Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t just redeem itself — it pushed open worlds further
CD Projekt Red’s recent 2.0 update, which launched alongside the Phantom Liberty DLC, has redeemed the RPG, and outclassed many of its peers.
www.polygon.com
wasn’t long into Microsoft’s E3 2019 press conference that Cyberpunk 2077 was showcased alongside the famously “breathtaking” Keanu Reeves. Excitement pulsed through my body and poached my brain to an internal temperature of 170 degrees Fahrenheit. All other thoughts, goals, and desires melted away like tender meat falling from the bone. Playing this game became a singular concern in my life, a climactic mountain that stood unmoving in the horizon, cloaking everything else in shadow.
In December 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 felt like a phenomenal game that was still a few years away from launch. There was still the skeleton of something special, a suggestion of the revelatory experience I had anticipated since 2019. CDPR failed to meet my expectations, but I was nonetheless sated in the way that a gross quantity of cheese cubes can technically suffice as a meal.
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Years passed: Returnal, Deathloop, Shin Megami Tensei 5, Elden Ring, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield. Meanwhile, CDPR did not abandon its botchling. Certain patch notes tempted me to return, but still, I hesitated. It wasn’t until Phantom Liberty and update 2.0 that the temptation became impossible to resist. Even after enjoying almost 150 hours of RPG-sized fun with Starfield, I sank immediately into the world of 2.0. The potential evident at launch has finally been realized, and its phoenix-like ascent makes it that much more of a triumph.It’s not just the presentation of Cyberpunk’s narrative that makes it so potent. The script does a lot of heavy lifting, too. The game never hesitates to dredge the depths of human depravity. Night City itself looms menacingly as a place where criminal megacorporations reign supreme. Technology has commodified human existence, and sexual and violent desires can be indulged at every whim. Yet, despite the early expectation-setting, missions still manage to shock and disgust. In one mission, a convicted murderer endeavors to capture a braindance (basically, a virtual reality recording) of his crucifixion. In another, players infiltrate a snuff braindance studio to recover footage of a child being murdered. One unassuming side gig in Phantom Liberty takes V to an academy that experiments on children, not to save the kids, but to find evidence of tax evasion. Rare is the objective that didn’t give me pause.
feedback when confronted with danger or prying eyes. Video games have conditioned us to follow deviations in patterns. Cyberpunk replaces any patterns with a wall of sound. As a result, the world feels like it would exist even in V’s absence.
2.0 has also changed the very kinetics of V’s combat options. 1.0 featured a relatively straightforward perk tree and abilities with unmitigated power, resulting in an overpowered V and unfulfilling enemy engagements. There was little reason to deviate from a combat strategy that worked. 2.0’s overhauled progression system corrects this issue. The new Skill feature increases V’s effectiveness in accordance with the player’s actions, rather than the arbitrary allocation of points alone. The result is a V that progresses organically, while players still have complete control over their specific abilities and passive buffs in the revamped perk trees. Add to this the breadth of weapons, cyberware, Quickhacks, and the depth of their potential synergies, and there emerges a near limitless array of responses to any given enemy encounter. While certain solutions result in more desirable conclusions, V is rarely given explicit instruction to behave a certain way, granting players ownership over problem solving and the potential consequences of their actions. To a certain extent, the end goal of a mission has evolved from a static objective into a moving target.
With 2.0 and the cumulative effect of the patches preceding it, Cyberpunk’s launch has gone from the defining characteristic of its legacy to a sore spot in the evolution of an RPG made by masters of the genre. It has risen from the wreckage of unfulfilled promises to the heights of an unforgettable open-world experience that is, in some ways, unrivaled by its contemporaries. The redemption story of Cyberpunk is a testament to CDPR’s underlying vision and the power of persistence. Nearly three years removed from its release, Phantom Liberty will get you in the door, and 2.0 will make you stay.
