When it comes to video games, there is one rule I always follow: I never buy a new one when it comes out. I always wait for at least a year, until the game has already been patched. In this case, I waited for two years... and my rule worked out fine once again. Before the purchase of Cyberpunk I had my doubts, because I am not a fan of shooters, especially FPSs... Let us make a digression at this point. Just like The Witcher 3 was not a cRPG, Cyberpunk is not a cRPG. The Witcher 3 was an open-world, third-person action game with some elements of a role-playing game. However, it was not the gameplay that made the game so unique, but rather the story, the plot, the characters and the music. Because this is what CD Project Red is good at: they are able to create a unique atmosphere, a unique experience. And that's what Cyberpunk is like: it's so unique to feel. The plot and the characters are even more interesting than they were in The Witcher 3. Well, the music is worse, but I still love listening to the radio while motorcycling through Night City. Back to the point... Cyberpunk is a first-person shooter, but the player does not have to deal with the problems in an aggressive way. In fact, there is a stealth game that is really well programmed. Far better than in The Witcher 2. In most situations, the player is free to choose whether to use his or her guns, cold weapons, hacking - a substitute for magic - or to go stealthy. An open-world FPS in a cyberpunk setting with elements of role-playing, where the player is absolutely free to choose his or her style of play... That sounds like something good old Warren Spector used to dream about. Exactly as Deus Ex was originally conceived, only thirty years later. There will still be DLC with a price tag. It is still possible that things will go wrong and that we will have to wait another year for a patch for the DLC. But for the time being, I would recommend the basic version of Cyberpunk 2077 without a second thought.
I gotta feeling that this strategist-like rougelike is completely brand new in this genre. As a necromant - sorry, necrosmith! - you gather parts of bodies on the map to make your servants. Every map is created randomly and every is very hard to complete - there is a bulk of enemies ready to destroy your base. It provides short and fast-paced levels - each time it takes you about fifteen to fourty five minute to die. Lot of fun. There are some drawback, though. Levels are too random even for the standards of rougelikes. It depends on first minute of the level whether there are even parts of bodies to create an early army to collect further resources. What is more, the progress is kinda too slow. After every level the gamer can use resources to upgrade the power of spells or the undead in general. Although every one particular upgrade is very expensive, you can hardly feel the effect during further gameplay. All in all, the quality versus price ratio is absolutely fantastic!
The story and the world of this game is so unique. It is composed of the references to the pop culture of 80s and 90s. Movies, comic books, games, it is all over there. Humour is great and 8-bit-style music absolutely kills it! The problem is... you cannot enjoy it. Mechanisms of the game makes the pace of the grind impossible to catch up. I mean - there are three features of the character: strenght, agility and stamina. While you acquire the next level of on of those, you cannot just rest on yours laurels on the ground the character loses them so quickly, you should just train all the day long. But you cannot do it either - because the character gets hungry quickier than any Sim would imagine, so you have to go to work to earn pennies for food. In a consequence you cannot develop your character in RPG-style, but you rather endeavour not to lose your levels. And there are fights every couple of days, which you are going inevitably to lose, because you do not have enough time to devel and level up... The only way not to rage quit this game is to play on the easy level. There is so much content in this game that you cannot enjoy as the illogical mechanisms of grind spoil it all.
At first it seemed to be just a perfect novel-game. A player impersonates a guy who decided to travel the Trans-Siberian Railway. During the journey, the player discovers the past of the protagonist and learns about his motivation. The characters to met, the dialogues and descriptions of locations are very interesting and picteresque. References to the Russian literature are fun. Just fine - not too long and not too short. The whole experience takes about three-four hours. All in all, after completing the game for the first time, I could not wait to make once again and discover new features. There are two routes of the railway and three classes of train to be chosen by the player - it gives a combination of 2 x 3 different scenarios. And here the troubles begin. There is in fact only one scenario. No matter of which route or which class the players choses, the story is always exactly the same. There are always the sames quarrels with your friend you cannot avoid or you always miss the train in a particuliar part of journey. The player's choices do not change the story in any possible way. Do not matter. Therefore it is not even a game. It is not an interactive novel. It's just one novel to be read. After the first game, I would have given it five stars and would have bought another titles of the studio. After the second and third games, I realised it hardly deserves 2/5.
Larry got the brand new plot and image. Drawn in retro-style 2D, Larry is currently slime and tall and looks more like an actual human being. He somehow time-travelled from '70s to the contemporary times. As a consequence, all his old friends, except for Lefty, are gone and Larry has to find himself in the whole different world. If you are used to his previous, caricatural model, it may be harsh for you. Whether the plot and universe of the previous games are inviolable for you, skip this one. But if you gave this new chapter a shot - you would enjoy just a perfect modern point'n'click. It is a perfect example of how the games of this genre ought to look like. Larry's struggle to learn how the contemporary world looks like is an excuse to mock influencers, Apple Inc., craft beers and so on. There is a bull of references to classic pop-culture, like to Killing Joke or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galacy to name just few of them, and some are really subtle. There are even meta-jokes on the previous Larry's games or point'n'click henre in general. Some of the puns are dirty ones for adults, but there is no sloppy pornography and even not so much nudity. I found the dialogue really well-written and funny. The plot is fortunately not too long. Riddles are surprisingly logical. It took me a dozen or so hours to pass the game for the first time and I was forced to use the solution literarly three times, what is quite a small amount for the point'n'click genre. Last but not least, the Polish translation is absolutely killing it. There is only one reason why I could not award new Larry with five stars: the achievements are bugged. I passed the games twice and some unmissable achievements were not unlocked.
