This review contains some minor spoilers for cyberpunk 2077, but these spoilers are not discussed in detail.
It’s safe to say that CD Project Red have had a tough few years dealing with the fallout of Cyberpunks 2077’s last Gen release in 2020. Through some tall tales that were told during development and a cold fact that no base PS4/Xbox one footage was shown off. It’s safe to say that the release didn’t go as well as both the player base and the developers had hoped. Game breaking bugs were reported globally across any last Gen version of the game, and due to a delayed PS5/Xbox SX version, there weren’t many saving graces. But it’s a new year, and CDPR has been hard at work fixing their brainchild since release.
So, with all that being said, I took a dive back into Night City to see if the new hardware and updates could take the bad taste left by the first release.
As this was a new version, I decided to start a new game entirely so I could walk in with that fresh new game feel and boy did it deliver. Between the Load times taking a few seconds and the clear and present graphical updates that are running super smooth, things were off to a great start.
The new-gen version includes all the features that devs brag makes a game immersive, Ray tracing and all that kaboodle. This does lead to the world having a greater sense of immersion as looking realistic is one thing but maintaining a solid frame rate also helps, and both are here. I could see all these graphical marvels within the first few minutes of the game. Although the character creator was still a little lacking in my opinion (although thanks for the big schlong CDPR) the details of V are far more apparent here.
As I played through V’s intro story, started a bromance to a kick-ass montage and began my journey as a mercenary again, I was genuinely excited. The story of Cyberpunk 2077 is a well written one in my opinion, and although I won’t spoil anything for new players, it was nice to see the fog cleared so this could be appreciated. I say the fog was cleared but they cleared it and gave you new eyes because we also got a boatload of updates that made this game tight in both mechanics and style.
The driving that was heavily criticized as being stiff and uninteresting has been overhauled for drifting and freedom. The side missions have been given progression leading to a build-up of difficulty from the fixers of night city, creating a greater sense of balance. The crowds of this legendary city are there and actually interact now, some of them even call you out and enter combat with you.
This game has become the virtual ecosystem that CDPR aimed for when they first showed us gameplay, although not on Free guy’s level this system works incredibly well. To boot there are a few quality of life updates that make returning players lives easier, for example, skippable tutorials. One tutorial involving video playback and detective work takes a good long 15 minutes to get through! Inclusions of features like this can make replayability less of a drag and get gamers back to shooting or romancing.
I could sit here and keep naming fix’s but ultimately, you’re here (if you got this far, you supportive beast) to know if this game should be played or bought. My answer is absolutely it should be bought and played. CDPR will never need to pay me for saying this (would be nice) but they are masters at creating immersive and sprawling worlds and this game is no exception.
Of course, after the initial release in 2020, people’s guard would be up and rightly so, but I could see a solid game beneath the bugs and crashes. I am here to tell you that this is ‘that game’ that we were promised, and if you give this another chance, I do not believe you will be disappointed.
So, what are you waiting for? Get your skinnies on, grab that baggy expensive coat and bring your inhaler too because Cyberpunk 2077 new-gen is here, and it is incredible.
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