One thing I think we can all agree on with Cyberpunk 2077: it's not been dull. I'm not sure the games industry has ever seen such stratospheric levels of excitement for one game. Unfortunately, this left a long way to fall when the wings came off spectacularly. In the following weeks after launch, the disaster capitalists on YouTube ate well and it became evident the game wasn't anywhere near ready to be kicked out into the wild. It still escapes me to this day how those in charge ever thought releasing the game in that state was ever going to end well. However, pressure is a funny thing and after a few delays, CD Projekt Red were under the cosh. 

While the road to redemption has not been as robust as No Man's Sky, there is no doubt that Cyberpunk 2077 has come a long way since those dark weeks before Christmas 2020. As my original review no longer reflects the current state of play, I decided to take the rare decision to re-review the game; including the most recent updates and expansion Phantom Liberty. So once again, let us step into the neon-bathed streets of Night City.

Tell me Lies

It was upsetting to see so many positive feelings turn to ash overnight, replaced by disappointment and anger: nobody should ever want to see a game fail. There are always real people facing very real consequences behind the scenes of game creation, which is always worth remembering before sending hateful messages to the developers. From my own perspective as a PC gamer, the game was actually in a working state and I was able to appreciate the solid core experience. While I was having a good time it was impossible to shut out the scandalous outcries that were playing out across the internet. That wasn't to say I was completely happy with Cyberpunk, far from it, but my issues were not really technical.

My beef with CDPR was more regarding the blatant lies they had told during the various press releases and trailers. Not even the kind that Sean Murrey had blurted out while gushing about features that we wouldn't see for years. No, these had been premeditated mistruths culminating around the fabrication of an entire ‘gameplay’ reveal in 2018. Within hours of launch, it was becoming clear so many features that CDPR had shown off were just not there. This deception went from massive omissions like the absent metro system to the false impression you could pick people up for sex who would then slink off in the early morning. Developers had talked about acid rain, NPCs with their own schedules and changing behaviour based on the time of day. With the shocking state of the console version, Sony removed the game from its store, CDPR shares went into freefall and this once beloved studio was now being threatened with legal action. As mentioned, these dark days were well covered so we can leave that chapter there. 

Meat and Potatoes

Cyberpunk 2077 is based on a tabletop role-playing game written by Mike Pondsmith, who has also acted as a consultant to CDPR in the development of the video game. The world of Cyberpunk is set in a  dystopian future where corporations have replaced governments and what it means to be human is being eroded due to the dawn of cybernetic enhancement. The first thing you will be asked to do in Cyberpunk 2077 is choose a life path and create your version of V. Each of the three character backgrounds will eventually run their course, converging together and opening up the city in the process. In the original cut of the game life paths were pretty much defunct after the opening sequence, apart from the odd dialogue choice here and there. It is great to see this part of your past has now been integrated into many more strings of dialogue.

I would say at first glance the character creation still gives a good impression with a decent range of categories such as nail patterns and teeth choices. There is even a choice regarding breasts and genitalia configuration (my hopes of a gun penis or rocket vagina were unfortunately dashed). It was only after I saw a few other friends and what they had created did it occur to me how similar we all looked. In a game that is played almost exclusively from a first-person viewpoint, it might seem odd that people would still want their looks just so. However, gamers are a funny lot and still, it seems most wanted a greater degree of customisation when it comes to body sliders and cybernetic limbs.

There are a wide range of clothes in Cyberpunk and in the early days, these would carry improvements to your core statistics.  In the lead-up to launch the developers had talked about how clothes would layer over armour properly but like so many promised features, they just didn't work with one hilarious glitch where male V had his dick poking through for all to see. Then came the much sought-after transmog system, which allowed you to have the clothing stats you desired while not looking like you got dressed in the dark. In the 2.0 update, things changed again with armour upgrades being linked to cyber wear and so this leaves the player to invoke their best look without compromise. 

The Big Smoke

Night City is very much front and centre for the entire game; in many ways, it is one of the main characters. When I first started exploring Night City I was often stopped in my tracks as I caught sight of the monolithic skyscrapers and giant industrial units that dominate the skyline. There are also so many locations that offer unique structures or show enticing neon back streets promising salacious encounters. It can often feel a little overwhelming as there is just too much to take in all at once. 

