In short, i recommend against purchasing this. Time which will be intended to used for entertainment will turn into troubleshooting and frustration.
I've never really had game stability issues in the past, even when cyberpunk first came out i rarely ever had a crash. With PL, i'm paying interest for all those time forums were screaming about problems and i thought it was all exaggerated.
Maybe I'm just getting older but I'm strongly opposed to spending time troubleshooting something i've spent money on.
unfortunately, game struggles to run even on 30-40 FPS even om low settings with all shadows turned off\set to lowest and that on a PC that exceeds minimal requirement specs. tweaking with ingame settings and graphical card settings avails like 3-5 FPS boost on top on those silly 30 and that's it. also, the longer you play, the less stable that FPS becomes. now, if it was a JRPG or any turn based combat game - i wouldn't mind. but game is basically a FPS shooter with RPG elements, somewhat similar to Deus Ex HR, plus car driving (with horrible unresponsive controls on top), which makes it really painful to play with such low FPS and periodical stutters...
i guess i won't be playing it much until it is patched to fix performance issues, which are obviously there as even people with high end PCs and console users experience same frustration as I do. kinda regret pre ordering it, won't do that ever again with CD Project games
The plot, world, dialogues and NPC really suck you into the universe. Its a great atmosphere and some really hard topics are part of the quests and story.
After an initial adrenaline burst and a really obscure quest (cleaver quest) it slows down by a lot when you first enter the "open world".
The world itself feels lifeless:
- generic quests at each corner (kill dudes here, there, etc.)
- not so interesting "gig" quests --> talk to someone/break in somewhere, etc.
- NPCs in the world don't really react to you and there is not much interaction at all besided the stores
Gameplay (the worst part of it all):
- interface is horrible and complicated to use with several sub menus, e.g. you have to click on each clothing item to see the available items, its hard to differentiate, etc.
- brawling/melee feels underwhelming, no real feedback, clunky movements, no real visible inputs on counter, etc.
- gunfights: some weapons feel good at first but quickly lose their initial momentum: there is too much weapon sway, aiming is horrible, gun fights feel really underwhelming because its shooting some bullets, enemy ducks, you duck, you wait, you shoot some bullets, etc. It just doesn't feel really interesting
- movement: clunky and not much to say about it above that
- stealth: also feels clunky and unpolished, sometimes enemies just know you are there even if they didn't see you before, no chance of reentering stealth after real fight begins
- hacking: my favourite part but also too clunky and doesn't seem to affect the gampelay too much (disable camera or some dude(s) at some point but nothing really interesting
Overall:
Story and the world building itself really sucks you. But this element is the only thing really pushing me forward. A lot of side quests seem to be just too random and boring. Gameplay feels clunky and unpolished. In the first 6 hours of the game I had 3 quest-breaking bugs and had to restart. All in all doesn't feel like a game 7yrs in the making :(
Putting aside the bugs and other technical problems, the game is disappointing an uninteresting.
1. The lowest possible portrayal of American culture we've seen a milion times before.
2. Boring "friend" we're artificially forced to like via a cutscene, with no character to him at all. I find the robot from Call of Duty Infinite Warfare to be a more interesting and likeable character. No sarcasm here, the robot was cool.
3. Confusing and unintuitive UI. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to level up, and the general UI is not user-friendly.
4. In 4 hrs of playtime I've seen my character twice - what's the point of advanced looks customisation?
5. _Constant_ nagging from your NPC friend to follow him or to do this and that during quests when you lag behind, and want to take in the world or to loot and snoop around.
6. Shallow and chaotic dialogues, where 90% of what is said is useless noise, making it hard to follow, and is disengaging from the story.
7. Personally I found the world to be boring an uninteresting, there's no cyberpunk vibe to it at all.
My first ever refund.
P.S. On the bright side, dick customisation is hilarious, if perhaps useless (didn't progress far enough to find out).
The driving and shooting on a controller are just not fun, nothing feels tight in that respect - im not sure why the looter shooter kind of gunplay was impelemented here, its boring and uninteresting, and every gun loop scenario feels like an absolute chore - go look at a game like Deus Ex HR for the way that kind of gameplay style works and fits better for this kind of genre. Driving is a nightmare as well, as a simple turn on my controller will cause the wheels flip out and crash the car.Im running quite a beefy rig and whenever there is some kind of shooting or driving my frame rate will tank severly - have dropped everything down to low but no difference.
The amount of tasks, notifications, and names being thrown at me at one time is beyond chaotic - there is no room to breathe or take in anything or anyone -theres a new character every couple of minutes through some sort of phone call, message, or call out. Ive been playing the game for a solid 7 hours, and aside from the main cast of characters, I cant keep up with whoever it is is being thrown at me. There is no clear focus here or reason to care about anything or anyone.
The UI, inventory and journal menus are also overwhelming to look at and sort through. There is just way too much being thrown at me at one time to keep up.
The world and map is all smoke and mirros, it feels void of any sort of life, love or intricacy. NPC's barely react to anything, the verticality of the city is severly limited. It all feels hollow.
Ive also encountered a multiude of bugs - horrible pop in, frame drops, game crashes on save reload, T posing characters to name a few.
The game needed more time and a better direction. Really honestly very sad and disappointed. I wont buy a CD Project Red game again for quite some time after this. It feels undercooked and like someone on the executive team watched Johnny Mnemonic and decided to cut the budget and core game elements to shoehorn in Keanu Reeves at the last minute.
