From the short amount of time I've spent in the game I can say with confidence it looks fun but...
I cannot advance past the tutorial because every time I try to hack a door (they are showing me how to hack things in the tutorial) my game crashes, every time, without fail. I tried verifying/repairing the game files but unfortunately it didn't work. I have confidence that the game will be great but right now it is literally unplayable for me and that is very disapointing, it would have been much better if they waited a week and ironed out all the game breaking bugs, but I suppose I'll just have to be patient.
Pros: optimization (1080-fps), sound and localization, storyline and setting (excellent), 18+ (this is a plus), a huge city to explore, character customization, secondary quests and events (many options), excellent visual style of the game world ( I am amazed).
Cons: bugs, minor bugs, animation interferences, balance of enemies, AI enemies, strange map (especially colors), stealth mechanics are not finished yet.
Bottom line: the game is cool, for me the game of the year is 2020. For some time it will be brought to full 100% readiness (and it will be finished, this is CDPR). The game met all my expectations. Good luck and good game.
One of the best game stories I've played, there are still many bugs to be fixed, but still, the game is amazing with tons of things to do and places to go.
Hope players stop complaining so much as creating a game of this extent with all these consoles available is unimaginably hard.
"After a fist shock and almost a refund claim, i cooled down sufficiently enough to play the game called Cyberpunk 2077, and not Witcher 4."
This is the first phrase in my original review of the game, with 5 stars.
Since then, I have tried to play it four more times, each time lasting shorter and shorter time. Final session only lasted until the end of the combat tutorial.
I kept telling myself that the game is good, since I have finished it once at launch, warts and all. But after the novelty has worn off, the ugly began to show through the cracks. Even after all the polish, all the changes and revamps, the game is still the same. Put lipstick on a pig, and will still be just a pig.
The greed to make it playable (barely) on PS4 has doomed it from the start. ll the corners cut to make that hapened are glaring at you while playing like a gapping wound.
Then, the decision to make it FPS for "immersion" reasons simply struck out. I have played 1000+ hours of "the-game-with-which-you-must-not-compare-it" to know that I have cried and laughed with Geralt in TPS and I was fully immers during all those hours (except in W1 where the story was the one gripping the player, not the perspective).
And having said that, this story is decent, but it is not enough to compensate for the shortcomings of a FPS with a limited FOV (yes you can probably increase it, but i am not a pigeon to see behind my head).
CDPR used to be the sweethart if many gamers, looking at it fondly for ditching egregious corporate practices. Now, that mantle has passed to Larian, and CDPR will be saved or killed by Witcher 4.
Running it on a laptop with GTX 1060, I faced quite a few bugs(namely my character's hair disappearing all the time), but nothing game breaking.
Otherwise, Night City is amazing to go around in and discover. Driving and AI can be impoved, sure, but how many RPGs have offered these mechanics before. I am certain that with time these issues will be ironed out.
Technical difficulties aside, there is a very potent game in here, with an amazing story and amazing performance and production. The options may not be as impactful as in other RPGs, but they are still do change things, especially the endings. The side quests are still top notch despite not reaching Withcer 3's heights, but they offer their own substory in the world.
If you wanna wait for the bugs to be squashed, that is fine, but I feel many people are being harsh on what is yet another landmark in gaming.
