Despite bugs, ‘Cyberpunk’ is a fun, compelling experience
While many were consumed by the “Cyberpunk 2077” hype, I kept my distance. I watched the trailers and the gameplay reveals but I never felt the strong urge to block out vacation days around the role-playing game’s launch. It did look promising, but the game didn’t seem like it would invent anew genre or usher in a revolution in gaming.
When I played “Cyberpunk 2077,” it was with fresh eyes, as if I were an explorer discovering a new artifact. Playing on Google Stadia, the game ran mostly without the bugs that infamously plagued the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Although the platform didn’t have all the bells and whistles of the high-end PC version, it functioned well enough to offer an enthralling experience.
Players make their version of V., the game’s protagonist. They can make the hero male or female while customizing everything from the hairdo down to the size of their private parts. One of the more notable elements of the character creation is the life path, which is the general background of V. It influences the beginning of the game and the available dialogue options.
If players pick Street Kid, they’ll know the ins and outs of gangs and Night City neighborhoods.
If they choose the Nomad life, they’ll know more about the vehicles and the politics of the different gearhead clans living on the outskirts of the giant metro area. The Corpo life path will open up new ways for V. to deal with corporations that dominate Night City life.
Whatever the path, players meet with Jackie Welles, who becomes V.’s best friend and brother in arms as they climb the mercenary ranks. The first few missions introduces players to gameplay that’s reminiscent of the “Deus Ex” reboot but on the scale of an open world. Players face problems and have multiple ways to complete the mission.
If an apartment door is blocked, players can head over to the balcony and jump to a nearby window. If players find themselves unarmed, they can still run through a quest using quickhacks and stealth. CD Projekt Red does a great job of designing missions that are flexible and accommodating to different play styles. It’s amazing that the developers could create so many potential solutions for problems.
What separates “Cyberpunk 2077” from the likes of “Assassin’s Creed” is how it envelops the missions in a story that draws players in. Several side missions have multiple endings based on player actions, and some of them have repercussions in the world. Others have threads that lead to more intriguing adventures. The best are those that involve V. investigating a missing persons report or looking into a murder. The detective work fits with the film noir vibe that inspires the world at large.
Buttressing that investigative work is the concept of braindances. These are recorded experiences that have taken over the place of movies. Players jack in and they can experience another person’s memories. In a few side missions, braindances, or BDs as they’re called colloquially, play a central role in creating breaks in cases. Players scrub through the memory and analyze video, sound and heat signatures for clues. It’s a smart way to integrate investigative elements into missions without making it feeling rote.
BDs have a pivotal role in the main campaign, which revolves around V. and Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves. Silverhand becomes implanted in V.’s brain after a heist gone wrong. Having two minds in one body is slowly killing the main character, and players have to investigate the mysterious source of the biochip with Silverhand’s personality and find a way to survive. The relationship is acerbic at first but V and Silverhand can slowly come to an understanding, depending on how players treat the digital construct.
The quest surrounding Silverhand takes players through key neighborhoods and missions. Players can race through the main story in about 20 hours, but they’ll miss valuable side missions that add to the experience. For example, if players build a strong relationship with a Nomad named Panam or if they befriend Silverhand and his old flame Rogue, it unlocks more ways to finish the game and get different endings. It shows that player choice has a role in the outcome, but it’s more subtle than deciding between A and B.
“Cyberpunk 2077” offers as much as players put into it, and it rewards those who dive deep into its lore and explore every crevasse. It feels as though a lot of CD Projekt Red’s effort went into building a world that players can get lost in. Commercials, billboards and the pages of text help enliven the world as V. makes an impact on things such as the Night City mayoral race or the fates of some gangs.
Despite all the work on that end, players will run into problems that break the spell that the developers were trying to cast. The bugs hurt the experience, but the bigger issue is the AI, which doesn’t feel as smart as the world around it. The Night City police presence doesn’t feel like much of a factor as players roam the streets. Enemies are too predictable in their routines and behave almost as robotically as the troopers from the original “Metal Gear Solid.”
Glitches are commonplace in open-world games, and even the best ones have them. They affected CD Projekt Red’s most famous game “The Witcher III: Wild Hunt,” but the Polish studio has a history of fixing their projects, and over time, “Cyberpunk 2077” will likely be a better game than the one that launched in December.
As it is now though, “Cyberpunk 2077” is still a great experience if played on a high-end PC or Stadia. Its evocative setting and excellent mission design make the detective story better than a typical open-world adventure.