is it worth playing in 2022? Actual overview
The Cyberpunk 2077 ad campaign should go into marketing textbooks as an example of what not to do. In promotional materials, gamers were promised a large-scale and spectacular RPG with Planescape: Torment level variability, but the result was a completely different game, and even full of bugs.
How does she look now? Should players who were put off by the release state of Cyberpunk 2077 should give it a second chance? More on that below.
Bugs and game optimization
Let’s start with the most important thing: there have been significantly fewer bugs in the game over the past year. The developers, apparently, decided to borrow the strategy of the authors of No Man’s Sky and not give up until the project is polished to a shine. Over the past 12 months, more than 10 patches have been released, designed to patch up the technical problems that were most conspicuous.
Disappearing story-important NPCs, broken quests, buggy scripts, cars dancing breakdance, loading a meter from the protagonist of the location, regular crashes to the desktop…
The list of ills of the Cyberpunk 2077 release version is endless, but more importantly, at the moment this list is almost empty.
Of course, this does not mean that the game no longer requires patches. You can still stumble upon people getting stuck in textures, street traffic that disappears at the most unexpected moments, and even insidious garbage bags on the side of the road, which are best avoided so as not to “bury” your vehicle.
However, if earlier Night City consisted almost entirely of bugs, now they occur at worst a couple of times per hour.
In this plan Cyberpunk 2077 definitely got prettier, going from a craft that belongs in early access mode on Steam to a decent AAA title of acceptable quality. If she had left in such a state a year ago, then there would have been no scandal around her.
Has the open world come to life?
Unfortunately, while catching bugs, the developers had to make some sacrifices. The first and most notable reducing the number of objects in the frame. What was proudly shown in trailers and arrived in a lame state before the release version, it was decided to simplify. In this way, the busy metropolis, with its heavy traffic and crowds of people on the streets, was noticeably empty.
The illusion of the living world remained only in plot-important locations, where it was simply indispensable to do without it. Anyone who expected to see an open world like GTA V, but in a cyberpunk scenery, is still going to be disappointed.
Local streets with their “saturation” are more reminiscent of NFS: Carbon than any of the parts of the Grand Theft Auto series.
You can accept such an open world only if you expect in advance from the game meditative trips from one mission to another, and not a city of the future living by its own laws, where anything can happen to the main character at any moment. If the marketing campaign had not tried to present the second option to gamers, the game’s reputation would have been much better.
In its current state the open world clearly hints at the fact that it was created as an appendage to the story and numerous quests. It was on them that the main attention of the developers was concentrated, who, frankly, should have made an adventure in a semi-corridor format, which would have helped them not to end up under a pile of their own ambitions.
The plot and lore of the game
Missions from the main storyline and various side quests were a year later remain perhaps the most outstanding element of Cyberpunk 2077. It’s not just about filler-filled, give-and-fetch side-quests (although it’s not without them), but also about skillfully crafted missions that reveal the complex characters and their backstories, as well as outline the society of the future in all details.
Now, when the deplorable technical state of the game is not striking, you can safely dive into sketches of different moods from the life of the inhabitants of Night City. Among them there was a place and political intrigues, and gang clashes, and murder investigations, and simple human joys.
In the triumphant third The Witcher, the developers have already demonstrated their ability to create memorable quests, and in Cyberpunk 2077 their prowess still shines brightly. They skillfully alternate explosive action sequences with quiet conversational moments, and horror-inspired scenes with comedy segments, while not forgetting completely unsweetened drama.
Almost every quest is able to get stuck in memory for a long time. An encounter with a cyberpsychic in a grocery store, a roller coaster ride with Silverhand, the beginning of a touching romance with Judy, attempts to unravel a complex conspiracy theory, a date with an aged Beast… the authors put their whole soul into the creation of missionsand this is what catches the story they told.
Characters
Not a single quest in the game would have worked properly if the authors had not bothered to prescribe voluminous heroes. With this studio CD Projekt RED coped perfectly well. Night City is inhabited by dozens of bright personalities with their own aspirations, fears and views on the society around them. Appearance, manner of speech, the cases in which they involve V – all this helps to see them not as a set of scripted pixels, but as real people.
Cyberpunk 2077 impresses with its colorful image gallery. In addition to the dead rebel rocker with revolutionary inclinations, who became the face of the game’s advertising campaign, the protagonist is expected to meet with cold-blooded corporations, notorious psychopaths and outwardly harsh, but not lost all human people who are simply trying to survive in the world of grotesque capitalism.
At the same time, they do not become hostages of beaten archetypes. Not every politician in the game is heartless, not every cop is corrupt, and not every goodie is pure at heart. They don’t want to dump their backstory (often tragic) on V and behave as real people would behave in their place.
That’s why the dialogues here are impressive in their naturalness. The characters react vividly to what is happening, are not shy about harsh expressions (someone abuses this at all) and, imbued with confidence in V, can open their souls to him. There are not many such touching moments in the game, but they all work at the highest level, for which once again the scriptwriters should be praised.
Prospects for the game and its development
According to the updated roadmap, the developers are not going to stop there. If in the past 12 months they have been busy releasing a string of patches and skimpy cosmetic content, then in 2022, the authors plan to make very significant changes to Cyberpunk 2077. Of course, they will not stop polishing the game with major patches, which, sooner or later, should rid the project of the remaining technical flaws.
Besides, Cyberpunk 2077 is finally making its way to next-gen consoles. No one has yet announced the exact date, but, according to the developers, this will happen no later than first quarter 2022. This version will available for free to anyone who previously purchased the game. Thus, already in March (and possibly even earlier), all owners of PS5 and Xbox Series X / S consoles will be able to walk around the updated Night City and its environs.
The creators call the planned release a “soft restart” of the project, since at the same time a weighty 1.5 patch with a portion of additional content should be released.
This is not the end of the game’s support. A major story DLC is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2022, which includes a lot of cosmetic items, a number of story missions that continue the stories of the main characters, as well as additional vehicles with advanced customization options. According to the developers, this DLC (like all those that should follow it) will be distributed free of charge to all owners of the basic version of Cyberpunk 2077.
All this indicates that the Polish studio takes its dream project with due seriousness. The developers admitted their mistakes, listened to the criticism from the gaming community and do not intend to give up until they bring their offspring to perfection. This professional ethic is already bearing fruit. It is enough just to look at increase in positive ratings on Steam.
If a year ago the project was bathed in negative reviews, then at the moment the vast majority of reviews (more than 424 thousand) are positive.
Results
In response to the question in the title, Playing Cyberpunk 2077 in 2022 is definitely worth it. Everyone who was once scared away by the scandal around the unfinished title is waiting for amazing quests, good gameplay, albeit lacking stars from the sky, as well as convincing characters and a wonderful, albeit not the most varied story. Moreover, returning to Night City is worth even those who have already managed to get to the final credits. Against the backdrop of upcoming patches and additions, it will be most welcome to get acquainted with all the plot branches of the game, rejoice at the absence of bugs and refresh your favorite moments in your memory.
In addition, the game is now often sold at sales with 50% discount.
Arguments for”:
- Action-RPG has gone from a disaster to a playable project
- In terms of the number of unique quests, Cyberpunk 2077 can compete with the best representatives of the genre
- High level of elaboration of dialogues and characters
Arguments against”:
- “Dead” open world
- The declared non-linearity of the story leaves much to be desired
For those who are just starting their acquaintance with the game, we recommend a few useful materials:
