In an effort to write a Steam review for every game that has demanded my attention (and money), even if only for a fleeting moment in time... it's time for Cyberpunk 2077 to take the stage. So without further ado, let's get the party started.

My experience with CP2077 started out rather great and then slowly developed into a love hate relationship as the stark reality of the unpolished gem that it is dawned on me. The early game is fantastic and continued to impress me at every turn. There are some fresh ideas and mechanics at play here. The story, pacing, game world and lore are all immersive, and as a huge sci-fi fan, it was easy to fall for Cyberpunk early on. The eye candy is delicious (HDR and RTX on ultra and DLSS on quality). The music is consistently on point, carries the mood well, and has enough diversity to not become repetitive.

The RPG layers run deep and should scratch any RPG itch, albeit with one or two missed opportunities that take time to surface. Refreshingly, each unique build will actually play out differently, which means you can really craft the build you want, providing plenty replayability. It's not all good news though, while the clothing and cyberware RPG elements were great, I found the weapon RPG elements to be rather weak and as such, major missed opportunities - weapon mods and attachments were meh at best. Thankfully, the gun play made up for this to a large degree. It felt rock solid, and overall Cyberpunk sported some of the best guns I've had the pleasure to play with in a video game (Ashura Smart Sniper Rifle and Skippy... I'm talking to you). The choice of smart, power and tech weapons add a lot of choice, far more than can be (properly) explored in a single play through. The controls and movement are fluid and responsive, which was a quite a relief given the poor state of the game on launch (both KBM and XB controller).

I had no crashes or serious bugs but I did have lots of small immersion-breaking bugs that over time turned my love affair with Cyberpunk into a love hate relationship (as I mentioned in my intro). Recurring bugs (as of March 2021) included: Getting stuck in the environment and having to restart checkpoints, bullets not registering, item pick-ups not registering, people walking on air, feet disappearing into walls, stairs etc., multiple dialogue lines talking over one another at the same time, bugged missions which meant some achievements did not pop, enemies stuck in places on missions that are not accessible, instant police (shoot some mugs on the side of the road and NCPD is there in seconds, and they come in force), and to put the cherry on the top, when you finish the game, you are sent back to your last save point before you departed "the point of no return", thereby losing the XP and stuff you picked up in the final chapters and finale - really irritating.

The HDR was decent after some tweaking. It's not the best I've seen, but it was good enough to tick the eye candy box and keep me coming back for more. The ray tracing is top dollar though. Performance-wise, considering all the bugs and well-deserved bad media coverage, the game is very well optimised and ran smoothly (frame rate etc.).

So, what do I think of the most anticipated game of 2020? CP2077 is a great game but sadly it is a missed masterpiece in my books. It could have been one of the greatest games I have played but in the state that I played the game (Dec 2020 to March 2021), it was not able to live up to that accolade. It did however live up to many of my expectations - and my expectations were high, so that's high praise. It gets a questionable 8/10. I will still sink more hours into Night City and its Cyberpunk world in a few months time, once CDPR release more patches. I did a Nomad run, which was a fun way to play the game (I enjoyed the Nomad lore). There's still the Corp and Street Kid runs as well but I'll save one of those for a second play through in a few years time (probably Corp).

For context, here is the rating scale I use for all games:

10 = Must play
9 = Excellent
8 = Great
7 = Good
6 = Above average
5 = Average
4 = Below average
3 = Rubbish
2 = Anthem
1 = FO76
0 = Marvel Avengers