The release of Cyberpunk 2077 is the most hype event in the gaming industry in a long time. I can’t even remember the last time there was such a game that so much attention was riveted to one game. Gamers were waiting for an unambiguous masterpiece, but they got a contradictory game, the most important claim to which is that it works as it should only on top-end machines. The rest right now have to literally make their way to the heights of Night City through a jumble of bugs, graphical glitches and disastrous optimization, and those who are even less fortunate have to go to YouTube. The experience that this game can bring to the user varies significantly from platform to platform. We started Cyberpunk 2077at the same time with the whole world, because the preview key was not provided to us in advance, like many other media. For three days, our production editor Alexander Nikitenko was literally connected to the game via a neural interface and spent about 50 hours in it. For the first time, in order to write a detailed review, it was necessary to take notes in a notebook, of which there were several pages of the “Shadow Blade 5e“. This is not an ordinary review, but a deconstruction and detailed analysis of the most anticipated game of the generation. Therefore, the introduction will be a little more than usual – we will have to voice several things at once so that we do not have any misunderstandings.
Foreword
Firstly, as soon as information surfaced that CD Projekt RED did not give early clues to the entire press, everyone immediately had doubts – it seems that something is wrong with the game stardew valley fighter or scout. We released material about the oddities of the Cyberpunk 2077 marketing campaign back in late November and received unexpectedly many dislikes from fans of the Polish studio on YouTube . However, after the release, our fears were not only confirmed: few people could have even imagined in what form the game would be released on the base PlayStation 4 and Xbox One . And perhaps even fewer people could have admitted that popularly loved developers would make such a dubious business decision. I ran the game on a PC with a Ryzen 5 3600 andGeForce RTX 2070 Super , which made it possible to play on ultra-graphics settings in high resolution, albeit with unstable fps. Therefore, it should be borne in mind that I received a gameplay experience of the most comfortable level, therefore, this working version of the game will be reviewed. After all, the one that came out on low-end consoles or weak PCs hardly lends itself to this characteristic.
Breakthrough or overhype?
Let’s start with the essentials: Is Cyberpunk 2077 a breakthrough or the most basic game that shouldn’t have made such a fuss? Breakthrough, but local. The game consists of the components we are used to, but a number of things the developers from F95ZoneProjekt RED do not at all like others do. They have created every smallest detail to fulfill one main function – to achieve an unprecedented level of immersion. Structurally, this is a modern first-person action RPG that builds on the ideas of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines , Fallout: New Vegas , Kingdom Come: Deliverance and even more recently The Outer Worlds . However, she directs dialogues absolutely unprecedentedly and sets a new level of quality for everyone here.
In the games listed above (and in many others with RPG-style games – for example, Horizon: Zero Dawn ), the characters simply stand in front of each other and exchange lines when CD Projekt RED demonstrates a production that is more inherent in third-person games with pre-directed cutscenes. Only the player looks at all this action from the first person – and, more importantly, acts as a kind of auxiliary director, adjusting plans with the direction of his gaze. To achieve such an effect, the developers not only carefully work out the scenery in which the action takes place, but also select the optimal location for the player and arrange the NPCs in the frame so that the user does not have to turn his head too much.
How Cyberpunk 2077 immerses itself
In the meantime, let’s return to the artistic part, because it is in Cyberpunk 2077.fights on the spot. Every corner of Night City fulfills not only an obvious aesthetic function, but also works for visual immersion – just like dialogues. It doesn’t matter which part of the city you find yourself in: there will always be something to see. Miserable panel high-rise buildings and corporate skyscrapers, billboards, neon signs, shop windows, gloomy gateways and a huge dump of garbage bags right on the roadway under the bridge – the world is not only beautiful, it also informs the player about itself, highlighting the many everyday details of the city of the future … He is not only beautiful in form, but also meaningful. Only one advertisement that is shown on local TV can tell a lot about the mores and intellectual level of society – and here, by the way, there are many references to the cult “Idiocracy” by Mike Judge .
Black mirror “Idiocracy”
That is, regardless of game mechanics, plot and other content, the game looks like a cool excursion in itself to 2077. But – what a surprise – there is still everything else. Let’s start with the plot: it can be most succinctly characterized by the adjective “smart”. Cyberpunk 2077 Narrativevery reminiscent of the first seasons of “HuniePop 2“, telling the player about the miracles that can be done with the human mind using high technology, and about the consequences to which this leads. Coupled with an unprecedented audiovisual part, this just blows your head: even duty notes often reveal curious details of the world and give answers to questions that you have not even asked – but now you are sure to move your convolutions. Of course, the players will find the most interesting for themselves in the quests, which tell the most remarkable stories of Cyberpunk 2077… At the same time, some side missions will give the main plot a hundred points ahead. Perhaps it would be better to give one example of an unimportant side quest that you may not even come across than to praise a narrative without arguments. Therefore, if you are afraid of even petty spoilers, you will have to take our word for it and not click on “More”.
