[Introduction]
I wrote this review in 2022, but I did not post it in English. Since my interpretation of Dark, I haven't written such a long and complex piece. I thought about it for a very long time, even longer than I did with the aforementioned series. While Dark had a few flaws, it's a much more cohesive overall experience. CDPR's new game is more complex, and it's a different medium, offering incomparably more possibilities for action than interpretation when it comes to analyzing the series (when it comes to breaking down the series or the game). Once I started the game, I jotted down my notes in various places—on my phone, if they were short entries, on email, if I needed to write longer ones so I could later understand what I was thinking, and on a piece of paper, if I didn't have access to a computer and suddenly had an epiphany. Currently, I'm on my second playthrough (all side quests and contracts have been completed, except for the main quests), and by the time I finish writing this review, I'll be on my third playthrough, getting as much out of the game as I can.
I'll also say right away that my opinion may change over time. Okay, that's true in every case, regardless of what we're talking about, but this case is special. As one of my blog followers, Sylwia, more or less said: "Cyberpunk is a game that gives me a lot of fun, and at the same time, I love to hate it." Or another sentence I remember from a StarCraft review written on release day: "It's a very good game that could have been much better if Blizzard had spent even longer on it." I could say the same about CP2077, but in a different context, because Blizzard didn't have such ambitions (or at least didn't talk about them openly), so they gave us less to criticize. Instead, I see even more empty space that could be filled, flaws that could be fixed, things that could be added. Overall, I like this game, but less than Witcher 3—partly because that game better masked the elements it didn't handle so well.
I started my adventure with a female V with a pre-made model (the one CDPRed boasts about in their promotional materials), but I made too many mistakes and earned far fewer experience points than I could have. So I decided to create a new character, this time not Punk, but Korp – a black femboy hacker with large genitalia. I grind everything I can, just like I did long ago when playing WoW. I craft everything into components, and when I run out, I visit nearby shops, upgrade my gear, wander the city, and take down criminals. In other words, I don't miss any opportunity to enrich myself, improve my skills, or level up.
[The plot and overall quality of the game]
In the game, we play as V, a young mercenary (or young mercenary) who has decided to build his legend in one of the most important cities in the world. Our goal is simple: together with his companion, Jack Wells, we must establish a good reputation. During one of the assignments, something went wrong. Jackie died, and we gained a new personality element: Johnny Silverhand. In short, he's a typical bad boy who exhibits, to a greater or lesser extent, traits of the Dark Triad: he's uncompromising, egotistical, sarcastic, narcissistic, and often treats people as objects. He's not a complete jerk; throughout the story, he'll show his better side several times and even change (more or less, depending on the relationship we develop with him and our experiences).
V must also survive, as an engram with Silverhand's personality gradually overwrites his soul, taking control of his body. The game has three starting points – Nomad, Punk, and Corps. They don't differ much from each other. Sure, there are some differences in dialogue, occasional small quests, and some minor events unfold differently, but overall, it doesn't significantly impact the overall story. Similarly, most decisions have less impact on the plot than in The Witcher (that's my impression after two playthroughs; I could be wrong), or at least I felt noticeably less often that decision X changed the outcome of case Y. Let me clarify, to avoid misunderstandings – in both cases, choices in minor matters tended not to have a significant impact on the final outcome. However, in Sapkowski's world, I felt I had a greater influence on the universe, even if these were only plot threads involving ordinary people. I simply saw the consequences of my decisions more often – I met a familiar NPC, something happened to the village I saved, etc. For me, this isn't a significant advantage or disadvantage, because both games clumsily imitate real life - W3 handles it better, because it's quasi-medieval and it's easier to hide the engine's limitations in this world, when most people are ordinary peasants, and in the case of important NPCs, it's easier to believe that these characters "live" in the game world - they have less to do, don't have such opportunities to communicate, move, etc.
