Cyberpunk 2077 Impressions
30 days, 200+ hours and 4 play throughs
Rude Awakening
In the world of Cyberpunk in the year 2077, Night City exists on the edge of a knife. As the largest city in the Free State of California, it is not beholden to the power of the New United States. But this autonomy only exists due to a deal struck between the city’s mayor and the powerful Arasaka Corporation, effectively giving the Japanese megacorporation a colony on what was once American soil. Everyone fears another devastating corporate war, but everyone knows it is only a matter of time before tensions between Militech and Arasaka boil over. Night City is the playground of the elite, a war zone for street gangs, a hotbed of corporate espionage and a dream for any smuggler willing to risk it all crossing the Free State border and back. In Cyberpunk 2077, Night City is commonly called “The City of Dreams”, yet the reality is all too often heartbreak, cynicism, and despair.
It is only fitting then that this is the same fate shared by Cyberpunk 2077 from CD Projekt Red. The game was easily the most anticipated video game of 2020, and made by one of the most beloved developers in the industry. And yet in the end it was plagued by delays, stories of exploitive labor practices, deceptive marketing and poor performance at launch. Time will tell how the game is remembered. CD Projekt Red will no doubt work tirelessly to improve the game’s performance and stability, but it remains to be seen if that will be too little and too late in the grand scheme.
With all of that acknowledged and out of the way, I can honestly say that I love this game. I appreciate it for what it is, despite its obvious flaws, and I am absolutely fascinated by the game it could have been, or perhaps one day could be should a sequel be made. I adore the game in many respects, despite being critical of many of the design choices that were made along the way. I have currently played Cyberpunk 2077 for well over 200 hours across four separate playthroughs (and have almost completed a 5th); once for each Life Path (Nomad, Corpo & Street Kid) and a fourth time to speed run the game just to see how quickly I could do so. My initial 100% run took 117 hours, while my “speed” run of the main quest on easy took just over 7 hours. My average casual playthrough tends to be in the 35 hour range. I have seen a lot of this game in the month since it released, and what follows is a spoiler-filled summary of my time with it.
Walking the Paths
A lot of time and attention went into the Life Path system for Cyberpunk 2077. The option to play as a Nomad, Corpo or Street Kid allows players to tailor their character just as they would in a tabletop game. When layered on top of gender choice and the various skill trees, there can be a fair amount of variation in who V is. Unfortunately, the differences in Life Paths are only skin deep, and after a handful of play throughs with the game, it quickly became apparent that this illusion of choice must have been very hard to pull off in a convincing manner.
My first play through of the game was with a Nomad, and I am extremely thankful that this was the case, as it was easily the most organic and fulfilling version of V’s story. Cut off from his nomad family, V struggled to find an adopted one in the form of Jackie Welles, and to a lesser extent Mama Welles, Viktor Vector and Misty. These were the only people who genuinely cared for V. Every other relationship in Night City was based upon a transaction, partially because that’s how quest design typically works in open world games, and partially because of the nature of Night City.
Jackie’s death tore open the old wound of isolation for V, as he was the closest thing to a nomad brother that V had at this point. I remember being especially appreciative of the fact that the game allowed me to call Jackie’s cell phone after his death and work through the grieving process by leaving him messages. Those small moments resonated with me more than some of the larger marquee story beats did because they felt extremely personal. I also recall being disappointed that there were no quests or simple ways for me to continue to look after Mama Welles in the wake of Jackie’s death. Outside of a couple of short, awkward phone conversations, it sadly turned out to be a dead end. I would have appreciated a few distractions along these lines. Having Mama Wells ask V to help out at the Coyote bar, or even run simple errands that Jackie would have done for her otherwise would have been a nice touch. Sadly, it was only upon subsequent plays of the game that I learned of the ofrenda ceremony for Jackie. My initial choice to have Del send his body to Viktor was made from love, the idea being that Mama Welles shouldn’t see her son’s bloody body dumped on her doorstep. I thought Vik would clean Jackie’s body up first. The fact that Arasaka stole his body infuriated me, but I simply assumed that this was the case regardless of the choice made in the cab. I only felt cheated when I made the opposite choice on my Corpo run and sat though this touching memorial ceremony with a version of V who was not as close to Jackie in my mind.