I have always loved games that feel like more than the sum of their parts and that invite you to explore them like a digital tourist. I will often tap the walk button and just stroll through the many areas of the city. Markets, ganglands, high-class hotels and so many more. Even when getting up close and personal, I have felt like individual places you visit have that grimy layer to them in the form of graffiti, human detritus and visual storytelling of events long past. Industrial gases seem to be escaping from every conceivable vent, flying vehicles buzz like flies in the skyline and the whole city seems to shift endlessly. 

It was unfortunate that at launch there were plenty of cracks in this impressive veneer. The systems that make everything work from pedestrian pathfinding to how people react when you pull your heat. It was here that the illusion collapsed in on itself and Night City looked more like a stage of props. Since then there has been a lot of work done to improve these systems. People no longer walk around in a loop on the same ten-foot stretch of pavement. Cars will no longer sit, dumbfounded by another car blocking the road. Even little touches like how some members of the public will fight back when provoked or car-jacked. It all acts as the glue that holds the illusion together and makes it feel like a living city. 

Hot Fuzz

When a developer is putting a city-based action game together certain ingredients are vital. Games like Watchdogs, Sleeping Dogs and of course, GTA all have their own interpretation of a police system. When it launched, Cyberpunk did have police in the game but they were laughably bad. It was obvious the developers hadn't had time to implement a proper system like GTA where police would detect crime and travel to your location from a reasonable distance away. Instead, they would just teleport in wherever you stood, even in closed-off rooms. 

Thankfully one of the big improvements that came with 2.0 was a full-blooded cop system that is in line with what gamers were expecting in the vanila game. Police officers are now patrolling the city streets and will react to many of your rum doings. They will then give chase with plenty of gusto, but not too much. As you run and commit more naughty deeds the star rating will ramp up until you hit five, when MaxTac will descend on you like an anvil. 

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Violence is the beat to which Night City dances and thankfully it is a Smörgåsbord of savage delights. Very quickly you will see that even small encounters in this game will have V swimming in ordnance from pistols, shotguns, rifles and so on. As is standard in most RPGs there is a colour grade which shows the quality of the weapon from grey (basic) right up to Orange (legendary). Some of these weapons can also come with an Ionic status indicated by the pattern on the icon, these weapons are ones you should try and keep because they have additional significance (and have a special place in your foam wall stash). 

Since release the games combat has seen a huge amount of changes. These include how basic ballistics work, throwing knives becoming a legitimate way of fighting and a UI that makes it all work so well. Weapons have always felt good to use from Power Snipers blowing holes in cover to smart weapons bending bullets around corners. I like how stamina is now linked to firing your weapons as this now feels like a better way to guide combat decisions. As you approach each encounter you are always given so many choices on how to process. Going in quiet, using your cybernetic legs to leap to the roof and find a skylight to slip into. Or maybe infiltrate the building's camera system, causing chaos with quick hacks along the way. There are just so many options at your cyber-fingertips. The new additions have just made things even more interesting, for example, taking control of a gang member's car and then mowing them all down with it is hilarious.

In terms of melee combat the base game did feel quite clunky but this aspect has also seen a lot of refinement both in the way V moves and the choices open to you. Classic arm upgrades like Monowire and Mantis Blades can now eviscerate groups in seconds and come with their own finisher moves. Specing in the Cool stat also makes a throwing knife more deadly than smallpox in the right hands. If you are going for a katana swishing assassin there is room for that too. For my next play through I'm planning on going for full strength and pulverising my enemies with lethal gorilla arms implants.

One Ping Only!

For me, the highlight of combat in Cyberpunk has to be hacking into people's neural interface and causing a whole manner of effects. It always starts with a press of my mouse thumb button which brings up my augmented cybervision (which really reminds me of how the Terminator sees the world). With one Ping the world becomes a menu for fucking with my enemies in some very creative ways. 

Maybe I will reboot someone's optics and slip past them or just collapse their entire neural core, dropping them like a sack of spuds. Or switch a sentry gun to fire on its owners. Many systems in a building are vulnerable to your machinations. Goons can be distracted towards a large TV, for example, and then blinded by it. Industrial equipment can be overloaded and explosive canisters detonated. Working your way through a building's camera system and decimating an enemy gang before you've even set foot in there is very satisfying. 

