This game attempts to be what I, and many people have been wanting for a long time. It tries blend action adventure, immersive sim, RPG, and shooter genres into something greater. Unfortunately it falls short in many areas. The Good: -The main story and many of the bigger side quests are great for the most part, despite some pacing issues. -Johnny Silverhand is great, and it's fun interacting with him and hearing/responding to his takes on situations. -If your computer can handle it, the game really is "breathtaking" visually. -Sound design is the best in any game I've ever played (using Dolby Atmos for Headphones) - incredibly immersive. The Meh: -Aforementioned pacing issues with the main quest - it feels like you're being pulled urgently towards the end, and it doesn't make much sense contextually to be doing a lot of side content. -Side quest quality is very hit-and-miss. -A lot of repetetive "clear this area" content, though a good chunk has voice acting. -Very few non-"killing" world activities. -V is fairly generic. Male voice acting is solid. Lifepaths are mostly irrelevant except for occasional knowledge flexing to NPCs during quests. -Balance isn't great - hard early game (good IMO), too easy mid-to-late game. Played on Very Hard. The Bad: -Very buggy. -Poorly optimized - not really playable on "minimum" specs. -Most choices lack meaningful consequence. -Loot grind system, with too much crap, and poor UI for dealing with it. -Gear stats prevent dressing for fashion. -Police AI is atrocious for a game released in 2020. -General AI (crowds/cars), seems alright in passing, but doesn't hold up to any level of scrutiny. -Combat AI can't deal with many player actions (eg. abusing corners/funneling enemies). Despite many being angry about the delays, this is why games shouldn't be rushed. A lot of these problems could be improved/fixed with another 6-12 months of development. Hopefully they will continue to work to improve it for a long time post-launch.
