Update 5/5/24: this is one of the greatest comeback stories in gaming history. CDPR ought to be commended for their efforts turning things around. At launch, it was an absolute mess. Now, it's one of the greatest games of all time. No longer do the performance, bugs, and jank get in the way of the incredibly engrossing world and story. Original review below for poserity:

I really wanted to like this game. I tried very hard. And there are certainly a lot of things that the game does right; the voice acting is mostly phenomenal, the story is engaging, the gunplay is fun. But the bugs are incessant and game-breaking, the side missions get thrown at you via annoying phone calls (that you can't ignore) over and over and over again, the NPCs are lifeless, the AI is dumb, and there's so much more that ruins what could be an awesome experience. This game isn't ready for release yet. I'd like to revisit it in a year or so and see if they've worked everything out, but as fun as it can be I cannot recommend it in this state.

UPDATE 11/11/21: Well, I put this game on ice back in February to see if they could patch it up over the course of the year. I just re-installed it and finished the campaign. It's still full of bizarre bugs, some of them nearly game-breaking. I haven't done much roaming around Night City doing side missions; just finished up the main campaign, and the overall story is still pretty good and full of interesting and memorable characters, but the fact that the main missions were still as bugged now as they were at launch doesn't bode well for the future of this game.

Update 5/5/24: this is one of the greatest comeback stories in gaming history. CDPR ought to be commended for their efforts turning things around. At launch, it was an absolute mess. Now, it's one of the greatest games of all time. No longer do the performance, bugs, and jank get in the way of the incredibly engrossing world and story. Original review below for poserity: I really wanted to like this game. I tried very hard. And there are certainly a lot of things that the game does right; the voice acting is mostly phenomenal, the story is engaging, the gunplay is fun. But the bugs are incessant and game-breaking, the side missions get thrown at you via annoying phone calls (that you can't ignore) over and over and over again, the NPCs are lifeless, the AI is dumb, and there's so much more that ruins what could be an awesome experience. This game isn't ready for release yet. I'd like to revisit it in a year or so and see if they've worked everything out, but as fun as it can be I cannot recommend it in this state. UPDATE 11/11/21: Well, I put this game on ice back in February to see if they could patch it up over the course of the year. I just re-installed it and finished the campaign. It's still full of bizarre bugs, some of them nearly game-breaking. I haven't done much roaming around Night City doing side missions; just finished up the main campaign, and the overall story is still pretty good and full of interesting and memorable characters, but the fact that the main missions were still as bugged now as they were at launch doesn't bode well for the future of this game.