The most anticipated video game of 2020, "Cyberpunk 2077" has been making headlines since its release on December 10.
Presented as revolutionary, the title is ultimately more talked about for its countless bugs than for the rich content it offers.
What to wonder if it should be put on his Christmas list.
DECRYPTION
In 2013, the Polish studio CD Projekt Red, known for the license
The Witcher
, ignited the gaming community by broadcasting an extraordinary trailer of
Cyberpunk 2077
, one of its future video games.
For seven years, the excitement was at its height.
After several postponements, the long-awaited game was finally released on December 10th.
And there ... patatras: with a chaotic launch,
Cyberpunk 2077
arouses as much fascination for its futuristic universe as it does acid criticism for its countless bugs.
So much so that Sony removed it from the Playstation Store on Friday.
We therefore took the time to test the game from start to finish to give us a fresh opinion and take the opportunity to answer a few questions.
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What is
Cyberpunk 2077
?
Before coming to more specific questions, a little rundown on what
Cyberpunk 2077
tells us
and in what form.
It's an "Action-RPG", an open-world action game in which you slip into the skin of a hero that you personalize and improve throughout the adventure.
In this case, it is V, a mercenary in search of glory in the city of Night City, a futuristic metropolis which resembles in every way that of the film
Blade Runner
.
After a blow that turns badly, he finds himself at the heart of a politico-technological conspiracy that is beyond him.
In
Cyberpunk 2077
, we therefore roam Night City to accomplish various missions, those of the main story, but also an astronomical amount of side quests scattered throughout the various districts of the city.
Small peculiarity: the game adopts a first person view, in other words we see everything directly through the eyes of the hero.
Is
Cyberpunk 2077
a revolution?
Not really.
Yet that was CD Projekt Red's promise:
Cyberpunk 2077
was to offer a new experience, more immersive than ever by pushing the limits of video games.
In reality, apart from the remarkable articulation of the story and the depth of the universe, it is based on very classic mechanics, even surprisingly clumsy at times.
So goes the very classic fights and the driving of vehicles, difficult to master.
The scenario is also sometimes painful to follow as the game is talkative, with interminable phases of dialogue.
Without being embarrassing, this slag inevitably generates a little disappointment.
© CD Projekt Red
That being said, when it does work (we'll come back to it),
Cyberpunk 2077
is still very exciting thanks to the bluffing immersion in this fantasized future, where technology is omnipresent.
For example, we have the possibility of improving our character with new processors, metal bones, cybernetic eyes… And Night City is without a doubt the most incredible city ever created in a video game.
It's a metal monster where the sun rarely filters, a city-world that is both beautiful and sticky.
The streets are teeming with people and activity, with people coming to us to offer us various services that are not always very legal.
Just for exploring Night City, the game is worth trying.
Is
Cyberpunk 2077
bugged?
Unfortunately yes.
And way too much.
The game only works properly on a state-of-the-art PC and, to a lesser extent, on the latest generation consoles.
We tested
Cyberpunk 2077
on Xbox Series X and while it is overall smooth and very beautiful, we still found several bugs: characters that go through walls, the screen that "freeze" and even the game that s' stop suddenly.
Even though all of this will be "patched" through updates in the coming weeks, it is annoying if not terribly annoying.
For bug lovers, it must be said that some are quite innovative.
There's also a cool side to Cyberpunk in its vanilla version ^^ pic.twitter.com/tZf8PYjRP1
- Psyhodelik (@Psyhodelikus) December 8, 2020
But this is nothing compared to the poverty of the versions on PS4 and Xbox One, the most popular consoles and on which the game is at best passable, at worst completely unplayable.
The graphics are ugly, the textures look like plasticine, there are faceless characters, Night City is empty of half of its inhabitants… In short, on these consoles,
Cyberpunk 2077
offers a painful gaming experience.
It is all the more incomprehensible that CD Projekt made its developers work six days a week, sometimes up to one hundred hours a week, for several months, to complete the game. Inhuman working conditions which appear doubly unjustified.
Should you buy
Cyberpunk 2077
for Christmas?
It all depends on your gaming equipment.
If you have a PC with a powerful processor and latest graphics card then yes you can buy it,
Cyberpunk 2077
is a delight.
If you're lucky enough to have a Playstation or Xbox Series X, you might as well give it a go.
You may encounter some bugs and slowdowns but, as is, the game offers a very pleasant experience.
And if you are patient, it will improve a little more each week as the updates continue.
© CD Projekt Red
On the other hand, if you have a PS4 or an Xbox One, go your way.
On these consoles, the game is currently unplayable.
CD Projekt Red apologized for the poor quality of these releases and promised significant updates in January and then February.
"Together, these patches should fix the biggest issues players face," the studio said.
But he warns players: "The PS4 and Xbox One versions will not look like the high-end PC versions or next-gen consoles, even if they will come closer than today."
In other words, you will never fully enjoy the richness of
Cyberpunk 2077
.