Cyberpunk 2077 review: Glitch in the matrix

Night City, built on the backs of dreamers and bathed in the light of the neon signs that litter the streets. The bright lights are beautiful in the dark of night, almost hiding the scars beneath. But, as the sun rises over the horizon, the dirt and cracks in the surface begin to show. Such is the fate of Cyberpunk 2077. Ambitious. Beautiful. Broken. Cyberpunk 2077 is everything that I could have wanted from CD Projekt RED’s newest RPG. Unfortunately, the things worth loving and celebrating are buried under layers of game-breaking bugs and weird design choices.

There’s a lot I want to say about Cyberpunk 2077. A lot that I want to digest and break down. But, as I sit here, it’s hard to sort through it all. There’s a lot that I love. A lot that I want to praise. There’s also a lot of bad. Things like game-breaking bugs and graphical issues with NPCs and characters within the world. I’ll do my best to avoid them, but beware of mild spoilers ahead.

Dreamin’ a dream

If you’re looking for a world full of great stories and side quests, then you’ve come to the right place. While the main storyline itself is extremely strong—the relationship between V and Johnny Silverhand is one that works well and builds off itself throughout—the side quests really help to make the world feel like a living, breathing place.

Without giving too much away, the main storyline follows mercenary V as they try to make a name for themselves. Unfortunately, the big job that should have set them up for the future goes pear-shaped and V is soon stuck with Johnny Silverhand’s psyche in their head. To make matters worse, Silverhand is a bit of an anti-corporate terrorist and his influence quickly begins to manifest itself in V’s life.

But the depth doesn’t end there. Every side quest in Cyberpunk 2077 offers its own narrative, and while they’re all separate from the main story quests, it all builds together and connects to unlock additional paths that players can follow in later missions of the main campaign. In fact, the amount of endings players have available at the end of the game is partially determined by the characters that they've met and the side quests that they've completed.

It’s this weaving connection between the side stories and main storyline that really add to the depth of the world and the characters that you get to know throughout.

Build yourself up

Combat is another thing you’ll see yourself in quite a bit in Cyberpunk 2077. It works, but if you’re looking for super deep combat, you aren’t going to find it here. There are a couple of standout things—like the Cyberware upgrades you can pick up from Ripperdocs, which add the ability to slow down time or double jump. There are also plenty of weapons to choose from, including the deadly and iconic Mantis Blades, which sprout from your arms when equipped.

Gunplay is fairly weak at first, with headshots feeling really unsatisfying until after you’ve managed to snag a few upgrades. Once upgraded, though, they start to feel more like headshots. So, if you’re looking for that sweet pop as an enemy’s head explodes, then you’re going to want to put points into that. If you want more out of combat then I definitely suggest putting more thought into the various skills and Cyberware that you can invest in, as they really help to make it feel less like a point, click, kill simulator.

Which brings us to the class system. Unlike standard RPGs, which make you choose from preordained classes, Cyberpunk 2077 allows you to pick and choose the skills you want from five main categories. These categories can be combined together in any way that you want, allowing you to make a stealth hacker, a melee-focused stealth hacker, or whatever else you want to make by combining the various skills that you can unlock.

The system is also extremely forgiving, as you can spend much of your time focusing on one attribute and then just shift your focus later as you continue to level up and unlock new attributes and skills. There’s also the option to respec—something most RPGs offer these days—though it is a bit costly.

The city of dreams

If exploration is more your thing, then Night City has plenty to offer there, too. While the world isn’t quite as awe-striking as the large open worlds that we’ve become accustomed to over the years, there is a lot of content packed into the alleyways and streets that make up the city.

Side quests and other open world activities can be found all throughout the city and the Badlands that surround it, so there’s no worry about running out of things to do. There are plenty of clothing options and vehicles, which really lets you build your character’s fashion and style however you want. There is an armor system in place, though you can do away with most of that worry thanks to some of the subdermal Cyberware upgrades you can purchase from Ripperdocs.

The voice acting is another great part of the puzzle, and while the celebrity spotlight falls on Keanu Reeves throughout much of the story, the real shining lights here are characters like Judy Alvarez, the voice actors for both male and female V, and the other supporting characters that appear. Compared to many of these other actors, Keanu’s performance can come off really stiff at times, though it does even out as you continue through the game.

Some of my best moments in Cyberpunk 2077 have come from simply walking or driving through the world from one objective to the next. The conversations that NPCs have as you walk by, and the sheer volume of people moving around the city, helps to bring Night City to life. There are some not-so-great development choices with the traffic AI—like the fact that they aren’t coded to pass around stopped vehicles, instead just piling up and then despawning as you move the camera around—but these are less bugs and more strange development choices.

The way that the NCPD spawns work is also questionable, with the NPC cops simply appearing near you instead of driving up or walking up like they do in other games. It is immersion-breaking, but as someone who played without getting the cops called on them that often, I never had to worry about it too much. It is still an issue, though, and one of many that are worth discussing.

Beyond the neon lights

While Cyberpunk 2077 is beautiful, and both the main story and side story quests are strong, the game has a lot of weaknesses to account for, too. I personally didn't run into too many graphical issues, though I did experience other issues with the game. The 3080 in my rig took everything that the game had to throw at it and handled it exceptionally well, though I did notice some textures popping in during exploration, as well as NPCs and cars sometimes phasing through solid objects. I realize that not everyone is as lucky as I am in that regard, and even if you are, chances are you’re going to run into one of the many other issues plaguing Cyberpunk’s beautiful world.

Throughout the 50+ hours I’ve spent in the game I’ve experienced a myriad of bugs. Some were simple, like having my clothes magically unequip themselves between missions. Others resulted in me being unable to reload my weapons or even shoot my weapons, forcing me to completely reload the last save file. Other game-breaking issues I encountered resulted in dialogue options not popping up when they should, causing me to miss some timed dialogue sequences, and even having mission triggers bug out and not pop up when they should have.

The game, though an RPG, doesn't offer any real way to customize your character outside of clothing changes after you complete the initial character creation. This means you can't change your hair or change up any of your other facial appearance options. This is more preference than necessity, but as an RPG, you'd expect to have a way to change up how your character looks throughout the game. It's possible we'll see this added in a future update similar to The Witcher 3's barbershop system, but at the moment it doens't exist in-game.

Free your mind

I love what Cyberpunk 2077 has to offer, but the sad truth of the matter is that CDPR pushed the game out before it was ready. Despite multiple delays, the game launched with a ton of issues. Ultimately, there’s a lot of good about Cyberpunk 2077, though it is buried under quite a bit of bad.

If you’re excited about playing Cyberpunk 2077 for yourself, then I recommend giving it a few months. Let CDPR sort out some of the bigger issues and then give it a try. I’d love nothing more than to sit here and tell you that it’s a perfect game and that you won’t have any issues playing it. Sadly, that isn’t the case. In its current state, Cyberpunk 2077 has a strong story and world, but those strengths are weighed down by bad design decisions and bugs aplenty.

This review is based on a PC copy of Cyberpunk 2077 provided by the publisher. Cyberpunk 2077 is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

Josh Hawkins

Guides Editor

Joshua holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has been exploring the world of video games for as long as he can remember. He enjoys everything from large-scale RPGs to small, bite-size indie gems and everything in between.