4/5 ★ – Jim_Howdy's review of Cyberpunk 2077.

So this game is actually pretty good after all, crazy. Cyberpunk very pleasantly surprised me, I went in knowing the 2020 version of the game that was absolutely hounded on for good reason, and had incredibly low expectations. To my surprise though, the current 2.1 build is very well put together and I rarely encountered bugs. While yes, it is sad they had an extremely rough release, they truly pulled through and made the game a high quality experience. A bit late, but still a nice effort. The world of Cyberpunk 2077 is pretty neat and a fun time overall. Night City is an interesting locale that always seems to have some weird surprise around every corner. The city thematically may be a bit of an exaggeration of "humanity's sins" but I think overall if you take it at a surface level it's a neat concept. I think this idea of taking it a bit more at the surface level does make a lot of this game seem better, but there is quite a bit that does shine when thinking about and analyzing it more. There are some moments that the visuals of this game are surprisingly pretty, and driving around or simply exploring Night City never seemed to get boring for me. The characters and stories in the game are probably some of the best parts. There are a few that are a bit too stereotypical, but looking past that there is plenty of really good writing and story telling present. For such an open game one would likely expect the main story to be a bit weak, but it isn't at all? The main story is really well written and features an interesting concept overall. As one who is a complete sucker for it in storytelling, I feel one of the strongest points in the story is the character development. A lot of the characters feel complex in some way and like they aren't just there for one reason/trait in the story. Johnny Silverhand is a great example of this. He grows and develops with V and a very neat dynamic is formed between the two. Also, Keanu Reeves has a wonderful performance as him, which definitely helps a lot. Hell, I'd say pretty much all the voice performances in the game were very well done. Most of the side quests told interesting stories that built on the world in varying ways. There are a few that shine above the others with somewhat deep questions of morals and whatnot. The gameplay is decent overall, satisfying gunplay and a very open system for different builds. I personally had a gunslinger build where I could point my pistol and things would die. I can definitely see a lot of the potential in other builds and wish I played around with them a bit more. Driving around is fun, the gigs are really fun little missions, and in general it's fun to just walk around. It was definitely one of those games that I couldn't put down sometimes. So, that's Cyberpunk. For what it's worth, it's a really fun time and if you allow yourself to get immersed in the world, characters, and events then it's even better. While it's not perfect and does have a few strange decisions here and there it was an extremely impressive turnaround for a game. Night City always has something new that could keep you playing and coming back for a long time. Unlike many other games of this type the world feels like a living breathing thing with actual things happening inside of it. If you like games of this type (*COUGH* Fallout) then definitely go for it as you'll likely not regret it :) *It's crazy this was a mostly positive review, as I feel like I focus on the negative aspects a bit more in most of my others. I feel like this game gets dunked on enough though that I'd actually be mostly positive this time around.