How do I rate the plot, side quests, and characters (both primary and secondary)? Let me start by saying that it's hard to avoid comparisons with the studio's previous game. True, these titles take place in completely different universes, but they're quite similar. The mechanics are more or less the same, as are the side quests. Not to mention the atmosphere, choices, and character relationships. In my opinion, W3 is better than CP2077 in both the main story and the side quests (I'm talking only about the plot, characters, etc. – I'll compare the gameplay in another paragraph). It's not a huge difference, but in my opinion, a noticeable one. However, opinions among internet users and players are divided on this point, so I think it's purely subjective, depending on preference. Both titles have their strengths and weaknesses – storylines or parts of them that we'll remember for a long time or want to forget. Characters we'll either like or dislike. Moments that will make a big impression on us, surprise us with their creativity, imagination, how they were presented... And so on.
In my opinion, The Witcher has more, and it's not because I really like Sapkowski's books. Before I read the books, I bought the game and, while I was reading, I'd ask my friends to explain plotlines or references to the original. Before I started reading them, I played through the game twice. The books probably reinforced this impression, because I'm simply in love with how CDPR translated the world from the books into the game, but for the purposes of this review, I'm trying to suppress my positive emotions. In the case of CP, I was only truly engaged with Silverhand's storyline (although it also had its weaker elements that bored me, but much less so than the parts where we controlled Ciri). The rest wasn't bad, but for some reason, I couldn't get involved. The storyline with the Bartender thinking he's a cuckold was quite intriguing. Panam and her family, the fates of several other characters, Jacky's family – these were also well-written storylines. Unfortunately, the world of Night City has been dramatically underutilized. The game appears vast and expansive, but beneath the beautiful graphics, there's often a sense of emptiness. Battles with Cyberpsychos are mini-bosses. If only they were significantly different from each other... Hacking is simply the magic of W3. Braindances are a pretty cool toy, but they have too little impact and aren't a game changer. And you'd think otherwise based on how they were advertised.
As for W3, I was very impressed with Leto's story (I still haven't played W2), the Bloody Baron, the Swamp Witches, that tree where they enchanted a certain creature, Emhyr, the murdered prostitutes, Triss Merigold and the refugees, the Kaer Morhen storyline, the two goodbyes to Ciri at the end... I could name a few more, but I haven't played in a while and have already forgotten a lot of elements, maybe I'll come back to this topic when we get a big update for the PS5 version at the end of this year.
Without wanting to sound sarcastic, I'll share what really impressed me. It's not as atmospheric as other online game stages, but it's one of the better scenes, and it left a strong impression on me every time. The creators directed and edited it brilliantly; I felt a genuine sense of dread and desperation, not only because of V's health, but also because of the entire context of the situation. The way it was presented is also significant – a brilliant horror atmosphere, a complete lack of control, and the need to surrender to whatever fate throws at us. Dexter, "a moment ago," was a great scoundrel who thought he had the situation under control, and now he stands there, trembling with fear for his life. Takamura, on the other hand, saw another red flag that forced him to change his mind about V. And that unhappy ending, straight out of an episode of Black Mirror or the movie Upgrade (I highly recommend it! A small film made for a pitiful budget, but damn good and very thought-provoking), when we find out that Dex has killed our brains, and the chip that saved our lives is gradually consuming our souls and destroying our egos... Oh, if it actually played out like they announced, and not just temporary fainting spells, it would be very powerful...
The second scene that impressed me most was the first ending. As I mentioned, I chose to work with the corporation partly out of naivety and partly out of curiosity—to be honest, I truly trusted Saburo's daughter. Since childhood, I've been an imaginative person who likes to get lost in my own thoughts, and one of my worst visions was being in a psychiatric hospital. If I remember correctly, I watched a movie about this topic and was struck by the terrible treatment these people receive. The first ending was like a return to that nightmare, only in a much more intense form. In my review of Batman on PS3, I highly praised Scarecrow and his first appearance. A few of my friends and I thought (even though we played independently, they on release day, I a few years later) that we'd broken the console or encountered a bug. It turned out the developers cleverly transferred the effects of drugs into the game's language. Even though it was after midnight and I only played the game for "a few minutes," I was so captivated that I went to bed about two hours later.
