Cyberpunk 2077 has finally released through numerous delays and a pandemic, does it live up to the hype? In Cyberpunk we get a glimpse into a not so distant future that revolves around technology and tells a bleak but believable story.

→ The narrative in Cyberpunk is the focal point of this game CD Projekt Red has crafted. It tells a tale of V’s journey from the bottom of the barrel all the way to the top. You are able to select three origin stories that really only affect the first hour of gameplay then all the origins are on the same track. The story of Cyberpunk is a thrilling one from start to finish, with many complications that you will encounter along the way. V has found himself in a heap of trouble, and has to find the right connections in order to solve his problem. In Cyberpunk there is never a dull moment, from ASMR brothels to Metal Gear Solid like infiltration missions you will always be on the edge of your seat!

→ The characters in Cyberpunk are what really sells the narrative, they are every bit as interesting and convoluted as the plot itself. I don’t believe I have come across many games that are able to give such believable and memorable characters. Each and every ‘main’ character you will come across have their own personal challenges, history, personal goals, and secrets that have you really form a bond with who they are. Untangling their inner motives and getting a deeper look at each character is a joy. Many characters have side missions that only further strengthen their personalities.

→ While there are many characters that come across as my favorite only one man can truly live up to that title, and that is Johnny Silverhand. Love him or hate him, he will grow and open up to V as you near the end of the story. At first he may seem like a selfish rockstar who has no regard for consequences but like most characters there is more than meets the eye. Learning his background and struggles, you will grow to realizing why Johnny is the way he is. Every other side character is just as fleshed out as him and it really sells the real world of Cyberpunk
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→ While the combat initially turned me off it eventually grew on me as I unlocked more perks to play around with. The combat is actually quite enjoyable when everything is working as intended. The guns feel meaty, the perks feel impactful, quick hacking is satisfying everything is headed on track. But then we get to the roadblock that is enemy AI. We have been spoiled by how far enemy AI has progressed over the years, and in this case it sure is a step back. From not reacting to the player to shooting through walls, there are all sorts of issues here.

→ Throughout your journey you will come across many different kinds of weapons, but only a limited amount of weapon classes. While it sure was fun for the first twenty hours to get any minor DPS increase, eventually I realized most of the guns are copy and paste with minor stat increases as you level. While weapon variety may be lacking, that doesn’t mean what is available isn’t enjoyable. Depending on your build any weapon class is a viable option, whether you choose to spec into pistols or shotguns you will wreak havoc regardless.

→ As you level you will receive points to pick into your favorite attributes and perk points to further solidify your playstyle of choice. This was one of the more enjoyable aspects of building V, as with each level you really feel the power increase. One other aspect of leveling I loved was that as you used pistols your actual sub-tree in each attribute increased in levels. It's almost the Skyrim system where you define your playstyle as your progress overtime.

→ Now what fun is a futuristic cyberpunk game that doesn’t involve robotic enhancements to your player. Thankfully this game delivers on allowing you to build your own super human of destruction. There are many implants that give you the ability to double jump or even turn getting poisoned into healing. Not only are you building the perfect cyber-human you are also able to modify your weapons to your liking. While Cyberpunk might not let you build the deepest backstory, it does offer various ways to define your playstyle to your choosing.

→ I dislike doing side content especially in ‘open world’ RPGs, they are usually half-baked content that is solely there for the purpose of inflating playtime. But Cyberpunk does it differently, many of the side quests have as important reveals and choices as the main plot. It has everything you could want in side quests, from street racing all the way to chasing down a taxis alternate personalities.
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→ Now we can talk about Cyberpunk without mentioning one of the biggest characters next to Johnny, and that is Night City. CD Projekt Red has failed to deliver on some promises regarding content in the game, but what it wholeheartedly succeeds at is creating a believable and lived in world. The city is cramp packed with details that most players will never get to see, taking the time to wander around and explore is one of my favorite past times!

→ This is the first truly ‘next-gen’ game I have experience in the visual department. Cyberpunk includes many of the latest features including RTX, DLSS, and more. They all come together in tandem to bring Night City to life. The textures are all incredibly detailed from V’s clothes all the way to the vendor's noodle stand, everything is realistic and beautiful. Lighting plays the prominent role in creating such a photo realistic environment. Every shadow is realistic and calculated by CD Projekt Red’s engine and only further enhanced with RTX on. The neon lights of Night City are jaw dropping and realistically disperse light across different textures. The textures, shadows, lighting, and more all come to bring such graphical fidelity.

→ Now performance on the other hand is another issue, without DLSS this game would be unplayable on the highest graphical settings. I ran this with a 5600x and a RTX 3080 and I was getting 45-80 FPS throughout the game, this is with every setting to the max. While I did certainly get playable frame rates, keep in mind the power needed to run this game at high fidelity.
→ Sound is also extremely well done in this game, gunshots in the distance or densely packed markets are all realistically recreated in Cyberpunk. The voice acting done is top notch, they help sell the characters with such greatly delivered lines. And it is all tied together by a licensed soundtrack that only further enhances the atmosphere. With heavy metal to heavy dubstep you have everything you could imagine to listen to in a Cyber like future.
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Let's be honest no game could live up to the hype created by Cyberpunk 2077, even though that CD Projekt Red delivers a fantastic RPG set in a Cyber realistic future with a thrilling narrative. But what is stopping me from rating Cyberpunk at the range it could be are the bugs, quality features, and horrible AI bringing it back down to Earth.

Lastly, the game is a bugfest at the moment, I won't go into detail as I am sure you have heard a lot about Cyberpunk and bugs these past couple weeks.

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