5/5 ★ – nickmazz15's review of Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.

CYBERPUNK 2077 REVIEW - I had a premonition months before this game released that it would be bad. I had nothing really to go off of. I hardly followed the marketing. The constant delays weren’t a good sign but hey AAA game delays are common place today. It was just a gut feeling and the only other time I felt that way about a game pre-release was No Man’s Sky. Then this released in the state it was in and I clowned it like many others. My own self-fulfilling prophecy that I took credit for. Now three and a half years later I sit here regarding this as now one of my favorite games of all-time. I have poured over a hundred hours into this game and I’ll be pouring more hours into it after Im done writing this review. I have not been this immersed in a world and engrossed with a collection of characters since playing the Mass Effect Trilogy. I knew very early on when I wasn’t playing the game all I could think about was getting back to playing it I was in for something special. I have so many thoughts and I don’t really know where to start. Guess I’ll begin with the concrete jungle itself, Night City. Just an incredible, all-encompassing setting. Firstly, visually Night City is staggering. To have this beautiful yet ugly city that is literally and figuratively being constantly built on top of itself with so many environmental elements that tell a story and NPCs walking around that all feel like they’ve lived lives as well is a staggering achievement. Night City is this practically living megalopolis where you struggle not to be eaten alive on a daily basis. If you’re not sucked into the callus, inhuman mega-corporate machine you’re fighting to stay afloat on the ground with various vile gangs battling for leverage. Night City deals you the cards you play with. The city is a challenge everyone either punches back against or gives in and succumbs to. Just incredible world building and subtextual storytelling on every level and around every corner. The writing and dialogue in this game is truly exceptional. It’s one of the rare times where my analytical brain almost totally shut off experiencing a piece of art. I wasn’t thinking about character development and arcs. I felt like I was interacting with real people who are so well defined and have a wealth of background that has lead them to the moment you meet them. The most excited I got playing was when I was about to interacted with certain characters. Whether it’s shooting the shit or having a real heart to heart the relationship forming in this game is so good between V and their companions. Taking the time to help them with their needs which may not always turn out well cause totally happy endings are impossible to come by in Night City. But the help and effort is appreciated and remembered. I fell in love with so many characters in this game. Jackie, Judy, Panam, Takemura, Viktor, Misty, Kerry, Rogue, Reed, Alex, So Mi, the list goes on and on. Even characters who have smaller roles in the story or side quests have so much effort put into them. This game manages to draw empathy out of you even for people who’ve made bad choices or done terrible things. Night City makes everyone desperate and how far are you away from them but a few different turns in life? You could have very well ended up like any of the deplorable people in the city if Night City chose to deal you those cards. Not that that’s an excuse but you understand the position characters are in and you can choose to put an end to them or let them choose a better path. Sometimes they do and other times they don’t but allowing people to have that sense of freedom in Night City is like a personal liberation. How this game weaves and stitches together so many themes and ideas astonishes me. The more I think about this game the more I fucking crumble a little inside thinking about how profound this game can be. It all of course centers on your protagonist, V. Now I chose to first play female V cause she’s voiced by Cherami Leigh who played one of my favorite characters in one of my favorite anime, Steins;Gate. Once I found that out my mind was made up and she’s awesome in the role. I fucking love V man. I was truly shocked how much I attached to V as a character. Even with so many different dialogue options they all feel like something V would say and that’s the mark of stellar writing and crafting a character that good or bad it feels honest to the character. I just became so invested in V’s desire to live. Refusing not to go gently into that good night. It was almost this metatexual thing for me. I knew deep down V’s journey would probably not end happy but I kept hoping and convincing myself I could figure it out. No matter how many options flowed by the wayside I could solve this puzzle. I just need more time. Which is ultimately what V is fighting for and against. Time. Time to etch their name into the eternity. Night City makes you feel so little that certain people feel like they have to reach above the skyline to think their life was worth it. Craft a legend that will live forever. But what’s the sacrifice? What does becoming a legend really means? Surrendering to a concept that fades away once you and the people close to you are gone. Clinging onto a never ending chain that will eventually cease to link with you. Shit Im four paragraphs in and haven’t even gotten to Johnny fucking Silverhand yet. Rocker boy terrorist stuck in your head. Johnny is practically a dual protagonist with V. First I have to say, this is Keanu Reeves best role. It was so surreal seeing him talk so much and having such great dialogue to chew off of. He may have more dialogue in this game than the rest of his entire filmography combined and he’s so fucking good here. It’s perfect casting cause no matter how much V butts heads with Johnny and you just want him out of your head, he’s charming and despite it all still wants to help you. I’ve gone back and forth on this. V is in a battle for their own autonomy and Johnny understands and respects that. He knows his presence is invasive and killing V. As much as he wants a second chance he doesn’t