This game had a much stronger effect! I don't remember ever having a similar reaction... It's true that the second ending made a bigger impression on me, but that's because of the overall effect—the greater intensity of several emotions, not just frustration. If I were to consider only my anger, the collaboration with the corporation pissed me off more. Or let me put it another way: it's like comparing two anime or TV series. The first has more merits and reasons to praise it, the second has fewer, but two of them stand out more. The feeling of immersion was so powerful, I felt as if I were in her shoes! I was as frustrated as my V—I was irritated by her helplessness, by having to submit to the organization and follow their idiotic orders as if we were 100% healthy and were about to be seen by an overzealous doctor who wanted to prove himself and wouldn't let us go, and we couldn't force him to see him. When Arasaka finally mercifully released us, I felt like a wreck with baby food instead of brains and two options: drink myself to death or shoot myself in the head. Hats off to you, I was sadder than Geralt's suicide in the worst ending of "The Witcher," and that rarely happens to me.
Overall, CP is unfortunately underdeveloped in almost every aspect. Starting from the beginning, the developers seem to want to force a relationship with our companion, whom we'll say goodbye to relatively quickly. If it weren't for the conversation with his girlfriend on the roof, I would have forgotten about him, and I was a bit embarrassed about it... For a while, because after two or three days, it was over. It's like a relationship with a friend from elementary school who, over the past dozen years, has followed a completely different path than ours, and now we have nothing to talk about. CDPR probably realized too late that they hadn't thought this thread through, and the game was already too advanced to delete it or further expand its role (which could have resulted in further changes, and therefore a later release).
The development of some skills was limited to the same old hacks and the use of excessively large vending machines, of which there are so many, simply because they had to fill the game world. Side characters don't speak much, and their models are often repetitive. My girlfriend and I once counted five identical NPCs while walking down the street for a few minutes. Communicating with other characters is fun, but I feel like much, much more could have been done in this regard. Far too little was done compared to what could have been done. Take Pokémon on the Game Boy Advance. There, too, we could talk to other characters, and overall, we didn't stray too far from that, despite the vast distance between the two games. Of course, the creators of CP2077 had a much more difficult task, but they also had more tools and a wider range of possibilities. Therefore, they were able to create a better illusion of a living world, at least in terms of the relationships between characters, which are less meaningful to us after completing the mission than before. Overall, the story is very good. I had a great time playing both games 1 and 2, but unlike W3, I wasn't as impressed often, although when it did happen, I think it was stronger. As I wrote in the introduction, if CDPRed wanted to, they could have done it better, or much better (depending on what we're talking about), but as it is, it's only very good. Fortunately, the relationship with Johnny more than makes up for it.
[Characters and Their Relationships]
Speaking of which, it's a good opportunity to write about the characters in this world. It's worth starting with the best character in CP and the best relationship... ever? Well, at least in my case, because I can't recall ever coming across such a good relationship in games. The relationship between these two is very sincere, natural, and vibrant, which is even more impressive when you consider the context. It's maintained a high standard from the beginning; when Johnny wakes up in an alternate reality, the lack of cigarettes and drugs infuriates him. It's like two friends who sometimes growl at each other like two wolves, get angry over seemingly insignificant matters, don't speak to each other for a while, but it doesn't last long because they're stuck together for various reasons.
Thanks to us, Johnny is no longer an asshole and understands that sometimes you have to shove nonconformity up your ass and accept objective reality. My partner, during one of the conversations between V and Silverhand, said, "Well, what a waste of your time fighting when you're dead, and the corporation is still standing and doesn't care about your fate." V, in turn, took his fate into his own hands, no longer being a polite and passive boy who accepts whatever fate throws at him instead of fighting for his own. This lesson is also important—these days offer enormous opportunities, but people are lazy and too often settle for what they have. Not to mention that by not making decisions, they're actually postponing risk—it will come sooner or later, and the longer we delay, the harder it will hit us. This can be applied to every important aspect of life. In short, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the sincere relationship between these two. It was like watching two real, flesh-and-blood people who sometimes say something too strongly or unnecessarily inflame already heated situations, but who are also ready to help each other out at any moment, or to tell each other very honestly and bluntly that our idea is stupid and its implementation will end badly. Or as Panam put it, "The relationship between these people is like this: first they hit you very hard on the head, and then they hug you so tight that every bone in your body breaks."
