Cyberpunk 2077 on current gen systems is just… an okay game - Entertainium

Looking back at Cyberpunk 2077’s grueling multi-year development and catastrophic post-launch, a month and change after its release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

[masterfox]

Cyberpunk 2077 in general is just a game that promised a lot of things but in the end it just delivered only maybe a quarter of that and with lots of bugs as well, final word: Disappointing.

[Christopher]

Saying it only delivered a quarter is very hyperbolic. And it didn't promise a ton of the stuff. Sure, they mentioned way too early some of the things they were working on, but they never promised things. Even the videos where they showed things off were preceded with notices that it's a work in progress and that things could change during development.

I hope what they learned is to never show things to the public until they're certain they won't have to cut too much of what they show. Gamers take any difference between initial showing and release as broken promises and don't understand the development process.

Having said that, they definitely delivered a very buggy game. The story and characters are great, and the setting is fine. But, they definitely have a very long way to go to produce anything close to the levels of R* as it relates to truly open and breathing worlds.

[SDuck]

Just addressing your last statement, they are the same developers that did Witcher 3. Ya know, an open and breathing world that blows any R* game out of the water!? Only RDR2 can compete with it but even so, W3 is better (imo obviously)

[anast]

I'm still playing it so I enjoy it, but I remember a promise that each megabuilding was going to be diverse and a living and breathing experience. They are not.

[luckytrouble]

It kind of sounds like you've forgotten just how much was promised. This isn't just a "things changed during development" scenario. If you want a fantastic video that does show not tell, you can look up Crowbcat's video on the game to get an excellent idea on just how much changed from the game we were excitedly told we were going to get.

[Christopher]

***Ya know, an open and breathing world that blows any R* game out of the water!?***

I'm sorry, but huge pass. It's an extremely scripted open world, not one that has things happen in a dynamic manner. R* pretty much does that perfectly since GTAV (you could suddenly find yourself chased down a small game of motorcyclists) to RDR2 (you could literally encounter 20 different NPCs at any moment along a stretch of the road let alone a random execution of someone or random animal attack on another NPC you have to save and so on).

That's what I mean "breathing" worlds. They add life to the static elements.

***It kind of sounds like you've forgotten just how much was promised. This isn't just a "things changed during development" scenario. If you want a fantastic video that does show not tell, you can look up Crowbcat's video on the game to get an excellent idea on just how much changed from the game we were excitedly told we were going to get.***

You might want to rewatch that yourself. Almost the entirety of it is bugs at release, comparisons to the demo, interviews before they made changes, and comments by journalists.

That whole 48-minute walkthrough he shows parts of is exactly what I'm talking about. He doesn't show how they preface that video with it's still a work in progress.

As far as "marketing" talk, that's exactly what it is.

Again, consumers don't know how to separate goals and promises for video games. It's just impossible since they don't understand how development works. And that's why CDPR should operate more like Bethesda where they show nothing until they're certain it will make it to release.

[CrimsonIdol]

I don't want to take away from how impressive something like RDR2 is but the "open and breathing world" in any of these examples is all sleight of hand. It all breaks down, it just depends on how far you go to look. But yeah, Rockstar definitely does it better.

Having said that, I way prefer the Witcher 3 to GTA5 and RDR2 (although RDR2 in particular still blows me away for attention to detail). One of the primary reasons is quest design: beyond dying you practically can't fail a quest. It feels very organic, you get choices and the quests can often pan out in a bunch of different ways. in Rockstar games you're on rails, walk too much one way or another and you're greeted with a mission failed screen. There's some small variations to how you can do things occasionally in RDR2, which I appreciate, but it's still not on the level of the Witcher at all in regard to player agency. CP isn't either but again, you still have a lot more player agency than Rockstar games.

[z2g]

nonense. it was a game that fell victim to capitalism and hype. the studio was pressured to release a game that was too ambitious for the devlopment time they were given - and both of those were the results of shareholders etc that didn't want more delays. had they had a proper development schedule from the beginning, it would have launched in a better state.

as of the 1.5 update, the game is fine on current gen consoles. I own and play it often. I actually quite enjoy it. Pretty much everything you have said are boiler plate talking points from the haters who can't look past the original launch and don't even take into consideration how much hard work and money they've put into making the game better - again for reasons that were not entirely CDPRs fault. As of now, the only thing that was planned and not delivered is multiplayer. The game looks, runs and plays fine currently and is a lot more creative and cool than most of the games launching right now. i think its important to recognize when studios make a lot of effort to make things right.

[Crows90]

Capitalism? Was everyone supposed to just love the game by force?

Capitalism allowed players to voice their disappointment...that's not a bad thing.