want it at the cost of someone else life. Behind another face. Its a matter of trust and especially latter in the game it leads to some great sections but I wonder if for the sake of tension the engram in V’s head slowly killing them was more evil. Im just throwing a name out there but say it was Adam Smasher in your head instead of Johnny that would really put your ass in gear. I just think the game had an opportunity in certain sequences to take your autonomy as the player away from you to really put you in V’s shoes yet it still gives you control. I cant say my ideas are better but it’s just something I felt while playing. Regardless, V and Johnny’s relationship is terrific and through each other learn the real value in not surrendering to concepts larger than themselves. Striving for everlasting life through legend or science is a hollow existence. What really matters is the people you care about remembering you. For what you did for them and with them. While I said this game is profound it’s not only in the more intricate ideas but the simple ones. Sometimes it’s best to just walk away. Some puzzles aren’t meant to be solved. You will only lose yourself in the game. What really knocked me on my ass and put everything into perspective were the various endings. I’ve never been a huge fan of games with multiple endings cause either there’s one good one and the other(s) is ‘oh wouldn’t it be neat if this happened instead?’ Or the endings or mostly the same anyway with minor differences. I was in disbelief by how different the endings to this game were. From the final level designs to the aftermath. It’s the first time I have ever thought ever ending to a multiple ending game were not only valid but necessary. Each one giving you a different perspective. Enhancing and bringing proper closure to the themes of the story. I cant even pick a favorite. They’re all so good and all of them one way or another broke me in some way. Considering some of the endings actually brought me to tears. That’s what sealed the deal for Cyberpunk being one of my favorite games of all-time. But what’s also great is that this game takes its time to have fun and be funny. Side quests are great. Many are serious of course but then there are silly ones like working with a guy who has a grenade as a nose, a guy whose crotch is burning cause of a bad implant or a talking vending machine. The wild adventures of Night City are some of the missions I had the most fun with in the whole game. I will say I wish the game found a way to curate missions better. With so much to do you ultimately control the pace of the story and I would get so lost in the world that sometimes the story would lose momentum for me. I think what could have fixed this for me is if V didn’t know for sure they were dying so soon in the game. All they knew is this situation with Johnny was an issue and needed to be taken care of then maybe halfway through the game they figure out their time is running out. Cause time feels so much of the essence yet you can fuck off and do side missions or gigs. The flow isn’t always there. Well I guess I should finally talk about the gameplay in this video game. I cant say Cyberpunk is the perfect blend of great story and gameplay. The gameplay is good. Really good in fact but it never blew my socks off. Gunplay feels good and satisfying. Melee combat is so herky jerky though. You cant lock onto enemies and in first person its easy to lose an enemy right in front of you. I also must say I don’t like how an actual melee weapon takes up one of your three gun slots. You can apply gorilla arms or mantis blades as your physical melee slots but I honestly think they should gave you the option to apply a melee weapon in that slot too. Cause while beating enemies with a katana or bat can be fun, especially if you have sandevistan applied which slows down time, I never found it as good as just simply gunning down enemies so I just stuck with guns most of the game. Hacking and netrunner is a blast with so many different options to combat enemies although once you upgrade your shit to the max it’s almost unfair especially during stealth. In the latter part of the game stealth was so easy and I was clowning enemies left and right. The skill tree and perk system you actually have to consider because this isn’t a game where you can unlock everything. Once you get to level sixty you’re capped out. So you have to carefully considered what play style works best for you and upgrade accordingly which I found cool. Driving is solid but goddamn there’s too many assholes driving around Night City. Like it’s impressive how much the streets function like a real city but bitches are always in the way. Level design in the base game is not the best. It really needed more set piece energy which the Phantom Liberty expansion really fixed. Phantom Liberty addressed many of my nagging complaints on a gameplay level. Gigs had better stories that unraveled more and weren’t just, go here, install chip, steal data, kill a guy, put a thing on a car and leave. Level design was far better. More of an emphasis on cinematic set pieces. The whole Black Sapphire sequences is incredible. The Bond spy movie vibe of Phantom Liberty is awesome and I enjoyed every second of it. Cyberpunk 2077 is a spectacular game overall. The best thing I could say about it is that I never wanted it to end. I would go out of my way to do other things just to avoid doing the endings. But something isn’t beautiful because it lasts. Ironic that the sentiment of the game reflects this. This is the closest a game has ever come to an actual life changing experience for me. I don’t believe games should be praised for having comebacks. The state of this game at launch and the crunch at CDPR is inexcusable. Even in its current state the game still crashed on me six or seven times and there were many instances of bugs but Im happy this game is now in a state where it’s not a deal breaker. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the best games I’ve ever played and something I think everyone should experience cause it’s impossible not to take something away from this game. This is that special.