I had the utmost faith in CDPR with this game. I have been a huge cyberpunk fan and this was to the ultimate experience...The gameplay videos sold me on this instantly and was hyped for many years. Unfortunately, this didn't have a happy ending. Many, many people already have said a lot about performance and bugs so I won't bore you with those details. My gripe comes with the completely dead city. The videos had initially touted the most advanced open-world experience to date. I'm sorry, but this doesn't even compare to the earlier of Grand Theft Autos. To start, the NPCs have no real AI. Probably a simple routine that checks for violence and they cower in fear. No real response to stimuli just the same generic voice line when you interact. Half the time, they are just in the way and the police AI is even worst, they just spawn randomly on you and forget you were every alive after you move slightly away. For a game that claimed to have the most believable city "to date" with their "greatly enhanced crowd and community system" it was sorely lacking. The city itself honestly feels like a backdrop to the main story line, nothing more. It doesn't stand on its own. It just feels like one large billboard that looks good from far away. Combat including gunplay and brawling are very clunky and just tedious in the harder difficulties. Increasing HP and damage is not a good way to increase difficulty. I'm tired of devs using that to be lazy. Instead of making AI smarter, they make them into bullet sponges. The only saving grace for this game is the amazing main story, voice cast, and level design for main missions. It is well done and it makes me believe that the team originally had planned this level of finesse for the entire city but ran out of time or were forced to strip most of it out. Overall, it's enjoyable if you take it for what it is: A generic FPS with a good story. This is NOT an Open-world RPG. Stick to Witcher if you want to have that kind of experience.
I do not usually write reviews, but this masterpiece is something else. I tried to completely immerse myself in the world and it definitely pulled me in for quite a ride. The voice acting, the themes, the art, the music and the mechanics made it an unforgettable experience. You can tell how much passion was put in the game and this kind of art is what video games should be.
