This is probably as close as we are going to see to a Sprawl Trilogy themed game. if you're a fan of old school cyberpunk and this game's spiritual predecessors, you'll probably love it.
Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of 2077 and played it through it's darkest days. On to the expansion: The good: The writing is really good. It does a great job of capturing a bond-style spy thriller in the world of 2077. The characters are interesting with their own nuanced performances and motivations. The new overlord of Dogtown is a compelling character, cut from the mold of Kurt in Apocalypse Now. These are like late Deus Ex characters with more dirt and grit animating their actions. It is actually something I was really craving. The art direction is phenomenal. Dogtown manages to feel like a city within the city, an occupied zone with its own rules. The music is also very well done. This I cludes the so g that rolls during the credits. Songbird is a standout character in the genre. The not as good: A few of the new side quests are silly without also being interesting. I am not going to say which to avoid spoilers but some are real eyerollers. The new weapons, with the e, ceotion of a pair of story-related ones, don't add anything. Aside: I have seen people saying this is DRM'd. I have no idea why. I was able to install it fine with Galaxy on my desktop and fine without it on my Steam Deck, without using galaxy. Both seemed to work just fine. Also, people seem to be complaining about gog selling dlc. I am not sure I get this complaint as I have bought plenty of dlc here, including the witcher expansions. Anyhow, this is a great explansion for fans of either Cyberpunk 2077 or Deus Ex who are still upset Mankind Divided is not getting a sequel any time soon.
So, i only started this on PC just before 1.6 but i have over 130 hours on xbox series x, starting day one. I really love this game but it is not perfect. I have been here since the start, with all the crazy bugs and outright fails. Still, the game always shined for me, even when driving a motorcyle under a bridge in the rain caused me to fall through the street and crash the xbox itself. i finished the game on xbox but the introduction of cross progression made me want to try PC during my follow-ups. being able to toy with mods has been great. pros: - great story with lots of hidden choices and optional content - great voice acting - netrunner builds are totally my thing - mod support keeps the game fresh - unique and fun build options - i love site seeing in Night City cons: - driving cars is a still a complete mess. the motorcycles are fine, i guess, so i stick to them. - weak gunplay. it has improved but feels more like a Deus Ex than CoD. i like this. most seem not to. - will never be what was advertised. that e3 trailer... we will never see that game. all-in-all, this went from a disappointment i loved despite its faults to a game i just love and want to see more investment in by CDPR. as an aside, i am playing on a razer blade with a 3080 onboard. i run with all the pretty turned on at 1440 (with DLSS) and raytracing at psycho and manage a consistent, almost locked 30 fps. i can drop the pretty and get to 60 (not RT) but the game is not that fast and i don't feel the need for twitch timing. i have seen complaints about how end decks not running this well but cannot confirm. since my laptop with an 11th gen inside is keeping this running well, i am not sure what is making the difference. to close, i bought the PC version at half-price after the xbox at full in 2020. i think the game is worth that. YMMV though.
i loved this game. the style is excellent. the music is excellent. the controls are excellent. the game seems well-optimized as my aging laptop was able to run at 1440p/60hz. a word of warning: this game requires patience. you will die a lot. eventually, you will not. it will make you feel like a superhero. cons: - there is one boss that is basically a vertical shaft bullet hell. it is not fun. - the last boss is very easy. this is not in a culmination-of-all-you-learned sense. just easy. pros: - everything else
