1.5/5 ★ – Scotty_Biscotti's review of Cyberpunk 2077.

I'm currently on my third (and most likely last) attempt at getting into this game, playing on the PS5. As a fan of the genre, I really wanted to enjoy Cyberpunk 2077; but bugginess aside (and let's be honest, the bugs are mostly resolved by now and weren't the game's biggest problems anyway) so far there are a number of hurdles preventing this from happening: 1. Cyberpunk feels exciting for about the first 30-40 minutes, however, all this action abruptly ends once you reach your apartment. It's followed by an incredibly long and boring stretch of dialogue with a ton of different characters and many, many different phones calls and text messages. At this point, I began to realize I don't actually like the protagonist very much. Male or female, and regardless of backstory, V seems to be motivated by a desire to become legendary or infamous (mild spoiler: this doesn't change even after you're set on an irreversible course towards death). Because of this, and some very obnoxious dialogue/voice acting, V comes across as an insufferable douchebag. 2. The game mechanics that need to be explained (like cyberdecks, modding and the skill tree) are never explained, while game mechanics that need no explanation are discussed ad nauseam. The best example is the brain dance, essentially just the video replay option from Skate 3, characters will go on for what feels like hours explaining to you how this works and expect you to be absolutely blown away by this "technology." You are even required to sit through an entire tutorial before being forced to do it all again immediately following the tutorial. The "brain dance" is an excruciatingly boring way to forward the narrative and is used far too often in the game. 3. The gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. You can load all your skill points into sword play and just dominate everyone. Rush into a room full of people with assault rifles, as long as you have a sword and a finger to mash the trigger, you'll be fine. On the other hand, gunplay feels hollow and confusing, I can rarely tell if I'm even hitting my target and the recoil on most guns is just insane. Hacking seems like it could be cool, but I've rarely used it as situations rarely call for it. The AI behaves erratically and the driving mechanics are actually awful (just try to drive anywhere from first person perspective, which unfortunately is the only way to make this mechanic look good). 4. Probably the most important aspect of the game is unfortunately Cyberpunk's weakest: the story. I won't spoil anything here, but I do not feel connected to any of the characters in this game, partially because I do not understand anyone's motivations. Characters who are portrayed as dangerous to the establishment don't seem to have any political motivation at all beyond fitting themselves into a stereotype, nor is the established order itself ever really explored. Why do people feel oppressed? Why is crime rampant in the city? Why am I also doing jobs for cops? I'm left to assume all this chaos is because every store and advertisement in Night City is for sex while every other basic need is being ignored. So far, this game is a chore and it does not reward you for the labour it takes to make sense of all its different mechanics. I'm not sure if I'll be finishing it.