Round Up: Cyberpunk 2077 Reviews Mark Another Epic RPG

GameSpot’s review is probably the most balanced I’ve seen. Yes, a 7 isn’t a blowaway masterpiece score but if you read the review then it gives an idea of the game while not getting carried away with hyperbole. It looks right up my street but like Days Gone and GoT, it relies on open world foundations that some reviewers might just be a little sick of, considering they play games for a living and the majority of AAA games are open world.

The GameSpot review seems a bit of an odd one considering the other two! But it does sound like it will live up to most but perhaps not all of its hype

Seems as though all of the reviews are of the PC version. And considering how buggy that apparently is, maybe it's no surprise that CDPR held back on console review code.

I just hope the lootings not a ball ache in this like it is in Witcher 3.. that used to drive me bananas!

Bit of a mixed bag so far I predict 90 metacritic

@ShogunRok Do you think as reviewers that both code should be reviewed as majority will be playing on base consoles. Seems a bit misleading by CDPR.

@ShogunRok The screenshots I’ve seen are genuinely Assassin’s Creed Unity level of bugs at launch. It even got updated pre-release. I reckon it’ll get sorted at some point but now I’m definitely waiting for the PS5 release!

@nessisonett I witnessed some gameplay where the player is on a bike and the world hasn't loaded at all. No joke it was laughable with no textures or NPCS.

I’ll wait to see the reviews for OG PS4 & Xbox One. Though i’m sure we’ll be waiting a while.

Not looking to upgrade to PS5 this year as want to get the right TV first. Will be interested to see the reviews for next gen.

@Max2574 Woah, I didn’t know the Twilight Zone was in the game 😂😂

@Max2574 I think ideally, review code for all platforms would be sent out at the same time, and it would be at least a few weeks before release. That's the best possible scenario for any game of this length.

I get that it's been a rough year for the industry though, and I'm sure CDPR would have done more to get review code to everyone if it was possible.

Still, it's a shame that people waiting on console reviews won't be able to read them for a while.

Open World design has been lacking for years with only really Breath of The Wild trying to do something interesting with it. The Witcher 3's strengths were entirely down to the story, its wonderful characters and side quests with strong RPG mechanics as its backbone. Flicking through these reviews it seems as though the strengths here are the same and I'm very much looking forward to playing it

@nessisonett

Did you not find the game spot review a bit whinging?

Think this will average a 7 or 8/10. Don't how a 10, 8, 7 and a 6 is considered epic, if it had all been 9 and 10 yes

Who are game beats, really can't take a review serous that use the word dope in it

i read that it is a buggy mess and has serious performance issues, even on a high end pc. its gameplay issues and poor writing should prevent it from reaching a 9 or 10 under any circumstances and i would just brush the reviews aside which don't make mention of this fact. sounds like a disappointing game (in the conext of the marketing hype machine) and people are in denial about it. a solid 7 or 8 seems to be the honest score range on this one based on my observations from afar and no cdpr fanboy bias. as for the base consoles? i think those will fare worse and hit the 6 or 7 score range due to the game being too ambitious for the hardware, plus poor optimization. of course, cdpr knows how damning that would be for their review scores so they simply limited review outlets from playing those builds. that is an honest way of going about it, right?

@suikoden Absolutely not, it showcased a lot of what was really great about the game. The writing and sidequests seem like a highlight. Their problem was more that it doesn’t really affect or factor into the main plot of the game much at all. And that’s fair enough, while sidequests are a big part of games these days, they should still complement the main attraction which is the overall plot line. The currency seems like a bit of a problem too, everything is far too expensive which means you have to properly grind to unlock the most fun upgrades. Some may enjoy that aspect, personally I quite like a grind but I think it’s perfectly fair enough for reviewers to point that out as it’s an acquired taste.

@nessisonett The no loading zone lol. Story seems good so that's a positive.

@nessisonett What does GoT stand for? I honestly can't think of a big open game with that acronym.

@Jayofmaya Ghost of Tsushima! Not Game of Thrones 😂😂

Oh well can’t say I’m a little disappointed and dissatisfied. But it’s has been on of those years as we all know. I think the Sony exclusives have taken this year 2020, even Nintendo have had poor year and bored me with re-hashes.

