Cyberpunk 2077 Five Years On
Cyberpunk 2077 is a game I came to pretty late and, honestly, by complete accident. After watching the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime, I wanted to give the source material a proper go. The game holds a weird place in gaming history for its state at launch. CD Projekt RED, the studio famed for The Witcher series, had cultivated a lot of hype for the game, blending a sci-fi setting and strong RPG mechanics, unlike anything I can remember. When it actually launched at the end of 2020, though, it was a catastrophe. Numerous bugs appeared early and often, with characters and objects glitching out, massive FPS drops, and frequent crashes. It was unplayable even on high-end PCs at the time, and Sony pulled it from sale entirely on PlayStation 4, offering full refunds. The studio took a serious hit, but did not walk away from it. CD Projekt RED quietly spent years fixing, updating, and rebuilding the game, and now over five years later, here we are.
What it has become is something worth talking about. Going in with no real expectations beyond what the anime had set up, I had no idea what kind of experience was waiting for me, and yet what I got was something that genuinely surprised me at almost every turn. This is not the Cyberpunk 2077 that burned so many people in 2020, and keeping that in mind matters a lot when understanding why it deserves the much more positive attention it is getting now.
[caption id="attachment_186239" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Driving through Night City is one of the best ways to take in just how much detail CD Projekt RED packed into the world.[/caption]
Cyberpunk 2077 puts players in the shoes of V, a mercenary whose look, background, and starting skills can be customised before the game begins. A life path is chosen at the start: Nomad, Street Kid, or Corpo, each of which shapes how V is introduced to Night City, how certain characters react, and how some early situations play out. The impact of this choice is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, but it does get referenced throughout the game and gives V a sense of identity from the very beginning. No matter the path chosen, V eventually crosses paths with Jackie Welles, and the two team up to run gigs and chase the dream of becoming legends. The duo is eventually roped into a mission that leaves V stuck with an unremovable chip containing the personality construct of Johnny Silverhand, a terrorist who attempted to destroy Arasaka fifty years earlier. The chip begins overwriting V's personality with his, and after clashing with Johnny, the two realize they need to work together to find a solution. It is a strong setup, one that hooks immediately and gives the story a personal urgency that carries through to the end, and the way the relationship between V and Johnny develops as a result is one of the most compelling dynamics in recent RPG memory.
One of the strongest parts of Cyberpunk 2077 is the characters encountered as V's story progresses. Each one brings their own motivations, loyalties, and problems rooted in Night City. Panam Palmer, a member of the Nomad tribe called the Aldecaldos, significantly impacts how the story unfolds. Judy Alvarez, a braindance technician encountered before a pivotal heist, carries a storyline that cuts surprisingly deep. Takemura Goro pulls V back from a near-death experience and offers an unlikely alliance, wanting to work together to bring down the current CEO of the Arasaka corporation. The most compelling presence throughout, however, is Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves. During the game, he significantly affects V's decisions and sense of self, just as V has the same effect on him, and that push and pull between the two is what drives the emotional core of the entire experience.
[caption id="attachment_186240" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Panam Palmer, one of Night City's most compelling reasons to keep going.[/caption]
The characters are just one piece of a much bigger package, though. Where Cyberpunk 2077 excels in its story, it doesn't skimp on other aspects of the game either. It offers a wild array of weapons, from katanas that burn enemies while slicing through them to guns that practically talk their wielder's ear off. The game also provides a wealth of cyberware implant options to suit any play style. Whether keeping distance and eliminating enemies through quick hacks, or using a Sandevistan like David Martinez from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners to close the gap and shred foes up close, the game accommodates it all. That said, getting to that point takes a while. The early hours can feel quite restrictive, with combat and stealth options feeling limited before there has been enough time to properly build out a character. The loot system does not help matters either, with most of what gets picked up feeling pretty unremarkable for a large portion of the game. But once things open up, the flexibility gives Cyberpunk 2077 enormous replay value, encouraging experimentation with entirely different builds each time Night City is revisited.
Where the game truly shines, though, is in its immersion. CD Projekt RED absolutely nailed making Night City feel alive, and it shows just by walking around that this wasn't some rushed, soulless release. The detail crammed into every corner of that city screams passion project. The graffiti on the walls alone tells stories about the struggles and cultures of its residents. V's apartment adds to that intimacy too. Small things like being able to look in the mirror or take a shower make V feel like an actual person rather than just a blank protagonist being steered around. NPCs go about their lives, react to the world around them, and make the city feel like it exists beyond just V's story. The dialogue never comes across as stiff or out of place; it feels natural and grounded. Even the soundtrack pulls the listener deeper in. On top of all that, choices actually carry weight, shaping how characters respond, giving side quests genuine meaning rather than reducing them to filler, and influencing the ending ultimately received, though it is worth noting that not every choice lands with the same impact, and there are moments where a decision that feels significant ends up mattering very little, which can be a little deflating.
[caption id="attachment_186259" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Small details like the ones in V's apartment go a long way in making Night City feel like a place people actually live in.[/caption]
Even after finishing it, Night City stuck with me. I found myself thinking about the choices I made, the characters I met, and the story I experienced long after the credits rolled, and that to me is the mark of something truly special. The bugs, the performance issues, the messy release that had everyone talking, none of that is the game that exists today. Years of updates and overhauls addressed many of the original complaints, and the Phantom Liberty expansion added an entirely new district to explore, a spy thriller storyline that stands among the best content in the game, and a reworked progression system that gives character building much more depth and flexibility. If players gave up on it back in 2020, I completely understand why, but that version of the game is gone. What CD Projekt RED has built in its place is something worth time, attention, and honestly, money. RPGamers should do themselves a favour and give it a shot.
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