Cyberpunk 2077 continued

 Though I've been avoiding details, I know there's a lot of controversy out there about Cyberpunk 2077's release state. CD Project Red has been one of the more consumer-friendly development/production studios for games since... well, at least the release of The Witcher 3, possibly 2. The studio has been a darling of the video gamer realm, so such a troubled release is a big burn to a lot of people. I find that tragic as there's a solid game there that I'm thoroughly enjoying.

Even with my experience of low-severity bugs, I can see the game would have benefitted from further patching and polish. Without much research, I would expect the pressure to not delay again and push back into a new year was too much for the company. And, as a company, it's fair to suffer the backlash for that, though I find myself really feeling for the developers who were (and probably still are) working hard to improve the state of the game.

As said, though, I'm still quite enjoying it. Over the weekend, I played through to an ending with my first character, seeing a rather bittersweet finale play out. Instead of reloading a save to play other endings, though, I decided to start anew with the intent to play a bit more broadly. My first playthrough covered most of the major side content, but probably not all.

A new lifepath doesn't change a lot. The do give a little more perspective on the world and each seems to cast Jackie in a slightly different light starting out, but they all funnel in together to the same big heist that sets the main plot in motion.

Playing on Hard (as opposed to Normal) makes a bit more functional difference in my experience. Granted, in the early hours of the game, gear is limited, but combat is definitely more challenging. So far, that has made things more interesting too, even if taking on a side job gang den takes way longer when you have to pay close attention to pick things apart rather than having the option of just running in and gunning everyone down. I do wonder how brutal the boss encounters will be, though

So let's see... more reviewy thoughts...

Bugs aside, there is certainly missed potential. The braindance ("BDs") thing is both an interesting concept that could allow for all sorts of little side experiences and an interesting mechanic that is very underused in the editing form - pretty much used to recon in one heist and that's about it. In fact, I would say what I would most want out of the game would be more complex, multi-part missions. There are a handful in the main story and a few more that interconnect with that, but most of the "jobs" in the game are straightforward with a single location and objective. Those can be engaging in the moment, but aren't memorable after. Maybe it'd be nice to be able to do a little more in cyberspace. Otherwise, I'm not too sure what more I'd want out of it.

Barring bugs, the characters look good and are pretty well animated during conversations. The scenery and setting in general is good (albeit with some cyperpunk genre-specific "problems"). The gunplay is satisfying. The story mostly works for me. Amusingly, I see strong connections to both Johnny Mnemonic (1995, also featuring Reeves) and Freejack (1992) in some of the core conceits, whether by chance, design, or just confines of the genre.

So... yeah. Still awesome game in my perspective - I just wish it worked as well for everyone.