Also with next generation console in terrible short supply as well, it so goes to show how a microscopic virus can change so much in the human race.

Starting off Metacritic at 90 is uuuhhmm I dunno it's possible it could drop more. Well we'll see if I'd get this or not. Considering the mammoth sales that'll be going on from End of Year to the Inevitable January sales...You could bag 3-4 games depending at £50.

@Jayofmaya Ghost of Tsushima.

I'm not too surprised to see some average reviews, the game has clearly been a struggle to develop, and for as good as CDPR are, I think it's a bit beyond their current limits.

I've ordered the game, and will be getting stuck in, but The Witcher 3 needed a few patches before it improved significantly, and this looks like it'll need a few more before it reaches a level that we can all be happy with.

At least we can close the book on the wait, and use the game as an example of how hype can really sour the experience of a game.

@nessisonett
Rereading it, you are probably right, almost seems other reviews are scared to give it anything lower than a 9.

Too be honest it was never going to live up to the hype. Still think it will be a good game more so when bugs are fixed. Mind witcher 3 was quite buggy at launch but not too the extent this seems too be

@carlos82 I didn't enjoy BotW in context of it's big open world. I explored it to exhaustion, though. Probably because it is the first big open world Nintendo game (as far as I know) that I bothered. There were some nice areas and finding all the shrines was cool (I think about 3 I needed net help to find), also some of the enemy camps were interesting... However, a lot of the interesting parts ended up being copied and pasted throughout it's world and there were too few side quests.

@Crimson_Ridley Oh, of course. Still relatively new and new IP so not used to seeing it in acronym form! Thanks

@nessisonett Hahaha I literally did think Games of Thrones at first but then I was like "Haven't they just made card games with that IP?"

@Porco Poor writing? I’ve only read two reviews so far, but they both say the writing is a highlight - which isn’t too surprising, since The Witcher 3 had some of the best writing and world building I’ve experienced in a video game.

@Jayofmaya Well they have done the Telltale game and there’s the weird game from years ago that wasn’t very good but I did notice after I’d typed it that they had the same acronym. Ah well, at least it’s not as bad as when I tried to create an acronym from Trails in the Sky 😬

@carlos82 Agreed. I love open world games but mainly because of the freedom; if the mechanics are fun, then it's just fun to do it over and over and over again in a wide open explorative area. But the actual foundations of open world games have been lacking for a good while. For a person like me who doesn't mind as long as the gameplay loop's fun, that's fine, but I can see it wearing on everyone else.

@nessisonett it does seem a bit of a shame that the world itself is just window dressing. This has been by far my biggest complaint of every open world game, as none of them seem to want to address this and just think making it bigger will do. This seemed to be the game to change that (Zelda gave it a good go) but from the reviews sound like they haven't really. I wonder if targeting current gen consoles has hampered that vision somewhat. For me a well designed level or environment like the police station in RE2, where you can poke and prod and really get to know and explore will always be more exciting than a huge world with very little to discover or interact with.

It does sound like their writing is still on point with good characters and side quests and this is what I'm looking forward to and its rather deep skill trees to see how much influence that can have

Having seen a TV advert for this marketing the XB version.(much like COD does with PS),guessing PS4 based reviews could be limited with multiformat sites getting PC/XBSX review codes. Whilst this isn't a bethesda game obv., fingers crossed ps4 base owners don't find this to be a ps4 equivalent of the ps3 port of Skyrim.

@Sondheimist gamespot, pc gamer and other reviews made mention of the story being lacking in more ways than one. funny enough, those outlets also called out the bugs as being immersion breaking and could not turn a blind eye to how that aspect hurt their enjoyment of the game. they scored it a 7 and 7.8 respectably.

@carlos82 Yeah, agreed about RE2, I loved how immersive and just full to the brim the police station was. I’d prefer a smaller world with high quality content than a massive map with loads and loads of icons spread out across the place.

Ive been reading and listening to some of the reviews and this seems like another instance where some of the reviewers focus a lot of the negatives making it sound pretty bad, then they end the review giving it a 9 or 10.