The marketing sure...that was a bit much. But this isn't the first game that allegedly over promised and didn't deliver. Casual gamers just love to be gullible and eat that shit up before waiting for the reviews which are part of the process to help you not spend money on broken and bad games.

In a world where we clearly expect good performance....it's funny that so many bought the game on systems that didn't get offer a performance review.

[Nineball2112]

Capitalism allowed the game to be made in the first place, just like every other game.

[frostypants]

Tell me you don't know what capitalism is without saying you don't know what capitalism is.

[StarkR3ality]

The game wasn't ready when it came out and yes they pulled a lot of features.

The core gameplay, worldbuilding and quest design (other than those repetitive NCPD/Gigs) were all great. That's why I think it disappointed so much, you could see the game they promised was there, under a thick layer of glitches and lack of content due to being pushed out the door by themselves, shareholders, and us the fans. All 3 parties had a play in this.

Since 1.5 it's fixed A LOT of what was wrong. For this to be rated a really great game though they'll have to in their new DLC do the following:

~Stay away from boring side filler side content and stick to how the main/side missions went.

~Add more interactivity into night city, Eating at food vendors, drinking at bars, more joytoys, meeting people in the world you develop relationships with.

~Finally add some loot sets like the witcher. Legendary sets for each of the styles/life paths.

If they do the above for me, they will have delivered on what they promised, better late than never.

[anast]

It wasn't the fans fault. Those are big boys making those games. They decided alone to release the game. Fans had absolutely nothing to do with how broken the game was on launch. Anyone saying this is not clear how how poorly this game was handled by management. The blame is only on the management not the share holder and not the fans.

[StarkR3ality]

Have to disagree, yes most of the blame is on the developer, but nothing is ever black and white.

CDPR is a self published independent studio, the pressure they would of been under from a financial point of view from the investors would have been massive. Plus the loss of customer satisfaction from all of the delays they were doing, people were straight up sending death threats to people's houses.

All of this culminated into a shit launch for the game. Yes the delvelopers chose to launch it, but don't think for a second their decision wasn't influenced by external factors.

Life isn't black and white my friend, but shades of grey.

[neutralgamer1992]

I think the author is being unfair to okay games 😝

Okay games are promised as such most time just AA experience but CDPR promised a world changing open world RPG. Comments from gamers were like rockstar are about to learn how to do open world games 😂

[StarkR3ality]

Okay

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

I had passed on Cyperpunk 2077 but recently with the free trial on PS5 I gave it a go and never in a million years did I think I would end up liking it so much. It was one of the most immersive storylines I've experienced in a long time. I'm hooked now, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for the franchise. Which yes, I hope it becomes a franchise and gets more installments because this world and it's characters are so interesting.

In my opinion, I don't think there is much more they can do with patches, the game works now and it is what it is. No, it probably didn't live up to the hype as far as being the best open world game ever, but it's still a very interesting world and story. I think that's what they need to go with and build upon in the future. Hopefully starting with that expansion they're working on.

If you ask CD Project Red directly they assure you that they are "not" abandoning Cyberpunk, that they are still working on a major expansion and that they consider it their other major IP along with The Witcher. Yet, this article is saying completely different as if they know better than the developer or pretty much calling the developer a liar.

[LordoftheCritics]

Theres still a drop left on that teat -entertainium.co

[Christopher]

***I don't think there is much more they can do with patches, the game works now and it is what it is.***

Just off the top of my head:

- Add appearance slots so you don't look like a hobo wearing the best gear and can design your look. I see myself a ton on my motorcycle. I look like a hobo in bunny rabbit shoes but I'm a corpo style person.

- Add more AI options to the environment for interactive NPCs.

- Improve car handling/driving.

- Improve text/details/hints on what skills affect what as it relates to cyber enhancements/weapons and the like.

- Add the option to respec attribute stuff. Make it cost a ton or make it only once per milestone, but add it. Any new player is going to get screwed thinking one thing is something and it isn't. This requires way too much online research, which RPGs shouldn't require. Especially when what tech weapons are included in what and what cyber-arm weapons are affected by what, etc.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

@Christopher

You're right, but I just don't know that any of that is going to be the magic touch that makes gamers come back and start thinking "it's now the game it was hyped up to be". I don't know if that's possible anymore, I mean this was mainly a story driven game not an MMO. For someone like me who already beat the main story, it's not going to be the same going back and just doing side quests even with improvements.

What's the correct answer? I don't know, but I see nothing wrong with accepting this game how it is now and building from that with a sequel or an expansion and using some of the improvements you talked about. I think that will get more attention than just patching the game.

