The game in overall is interesting, but the plot and gameplay is often inconsistent.
The game did the best to do a lot, but failed to do one single thing good. Its not a good shooter, its not a good stealth game, its not a good driving game, its not a good RPG... just good enough
I purchased the game on the pre-released but as I read the reviews I decided to put it on hold indefinitely. Last week I decided to install it and play it having no expectations. (V2.1x)
So, after 7 hours of playtime I can say that it's an interesting game but really fails to deliver. I'm on my 40s and I played games like Bloodnet, Deus EX, Uplink, GTA, Thief, Batman: Arkham, etc. and I felt that Cyberpunk had elements of all these games into it but they were shallow/underdeveloped and failed to integrate well.
Most of the reviews here that give it 2-3 stars and are from late 2023 - early 2024 are sober enough to be trusted:
- Big open world map but very few things are can be interacted with; very little freedom.
- The combat is mostly FPS and really weak; has stealth elements but is almost meaningless;
- Cyberpunk stuff is limited to equipment and the hacking system is a joke;
- Main character, like most NPCs, is shallow and unimpressive (there are a couple good ones);
- Car driving looks similar but is far, far worse than in GTA;
- Game crashes once or twice a day;
There's one thing that is notably good: the world itself is rich. I believe that if CDPR releases a Cyberpunk sequel fixing its shortcomings (someone mentioned scope creeping in the reviews and I strongly agree that it may have been the biggest mistake in the development), it's going to be really good. They just have to revamp the mechanics.
For those who purchased the game, the best way to enjoy this game, in my opinion, is to follow the main plot. The open world part (with sidequests) is weak but the main plotline is good. Stick to it and it can be an enjoyable experience.
I get it, shooter games are popular, but is a world full of rampant nonstop gun violence and cars really in the tradition of the cyberpunk ethos? I guess if your gateway to cyberpunk is through modern movies then it's gotta have lots of shooting, but if you're a fan of any of the cyberpunk authors like William Gibson then you'll probably be disappointed. I can imagine lots of different variations of how the future world could be shaped and what it would actually feel like to live there and this game lets you play out just one. If I lived around that kind of technology and black market drugs the last thing I would care about would be guns and cars unless it were just some fleeting military fetish.
Starting out it almost feels like you can do anything but ultimately you're given only one approach option...killer for hire. You can't decide to become a ripperdoc, or a trader, or a hacker, or start a brothel, or sell hijacked flying cars, or become a drugged out hologram graffiti artist. Also, instead of street fights for money, there should be implant aided drone racing or drone dog fighting and you have to decide how much money you want to put into modding your implants and your drone...easy side quest material.
Overall it just feels like a slightly less vibrant grand theft auto placed in a techno dystopia.
Maybe someday Larian will make a cyberpunk game based on the Divinity 4.0 engine and we can get real rpg options in a technofuturist environment.
I will admit that this is a great game. The story, detail, and customization options are quite good. They don't censor anything, although the options are there if you so desire. HOWEVER, that being said, there is still a lot of work to do. I don't understand this. Yes, there is an awfully large game world, but they have been working on this game for several years. They have continuously delayed this game time and time again. Yet, it is riddled with bugs. Why should they be given even another month? On top of that, the game keeps crashing at the SAME spot. I can't make it past a certain spot in a mission because the game crashes every time. The controls could also use some work, but they can be changed, so I'm not complaining about that. Still, for a game to have so many bugs like this should not be happening. I can only hope they release a patch soon enough to fix it.
"Hey, it cannot be so buggy as first reviews suggested"
*BAM*
Jackie walking through the closed door in the first mission... Some girl floating in the air near your building... Pedestrians appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the street...
"OK."
The game looks amazing, sounds amazing... and that's it. I love RPGs, I enjoy FPS games, but I have no idea what that is. Enemies are stupid as hell, probably that's why they wear those amazing armors which allow them to survive 2 or 3 clips (you don't obviously). Your character starts burning in the middle of the fight for no obvious reason (enemy netrunner or smth, but how?) The world seems open, but after 2-3 hours of playing I have to follow the main quest line as there is nothing else interesting to be done.
So far the game looks like a long cut-scene with annoying gameplay in between.
I don't complain about performance as was lucky enough to grab a 3080 before the release, but honestly - I was expecting fireworks with this card and it's just playable.
Wstyd, CD Projekt, wstyd...