There is not much to say that was not stated in the review title. Even at launch despite some technical glitches (OH GOD NOT A T POSE!) the world bulding, attention to detail, and over all crafter exhibited in this games story and presentation were amazing. Since launch multiple patches have occured. Most bugs are rarely if ever seen anymore. I can't recall the last time any quest worked less than perfectly from the outset, or when I last crashed. The game balance changes, the updates for character building, weapons, hacking, vehicles... Every few months CDPR has simply made consistent and clear improvements. The Liberty City DLC is easily in the top five best DLC I have ever played for any game. Period. The story is well presented, the characters are well written (even in the gigs), the gameplay additions and new weapons open many new options. I literally had to think hard about my choice to side with Reed or Songbird. I don't have to think much about most choices in RPG's these days. CDPR should seriously give themselves a pat on the back, and maybe multiple pints. I dont care about the release reception, this is one of the best video games ever made, and the best CDPR has ever created to date. Thank you chooms for a gaming experience I won't forget, and I continue to enjoy even on replays years later.
This game was unfairly critiqued on release. It had bugs, but most of them were extremely low impact purely visual issues, and every quest, objective, and side task (there were 100+ hours worth of them) worked on launch. The writing, voice acting, open world, graphics, etc were all top notch. The only real weaknesses was the character building was a little lacking, there were definitely "stronger" build choices that made any difficulty setting trivial, and the basic gameplay of shooting etc while not bad wasn't great either. Character customization also suffered a little bit as well as you had to use what had the best stats and lets be honest... does that hot pink and teal street samurai helmet actually look good with your black and red buisness suit and orange high tops? The photo mode also... could have been a little better. Today we have years of bug fixes, free dlc content, Liberty City, and now the 2.1 update. Character customization is no longer a concern as clothes no longer even give stats and you can transmog anyway. Gunplay is much improved and the different guns feel more unique. Melee is better than it ever was on launch and I no longer feel like I am the weak version of V because I choose to not get into net running. Police AI is better, you can have vehicle shoot outs, you have even more side activities and missions, and one of the best DLC ever made for any game. This game was quite good on release, it just unfortunately required a very beefy pc, and released on consoles it had to due to contracts.... that it probably shouldn't have released on at all. Today you no longer "need" a top tier pc to get this game to shine, it is almost bug free other than the rare truly petty things like a floating object over a table, and in my opinion as of writing this review it is not only the best "cyberpunk" game ever made, it is the best open world RPG ever made. If you like open world rpgs and your pc is not a 8 year old potato you need to play it.
First up, what's good about this game? The character customization is fantastic, you will almost for sure need to make your own portrait but that is a minor gripe. The list of class, race, and build options is superb. The story is solid and has some great moments, even some slight surprises. You get lots of freedom in how to express your character. The companions are vastly improved compared to Kingmaker, and a better line up of characters than most RPG's in this style will give you. Ember, Camilla, Regill, and Arueshalae are all standouts that top most companions in most rpgs. The graphics are fine, they don't look spectacular or anything but for this style of game they are very solid and work well. The music is actually fantastic and has some great tracks that are honestly just nice to listen to. So why is the review 1 star? Because the game from chapter 4 on is a nigh on unplayable broken mess. We are not talking graphical glitches (which there are), we are talking abilities that do nothing, abilities that actually debuff you and then don't do anything else, items that do nothing, items you have to constantly un equip and requip to get the benefit, multiple quests where you are treated like you took action A when you took action B, respeccing after chapter 1 corrupts your save, until today's patch 1.04 you could not beat chapter 4, broken quests, broken mythic paths, consistent crashes and forced reloads, etc etc. The list is staggering. Second, and this is opinion, the game balance is garbage. Normal and up you have to play like a grognard. Anything below normal you can just go RTWP and auto attack and you will win. There is no middle ground that requires some effort, but not 5 minutes of prebuff before every fight and min maxing your characters. Due to the obscene level of bugs and broken jank I can't suggest anyone buy it in it's current form. All the positive reviews you see are either owlcat apologists, or people no further than chapter 2.