[yeahokwhatever]

...so wear corpo clothes. roleplay and you'll like it more.

[Christopher]

***...so wear corpo clothes. roleplay and you'll like it more.***

Sure. I'll also die a ton more. But, heck, why improve a game at all, right?

[Fishy Fingers]

I bought it last week for £12 (cheers CDKeys) and thought if nothing else it'll be some nice eye candy but so far I'm really enjoying it.

[darthv72]

It's now officially down to $5 but for today only at best buy. i have it on xb but for that price i can get the ps4 version as well.

[Muigi]

Who the hell are entertainium lol.

[edureboucas]

Hello! Nice to meet you! o/

[Espangerish]

I’ve played it on PS5 recently. I’ve found no bugs or major performance issues. It’s overall a good game though not something I will remember as a classic.

Problem is, a good but not amazing game delivered after the initial hype, disastrous launch then allowing for an extra year of development is not enough to turn this around for CDPR.

Glad they persisted and fixed it technically but it’s time move on and learn from this I feel. Hopefully the new Witcher will go better.

[anast]

On the PS5, there is still shimmering, oddly bright lighting in some of the clothes shops, ragdoll physics, pop in and somewhat broken stealth which can only be fixed by taking up a slot for optical camo...plus the AI and so on. I have played this game since release it has come a long way, but some major issues are still there on current gen tech. The game is not fixed.

[philm87]

Just played it through again on PS5 and absolutely loved it. Think it's an amazing game in it's current state.

[anast]

I use this game as a fidget grinder. I shoot/hack and loot. It's fun for that.

[MadLad]

I'm waiting for the mod scene to add to the overall experience.
It was a lot more shallow than I was expecting. There's also multiple elements that need a legitimate reworking, and I doubt that's in the plans for CDPR.

[DivineHand125]

This game is very divisive whenever it is discussed in the community. The persons who played it at launch and the bandwagonist will hate on this game no matter what cdpr does. They will alo exaggerate issues impacting the current build of the game which would steer new people away from ever trying the game.

I never tried it before the PS5 version but I think cdpr should have dropped the red engine from early and use a more stable engine from in development as it sounds like they went through hell like bioware did with frostbyte. To make things worst, they knowingly released the game before it was ready.

Fast forward to today, the game is definitely In a state where I could recommend other persons try it and it is about as stable as the average game that gets released these days. If you have a PS5 or Xbox series x, give it a try as the game unofficially released with Patch 1.5.

My impressions of the game is mostly positive as it does things with story telling that other games don't do and like the Witcher 3, a simple side quest can lead you down a rabbit hole with multiple additional quests. Don't skip the side quests, you will miss out on half the game. Had the game been released in this state back in Dec 2020, it would have been a game of the year contender.

[Viryu]

I've had it bundled with my PS5 since launch, but I've waited for the PS5 upgrade. I've started recently and I'm really enjoying it. There is really only one thing I have a gripe with, and it absolutely kills the immersion - empty streets. Those are wide double lane streets, infrastructure built to fit a massive traffic, but when driving around you pass maybe 1-2 stray cars at a time. Some junctions were literally empty, feeling like a ghost town. I'd understand it if there was some sort of a complex public transportation system, but I haven't seen any trains, buses or metro.

[BABY-JEDI]

Cyberpunk on PS5 is absolutely BRILLIANT 🤩

[Dixiedevil]

My 40 hour game save that I started with the next gen patch is still bugged to the point of unplayable on PS5. I can’t answer incoming calls and can’t choose or select dialogue when interacting with people. From what I experienced, the longer I played the more bugs started popping up. It was like the game was slowly killing itself until I finally couldn’t progress any further.

[Rocosaurus]

Great game

[TicklefistCP]

Nope. Cyberpunk 2077 is an exceptional game on the PS5.

[shinoff2183]

I was pretty sad about how this turned out. After putting 200 plus hours into the game and getting the platinum i still wanted more. I did have some crashes on ps4 but i made sure i saved often.

With that said i dont hope they abandon it because i really loved the world it was in and would like to see more.

[Christopher]

I think they'd be truly screwed by the community for many years if they scrapped the DLC plans for Cyberpunk 2077. They've delayed it, but if they just cancel it... That's just going to undo any work they did to fix the game since launch entirely.

[philm87]

They haven't cancelled the expansion. If you go to some of the roads on the outside of the map it says "There's nothing here for you.............yet" Or something along those lines. They probably had already done a lot of the work prior to the main game's release such as voice acting etc. so there's no reason to cancel it.

[philm87]

Just out of interest, what more did you want? Genuinely interested in your ideas.

[chicken_in_the_corn]

It always was just an OK game