When the game later introduced me to Panam, it was more than just a matter of meeting a potential love interest. Panam, and by extension the Aldecados, gave Nomad V a solid connection to his former life. He understood these people, their bonds of family, and their struggles. The allure of having a that connection in his life again drove Nomad V to help the Aldecados just as much as any developing attraction he had to Panam. Roaming the Aldecado camp, listening to their stories or simply hanging out around their campfires, felt like coming home. Nomad V’s kinship to Panam felt very organic as a result, and I immediately felt sympathy for her plight and understood her motivations. We felt in lockstep in most regards, so when a romance developed, it seemed perfectly natural and earned.
When I came to the moment of the major decision at the end of the game, there was almost no hesitation when I chose to ask Panam and the Aldecados for help. I waivered on risking their lives for my selfish gain, but Panam would have none of it, and it was a perfect moment. When Saul made Nomad V an official Aldecado and gave him the family jacket, it signified something deep and meaningful. As a player, seeing Nomad V standing before his new brothers and sisters, I was in awe that my Life Path choice had led to this moment. (My only regret at that point was, having formed this strong bond with Panam, V never told her his real name. We learned at Clouds that his name is Vincent and he remarked that only those closest to him used his real name. It seemed like a missed opportunity not to signify her importance by sharing his real name with her.) When Saul, Bob and Teddy later died on the assault on Arasaka tower, I felt those losses and felt humbled by their sacrifices. When we finally emerged victorious, Nomad V and Panam leaving Night City behind to find a new beginning with the Aldecados, it felt like hope. It felt like home. I watched the credits roll and couldn’t believe how moved I was by what I had just played.
There’s a moment at the end of the game when Panam and V talk of missing Night City. Panam remarks that you’ll only miss the idea of Night City. “The city of endless potential and endless possibilities. The city that was a lie.” I remember thinking that this was a great quote at the time, but it’s true meaning didn’t fully reveal itself to me until I started a new game.
As a female Corpo, I went in again with a very clear character concept in mind. I knew I wanted to pursue the Judy romance option to see how that played out. But more importantly, I wanted to play as an Arasaka loyalist who had her life turned upside down by betrayal and exile. It felt like the perfect way for Corpo V to mirror what Takemura had endured in the same way that Nomad V mirrored Panam. Corpo V saw the world differently, saw the corporations differently. To her, Jackie was an informant and an asset. He was hired muscle (huscle), a valuable piece on her chessboard, but still just a piece. When she was cast out from Arasaka, she was grateful for his loyalty and for coming to her aid, but it was the same gratitude one might have for a well-trained guard dog. Certainly, their bond grew stronger during the pre-packaged six month montage in which Corpo V became accustomed to the edgerunner life, but their power dynamic never changed in my mind. I never lost the feeling these were temporary circumstances. Even knowing what was to come at Konpeki Plaza, I held to the belief that Corpo V would be back on top again within the ranks of the corporate world and reclaim the destiny that was denied her. Corpo V was a bit like Johnny Mnemonic in that they both wanted room service!
But to my disappointment, the game didn’t allow me to play that way. It’s not that I expected a wild divergence from the central plot of the game. That would have been unrealistic. But I had hoped for a more tailored experience that reflected my Life Path choice in a far more meaningful way. But aside from a few canned dialog choices, Corpo V was identical to Nomad V. And it was the dialog that probably bothered me the most, or rather the shared lexicon that V had regardless of Life Path. Regardless of if the player chooses Nomad, Corpo or Street Kid, 95% of your dialog is identical and delivered in identical fashion. Yet it does not seem unreasonable to assume that Corpo V grew up with a much different vocabulary than the other Life Paths. To hear her voice the same crude tough guy lines as my Nomad seemed very out of place. The game doesn’t take Life Paths into account with the amount of context that I had hoped for. I remember being disappointed during a scene where Takemura is dressing down V as a thief without honor. I had no means of expressing the fact that Arasaka had betrayed me first. It made the game feel shallow in a way it didn’t during my Nomad run, and not just because it was my second time at the amusement park. It’s more like Nomad Land was the finished part of the park, while the Corpo and Street Kid sections were still under development.
