Lifeless and boring. Thats Night City. The zombie like NPC's just walk around like decoration doing nothing in particular. The CIty itself has no real events and there is nothing memorable about it when moving around. Its like GTA never existed and this was the first attempt at an open world city. The "random" events are just the same "assault in progress" or "Organised Crime" which just leads to you shooting everyone. Combat - basic and uninspriing. Bullet sponge enemies with terrible AI run at you whilst you hold down the trigger. Melee combat is like Skyrim but worse. Driving - awful. Its like driving through treacle until you brake and then you are on the oil patch. Just use fast travel. Story - good main plot and the main missions can have a couple of different outcomes but the side quests are limited and dont have the same pull as the Witcher side quests did. Nothing as good as a Witcher Contract here. This also bring me to the life paths. They mean very little to the game. You basically are a street kid no matter what you pick. The origin story is half hour of play before they all end up in the same place. Overall experience is one of disappointment. A good main story buried under poor gameplay is the best summary I can give. Whilst ill push on and finish the main story I doubt ill ever do a second playthrough and I wont be buying any DLC for it.
I started playing this game when it was on early access and loved it from the start. The game has seen some big changes and balances since then and has improved with each one. Its all about choosing your story (or not) and then taking to the underzee (you read that right) to find wealth, fame.... maybe your fathers bones, its totally up to you. You are the captain of your vessel and its upto you to craft your own adventure. Fuel and food supplies are vital and each journey will require some planning. You really do feel tense when you set off to an undiscovered part of the map and dont know when the next port will appear. Random events add to your anxiety which can cause further problems or might bestow you with some lucky find. Fear is also a huge part of the game. As your vessel sails through the blackness your crew get scared and might behave irrationally and the terrors of the night might invade your dreams and give you the occasional vision. You can manage your fear by retuning to your home port or visiting the local bars, brothels etc, at other ports, or by leaving the lights on your ship but this can attract some of the creatures or other pirates of the underzee. Combat is simple enough and there are some tactics to it although having the bigger gun certainly helps and ship upgrades are available and necessary for those longer, more rewarding journeys. Officers can also be recruited to give stat boosts to your ship. They all have their own backstory which can be unlocked through sharing secrets with them. Imagination is your biggest companion for this game as most of it is text based, a little like Zafehouse Diaries, but you have total control over the ship. The stories at port develop wih quests or certain actions and are well written and sometimes quite chilling. The game is unforgiving but its supposed to be. Play it with permadeath on to get the most out of it. Now go and take to the underzee with your zailors and report back tothe admirals office with your port stories, secrets and moves in the Great Game.
