LogFAQs > #986824092

I thought surely someone would have something to say about that HK write-up, but okay, here we go...

38. Cyberpunk 2077
Created by CD Projekt RED
Release year: 2020, but really 2023
Platform: Steam
Playtime: 119 hrs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u15tEo0wsQI

I never played the original 1.0 Cyberpunk. I hadn't really heard that much about it before release, so I wasn't as hyped as many, and when it came out and kinda flopped, I just sat back and grabbed the popcorn. A cyberpunk setting didn't really interest me, regardless of what the gameplay was, and I didn't have a great track record with Witcher games.

So a couple years went by, and bit by bit we began to hear of CDPR gradually redeeming themselves. It was another No Man's Sky situation, and people were saying that not only is the game worth playing now, but it's really good. So when I went looking around for a new Bethesda-like (since Starfield sure as hell was not it,) Phantom Liberty dropped and the game went on sale. I figured this was as good a time as any to give it a shot.

In many ways, Cyberpunk is the Bethesda game that Bethesda could never make. It's mature. It has interesting characters. The worldbuilding is tight and replete. The individual quests and missions feel real to the setting, rather than purely a random contrivance as an excuse for gameplay. The game's first mission requires you to carry a naked woman out of an ice-filled bathtub covered in other bodies, discarded there by the gang who captured them all, which is a really jarring way of telling you this isn't going to be the same-old you're used to. The Heist as a way of kicking off the main story is amazing, especially after all the time you spend with Jackie. Cyberpunk doesn't perfectly scratch the same itch because there are certain things I do actually like out of the old TES gameplay loop, and at some point I do get a little tired of dealing with the other drives in Night City, but overall it's a huge step up from Fallout.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what to say without straight-up summarizing the game. Cyberpunk is a game I enjoyed and put time into, but I don't have any singular specific memories that really stand out in spite of solid writing. I played a female nomad who eventually started using melee weapons, and went through each of the endings, starting with The Devil. I didn't buy Phantom Liberty initially, so earlier this year I decided to finally pick that up and did a second playthrough. I told myself I was going to try netrunner, but I never really committed. Maybe I ought to try that some time because some of the clips I've seen of netrunner gameplay look wild. But I did get one run of Phantom Liberty finished, and due to the way that's structured, it's very open for going back for replay since you can't really save scum those endings.

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Up next: A sequel.