/cyberpunk-2077
