If I were to sum up Cyberpunk 2077 quickly – and I’m not suggesting that’s a very good idea – I’d say it is quite a bit smaller than you’d think. That sounds like a criticism, but it isn’t. For all of Cyberpunk 2077’s vastness – in the sheer height and width and length of it, in the sprawling, monolithic Night City, and in the noise it’s made, the attention it’s demanded ahead of launch – it is often quite surprisingly focused.
Everything We Learned Playing Cyberpunk 2077 – New Cyberpunk 2077 Gameplay 4K Watch on YouTubeCyberpunk 2077 review impressionsDeveloper: CD ProjektPublisher: CD ProjektPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out December 10th on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, next-gen versions to follow next year
It’s still early on for me, I should say – after 30 hours I was still, no doubt to the horror of many with vanishing spare time, just finding my feet – but much of that focus is placed on Cyberpunk’s central story, which has so far been a welcome surprise. Beneath the noise – and Cyberpunk is truly cacophonous – there is a lingering thread of tenderness to it. I’ve opted to play V as a woman, with a ‘Corpo’ background, and she’s been voiced impeccably by Cherami Leigh and written with some skill. There’s real tenderness here, real vulnerability – a lot of “this city’ll chew you up and spit you out” stuff, sure, but there’s a waver to the tough talk, and from more than just V. Cyberpunk’s story so far is one of fear, the surface of it plated in chrome and angst and body horror gore, but still built on a core of humanity. It’s more than I expected, and more than we’ve been taught to expect, frankly, by the brashness of the marketing, the pitching of Night City as this great, submissive, ultra-hedonist playground. Night City is a vile swamp, in actual fact, and Cyberpunk’s characters are drowning in it. It is, so far, more than just a synthwave skin on another puerile open world.
There is plenty of puerility, mind, and this has been the game’s biggest tension. I don’t need a penis length slider or areola settings, for instance. I don’t understand the thought behind tying a character’s gender to the sound of their voice, which seems a clumsy choice at the very best. And its relentless waves of shock-factor tone can be stifling. It’s hard to maintain V’s character as a human struggling for air – as she herself is written – as you eviscerate and decapitate your way through yet another enemy base, and just as hard to be horrified by whatever disemboweled soul you find at the end when you’ve done just as much along the way.