Its confusing.

@nessisonett Oh yeah! Forgot about Telltale and unsurprising I have never heard of the one you refer to as the "weird game" haha
Hahahaha I will definitely always thinks of that as the female body part game now. (Guessing I can't type the acronym for the finger wagging I shall receive).

@Jayofmaya I don't think they intended for people to explore everything but I did like how you were always likely to find something interesting and how it all tied into your progression overall. It wasn't perfect amd could have done with some dungeons or a few big towns really but I prefered exploring that over just go to the yellow dot to pick up a meaningless collectible.

@nessisonett I also think the same. I mean an open world is cool for immersion but if there is nothing to do in it, then it feels a little pointless. When PS published an article about CDPR saying about a smaller map I was excited and hoped it would be full to the brim with easter eggs and side content, but it may nit be the case at all, it seems.

I'm leaving Cyberpunk for a good few months at the very least, until the PS5 version is ready. It looks incredible in so many ways, and very questionable in other areas, like representation for one thing. Going to hang back and wait for the long-term reviews, where people have spent 100+ hours in the game and have had time to digest it. Then I'll have a look at all the opinions and decide whether I give it a shot or not. We'll see.

@carlos82 Yeah, I mean what I'd advise a new player to do is indeed complete the shrines, but follow a complete online map to do it and wear the Korok mask at the same time, that way you'd see it all for yourself without many many many hours of looking at little bits of mountain or grass that you will have got bored of many hours ago.

Just seen that the story on its own takes about 20 hours to complete, that seems a little disappointing to me. Obviously I know there's alot of others stuff to do but I feel like that is hardly anything for what this game is.

@Oh_fiddlesticks agreed. no doubt that there is pressure for reviewers to score the game as high as possible, even if their heart tells them otherwise. that is the nature of the industry when it comes to AAA games in general and in the case of cyberpunk, one of the most hyped games of the past 7 years. there is too much money at stake not just for cdpr, but also for the review outlets (with clicks and ads) and hopefully appeasing to what the readers want to see (and not what the reality is necessarily). in many case, i have to remove at least 1 point from the meta average (sometimes 2) to get the true score of a game.

I am curious about the lower scores, I will definitely look more into that.

Can’t wait for this! The amount of ‘hype’ this game has around it is honestly a little insane. Not that I needed it but 8-10’s across the board is more than enough justification to take the plunge for me. Perhaps I’m just too easy to please but I think it’s important to remember that it’s a game, not the cure for cancer. Within games I still think it looks pretty special. I’ll be in night city on release!

Death Stranding slated by others recommended by Push Square.....The Last of Us 2 slated by others recommended by Push Square....my wallet has £50 set aside for CyberPunk 2077 but after Liam's review on Watch Dogs 3 on base PS4 wich is a buggy mess.....I am waiting on Push Square's Review on this one.........The Last of Us 2 and Death Stranding are outstanding.

@nessisonett
The Gamespot review lost all relevancy for me after it started to dissect the pre-release trans “contoversy” and how some words from foreign cultures were not correctly used, over multiple paragraphs. On one hand I don’t think dedicating 20% of your review to such issues is relevant and a good use for a costumer advice. On the other, these criticisms only show that the reviewer has a basic lack of knowledge in the genre.
The money grind criticism seems also moot after reading that the person only did little side-content and had to rush the review.

All in all I didn’t find the review informative. Hopefully the game will still be good.

@MemSec Well it was an important point to make as for all of Night City’s promises of a melding pot of cultures, was it too much to ask for a bit of research to be done? It’s not that hard to get these things right. There’ll be people playing this game from many backgrounds and the way the game portrays trans people is a bit iffy which is why my partner is unsure about buying it. The Gamespot review made him make up his mind that yes, he’ll buy it but keep an eye out for how it portrays people like him.

So bugs and glitches are forgiven now even when some are saying that the day one patch didn't solve all problems?
With days gone i didn't saw this energy.

Ok so let’s be real here there’s 43 reviews on metacritic and only 2 of the 43 are a 7 or below and you guys chose to showcase those 2 here.