Of course, there are other net runners out there and they will be onto my activity unless I cover my tracks, maybe a memory wipe or just take them out first. Once I've dispatched a few outliers I might start getting a bit more aggressive with a forced suicide or even send the toughest-looking enemy into full cyberpsychosis. This is where the games improved enemy AI and pathing is shown off. I love how certain weapon types lend themselves to particular skill sets and for edge runners it’s smart weapons. If things do break into an open fight I will sheath my dagger and start taking heads off with my smart sniper rifle. Quick hacking has not always worked perfectly with some skills just flat-out broken. However, the whole skill tree has now been reworked and is a joy to use.

Suspension of Disbelief 

In some respects, the original game did live up to the hype and even exceeded it. Brain Dancing, for example, is one of my favourite parts of the game and the first time I tried it I was blown away. In a sort of ad hoc tutorial, you get to see a short recording of someone’s life right before they die. The computer builds a three-dimensional set from the person's senses which you can then navigate and analyse. As you run back and forth through this sensory imprint there will be various areas of interest that present themselves visually, through audio or even heat sources. The only issue I have with this fantastic investigative tool is that it just isn’t used enough.

As the game is kicking off there is another cool section where Jackie offers you a training package which is accessible through slotting a shard into the back of your head. What follows is a basic but fun set of training missions which give you the basics on combat, hacking etc. There are a few main story missions where you enter a virtual cyberspace but I think this could also have been used more and even some procedural missions for those who wish to carry on playing after the main story is done.

Escape Velocity

It is hard to know exactly when public opinion shifted on Cyberpunk but I would say it was around the time when the insanely popular Edge Runner series appeared on Netflix. I remember hearing that people had been reinstalling the game, just because the show had stoked interest in the world of Cyberpunk again. I loved how much of the game was shown off in the show, from making calls to actual characters you interact with in the game. This also went full circle with some content regarding the series being added to the game. It was the perfect push at a time when opinion was already just starting to turn. 

The big shift was undoubtedly when 2.0 arrived with the much-anticipated expansion Phantom Liberty. Even if you didn't pick up the expansion, 2.0 was a free update for all owners of the game and it was a monster. A reworked perks system, vehicle combat, improvements to cyber ware and many smaller changes like how stamina was now tied to gunplay. The aforementioned police system and improved car combat are such a great combination, complementing each other perfectly. Also being able to disrupt other vehicles with quick hacks reminded me of the fun you can have in Watchdogs. 

A Day in the Life 

It cannot be understated how important the modders have been to the current state of Cyberpunk. Way before the current swell of good will, modders were in there, fixing issues and adding features that the developers had just not managed to implement. In fact two of the best features of the 2.1 update, the Metro and Hang Outs, had already been added through mods. As you would hope, the official metro system implemented in 2.1 is more meaty than the mod equivalent. The mod for example was more like a personal shuttle than a crowded tube, but the fact they got this working at all was very impressive. 

It is clear that many gamers out there (myself included) want immersion and lots of it. Sure the heart-pumping action sequences, blistering combat and high-octane car chases are all great but outside of that I want to live the life of a Cyberpunk. I want to sit and eat noodles like Deckard in Blade Runner and not just press on a menu icon. I want to spend time with my chosen partner, dance in a club and then go home to fuck like champs. I want to feel the industrial grime on my skin and sit high in the rafters of the city with my morning coffee. This is why 2.1 was such an unexpected treat as CDPR has clearly been listening to the community. In a documentary from Gamespot, one community manager from CDPR was telling the dev's players had been asking for a walk button. The devs initially didn't get it, ‘why would you want to walk? It takes longer to get there!’ We now have an official walk button. 

Escape from Night City

In addition to the wealth of new features that came with 2.0, the first and last expansion for Cyberpunk landed alongside it. Phantom Liberty is a substantial chunk of content that is set in the brand-new area called Dog Town. It’s an area where even the Night City police department dare not venture but this isn't the only reason it reminds me of the 1981 film Escape from New York. Once you have made a good amount of progress in the base game you will be contacted regarding a special mission in Dog Town. I won't go into details for the sake of spoilers but the main goal is to save the President as her plane is heading to crash into this lawless enclave.

Like Snake Plissken, you are tasked with getting the Commander-in-chief out of this hostile zone with all her chrome intact. Ironically, you are also in a race against time and saving the Lady President could also lead to your own salvation. Like the main game, there is a fantastic opening sequence which gets you into Dog Town and introduces some of the key players. Soon after that, you will seek the aid of Solomon Reed, a master spy embedded within the underbelly of the city. This is pure spy porn, like how you must contact Solomon with an old phone line hidden in a disused safe house. Many of the missions that follow are also espionage-themed and really show that CDPR still know how to make engaging quests.