The plug and play nature of the romance options became very apparent during my second play though as well. Those flirtatious moments of Panam stretching her legs out onto V during the end of Riders on The Storm are still present, despite Panam having no romantic interest in female V. Much of Panam’s dialog is the same as well, which seems out of place if you aren’t in a relationship with her. Likewise returning to the Aldecado camp prompts the same speculative line from a NPC who sees you together and wonders “what’s going on” between you. Seeing the puppet strings so clearly cheapened a lot of the magic that I had felt in my male Nomad run. Again, it’s certainly nothing that is game breaking, but context markers like this could have informed how moments played out in even the ambient dialog of NPCs.
When the time came to make my final choice of how to end the game, I was disappointed that there was no Corpo equivalent to the Aldecados. Choosing to turn to the nomads for help seemed disingenuous. The game had already set up that there were rising tensions between Militech and Arasaka. We even had a Militech ally of convenience in Meredith Stout, and while we were never afforded an opportunity to strengthen that relationship (for business or pleasure), it didn’t seem far-fetched to me that Stout would have jumped at the chance to deliver a crippling blow to Arasaka and improve her standing in Militech. I would have gladly taken Corpo side gigs for Militech during the game to build towards that moment, likely tanking my already tenuous relationship with Johnny in the process. It would have felt genuine, organic, and earned.
If playing the Corpo opening felt a bit thin, then the Street Kid opening was almost anemic. You could make the case that this should have been the default setting for V. Contextually, it’s certainly the shortest leap to the urban edgerunner life. But outside of a surprisingly short introduction sequence, and a few canned dialog options, it had no impact on the overall story. As an example, I remember the sequence where you are delivering the cargo to the Sixth Street gang with Panam at the end of the Ghost Town quest. There was a Street Kid dialog option in which you tell Panam that you know Boz, her contact within the gang. And yet during the meeting, Boz doesn’t recognize you in the slightest. While it’s true that Street Kid V had left Night City for a couple of years, it would have been a nice touch to have your Life Path recognized in this moment.
When I once again reached the end game decision, choosing the Aldecados didn’t seem natural. I was disappointed that Street Kid V didn’t have a chance to call upon Royce or Brick in Maelstrom, or contacts within the Valentinos, Animals, Moxes, Tyger Claws, 6th Street or even the Voodoo Boys. How epic would it have been to have V do what no one else could and bring these various gangs together to take out a giant that none of them could topple alone? One huge score to show Night City that the streets held the real power. Alas, this was not the case.
For me, playing the game multiple times made it clear that Nomad V is the only path that offers the full experience and is the “true” way to play the game. But even in saying this, I began to wonder if V was the right protagonist for the game in the first place.
Street Samurai
As I finished my third play of Cyberpunk 2077, putting the capstone of the third and final Life Path, it seemed a shame that the Nomad was the only one that felt truly complete. I even started to question the design choice of offering different Life Paths in the first place. Part of what made The Witcher games so good is that you played as Geralt. While that may seem obvious since he’s the main protagonist of the books, there’s no denying that writing the game’s story from a singular point of view has many benefits. Had we played a singular, definitive version of V in Cyberpunk 2077 (gender aside) we could have avoided seeing so many of the Life Path puppet strings. It would have been far easier to make the game’s story and eventual outcomes all feel as organic and earned as the Nomad route did.
But beyond that, I now wonder if Takemura would have been the better choice as a protagonist, even a customizable one.
Thinking about it in hindsight, Takemura’s motivations are much stronger than the simple fame, fortune, and glory that V desires. The murder of his liege and his betrayal and exile at the hands of Yorinobu are excruciatingly personal. Seeing him fall and struggle to find his footing again may have potentially been a far more interesting story than V’s. And the Life Path choices could have been mirrored somewhat in the choice of allies that Takemura put his trust in during his exile. Takemura recovers and slots the stolen biochip from a dying Jackie Welles. In doing so, he finds himself not only hunted by Arasaka, but the carrier of the parasitic engram of Johnny Silverhand, a terrorist who is bent on destroying everything Takemura stands for. The struggle between these two personalities could have been extremely interesting, leading Takemura to a diverging path not entirely unlike Jin Sakai in Ghost of Tsushima. Risk all to adhere to tradition and honor, or abandon his former life in order to do what was necessary?
Ultimately that is not the direction the developers went with, but I wonder if it was ever discussed. As much as I enjoy Cyberpunk 2077, and especially the Nomad version of V, I still believe Takemura may have made for a more compelling central character.
