When playing through Cyberpunk 2077 you constantly feel as if you've just been given a Michelin starred meal that arrived half-eaten and with the occasional stray hair in every bite. You get a taste of excellence if you look in the right places and avoid looking too deep. Night city is such a detailed and wonderful setting that is completely underutilized. The city is dead, the NPCs are just scenery, the world does not react and does not feel alive, and that's a massive shame. The foundation is there, the main story and side missions are often times immaculate, but the majority of the mechanics in this game are either unfinished or mindlessly designed. Many promised features are missing, there is so much mindless padding, an endless sea of technical problems and bugs, design that cannibalises itself (like the overwhelming amount of map marker vomit, the constant phone calls about meaningless side jobs, etc), and so much unfinished content. CDPR have gone from hero to zero within a matter of days, their reputation is in shambles and they have lost my trust and the trust of a large chunk of their fanbase. It will take a long while to gain it back, and only a No Mans Sky type of effort will ensure this happens. I sincerely hope that will be the case because this game has the potential to be up there among The Witcher 3 as one of the best games ever made. Right now, however, I highly recommend you avoid it.
