I don’t even know where to start. How do you introduce the most hyped, highly anticipated, and just insane game of the decade? Cyberpunk 2077, developed by CD Projekt Red is 8 years in development, 2 release date changes, and a butt load of controversy in the making and It is FINALLY here.

Set in 2077, in the neon grunge of Night City; a city that thrives on body modification, robotic interfaces, and warring lower class factions, and social elitism, you play as our protagonist, V. This is just the top layer, so much more complexities lie behind the closed doors and in the shady business dealings that are the underbelly of Night City.

Opening up you must pick what faction you are aligned to; Streetkid, Corpo, or Nomad. Once you have fully customised your character, from the tip-top colour of your hair to your tattoos and even down to your genitalia. Your character is whatever you want it to be and ultimate customisation is a theme that runs throughout the whole game.

This is where your adventure starts as you are plunged headfirst into the gritty, neon world of Night City as you and your partner, Jackie Welles, wheel and deal in debauchery all across the town. When the theft of an elusive Bio-chip sends life for V spiraling into a direction no one anticipated and now haunted by the ghostly presence of Johnny Silverhand, the actions V will take next will have a rippling effect across the district.

The plot was captivating and definitely, a highlight of Cyberpunk 2077 with so much well-constructed branching dialogue and geniusly paced action, its a tale with so many subplots and directions you can’t help but want to get your teeth into it all. The dynamic and often conflictive relationship between V and Johnny (played by Keenu Reeves) is the best kind of trainwreck you can’t get away from too and adds so much more complexity to the plot and the decisions you make. The characters are all just so likable in the best and the worst ways. One hour quickly becomes many many more as you get sucked into this world.

The gameplay is just as detailed with so many interwoven mechanics and features that at first, it may seem a bit overwhelming but it is rolled out in such a fashion that they are easy to master. Cyberpunk 2077 has a vast array of satisfying weaponry and loot that true to most RPGs scales as you progress. The inclusion of ‘iconic’ weapons with special abilities, while isn’t a new concept, made for some very sought-after equipment. Using these in combat against enemies is fun as well, but I feel like it may need some fine-tuning as initial guns and melee combat felt a tad less streamline and clanky.

The map consists of main missions, side jobs, gigs, and a few side hustles along the way. As well as these there are more than enough encounters scattered across the districts to keep you entertained for hours. While most of these are pretty generic clear area sort of deals the missions and side missions are certainly full of substance. As well as the weapons there are a plethora of clothing options that each have an armor rating. Anything collected for use can be upgraded and modified depending on the amount of money and street cred you have accumulated from missions, so your tools of the trade are always evolving and changing.

Hacking is also a major part of the gameplay, with certain mods letting you apply a range of skills to electronic devices. By scanning your surroundings you can use technology whether it be as a distraction, to take control of cams, turrets, or even people, or to skim money into your account, the cyber world is at your beck and call and being begged to be manipulated.

The introduction and utilisation of the ’Brain Dance’ editing mechanic is one innovation of the game that was certainly unique and so well used. This gave you the ability to rewatch certain character’s memories, scanning them for minute details in the sounds, environment, and temperature to help in heists or to solve mysteries. It was definitely a shame they did not incorporate it into more missions as it added another layer of detective work.

As you progress through the game, you level up from experience gained in a very typical RPG fashion. Every time you level you gain attribute points that can be fed into areas to improve your character. This can be hard as each has their own passive and active perks you then need to filter perk points into as well but the menu is simple enough to understand that even the newest of RPG players will grasp the concept easily. Deciding whether to focus on body, reflexes, technical ability, intelligence or even your cool will have a great effect on if your character can charge in as a brawler or slink into a space as a super hacker, so choose wisely. In my second crack at a different ending currently, I am saving for an expensive chip to reset all my stats, just saying, have a think about the route you want to take.

Night City is also alive with the bustling of vehicles as it should with such a vast diverse map and terrain. You can get around from point A to point B with the many car and motorbike options. This is very much in the GTA sense as you can buy cars or even yank unsuspecting victims out and carry on your merry way. For a developer not known for using cars in games, this was an impressive feat as each handle very differently as you’d expect from futuristic motoring. While not all handle well and I found myself riding the handbrake a lot, they also thankfully added many fast travel points across the map as an alternative mode of travel as I found at times calling my car or motorbike meant it didn’t turn up or even did its own thing across town somewhere. My motorbikes certainly had a mind of their own, it was like I had pets.

The skyline and streets of Night City are simply mesmerising. Visually, this game is next level in detail and atmosphere. It is so interesting to explore and has minute graphical features embedded in environments around every corner. It feels inspired by every great futuristic movie with elements of Bladerunner, The Matrix, Fifth Element, hell even Demolition man, scattered throughout. The darkness of the crime-ridden city is contrasted perfectly by the neon brightest of the technological innovation that litters the scenery. The light glimmers off the grimy streets, flames dance from explosions and holograms flicker with such a realism by the end I just wished I lived in a world like this.

The soundtracks made specifically for this game are so on point with the ambiance CD Projekt Red are trying to create it isn’t funny. It goes from grungy hip-hop to solemn orchestral Japanese opera to hallucinogenic techno beats at a moment’s notice, each matching the vibe of the room in the most fantastic ways. Even the tracks played on the radio in the car had me drawn into feeling like a resident of Night City. It’s just a damn shame so many streamers had to filter these out as the combat music especially hyped the moment and had the blood pumping.

As you have probably heard already, running this game can be a nightmare, not always but can be. To be honest, I did not expect it to be perfect, a game this large was bound to have bugs and glitches especially with the performance specs they were aiming to hit however if you are running an older generation of consoles or an outdated PC you are in for a bad time.

I initially booted my copy on an Xbox One X after it refused to even load on my Series X and played about 3hrs. In that time it crashed to the dashboard 4 times and had exceptionally trash frame drops. After copying my game and files back to my hard drive and hard restarting my Series X, we finally had the victory of playing it on next-gen. This is where it actually shone and played and looked like a dream. The performance was incredibly smoother, with consistent quality frames and buttery graphics. I definitely recommend it with the more pricey hardware.

Speaking of glitches and bugs, the game is speckled with minor graphical glitches and I was fortunate enough to not have any game-breaking occurrences. In fact, most of mine were hilariously timed within the most serious of moments. While it didn’t bother me too much, it does break the impact of some scenes, ripping you straight out of the immersion and concentration of the dialogue unfolds.

Overall, this is a hard one to score. I am so torn as a reviewer and the fact I am such a fan of these sort of games. Some of my all-time favourites; Skyrim, Halo, Fallout games, and even CD Project’s own Witcher 3 are all some of the greats but with flaws of their own. This is definitely the best RPG I have played in a long time. I have never wanted to pump this much time into a game uninterrupted by the world around me and if that isn’t a testament to the addictiveness of it I don’t know what is. With its obvious glaring issues in its current state, it is still beyond an enthralling adventure but with hotfixes and patches in the future for better performance Cyberpunk 2077 could easily take the title of ‘Game Of The Year’.

Cyberpunk 2077 was reviewed on the Xbox Series X and supplied by the publisher.

Written by: Stacey