Stunning visuals couldn’t save ‘Cyberpunk’
Analysing what went wrong with 'Cyberpunk 2077', a game that was much delayed and failed to live up to gamers' expectations, one month after its release
Cyberpunk 2077 is the gift that keeps on giving. A game that had garnered hype to mythic proportions, its launch was eagerly awaited as developer CD Project Red (CDPR) delayed repeatedly. With over seven years in making and repeated delays coupled with CDPR’s track record of making exceptional narrative-driven games (the Witcher franchise), the only way the players’ expectations could be sated were if Cyberpunk were the greatest game ever made.
Looking back, the expectations from players should have been minimal in this case, especially considering that Cyberpunk was to be an FPS; a terrain new for CDPR. Similarly, despite the stunning visuals, there was a need to investigate the underlying mechanics and the world that was designed.
The pre-launch events, despite the pomp and show, weren’t able to indicate how this game was different from a game like GTA V or Watchdogs 2. While hindsight is always 20/20 but this has happened too many times in recent history and the fault lies on us players with this one.
After the ginormous broken launch, CDPR retaliated by saying that the game had to be made playable for 9 platforms and urged for patience. However, any player who signed in on day one knew that the game was broken and patches, fixes can only do so much. One month on, the game still struggles on the PlayStation family.
A friend of mine talks about 5-second delays between input and on-screen action on his PS4 Pro, I shudder to think what the case on the original PS4 and Xbox One would be. Cyberpunk not being available for last gen devices would have been great for CDPR considering their games are always technologically demanding but then I guess this is the price for going mainstream?
The glitches are several and the bugs, at times, render the game unplayable. There are some wonderful flourishes but none of them can mask its unfinishedness. As I drive at high speeds through night city, my character mysteriously decides to stand up naked.
Similarly, the AI is glitched unaware and, at times, downright foolish. Interestingly, all the content streamed online about Cyberpunk is on various ways to break the game. Videos that showcase ways to cause “a million in damage with one shot” and so on, indicative that the game not just lacked polish but was inherently raw when shipped. We have been so enamoured with the ‘unplayableness’ that we haven’t looked underneath.
As expected, Cyberpunk has soon been deserted, I gave up mid-way through my second playthrough just like several others (over 75 per cent of players) who have stopped playing it on Steam or GOG.
This, sadly, has increasingly become the norm, we saw it with 2019’s Anthem and nearly two years later with Cyberpunk, gorgeous virtual worlds — lifeless, unplayed leaving us to wonder what is to become of the developers’ legacies. It’s too late to use this as a cautionary tale — there simply must be more that can be done.
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