Cyberpunk 2077, the game that carried on the longest, strongest hype train I’ve ever seen. This train did not deliver though. Didn’t really hit many of the stops along the way either. This was the train wreck of the game we all wanted, even needed, but never got.

As jumbled of a mess that this hot take review might be, the game was hardly worth the asking price of $59.99. It was only playable on PC with DLSS technology backing it on RTX cards. If you have a GTX card then you will suffer from the atrocious rendering issues without upscaling help that DLSS offers. If you had this on console, you lose. I mean this on the PS5 and Xbox Series X too. You just lose. The DLC upgrade is coming SO late in the lifecycle of the game for the next generation that it won’t even matter. At least the systems MIGHT be available to purchase along with this graphic upgrade. Regardless though, the game isn’t worth the typical asking price and I can try to explain why. Somewhat.

Cyberpunk 2077 suffers from an identity crisis. What is it trying to be and what is it trying to prove. Well… the game seems to want to be the last GTA open world and Witcher 3 RPG that you might ever need. Does it succeed at any part of that? No. As a prime example of what Rockstar can create with GTA 5 and their newest edition to detail perfection, Red Dead Redemption 2, there is A LOT missing with CDPR’s engine to make this a reality. Development time aside, games that were made many, many years ago seem to have better code to handle the ‘setting’ of Cyberpunk 2077. An open world city. Ask Twitter and be overwhelmed with comparisons. The RPG side can’t be worse since they made the Witch 3, yeah? It’s bad too. The entire game, ENTIRE GAME, will only boil down to a last decision at the end of the game. This includes all of the “choices” that you make that give you the illusion of making any difference. It is the worst. Bad code and dumb story for your character does not equal the game we imagined.

That was a very brushed over explanation of the major issues. If you only had one take to understand the problem then understand it’s not the Witcher 3 and can’t nail the GTA details.

Like I said though, the game has the biggest identity crisis. What we all wanted was something game changing. We need something game changing with forecasted release year being 2020. Obvious reasons. Boy howdy, it was not a good release. CDPR had no hand.

Surely something came from the game’s creation, no? Yes, something was delivered. The game is super amazing to look at in any light and any location. It’s gorgeous. A crying shame. There is a beauty that is on the same caliber as any other hot title out there like RDR2, Horizon Zero, Last of Us 1/2 and so on. The art was full throttle but the code was in low gear.

The company has apologized, refunded games, made new promises all to save face. It’s good and bad. We trust people like CDPR as they seem to be all in for our enjoyment. Apparently they too can fail us as gamers and fall to the likes of EA and such. The good? They want to make the game better, eventually. This repair will take a lot of time and they are going to work on it. I don’t ever think that this game can become what it was imagined to be. That would involve some kind of remake or reboot. Too much money.

This is the most stressful part of anyone’s review or thoughts on the game. I can’t become what it was set out to be. It’s a cake that needs 1000 ingredients and has 10 on launch day. This can’t be resolved.

Who’s to blame? Probably suits and management but it’s spilled milk now. No more tears. If it had 4 years with running code, it needed 8, if it had 8 then it needed 12 but this would be impossible to ask for with shareholders on a team like CDPR. Sigh.

These are my thoughts with no spoilers or any plot points. Just a generic overview of the game called Cyberpunk 2077.

PS. Lack of detail for story, mechanics and progression is due to the remains of the beaten horse this game has been subject too. It’s everywhere and described perfectly. I have no need to dig into the game.