Cyberpunk 2077

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

Keanu Reeves lives in your head, and you must work to get him out, or you will die in this world of crime, conspiracy, and dystopia.

The Actual Review

Game time = Xbox: 86.25
PC: 78.5

Gameplay

For a while, single player games have had difficulty meters and typically there have been an achievement for playing on the hardest difficulty. However, it has become a more common trend for single players that the difficulty no longer has an achievement. So you can play on "Story" mode which is typically super easy, all the way up to something outrageous that makes the game just stressful. This meant I could play on a difficult, but not having to sweat to enjoy the story. This also means that I could diversify the game play going from melee to long range to sneaking.

That is one of its best assets. The replayability. I played the main storyline twice and made similar choices in places and new choices in others. This game also has a choice based system which does affect how the games is played out and how you get to finish the story. There are thousands of choices in this game because of how the game expands and your relationship with people ultimately change what options you have to finish your story.

The DLC, Phantom Liberty, doesn't change the gameplay at all. There are some Quality of Life items that were added such as the tram, vehicle combat, and races, but none of those really change the game play. They are additions.

Graphics and Sound

Whether you are playing in 4k or 1080p, this game looks great. There are a ton of scenes that really just point out some great beauty to this dirty and gritty world. In fact there are a couple scenes that specifically force you to take that time to look at it.

The damage to people, such a dismemberment, and vehicles looks great. The fighting is visceral and graphic while being very fluid. This is especially pushed forward due to the sound that is layered over everything in this game. So much of the items filtering into your ears is just a rich variety of noise that you would naturally get in large cities like New York and Tokyo.

Story and Characters

What a story this is. Full of rich characters that you learn to love, hate, and just push aside as your make your choices. Keanu Reeves, who plays Johnny Silverhand, plays the character so well. You get some John Wick and some Bill and Ted in there and even some The Lake House.

The story is that you are attempting to make a name for yourself in a world that just is pushing everyone but the elite down. While working on that, the conciseness of Johnny is put into your mind. This is done because humanity has moved forward to augment humans with biomechanical and digital upgrades.

The DLC, Phantom Liberty, is what everyone is talking about. Idris Elba, for such a limited time in the game, shows an outstanding range of emotions, and you can hear regret in his voice at times. Now that I have typed that out, I don't think in my life I have ever heard/would expect to hear regret from a person in that position or that career. You might see it on TV at times, but from my experience regret might be present in their life, but not in their voice. Hearing it from the character who you can see his face, but it obviously isn't perfect so you need to hear it to get the circumstances.

My Rating

I was blessed by the video game gods when I first played this game. Between the Xbox and then again BEFORE the updates from the DLC and features added and while I might have had a random quest glitch out, but that was the biggest issue. Were there random quirks like the police just spawning at a 5-star rating? Sure. But it wasn't crazy. So I say this next statement knowing it wasn't the experience in the beginning for most people, but is now. The game is fantastic and reminds me of the joy of Witcher 3. It is for sure one of my favorite recent games and the story and characters is where you really feel the gravity of the game. It deserves the highest game rating that I have which is "GET THIS GAME."

Parental Rating

There is a crap ton of sex and violence. Language is a common thing to appear in every sentence. My mom and dad would be so mad at me playing this game now, they'd never allow me to play it as a kid.

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