This sample is hardly indicative of what people are generally saying about the game 🤷

@1_W1NG3D_4NG3L

No I’d suggest they put the information I put in my comment in their article to give people context

@nessisonett
Regarding the terms from different cultures: it is typical (let’s say a main feature) for cyberpunk (novels, and pen and paper rpgs) to use different foreign words in slang, which may have lost or altered their main meaning. I think it is on purpose. The game has no obligation to educate, imo.

Regarding the trans issue: I think that cp2077 is one of the few games (maybe only AAA title) to even take on the subject and give players different options to express themselves. By automatically putting everything into a negative context, with just a slight possibility to find something offensive, does help no one imo. Surely there could be improvement, but this issue is still very new in the industry, expecting perfect representation which fulfills everyones expectations is unrealistic in my view.

Kinda glad i cancelled my Pre-order. Whats funny is that Dragon Quest Defintive Ed is scoring better (Ps4/92) vs Cyberpunk 2077 (PC/90)

@MemSec I dunno, I’ve played plenty cyberpunk games and watched movies and a yukata means a yukata. It speaks more to the lack of polish in the game, which was the overarching theme of the review. A good game, albeit one that needed a bit more time in the oven. The trans issue also isn’t just to do with the character creator, it’s that there’s one tiny trans character actually in the game with barely any screentime but an ad that plays every 5 minutes in a fetishised context, which comes across rather tone deaf. Like I said, my partner’s still buying the game but is wary of the tropes CDPR seem to be perpetuating.

@ScottyG Because, if anything, those are the most interesting reviews to read. They're also from two big outlets. Anyway, more reviews have been added to the article.

I hate the modern review system. Now if it's not a 10/10, it isn't worth it, which drives me crazy. The simple answer is the game was over hyped, they should not have said anything until at least the witcher 3 expansions were wrapping up and it started full development. Luckily I only got into everything around that time, so my expectations are in check I think. As a fan of the original tabletop game, I would probably like it regardless. People are going to be disappointed, there's no way around that, I think a 90 is an acceptable score, it didn't reinvent the wheel or do anything crazy, but the depth is something admirable. Can't wait to play this game.

@Lobbo95 there is no day one patch yet, it's going to come out...on day one. Where did you get that from?

plenty of elements that aren’t perfect, and you have all the glitches to swallow. 10/10
🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️🎅

@nessisonett
We’ll have to see the final product in the end. My problem was, that the review told me very little about the game itself, while checking off every pre-release controversy, just in case. While I don’t wish to lower the importance of such issues, I also don’t think these criticisms are informal and helpful for purchasing decisions.

Maybe I would have liked more info on gameplay, skills, graphics, the world structure, sound and music. My main point is the review is poor in this aspect imo.

The game surely could have used more polish. Let’s hope the bugs get ironed out.

People are so spoilt nowadays... since when has a 91 metacritic been meh ? Oh so because it didn’t get 96/97. It is OVERHYPED

@nessisonett I still automatically think Game of Thrones when I see that GoT acronym.....have to correct my brain ever single damn time lol

So 91 after 44 reviews (only 3 under 80). Looks like they actually did it.

I do not want to wait for RayTracing so consoles - so PC for me. Can’t wait to try it out myself. Hope the console version is decent for everyone else.

@SoSolidSnake more has to do with the myriad of bugs and performance issues being dismissed in the various reviews as if they don't exist. the game is apparently plagued by bugs to such an extent, it can only hinder one's enjoyment of the game. remember, this is a "video game" and not a film. at the end of the day, a video game needs to play well first and foremost and cyberpunk is struggling in this regard. that is why many people are disappointed with the game, among other reasons. also, no mention of base ps4 port which is a sly move and shows a lack of confidence on cdpr's part.

@Lobbo95

It appears all the reviews are pre day one patch

Some of the scores have surprised me cos I had this down as a sure fire winner with everyone, basically scoring 9’s and mostly 10’s but it’s not the case. But bear in mind all these reviews are for PC only and all the video reviews can’t show anything real from the game cos CDPR won’t allow them until after launch. So don’t take some of the lower scores too seriously. And there will be a lot of updates I’m sure when XBOX and PS4 go live midnight Wednesday night.

