Bought this in Dec 2020, still waiting for it to be playable.
1.5hotfix2:
Texture quality setting is stuck at High, you can change it but clicking Apply resets back to High.
Save games don't load - just black screen. I started a new game, saved after 15 mins but none of the saves work (neither manual or autosaves)
While the original release in 2020 was a technological mess
But since then, the overwhelming majority of issues have been ironed out, there's only a few things left:
Sometimes, the glitch effect of the UI doesn't disappear.
Sometimes, (rarely) physics glitch out, but it hasn't been game-breaking for me.
The only big isse that I see is performance. The game still suffers from this strange bug that causes performance to just tank after playing for a little bit. A 30% drop in terms of average FPS is to be expected. The only remedy is restarting the game, but who wants to do that every 15 minutes?
But the game itself is enjoyable for me. Night City is beautiful and fun to explore. I love the characters and their stories. There's a lot to do in Night City, though I would've liked a few more gigs + side-jobs and fewer NCPD scanner events.
There are weaknesses in regards to the RPG aspect of the game, for sure. It's less an RPG in terms of its story and more of an RPG in terms of the gameplay. The majority of missions can be approached in different ways, and the skills you pick end up mattering quite a bit there.
The dialogue is unfortunately not super varied or "RPG-like." There are a number of instances where it's possible to select a dialogue-option related to V's life path, but it never really matters. And the rest of the dialogue doesn't really matter, either. Pretty much every mission always proceeds in the same fashion.
The only big exception is one quest (Sinnerman) where CDPR gives you numerous "outs" throughout the quest. The writing for that one quest is fantastic. It's unfortunate that the writing for the rest of the game doesn't really come close.
All this might sound pretty negative but I can't deny that I did enjoy this game quite a bit nonetheless. I have played 200 hours of CP2077 across multiple platforms easily and I can't wait to get back into it once the expansion drops.
Just don't expect a super deep RPG.
I bought this game recently because I've heard good things about latest patch. The game is fantastic, story is very well written and finally this game can be (and should be) recommended. Can't wait for future content and sequel (hopefully!). Get the latest patch and enjoy this story, it's worth it.
Its been years now since I finished the game and decided to write this review with a retrospective view
We all know the launch was a shit show and CDPR pissed away a lot of goodwill because of that. A shame really but wont dwell on that, I'm looking at the game as it is now, after all the updates and Patches:
Story/Writing:
An amazing and deep story with lots of compelling, nuanced characters with different motivations. It really emphasises the fact that there are no heroes or monsters in the world, just people led to do heroic or monstrous things, depending on the circumstance. the story is only let down by the somewhat rushed ending though.
Evironment/World-building:
Night City is the star of the show! Stunning in every way! The world is a major and probably the best character in the story of Cyberpunk 2077. Every neon drenched corner and seedy street is oozing with personality and a story to tell. Night City doesnt give a shit about you: It was there before you and will continue to be long after your dead ass fades from memory. Exploration is a joy to experience in this game
Gameplay:
Gunplay is adequately tight and responsive (its no FPS tho), RPG elements are adequately fleshed out and deep enough, stealth gameplay is fine and the cyberhacking gameplay is my favourite in particular: you can murder a whole building full of bad guys just by looking at them funny. Its satisfying and tense in moments
Sound/Graphics:
Like i said before, its one of the most stunning games that has ever graced any screen. Its beyond beautiful. The sound also is very good and the soundtracks are unique. All in all, very good
Conclusion
My frustration is that this game could easily have been one of the greatest games ever made but it was done a disservice by a rushed launch. No amount of patching can fix systemic flaws that should have been sorted out with probably another full year of development to make all the sum of its parts cohesive. In other words, a flawed Masterpiece
Full disclaimer, I pre-ordered this game and finished my first playthrough with all side missions in sept 2022. I also play on a RTX 3070ti so I don't know how performances are on more reasonable rigs. Most bugs have been fixed and the experience is 90% smooth. Which means that yes there is still 10% of your experience that will be janky.
The game is very pretty, colourful and fun when it clicks. Which relies a lot on your tolerance levels towards its jankyness and lack of meaningful player choice in a rpg game.
The story is the game strongest point, it's well made with great characters and has a bit of originality. It's so good that every time I would come back to this game, I couldn't help but feel that I would enjoy it more as a novel.
The fight gameplay is ok. Nothing bad, nothing great. It gets boring when fighting the tanky mini-boss type ennemies. I was doing a pure pistol and stealth build and those ennemies just meant that I'd be spending the next 10 minutes running in circles, spamming health regens and shooting half my ammo or hiden on a roof doing the same thing for the ones that can't climb.
And speaking of ammo, why can't I restock them completely at any gun shop? Why do I have to go through 5 dirrent and very far appart shops to top off my pistols? That was my main gripe in between quests. When you're on a stroll enjoying powering through side quests this would bring a hard stop for 20 minutes in the gameplay experience. Hunting down ammo.
Side quests are really fun and I highly recommend doing them all before finishing the game since just like me you might not want to play anymore after the grand finale in the story. Hopefully, you picked the right ending for you to feel some sort of satisfaction to your fate.