Overall I enjoyed this a lot, it’s a very uneven game and often clunky in places, but I found it very much in keeping with CDPR’s other work. It’s a deep RPG with lots of systems, lots of characters, lots of stories.
Overall the main story is pretty great, and as I’ve said before Keanu Reeves is terrific. It’s not just a cameo, he has a huge role that must have taken ages to record. He’s around for pretty much the whole game and frequently chimes in on events that are happening or quests that are being undertaken, even little side quests you’d think they wouldn’t bother about.
Ah, side quests, there are a lot of them. Actually too many. It’s a weird complaint about an open world game but I actually feel that there is too much side content in Cyberpunk 2077. And it’s not because it’s repetitive or uncooked, it’s actually the opposite. Every side mission and encounter has been crafted bespoke and some of them are really clever and engaging. Every one is different. There’s just so much of it that it sort of overwhelms the rest of the game. The main story gets lost along the way because there are so many other distractions. By the time I’d finished all the main side quests I’d sort of forgotten what I was doing in the main story.
It’s not as good a game as The Witcher 3. Honestly it reminded me more of The Witcher 2 a lot of the time. Like early Witchers it feels like a step towards the game that CDPR really want to make rather than the game itself. Cyberpunk 2078 is going to be freaking fantastic. It’s dense and layered, rather than windswept and desolate, and about as much of it works as doesn’t. When all its systems come together it’s incredible and beautiful and there’s nothing else like it. When it doesn’t though, it feels clunky and broken. The bugs don’t help.
It’s a fascinating and incredibly uneven game that’s very hard to pin down. Basically, pretty standard for CDPR.