Choom and Gloom
There are several other design choices and omissions from the game that I can nitpick, but I only do so because I love the underlying experience so much. Again, I wouldn’t play a game multiple times back to back and let it consume an entire month of my life if I didn’t enjoy it.
· Cosmetic Customization — Without any sort of cosmetic armor option, I am often forced to choose between having good stats and looking like a total idiot. In a setting that preaches looking the part, this seems like a big miss.
· Fixers, not Fixer Uppers — I appreciate that there is a wide variety of used vehicles for sale in Night City, but lumping these in as quests on the map that need to be cleared added needless clutter. At most it should have been an option I could have toggled off so that I didn’t have to see it unless I wanted to.
· Consumables — Most of the various food and drink items you can pick up are almost useless, and there are a lot of them. Without the ability to toggle them as junk, it makes inventory management more of a pain.
· No Social Life — Maybe I’m spoiled by the Yakuza series, but it would have been nice to take out friends or lovers to do something purely social. On my Nomad V, I wanted to ask Panam out for darts and drinks at El Coyote Cojo so I could introduce her to Mama Welles. Why should Johnny and Rogue have all the fun at the movies? And what could be more romantic than a shooting contest at 2nd Amendment? And there’s no way that Johnny wouldn’t have been demanding that we get drunk and hit up a karaoke bar! Even the Samurai reunion show would have been a great opportunity for a date who knew what was happening with V and Johnny to witness it for themselves.
On the other hand, there were several quests and other moments that really stood out in a positive way. While not an exhaustive list, here are a few that really stayed with me long after the credits rolled:
· Panam — I’ve already mentioned her, but she’s easily my favorite character in the game. Intentionally skipping her quests during my speed run actually bothered me, as it felt like I was leaving her and the Aldecados twisting in the wind. I would play an entire sequel about living with Panam and the Aldecados. Also, she drank a toast to Jackie, so clearly she is Best Girl.
· Ozob Bozo — The Send in the Clowns quest was so delightfully bizarre that it stands out despite being incredibly short. If I could pick one NPC I wish I could have raided Arasaka Tower with at the end of the game, Ozob would have topped the list.
· The Peralez Paradox — The possibility that that rogue AIs could be mentally conditioning politicians, including the next Mayor of Night City is as fascinating as it is disturbing. The tie in with Mr. Blue Eyes gives it a bit of an X-Files mythology feel that I greatly appreciated. I’d love to see the outcome of the I Fought the Law quest line explored further in DLC or future games.
· Gary the Prophet — You almost can’t mention Mr. Blue Eyes without talking about Gary and his mad ramblings. The fact that there is some level of truth to Gary’s wild conspiracy theories was a fun surprise. Again, I’d love to see more of this explored.
· Brendan — I never expected that one of the most memorable side characters of Cyperpunk 2077 would be a talking vending machine, but Brendan was a delight to encounter. He was too pure for this world.
· Judy’s Theme / Pyramid Song — Easily one of the most pleasant surprises of the game was the chance to scuba dive with Judy among the flooded ruins of her childhood town. Judy’s Theme is a beautiful, heartbreaking piece of music that never fails to haunt me in the most bittersweet way.
· Delamain — Cyberpunk delves into a fair amount of questions about artificial intelligence, and the question of what it means to be sentient and alive. Delamain and his entire quest line explore this in a very interesting way, and I caught myself thinking of Del as a friend more than once.
· Claire — Street races in Night City were a fun side activity, but would not have been memorable without Claire. Her motivation to avenge her dead husband made it personal in a way I never anticipated. The idea that she may have taken her bartending job at The Afterlife just to scout for a potential driver blew my mind a little. While the lack of romance option with Claire still seems like a missed opportunity, her quest line definitely stood out.
· Samurai Reunion — Letting Johnny take the wheel to reunite with his former band mates was a really fun and kickass moment. I wish we could have played the entire show. It was one of the only times that Johnny felt like a character instead of an obstacle.
Never Fade Away
Despite a myriad of problems, Cyberpunk 2077 is still a fantastic game at heart. I played a lot of great games in 2020, but none of them commanded my attention or consumed my thoughts the way that Cyberpunk has. It may not have lived up to its potential, and it was impossible to live up to the hype, but that doesn’t stop it from being something special. I hope CD Projekt Red finds a way to rectify the many issues with the game and eventually allows us to dive back into this world for more adventures.