And speaking of Panam, besides Johnny, she's my favorite character. Like Keanu Reeves, she's a brilliantly designed and executed protagonist. Granted, they're not particularly original, as there are plenty of Chads and women who are "for dancing and praying" in pop culture and related fields, but I'll be honest – I can't remember the last time I've seen such well-written characters in a game that I'll remember in a few years. Oh w8... [here was a long list of characters from W3 who had more interesting roles]. I'll be honest, in my opinion, CP2077 doesn't have as good a roster of characters in its repertoire besides the two I listed. Okay, maybe that's because in The Witcher we had closer contact with them, and they accompanied us more often on quests, but I try to ignore that when making comparisons. True, in The Witcher's case, it was enough to simply not screw it up. However, Cyberpunk 2077 is also based on someone else's work, namely Cyberpunk 2020 by Mike Pondsmith. There may not be many characters and the game designers had more work to do creating new ones than with The Witcher, but on the other hand, they already have some experience and sufficient resources.
Panam is an ordinary girl you can talk to about anything and do a lot of things with. She doesn't sit around and complain, preferring instead to devote her time to her hobbies, which are more male than female. Add to that her extraordinary beauty, and... do we have the best Waifu for nerds? Well, or at least one of the best. Then there's River, whom I remembered after writing this segment. Hmm... I'll say this, his story wasn't bad, but I can't rate it higher than a 7/10—standard, good school work, but nothing exceptionally creative. The part about his nephew's accident was a bit more interesting, but not enough to warrant a higher opinion of him. The romance with him was okay, and so was the additional quest (if you play as a male and can't romance her), but nothing groundbreaking.
As for the Fixers, I liked them; they fit the world, but their story, their contracts, and their contribution to our adventure were a bit of a disappointment. I expected something better after so many years of waiting. I know it was difficult to develop them in the form CDPRed has (in the sense of talking heads who sometimes call us), but their characters could have been fleshed out, given more personal quests where they could showcase their personalities. I think this could have been done without too much interference with the source code—after all, what would happen if you expanded a few contracts a bit, or at least did what many students do in schools—enriched your text with a few clever sentences, developed character development, etc.? Okay, that would have been a bit forced, like painting grass green, but I think it would have worked better.
And the characters would definitely be less random – while I remember Padre, Regina, Rogue, Dakota, and Dexter relatively well, the rest are just a bunch of randoms to me, like most of the enemies in Dragon Ball. Regina could have, for example, developed a close bond with one of the victims of cyber psychosis, and her search would have been a bit more elaborate. Padre fared a bit better (because he stands out in some way, besides the pirate headband), but he too could have been developed more, not limited solely to religious texts. Dex had very good writing, a great voice, and an introduction. I generally like the design of the mighty Mokebe draped in chains... Unfortunately, we say goodbye to him very quickly. Rogue had a very nice beginning, her date with Johnny was also okay, but aside from that and a few flashback scenes, I don't recall anything interesting involving her. V and others talked so much about Wakako: her cunning, her business acumen, her tough nature, but ultimately, she's just an ordinary, kind woman who only showed her true character when the script called for it. And that's basically how I can sum up most of the characters in this game – they didn't feel like "living" characters who took on lives of their own once we left them. I saw them as NPCs who politely stood in line, waiting for their moment to reveal their character, and then, once they'd done their job, they were more or less like the phone booths in GTA1 – they'd chat a bit and then give us a task.
