Never mind the media outrage, this game is GOTY 2021 -at least on PC-
Wonderful graphics, awesome acting and compelling story.
Yes there are bugs, but that'll be ironed out eventually. Don't miss out on this masterpiece!
As a lover of the Fallout Series, I am more than use to bugs and graphical glitches. Yes! You can tell its missing pieces that were at one time planned, with all that said it's a great story, with tons of amazing beauty that I got 90 hours of fun out of. Any time I spend $60 and get 90 hours of enjoyable game time it's a good purchase for me, especially with single player games. Just chill in Night City and take a walk around, you never know what you might find.
Here is some streamed gameplay if you want to see it in action.
https://youtu.be/P6-0IEkY0zY
I know the game is controversial. For obvious reasons. There's probably a lot more I could say about it in a longer analysis, but for the purposes of whether or not I recommend it here on GOG yes I absolutely do.
First, yes, the game has problems on consoles. If you're going to play this, in it's current state, you should have a decent PC. If you do, then you'll probably notice only minimal bugs, and the game will look and perform exceptionally. I never really encountered any game breaking bugs, with one exception in an early mission of the game, which I had to reload for, but was a minor inconvenience.
Second, some people are disappointed with the amount of content in the game, which seems odd to me, because there is quite a lot of content in the game, and a great deal of it is beautiful, scripted questlines, however, I will admit I was hoping for more content that did not focus on combat quite as much. Although it is technically possible to complete the game without killing NPCs, the game is very much combat focused. I wish there were more non-combat activities and alternatives for some of the quests. Also, I do wish there were more customization options. Although you can customize your character pretty significantly in terms of abilities, I wish there were more cosmetic options, both for your character and your equipment/vehicles/apartment, etc. However, I optimistically think that this will be a priority for CDProjekt Red when DLC comes out.
All that said, the game blows me away with the freedom of choice with the abilities your character can have, with how cool and immersive Night City is, and with the strength of the writing and the acting present in the game (Keanu Reeves notwithstanding.)
It's been said before, but the greatest strength of this game is the city itself. Every section of it feels unique but still cohesive with the whole. If you're playing this on a decent computer that can fully realize it, exploring this game is a remarkable experience.
Liked
- Lighting and shading.
- Environment design.
- Most of the music.
- Searching for treasure.
- Distinct combat styles.
- Plenty to read.
- Smart-weapons.
- Mocap acting for some of the characters.
- Ran smoothly (3080 rtx).
- The epilogue.
Disliked
- There's no grand adventure, no empire-building, no wrongs to right.
- Denies player agency to force a linear story. Like holding up the whole game until you sit on a chair.
- Limited replay value given the above.
- The cheap & nasty advertising doesn't work. Clashes with the cyberpunk aesthetic.
- V's character doesn't develop during the story (see Farcry3).
- Story ends just as it gets interesting.
- No way to switch sides at the end, roll-back all the damage you've done.
- V's voice was over-acted, especially the male version.
- The Silverhand character was a disgusting wet-rag... far worse than Geraldt.
- Driving navigation lacked a visual overlay (outside of racing), this could've been an ocular mod.
- Lifeless set-dressing NPCs. NPC AI was accomplished way back in Hardwar (1998).
- Heavily scripted truman-show-style scenarios, just adds to the lifelessness.
- Cringey juvenile design & acting of certain female characters.
- Generally morbid associations with sex throughout the game.
- Prudish sex scenes, prudish lack of nudity outside of inventory.
- Lack of sandstorms/haze; clear blue sky should be rare.
- Locked-doors everywhere; most buildings are just 'textured boxes', so to speak.
- Heaps of cultural cringe, like chopsticks-in-hair cringe... I guess its an 80's themed game.
- Player character physique doesn't change with playstyle; you can't go full animal or maelstrom.
- Mako-style vehicle physics.
- Weapon damage and armor makes no sense,
- Plethora of glitches and omissions, game could use another year of refinement.
- No console + commands to cope with the above (especially noclip or setstage).
After almost 40 hours in the game I must say I love it. The story so far is enticing, the characters are (at least for me) interresting enough, and it runs like a charm. Combat is not very balanced, as you can stack multipliers with damage, but in my mind that just makes it more fun :) I have not experienced any bugs or glitches. Would highly reccommend this game.