Overall, this one is a hella fun metroidvania. There were a couple of moments that made me scratch my head in a bad way. Like an item necessary for progression being a random drop from a common monster and then another one hidden maybe too well. But at the same time, the game provided clues necessary in other places and can't say I struggled too much. The strength of this game lies in an insane variety of weapons and spells to choose from. Closer to the end of the game I've created a literal death mashine of a character and demolished everything in my way. Like I said, hella fun. Plus great customization. The difficulty is decently balanced as well imo. I was kinda on the verge between 4 and 5, but think this game deserves it. Plus, it gets constantly updated and there's a lot more stuff on the way. So big props to the devs! Thank you for a grat game.
My first playthrough took me 50 hours on high difficulty. I left the world of Night City with a lot of quests unfinished or not found and 75% of gigs not done. There is a LOT to do in this game. Let me say this right away: people who claim this game is not a real RPG are straight up lying and, probably, haven't played past the prologue. Look at the dates on those "most helpful" reviews - December 10th. There is NO way you could possibly know what this game has in store after one day of playing it. I remind you, it took me 50 hours to finish one playthrough. IMO, the most notable achievement of CDPR with this title is the quality that comes with that quantity. The "real" sidequests that are marked as separate missions on your map are extremely well written, each boasting a unique and memorable experience, some of them are sure to leave you impressed. Their quality is on par with the main story itself. But then there are gigs. Which, for the most part, replace the question markers from The Witcher 3. Each one of those still has a small story attached to it, often a unique location to explore and some small choices to make. The story itself is, obviously, really damn good as well. All in all, this game explores a lot of different themes really well. Bravo, the writing team (and yes, your choices do matter). The shooting was surpirsingly well done. Having played Destiny I didn't felt like it was lacking in any way. Dunno about the melee combat. RPG elements are in abundance. Most of the perks give you really interesting and impactful boosts. Your playstyle is also defined by your implants and weapons. There is a lot of possibilities for experimentation in this game. I'd love to say much more, but I'm running out of space. Overall, this game is MUCH better than a lot of those first day reviews make it out to be. Better try it for yourself, but after it's patched (if you can wait). There are quite a lot of technical problems that can sour your experience.
This game shoots itself in the foot. It is so beautiful that it's hard to play or look at it when you are crying half of the time for no particular reason at all. 10/10
At first I wanted to go in-depth about the game, tell you where it draws its inspiration from, what it has to offer and what you should expect. But, I think you should find out about all of it yourself. What I'm going to do is vaguely describe what you are getting for your money. First of all, it's a metroidvania game. I, personally, love the genre and this is one of it's best representatives. The game's world is pretty dark, so it's, probably, not a best game to play when you are seriously depressed. Best way to describe it is Ori and Dark Sould had a child. This child looks pretty grim, but sometimes it smiles at you and it is the most sincere and hopeful smile you've ever seen. Don't want to spoil anything, so bear with my metaphores. The amount of content you get for 15$ is simply astounding. I'm almost at 30 hours of gameplay time atm and only now I'm getting somewhat near the end. And I haven't even touched the DLCs content (which are, btw, pretty big and totally free, so that's another huge thanks to Team Cherry). I like to explore every little corner of the map, so I was also really pleased and surprised by the amount of mysteries and secrets this game holds. The combat system is pretty basic on the first look, but it has a good amount of depth. Combined with a great learning curve and gradually increasing difficulty it never gets old, so every boss battle feels challenging. Btw, bosses are amazing, they are one of the best parts of the game. And know what makes it even better? There are a ton of them. Visually the game is fantastic, especially later on when you travel deeper and further into the game. Soundtrack is beautiful and completes the whole package perfectly. So, if you are not against platformers or metroidvanias - just buy it. After playing I would spend even 60$ in this game in a blink of an eye. P.S. A little advice. Learn how to use pins (buy them first) and mark all the areas you can't get to. It will be a great help later on.