Ive had this game sitting in my GOG library for about one year! Ready to unlock it and give it a whirl in 2 days. Dont care about reviews or opinons. Time to get some JOI!! Blade Runner vibes incoming

I'm going to wait for the PS5 upgrade, it's a few months away and by then a lot of the bugs should be crushed.. definitely a game like this needs a few months to get fixed.. patience!

Not sure how a game with as many bugs as this is getting a 10, kinda makes me want to avoid those sites.

@SoSolidSnake Cyberpunk fans were saying that this game is going to be the best game of history, so yeah 91 is terrible for that. Also many of these reviewers didn't deduct point for the bugs. Plus it is 91 on PC, we need to wait for the console version which will be definitely worse.

If you need reviews to decide what games to buy you haven’t played enough games.

Also metacritic is a joke.

@Arnna Reviews are useful, especially more critical ones. They usually point out valid negative points of the game even though often final score could be too low taking overal experience.

Gamespots review was worth reading if you fancied a laugh. They were just offended and triggered by the game lol. Always worth a giggle seeing people pretending to be morally outraged.

@oldschool1987 I’m not sure they’re pretending which is scary 🤣 games ‘journalists’ have become a joke.

Defenately a wait for me. I think this game is way too ambitious for for the ps4 and even the pro. I had asked for it for christmas but just changed my mind. Its soo easy to look at screenshot and small clips of pre prepared footage and get caught up in the hype surrounding a massive release. Deffo one for the power of the ps5 once it gets it full optimised next gen release for me.

I’m still surprised there wasn’t a PS5 version ready for launch!

However the advantage atm is that while the glitches/bugs are present on PC and more than likely on PS4/XB1, by the time the PS5 version comes, CDPR should have or you would think, will have ironed out alot of early issues.

So ready for the game though and am not surprised it’s reviewing well. I’m glad I have plenty to play to keep me entertained until it eventually drops!

Doom! Doom! but no one mentions the extra 50+ gig day 1 patch dooooom doooooom dooooooom they pushed it back for a reason doooooooooom

@nessisonett
I’ve been thinking about our conversation and the following may be an interesting counter-argument.
The review and you criticised the lack of meaningful trans representation. But can we really expect this from a fictional world where seemingly everyone has access to mods and alterations to their body, to change anything they desire with “perfect” outcome, even mix and match body parts? What then exactly would constitute somebody being trans in the context of this fictional world? How would you, or how could (or even should) you identify somebody as trans, or tell the player what each characters sex at birth was?
As far as I know “cyber-dementia” is an integral part of the story and lore, which may be analogue to the issue at hand. The game being only escapism and no political statement may not be the worst scenario for all involved.

I really don’t wish to inflame the conversation, just some food for thought, possibly discussion.

@MemSec The game actively draws a distinction between cis and trans characters, which can be seen in the examples provided by reviewers. The whole thing about positive and meaningful trans representation is important mostly because of the superficial and downright fetishised portrayal of trans characters seen elsewhere in the game. If they’d just had characters throughout the story who were a ‘cyborg mix of parts’ for want of a better term, then sure that would probably go down perfectly well. The problem is that the game is feeding tired tropes of using trans characters to highlight ‘sexual deviance’ and essentially how scummy Night City is. There’s a worrying amount of straight men out there who actively seek trans women to fulfil some sort of fetish, known as chasers in the community, which this game seems to skew towards. It’s important to see the context surrounding the argument rather than just the individual material some are taking issue with.

About the game not having a political statement and just being escapism, that’s just not the cyberpunk manifesto. It’s an integral part of the genre. The thing is, the game is inherently political in its story and themes, with the whole big bad capitalism, open criticism of the US healthcare system, the transhumanism you’ve mentioned etc. Separating cyberpunk from politics would only result in a watered down story that said nothing and its satire would fall completely flat, especially when the devs themselves are seemingly aligning themselves with the baddies in their own game! Discussion is always good and welcome, by laying out the grievances my partner and I feel about the game coming from a place of having experienced genuine abuse, hopefully I can make a few people at least understand why it’s important to address these sorts of issues.