[Contracts]
Over the years, I've seen a lot of discussion about the side quests and the main storyline in Witcher 3. People debated whether the main storyline was good or bad, its pacing, whether the script was well-written, etc. The same goes for the side quests—whether they were formulaic, whether the developers fully utilized their potential, etc. Overall, this main quest was on par with a good TV series. However, looking at the overall storyline, I can't rank the CP2077 storyline higher than the search for Ciri. They could have drawn more inspiration from Ghost in the Shell or classic literature in the genre. True, we have Johnny, a very cool storyline with the Nomads (I like how they're portrayed—like modern bandits from the Wild West), Alt and Black Wall, and a few others. In my opinion, the previous CDPRed game is noticeably better. The world of The Witcher is more complete and richer in detail. Which isn't to say that CP2077 doesn't show its true colors. Every conversation with Alt, my first playthrough of Blackwall, and every time I spent online was a wonderful experience. I don't know if I value it more than the best storylines from Geralt 3, but it's definitely among the top. I felt back then like I did when I first consciously watched Ghost in the Shell from 1995. I emphasize the word "consciously"—I'd seen this film twice before, but I was too stupid and narrow-minded to understand it. I'm referring specifically to the moment when the Puppet Master articulated his demands and explained who he was. I sensed a similar aura from Alt, who could also be described as the "Network God"—power, domineering, and the zero empathy (or rather, the presentation of dry information) typical of such beings.
As for the side quests, I'll keep it short – they didn't bother me. I love grinding, and repeating the same actions is fine for me, as long as I enjoy the game. Is this a flaw? I'll put it this way – we rarely get "100% meat," and we're forced to rely on filler when consuming food or pop culture. If meat and vegetables make up about 70% of the meal/content (and it's good), I can't consider it a flaw, or at least not a major one. I don't know the proportions here, as I haven't counted, but it seems to me that the vast majority of side quests are filler. Is this a bad thing? Objectively speaking – yes, it's undoubtedly a flaw. Subjectively speaking – you might like it, and it doesn't indicate poor taste (as long as you don't overly defend it and pretend that an ugly duck is a beautiful swan), because as I wrote in the review, you can like anything. If I didn't like CP2077, I'd consider it a flaw, but I like it, so I don't see any complaints that would really bother me. Apart from the fact that it could have been expanded, and the developers could have worked on it longer. Out of pity, I'm ignoring the fact that the developers could have easily added quests, say, every 2-3 months, even if they were just meant to artificially expand the gameplay. It'll soon be two years since the game's release, and I don't recall the developers adding any new quests (aside from the latest patch, which announced DLC). For comparison, AC: Valhalla, from what I know from my friend Desther, has new content like this every so often, so if you want it, you can. This sadness only grows when I think about what could have been improved in this game.
[Gameplay]
I'll start with the cars. Some are quite fun to drive, but most are difficult and time-consuming to learn. And that has nothing to do with the fact that different car models handle differently. Besides, I'm a hopeless case when it comes to arcade games, and I always have a hard time playing them or completing stages that involve them (and there are 2 or 3 quests where you drive a car and have to finish on time). However, I started the new Gran Turismo, where I was already driving quite well after two tracks. In CP2077, however, you have to practice it, just like shooting, before you can drive them with any confidence. It didn't take me long, but it's a flaw of the game, just like the poor controls in, say, Gothic 1. Only driving the bikes is relatively simple and painless. The destruction system is fucking terrible. Even in GTA 1 (a game from 1997 and already considered garbage back then) it was marginally better. Cars can take a lot of damage, they have to be damaged very badly for them to show obvious symptoms of damage.
