Arguably the biggest game of the year is Cyberpunk 2077. The massive, sprawling open-world title from CD Projekt Red (famous for the Witcher series) has been delayed numerous times from its initial launch date in April.
Finally, the game is in the hands of many reviewers and opinions are somewhat divided. While pre-release hype has wound people up for a massive experience, many reviewers have tempered those expectations somewhat.
After the numerous delays, many hoped that the game would be larger than life. Reviewers have been insistent, however, that the game is, in fact, a video game. So, what are reviewers saying about the most hotly-anticipated game of the year?
General Consensus
The general consensus from reviewers like Kotaku, Polygon, and IGN is that the game is good, in broad terms. There are countless sidequests to chase down, genuine human moments of hope among a world of darkly crushing corporate power and a massive city to explore.
Among most reviews, the authors were quick to note that glitches and bugs were inherently detrimental to their experience with the game. However, these reviewers were playing without a patch that could handle such bugs.
Some more pessimistic reviewers noted that it would take a much larger patch than a simple Day 1 patch to handle the cavalcade of bugs present in the experience. Others have pointed out that CDPR’s decision to enforce overtime for the last push of the game in order to effect those bug fixes could lead to exhausted developers causing more problems than they fix.
The Human Cost
Much has been written about the human cost of making massive, AAA games as of late. The effort that goes into creating these massive games has ballooned tremendously in the past decade.
Likewise, a growing culture of “crunch” in major studios has led to concern among those in the industry that base-level programmers are being treated as disposable. Mandatory or not, the culture of staying long hours to work on a game late into the evening has led to massive burnout among developers.
Many gamers would rather their favorite pastime not be made at the expense of the sanity and health of the developers who create them. Sustainability is not a buzzword for most players, but instead a goal that game studios should be aiming to hit.
In CDPR’s case, they promised multiple times that they wouldn’t employ crunch to finish Cyberpunk 2077. However, they walked that back as the game was delayed multiple times and bug-fixing took longer than expected.
Trans Representation
The game, in short, seems to be considered quite good. Some reviewers have noted the frustrations they’re experiencing with the game’s handling of trans representation, something that was discussed at length with the “mix it up” controversy early in the game’s marketing.
However, while these reviewers noted the game was uninterested in exploring trans themes, it didn’t seem to be nearly as “edgy” and aloof as the advertising would have had them believe.
So, while Cyberpunk 2077 has yet to hit store shelves, reviewers agree on one thing. The game is good, but something of a mess. Much like Night City itself.