@nessisonett
You misunderstood me, I meant no political statement in regards of trans issues, not generally. As you described that would be very meandering and not true to the genre.

What are those tired trans tropes besides the ad already publicised you mean? I haven’t seen or read anything, in the review there was only mention of a minor trans character, without further info.
How does the game skew towards the chasers you mentioned? I’m sure the game may be interpreted however someone likes, if someone wants to fulfill there fantasy I’m sure they’ll be able to. Why do you assume the same couldn’t be true to someone who searches for a positive trans experience in the game?

@MemSec careful trying to debate with this one, pal. He's looking for any reason to call you a "phobe" of sorts.

You're right though in the points you make, the themes and world of Cyberpunk are totally seperate to the politics of the twitter hacktivists.

@oldschool1987
After they misrepresented my comments in another thread as only criticizing the review for being “too political”, I’m inclined to believe you. I was only trying to have a respectful discussion in a topic which interests me, well what do I know...

@MemSec he tried calling me racist a while ago, I can't remember why, I'm sure we weren't even talking about race 😂I just remember being so surprised at how out of left field it was. He's notorious for being a far leftist that looks for offense in everything so he can act morally superior. May as well leave him to it, pal.

Most people here you can have a really good discussion with, but others it's like navigating a land mine.

Edit: his comment before mine is futher proof of this lol. Looking for offense where none was intended. Everyone has to conform to his regressive world view, otherwise you're accused of wrong think and labelled a racist, or transphobe. It's borderline satire at times how these people predictably react.

@MemSec Firstly, that wasn’t a reference to you in that comment, it was actually somebody else who made a jibe about Polygon’s review being all politics.

One of the big iffy choices CDPR have made is tying pronouns to voice. For all their talk of making a character that represents whoever you want them to, openly having ‘feminine voice = girl and masculine voice = boy’ is rather silly when you consider the massive problems trans people face in regards to not passing or having the ‘right’ voice. So your character can dress how they want, look how they want but your character is gendered based on what voice they have. It’s more a basic betrayal of the genre than any sort of being ‘offended’, cyberpunk deals exclusively in being able to transcend such concepts as gender identity and yet the game says ‘you have a feminine voice, you’re a girl’? Serial Experiments Lain, Ghost in the Shell and many others all show the good and bad of the genre’s futuristic setting without funnelling characters into strict binaries. Plus, the fact that most trans characters in the game are sex workers is a trope in most similar genres, I’m sure there’s probably someone out there who’s catalogued it.

This all comes after the years of blatant dodgy stuff GOG and CDPR have perpetuated on Twitter, including hijacking #WontBeErased to make a joke about PC games, making an attack helicopter joke, perpetuating Gamergate, the whole ‘did you assume my gender’ nonsense and more. While obviously this is down to whoever is in charge of their social media, it’s not a good look and many people’s suspicions have been realised from the reviews so far. Who knows, it’s a big game and perhaps there’s some positive representation hidden in there somewhere but as of now, it’s not hard to see why some people are feeling like they’ve been sold a different game from the originally marketed game which was actually challenging gender norms.

@nessisonett
Well your comment was specifically referencing the Gamespot review, but no matter, my mistake...

I don’t seem to recall any review catalogueing all trans npc-s (my original question still stands, how would you identify them in the game’s context?), any review discussing this issue seemed to have a negative bias, so I reserve judgement until I play the game.

Regarding the pronouns and voice: what would have been a better solution? A seperate slider where you decide what gender other characters refer to you as, or just get away with this mixed choice altogether? You surely wouldn’t expect rerecording all affected dialogue a third-, gender neutral way would have been a feasible solution? Taking such offence with this issue seems to negate all the positives the game tries to do, that’s why I think expectations are irrational. Also I can’t recall any promise marketing made for trans representation in the game. Maybe media is at fault for reading more between the lines and wishful thinking.

All other things you mentioned have almost nothing to do with the product, they seem to me like squabbles between marketing and media.