As I said, the shooting isn't much better. It's true that as you level up, you'll get more headshots, etc., but the beginning was always a disaster. By comparison, I had a blast playing Borderlands and Doom 4. It's nowhere near the smoothness of mouse and keyboard, but once you get the hang of it and get your fingers used to it, it's quite easy to play regardless of the level. However, once you get past that layer of hopelessness, it only gets easier from there. Weapon upgrades and modifications are pretty standard – they could have been done better, but they could also have been done much worse, so I'm not complaining. If they're inexperienced, I'd rather have something familiar than broken game mechanics. Speaking of progression, I like the character development tree. I don't know if certain abilities are important or not; I never analyze them until I'm playing online. I take or develop skills that are useful to me in the game or for faster grinding, and I only change them when I feel my character has truly faltered. So, I'll be honest, don't expect an honest opinion from me on this matter. I like it, I like the extensive skill system that offers a lot of possibilities. While the talents aren't unique, that doesn't bother me. However, I agree with the critics that more could have been done in this area than CDPRed did, so that's another drawback.
Regarding Braindance, I like the fact that we can delve into someone's memories, and therefore review what the ears, eyes, or body of the person whose memory we're reviewing have recorded. Initially, I thought it would be too difficult to grasp, but fortunately, that was only a pretense, as it can be learned relatively quickly—just like with Protocol Breach. Explaining Braindance from the perspective of a video game character is even better. If we have these capabilities today in 2022, what will it be like in 55 years? If many people are already overstimulated (making it worth taking a dopamine detox from time to time), and we have a wealth of pleasures our grandparents' generation never dreamed of (because our parents, at least some, still have a reasonable grasp of today's world), what will happen after that? Especially since the next decade looks truly exciting. Of course, if we have enough money to test it all. Feeling a character's emotions in a given action could be one of the paths we take in developing the entertainment industry. A similar vision was presented by the creator of the Altered Carbon books.
The police are terrible, and from what I've heard from people who know game development, it's impossible to fix. As a teenager, I once read an article in a computer magazine that some things or bugs can't be fixed if a game's development has progressed too far. In such situations, you have to start over, and I don't think I need to explain what that means for such large projects. Apparently, it was even worse before the patches, which is hard for me to imagine. The police can still spring up out of nowhere. You can shoot them, kill a few cops, and then ride your motorcycle into the sunset... Oh no, that's not the game... So, you can kill a few cops, flee the scene a few hundred meters, and the police won't chase you. Damn, GTA 1 handled that better xD. At least there, you had to make the effort to get to the place where you change the car's color and have enough money to do it.
Exploration is standard. We have a ton of unnecessary items to collect, more than in the Witcher expansion. If it weren't for the game's talent for automatic dismantling, I'd complain, but as it is, we have a flaw that doesn't bother me. The flaw that does bother me, however, are the sex scenes. And it's not that I enjoy watching such scenes, because their existence isn't really a drawback or an advantage for me. Unless it's a crucial gameplay element or is simply poorly executed, and CP failed on that latter point. The sex scenes in The Witcher 3 were beautiful, full of eroticism, heated feelings, or other emotions. We might not have seen a woman's crotch, but just turn on the PH and we have plenty to choose from. Here, they're poorly edited, lacking any atmosphere, not to mention emotion. I think only two scenes could rival the game's sexual romps with Geralt; the rest didn't even compare. The arcade machines also caught my eye – they only display one, maybe two games. I didn't check every single one because it's a waste of time, but I looked through enough to see that they were also copy-paste space-fillers, just like the food vending machines.
