Cyberpunk 2077 is back in gaming news, specifically because of more controversy regarding how much of a mess it turned out to be on last-gen consoles. It was so bad, in fact, that Sony pulled it from the PlayStation Store until CD Projekt Red managed to cobble together a series of fixes. It's back up, but the controversy hasn't gone away, as the developer has overtly stated that major issues still persist.
So, the question is whether Cyberpunk 2077 has changed in some significant manner since the controversially disastrous launch a few months back. The answer is yes, for good reasons as well as bad ones. The developer has made progress, but the future longevity of the game is in serious doubt at this point.
Some Bugs Have Been Fixed
Cyberpunk 2077 launched in a rather unfinished state, kind of like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Thankfully, there aren't any mammoths pinballing between trees, but there are quite a lot of notorious bugs that seem to keep popping up over and over again, much to the dismay of fans hoping for a polished final product.
While many bugs have been squashed since that fateful launch, Cyberpunk 2077 is still rife with them. Many have been longtime staples of YouTube roast videos, such as streetlights without any poles, hilariously bad physics bugs, texture glitches, and more. It seems those most obvious ones are still being overlooked.
Development Roap Is Terrible
After the controversial launch of the game and the subsequent backlash from fans and pre-purchasers, CD Projekt Red was forced to go on full damage control mode to try and mitigate the ensuing fallout. They've had mixed success since that time, indicating that this might be another No Man's Sky story all over again.
The initial development roap for updates, bug fixes, and stability enhancements left a lot to be desired. It was essentially a simple graphic that was big on style and very light on substance. Following the 1.23 update, things haven't gotten any better, with the new development roap leaving many Cyberpunk players scratching their heads in confusion.
Framerates Are Improving
Cyberpunk 2077 was, in many ways, a victim of its own incredible ambition. It was clearly designed with next-gen hardware in mind, as evidenced by the sheer scope of the game. Unfortunately, this creates a few problems for gamers playing on older hardware or the last generation of video game consoles.
In fact, the PS4 and Xbox One got the worst and most unstable version of the game to date, with atrocious framerates to boot. Even for high-end PCs, the combination of ray-traced lighting without advanced DLSS can slaughter a 3090ti. Thankfully, framerates are getting better little by little with each update, but they could be better.
Stability Is Improving
One major problem with the game, especially on consoles, was stability. It simply wasn't there. The game was infamously yanked from Sony's PlayStation Store for its nearly unplayable release quality, and CD Projekt Red has been busy trying to reverse that decision. That means fewer crashes, better optimization, and fixed questlines.
It's that last problem that had many gamers fuming, especially when forced to deal with missions that literally broke the game due to stability and programming issues. On the PC front, Cyberpunk 2077 was not prone to rampant crashing, but stability improvements have made the game an even better fit for that platform.
Sales Are Crashing
A few months ago, the gaming world was shocked with the announcement that CD Projekt Red had made money hand over fist, apparently thanks to Cyberpunk sales. For a game with such a notorious and controversial reputation, many were wondering if gamers simply didn't care and were eager to play the game.
The next sales figures release painted a different story, however. Sales fell off a cliff, no doubt due to the infamy of the game spreading around the community. It's possible that gamers who heard the bad news simply haven't yet plunked down cash for the game, but may do so at a later date when everything is fixed.
More Gameplay Balance Tweaks
When Cyberpunk 2077 does work, it works very well, and it's a fun experience. There's a lot to be done in order to make it feel like the true, definitive version of the hyped E3 title that whipped fans into such a frenzy, but balancing out the gameplay elements is a nice start.
The last few patches have tweaked everything from regular combat to cyberware and driving mechanics. The changes might be subtle, but they're still noticeable. Those who ran through the game in its initial or early stages might want to consider another playthrough, just to see what's changed.
Better Pathing
Early Cyberpunk builds suffered a plethora of issues in its various missions, and it's eye-watering to go down the list of fixes in each subsequent patch. Much of the time, broken quest lines would affect the game's built-in pathing system, leaving gamers frustrated and confused as to where to go and what to do.
Since that time, the pathing system has gotten much better. The directional mini-map in the top-right of the screen is more informative and reliable. This directly affects the mission system in a positive way, making it a little bit easier to track down those rogue Delamain taxis without their quest lines seizing up in mid-play.
Less Troublesome Missions
Speaking of missions, the plethora of fixes that have come out since the game launched are more than welcome and quite overdue. All manner of mission glitches abounded, to the frustration of countless players.
Imagine a questline breaking in the middle of a mission, simply because a character lacked the right Attribute requirements? How about cars driven by key NPCs missing a turn, or a new objective not triggering when it's supposed to? This is just scratching the surface of a much bigger problem, but it seems like CD Projekt Red is burning the midnight oil to try and patch up as many missions as possible. That's wise if they want to sell more copies.
More Players Are Actually Playing
The good news is that gamers who initially bought or pre-purchased the game at launch are actually starting to play it. Sure, it's not up to Gold status just yet, but it's close, and that's good news for gamers who don't mind the occasional glitch and simply want to experience the story. It's a good story by all s, with lots to experience.
The modding community has also helped out by dishing out some great content that makes the play experience a little smoother. For all intents and purposes, those who bought the game are playing the game, and hopefully Cyberpunk 2077 will ascend to the level where those same people will want to play through it again, just for the branching storylines.
DLC Has Been Pushed Back
CD Projekt Red had made the rather unrealistic announcement that they wanted to get free DLC content in the hands of players within the first quarter of 2021, but clearly that's not happening. It isn't known when players can expect their first DLC package to come out, but it's looking like Q3 of 2021, or even later.
The company has promised a ton of free DLC content designed to smooth things over with gamers, and hopefully it delivers in the same way that the aforementioned No Man's Sky did. That final scene of the game hints at big things still to come for the story, and that's more than enough to whet appetites for more dystopian Cyberpunk goodness.
