I've been waiting for a long time to play CP2077, finally doing it at version 2.1/2.2. I also tried to manage my expectations, based on countless reviews and impressions I read in the meantime. Unfortunately, I still ended being disappointed. CP2077, in my opinion, does not move the game industry or the genre forward. All the things it does have been done previously, sometimes better, by other games - there is no unique mechanics in it. I would say even that its strongest points (such as graphics, art design, voice acting and story) were matched by other major and smaller games of the past decade, or even older. Even then, the game could have stood above the rest if every element, although not exactly original, was executed at the highest level of quality and interacted flawlessly with every other element (like Blizzad of the days of yore used to do). Sadly, this is not the case, and there is inconsistency in the game everywhere. Overall, I think it is a worthy achievement for CDPR, cementing its status as a prime AAA developer and proving effectiveness of the hype traing its marketing department assembled. But various imrpovements over the three years could not address the fundamental problems of the game, which lie in the original design. I could not say I regret all the time I spent, but will not be buying Witcher 4 until is heavily discounted. 8/10. Playthrough statistics: 100hrs, hard difficulty, increasing to very hard about 1/3 through, PL installed, but did only main game, lvl60/street cred 50 at the end, netrunner+guns build, completed all main/side jods + gigs I could find, plus some NCPD jobs, saw 3/4 endings (including the secret one).
My expectations for DE were something at the level of Planescape Torment and non-combat playthroughs of Age of Decadance. It largely delivered. The setting, the plot, core gameplay and the quality of writing hooked me up almost immediately. Soundtrack and art style are not quite my taste, but still very distinct. I enjoyed most of my time with Disco, and the praise is definitely deserved. However, so is some of the criticism. At times, it felt like there was too much info dump; the ending was nice, but not ground-breaking; you can roleplay different archetypes, but there is little variability in outcomes, on a grand scale (apart ffrom a few). I hoped for something AoD-style, where you can radically alter the direction of the story in key points. The biggest flaw for me is that, in terms of gameplay, the second and all subsequent playthroughs promise to offer largely the same experience as the initial one. Yes, there will be different situations, locations, dialogues and outcomes, but in terms of mechanics, this will be still the same active and passive skillchecks and plenty of reading. Again, AoD felt sufficiently difffrent during non-combat and combat runs. DE's greater length (of about 40hrs for me) also plays against it in this case. Overall, a very good and original game, but more for the lovers of this type of gameplay. 9/10 Playthrough: about 45hrs, did most of the content available for the single playthrough, plus checked some alternative outcomes. Missed a few quests as they elapsed because of the passage of time.