[Music and Graphics]
Let's move on to the things I don't have any major complaints about. Well, there's only one thing that really annoyed me, and it's not because of the poor music, but rather a bug. And not just me, as internet users have also noticed this on their consoles and PCs – at one point, we practically hear one song over and over again. The song "Streetfighters" is about 3 minutes long, and due to some bug, it loops, and we hear it over and over. A new save doesn't help, nor does changing the location in Night City. This would be bearable if the song weren't as depressing as the ghost town theme from Pokemon on Game Boy. This bug took so much of the fun out of the game that I had to turn off the sound whenever I was driving around the map and gaining experience. That aside, the music in the game is truly great! I won't give it a 10/10 because I expected something better, but I have absolutely no complaints about the soundtrack or the songs you hear on the radio. Well, maybe apart from the fact that I missed songs from the Synthwave genre, which would have been a perfect fit for CP2077, but that's a minor, subjective aspect. Instead, we have great electronic music, metal tracks that helped me unwind from work while exploring Night City, and good, memorable beats (though, IMO, less so than the Witcher 3 OST). The track Blackwall, aka Alt Cunningham Theme, is so epic that even before meeting Alt, I felt like I was reliving my favorite moments from anime and beyond. Hell, I felt a sense of awe mixed with humility before talking to her. I had a feeling that what I was about to see would be BIG, and I wasn't entirely wrong—I felt it with every fiber of my being. The character voices are a bit worse, being far too repetitive. Even I felt a little irritated when I heard "let's fuck her!!!" or other such expressions for the 2,137th time. The profanity itself doesn't bother me, as I can't imagine more sophisticated language during a massacre, but they could have added more lines of dialogue.
Regarding the Polish version, this paragraph will be exceptionally short. I didn't play the original version for long because I didn't like the voice acting of Silverhand and the NPCs (my impressions are purely subjective, I have no complaints). As for the Polish version, CDPRed once again did a great job! I still prefer the voice actors from the game based on Sapkowski's work, but in this case, I can't clearly say which one I think is better. Most of the actors and actresses did a good job. I say most because some of the voice actors/actresses didn't put in the effort, or at least that's what I think. I'll again refer to Regina and Wakako, who had great potential, but in the end, I didn't feel like they were important characters in Night City, just minor characters, like V at the beginning of the game. There aren't many such characters, and I don't have any major complaints about them. I just felt like some didn't put in the effort or were ill-suited to the role. Like Padre, for example, but to be fair, it's not really about the inferior performance. I like Vessemir's voice, but it just doesn't fit this Fixer. Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that after the old Witcher's death, his voice remained permanently embedded in my head. However, these are individuals who, in my opinion, bear little significance compared to what was achieved. V's voice, regardless of gender, is truly excellent (especially the female one, awww!). Dexter, Panam, Takemura, Hanako Arasaka, and her father Saburo are simply fantastic! I liked their voices from the very first scene, and that didn't change until the very end. In fact, at certain moments, my feelings for them grew even warmer – these were moments where they could show their character and express their emotions.
Hanako is a stereotypical girl from a heavily patriarchal Japanese society, mixed with a cunning bitch. When she's fatherless, she acts like a calculating and ruthless lady who plays her own game and doesn't care about the commoners, like V. However, when she's alongside Saburo, she transforms into a polite and humble daughter. Saburo made a huge impression on me when I heard him after the deal with the corporation (my first ending). I felt like I was hearing a typical anime grandfather (like Yamamoto from Bleach or Muten Roshi from DB), but at the peak of his power. His voice was a perfect manifestation of strength. But that's nothing compared to the fucking work of art that is Johnny "Michał Żebrowski" Silverhand. It was a complete surprise. Admittedly, I'd heard his performance was a highlight before, but I didn't expect it to be this good! I know opinions on this are divided, and Keanu's version differs from Michał's. The Polish Silverhand is more daring and better suited to the nonconformist Rockman. I often laughed at his jokes or his snide, even vulgar, comments about corporations, human stupidity, and our poor decisions. The same was true with more serious matters, when he vulgarly, yet truthfully, commented on the state of society or the problems of our world. While most of them weren't particularly groundbreaking, and I'd heard these kinds of comments many times before, that's not the developers' fault. The problem has been known for decades, and many wise people have commented on it, and people like me keep repeating it. I hope to hear it more often in games like this, because it fits them perfectly!
