Cyberpunk has the potential to reach great heights and its a shame that it wasnt able to reach them on launch. So much of what the game advertised has been stripped out. It delivers a highly stylized adventure and tells an entertaining story. The story andsound design are great. The combat, stealth mechanics, driving, exploration, and rpg elements are not what was advertised. So far everything from hacking to character customization (including backstory) are barebones at best. The game can be fun but there are some serious growing pains that need to be ironed out before I can say I love the game
I like to look at a few criteria when forming an opinion of any game. I look at the atmosphere, the fun factor, and polish. Atmosphere - The game is well written and true to the source material. The voice work is great and so is the music and SFX. I really felt like I was playing the adventure path without the pains of dealing with an actual TTRPG group. Really great in that regard. Fun factor - Mechanics are where this game goes from being a fun trip to Paizo's RPG setting to a nightmare. Several users have posted about the balance the game offers and I mostly agree with them. The game's system for identifying monsters is sorely lacking and serves as a hinderance for new players to recognize challenges that are beyond them. This results in bad fights where parties are unable to cope with the challenge ahead. Players learn what fights are manageable through save-scumming. It's a lazy approach that could have been tweaked into a useful gameplay element instead. This criticism also assumes that the myriad stutters and crashes haven't completely derailed your experience as it did mine in the second act. Polish - It looks and sounds nice but the game is fundamentally broken. I played for five days, devoting roughly 5 hours of game time each day but was cut short by the rocky start-up. I experienced crashes on main menu, in the middle of gameplay, and on start up. Consistent crashes meant several instances of lost progress. Crashes at the menu meant reloading after frequent crashes became a chore. The last straw broke with repeated crashes on start-up. The game is so utterly broken at times that my experience is completely soured by extensive troubleshooting. This game is broken and that is a real shame considering how much effort obviously when into the story and sound. The devs should be as disappointed as I am. Points for capturing the TTRPG experience though. Anticipate a great story only to find out game night is cancelled.
