Had high hopes for Cyberpunk 2077 based on having enjoyed The Witcher 3, which really impressed with its gritty moral realism, ambiguity, and intriguing open-world exploration. The Witcher 3 had enough of a narrative arc to keep you engaged, but you never felt like you were on rails. You could travel where you wanted, when you wanted, and make your own decisions about how the story unfolds. The variety and depth of the main characters and their long-running relationships with Geralt were quite appealing as well.
Cyberpunk starts out promising, with the protagonist V befriending earnest, charismatic Jackie, but Jackie is killed as a plot device in the first major mission, and the game never really recaptures that hint of magic. Sure, you can still go where you want, when you want, but over the long run I felt like I had very little freedom to decide where the story ultimately went. I had to deal with Johnny, and I had to confront mega-corporation Arasaka. Neither of these major narrative threads proved particularly interesting, despite my best efforts to go along with what the developers wanted me to do (even when that wouldn't have been my ideal choice).
I won't even go into the well-documented bugs, except to say that my game did crash pretty much every session after about 1-2 hours. I just expected it and reloaded, enduring the rather tedious wait times. I didn't even start playing the game until a few months after release and it had been patched multiple times, but the crashes still happened. Overall, though, this review is based on the "best version" of the game -- assuming no crashes and all bugs worked out.
Night City is huge and dynamic -- you can't fault the developers for lack of ambition. But I was surprised how unlikeable and/or one-dimensional most of the main characters seemed to be. The voice actress for Panam must be the same actress who voiced Triss -- a character and voice that were much like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. On top of that, Panam was incredibly selfish and immature -- to the point where I just didn't want to help her at all after a few outings. The developers seem to count on sexy curves and hormones compelling you to do her bidding, but I actually got more pleasure from saying no and warning her clan leader. Then that entire plot line fizzled and disappeared -- other than the occasional bitter text message from her telling me what a **** I am. I did my best to stay on high ground and just ignored her.
Perhaps the most likeable NPC is actually a malfunctioning taxi service AI, which says a lot about how the NPCs are too shallow. The only NPC side plot I finished was River Ward, because he seemed like a well-meaning guy in a tight spot. The story of his missing nephew, unfortunately, turned out to be shockingly dark and disturbing. I was appalled in a way no game has ever made me feel before, and that's really saying something. To make matters worse, River wanted to get drunk and hit on me after it was all over -- ew! Alcohol is the aphrodisiac of the pathetically immature. Was it my bad for expecting better from a video game? Actually, no: Dragon Age did a fantastic job handling romance with delicacy and dignity.
I liked Judy somewhat, but the more I followed her story line, the more I found myself rolling my eyes and wondering whether I really should help her take over the "hospitality" business. I mean, she seemed to care about the well-being of those in "the profession," but I also felt a little like I was being used. I didn't want money or items in return, but just a sense that I really was doing the right thing, making Night City a better place, and maybe a little heartfelt gratitude. All of these sentiments were really hard to come by in Cyberpunk 2077. Hence, bleak.
There didn't seem to be too much of a connection between the way I leveled up my character and my ability to get through the story on my terms. Most encounters devolved into meat-grinding shootouts (or blunt-outs, since I often just swing a pipe willy-nilly to get through enemies). I tried stealth, I tried hacking, I would have liked to try talking or negotiating, but basically the game forced me to go thug mode in order to get through almost every encounter or mission. Other than the occasional satisfying sniper rifle pick-off, the gun play went from being choppy but mildly entertaining to ridiculously tedious and repetitive as the game wore on. I actually found myself running as fast as possible through the seemingly endless final mission just to avoid having to spend literally hours gunning down floor after floor of Arasaka security guards.
My original plan was to play the game through just trusting my gut and trying to finish the story without worrying about being too thorough, and then play it again as a different character with more of a completionist mindset. The first playthrough, I was a male Nomad new to Night City. In an effort to reach a satisfactory conclusion, I worked with Hanako Arasaka as much as I could, thinking that seemed to be the most sensible approach. But when she ultimately had her dead father's consciousness overwritten on her brother's mind, I was disgusted that I had been made an unwitting accomplice to such a despicable crime. The game didn't really let me do anything about it, although I had the feeling that wasn't the direction the developers thought most players would go. I think they assumed most players would want to nuke Arasaka to the ground (again), like Johnny did 50 years prior. That seemed like a childish solution to a complex problem that doesn't, in fact, solve it, as proven by the fact that Arasaka is still going strong 50 years after Johnny's desperate act. He changed nothing.
The second playthrough I started, I tried being a female Arasaka employee wrongfully dismissed. After a few hours, though, I realized my heart just wasn't in it. The selfishness and pettiness of the Night City NPCs (including Johnny) just wore me down to the point where I just didn't enjoy the thought of spending any more time with them. If this is the future, I want no part of it.
After spending the past month or more reflecting on the myriad failings of Cyberpunk 2077, I found myself questioning whether The Witcher 3 really was as good as I remember. Then I think about the Bloody Baron -- what a character! What a story! Fantastic dialogue voiced with unforgettable gravitas. Every time I solved one problem and peeled off a story layer, two more hair-raising issues were revealed. I couldn't decide whether I hated the guy, respected him, admired him, or felt sorry for him. All of the above, at one time or another. And the story -- yikes! I was riveted from beginning to end. There were no clear black-and-white solutions, just a muddy human problem. And I loved every minute of it.
Hopefully, the developers can learn from the mistakes of Cyperpunk 2077 and get back to crafting gritty, compelling narratives populated by complex, intriguing characters.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2021
Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: StandardVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2021
Platform For Display: PlayStation 4Edition: StandardVerified Purchase
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