Solomon is played by Idris Elba who exudes quiet confidence and strength of conviction. I love Keanu Reeves and think he was a great fit for Johnny Silverhand, but Elba’s performance outshines everyone else by a country mile. It has to be said that Reeves does seem to have shifted up a gear for his part in this expansion and shows a more playful side to his psyche. There are also great performances from Minji Chang who plays Songbird and Kay Bess who plays the tough-as-nails President. 

Dog Town itself is a visual treat and shows a more deprived and run-down section of the city. Many buildings are now just a carcass of their former glory and are infested with depraved gangs. Simply driving around involves picking your way through the many wrecks and debris left from endless fighting between the various factions: this isn't an area to test your fastest new ride. There has also been a lot of work done on the NPCs that cross your path. Some will be smashing up advertising screens or arguing about recent events. Like the main game, there are also plenty of side quests to poke at and I highly recommend you do. CDPR has always been great at making side quests and these often rival the game's main quest. 

I like the fact that while Dog Town is pretty insulated from the main city you are not completely cut off from it. You can leave at any time, via the scanning checkpoint, and carry on with jobs outside of the expansion. In fact some new quest types, like car acquisition, help mesh the two areas together. As I have done a complete playthrough in the run-up to the expansion, I did start with the highest-level gear possible. I think it's a shame there isn't a new tier of gear above legendary to seek in the new area and quick hacks only get an iconic version with no real stat improvements. However, there is a new section to explore on the skill tree which also ties in with one of the main characters. Phantom Libery does everything an expansion should and does it well. It is just a shame they have said this will be the only one.

Can it Run Cyberpunk?

Cyberpunk was always an impressive-looking game, even when it first launched. Of course, I'm talking about PC, the consoles had their own set of performance issues. In 2021 I upgraded my gaming rig to an overclocked 3080ti system with all the trimmings. The first game I decided to try was Cyberpunk and with the new Psycho RTX mode it was glorious. Not content with this huge visual jump, the most recent update saw the implementation of true Path Tracing, dubbed as an experimental mode only really suitable for the new 4080/4090 GPUs. Path Tracing (or Overdrive mode) makes light act as it does in the real world: the downside is it requires a ridiculous amount of oomph to run.

I remember there were many videos of people with new 4090 cards, crying as their state-of-the-art rigs were brought to their knees. Nvidia did release an exclusive version of DLSS (3) which for those 4000 series owners saved the day and got their FPS back into the double digits. My initial attempt to run path tracing on my 3080ti was a very depressing slap across the face. However, there have been a few updates now which, with DLSS set to auto, I can run everything else on max at 1440p with Path Tracing enabled. However, is it worth it?

As you can see in the video linked above, path tracing is a whole new ball of wax when it comes to lighting in gaming. I'm not a graphics wizard like the guys at Digital Foundry but I know that path tracing improves every single place in cyberpunk and the difference is astounding. Shadows no longer look placed, they are just exactly where they should be. As you sneak through a dimly lit office, a simple desk lamp pours energy onto every object around it. Scenes like this envelop you in atmosphere, like the sets in Blade Runner did so well. Shadows stop being just blocks of darkness and instead become this almost intelligent force that threatens to swallow you whole. Yes, path tracing is most assuredly worth it and I cannot wait to see it improve alongside more powerful hardware.

Conclusion 

You can't blame CDPR for wanting to move on from Cyberpunk 2077. I know that while the people in charge made some very flawed decisions, there are hundreds of passionate developers working within the studio and the disastrous launch hit them hard. In a way it's a shame they have fought their way through adversity to a wonderful platform, finally primed for new adventures and the company is moving on to other projects. What is even more bizarre to me is that CDPR is now working on Cyberpunk 2077 2. Surely with the game in such a great place, it makes sense to add more content: maybe they will.

As it stands now, Cyberpunk 2077 has gone from a cautionary tale to one of the greatest redemption stories in gaming, second only to No Man's Sky. Night City is a truly impressive body of work and now, thanks to a lot of hard work it not only looks good but has some meat on its bones. My intention was always to start a brand new save when Phantom Liberty arrived and enjoy the game again with all the improvements. There is, of course, the new content itself and even a brand-new ending for those who have finished the base game before. 

If Phantom Liberty really is the last major content we will see for Cyberpunk 2077, then at least they went out on a high note. However, I suspect it will be a playground for modders for years to come.