Night City and its surroundings and people look very nice. Well, the people are a bit less so, but I think they still look good compared to the competition. As for the city, I was very impressed with its architecture. It's clear that a lot of attention was paid to it, and unlike the rest of the game, this aspect has been polished. I rarely use Fast Travel, preferring to travel by vehicle or on foot, so I could explore them well. The views aren't as impressive as in Ghost of Tsushima, but that's partly due to the fact that the "dead" city, built of reinforced concrete, metal, and overloaded with electronics, makes less of an impression than nature. A few times, I stopped on the roof of a tall building and observed Night City from above, or drove outside the city to several vantage points from which I could observe the cityscape. Personally, I prefer the cityscapes a la the latest City Hunter movie, but that's purely subjective. If you like GitS, Psycho-Pass, Altered Carbon, or both Blade Runner installments, you'll feel right at home. CDPR's work draws heavily from them while simultaneously adding its own unique touch. As I've said, I'm not a fan of the genre, but it just so happened that I've been exposed to it since childhood thanks to my father, his brother, and friends and colleagues who haven't let me forget it. I also have a very good memory, so I can easily tell what they borrowed from other works (copying it for their own product or drawing inspiration from it and adapting it to their needs). My only reservation is that the city seems a bit small compared to the world of W3, but maybe that will change once they release DLC that expands it. I have no opinion on the weapon models, environmental elements, and loot items, as I'm completely unfamiliar with those.
[Summary]
As I mentioned in the introduction, I devoted a lot of time to this review, both on research, considering my objections, and writing it. I wanted the text to be as thorough as possible and to use as many notes as possible (because, unfortunately, it's not always possible to cover everything—after all, it needs to be enjoyable to read and have some structure). As with my analysis of "Dark," I partially bent the rule I just described. In both cases, I could afford to do so—these two titles are so extensive and ambitious that it's difficult to capture all my observations in a single text or YouTube video, and certain compromises have to be made. I certainly left out some aspects or devoted too little space to the ones I mentioned—this is normal in reviews of smaller titles, let alone larger ones. While the creators of Dark somehow managed to create a sensible, consistent work (although they also made some mistakes), in which they included everything they wanted after starting work on this project, CDPRed fell victim to its own excessive ambitions.
Of course, I'm not comparing the two media; that would be incredibly foolish of me. It was just about this one aspect. A few months after the release, we learned that the studio was in a state of disarray and our developers were working chaotically, despite global standards being completely different. Essentially, this way of developing the game deprived them of the opportunity to fix at least some of the bugs. I remember wondering a year before the release if they would make the same mistakes they did with "The Witcher 3." I then referred to a recording I heard from Borys (a Polish YouTuber) about 10-14 months before the release, where he repeated what he'd heard from the "Cyberpunk 2077" developers: "The game won't run properly. While it works on PC, the new Xbox, and PS5, it absolutely refuses to run properly on PS4 and equally old hardware." Well, he was right, and fortunately, I trusted him and distanced myself from the game...
Despite these bugs, flaws, and all the criticism I've received, I really like this game! It's very immersive. This is probably due to the fact that we created "our" character instead of controlling Geralt, and despite all the limitations, we had a slightly greater influence on our protagonist's creation. Nevertheless, I count this as a plus. I don't think I'll remember this title as fondly as CDPR's earlier project, but I certainly disagree with its detractors (just as I disagree with its supporters, who hear things like, "I didn't make a single mistake and had a great time, what the fuck are you talking about, man"—you'd have to be pretty ignorant to deny the flaws most players have). If CDPR had toned down the hype a bit, stopped pumping it up endlessly, stopped loudly whining, "You say the previous game was great? Fuck, wait for the new one, it'll blow you off the board!", and instead focused on the work, it could have been an outstanding game. And that's just how good it is... And that's after many revisions. But to avoid ending on a sad note, at least we saw how many reviewers were venal pigs who rated CP2077 10/10 on release day. Every reviewer who did that already has a red card from me. Bribes are bribes, but have some dignity, you scammers. Because of you, people lost some money and were disappointed. In my opinion, the game deserves a price of 100-150 PLN (if version 1.5 were available immediately in stores), although I think I'm being overly optimistic and 100 PLN is the maximum amount one could pay for this unfinished product. For me, CP2077 deserves a 7, plus 7/10.