Cyberpunk 2077 update 2.0 doesn’t fix nearly enough – Reader’s Feature

To add to the discussion regarding Cyberpunk 2077, specifically 2.0 since it arrived… it has its moments, sure, but it’s a strangely flat experience at times. I had high hopes, maybe we will get the game we all hoped for back when it launched. But no, not yet. I don’t think we ever will.

I started a wanted level with the police. The NCPD arrive and spot me, so I run around the street corner. I expect them to come around the corner after me, but no, they aimlessly wander up and down the initial spot with guns raised, making the odd comment about getting me and stuff.

I start another wanted level and steal a cop car. This seems a bit harder, but as soon as you leave the vehicle and leg it, it becomes easy to throw them off. I start a cop fight and get it going good and serious, then wander into a shop. I lose my wanted level, pop my head back out and the cops are walking off as if nothing happened. Lame.

I think back to GTA 5 cop chases/wanted level. They were doing this stuff better almost 10 years ago. In fact, I think back to Los Santos in general. The buzz and feel of the place as a living, breathing city is much, much more immersive than Night City.

I wander around the corner and find a group standing around, two of which are standing with fists raised – clearly a street fight. Good, let’s watch. But no one is moving at all, frozen stiff. I fire my gun into the air and they start screaming and running, Then, after about 10 seconds they all suddenly change animation and start calming walking away instead.

Maybe I’m being a bit hard here, let’s try something else. I wander over to a Cyber-psycho encounter. The bad guy is crouched behind a dumpster. I get close enough to begin the encounter. He rushes me and I start fighting. I back off a bit and jump on a car, which he seems to struggle to know what to do about (even though he’s got a gun).

I shoot at him and his impressive AI kicks in and he runs off to hide behind something nearby. I jump off the car and he begins to run back over, I simply jump back on the car and take a few more shots at him and he runs back off to his hiding spot. Rinse and repeat. Oh, I am playing on Very Hard and it’s still way to easy. Still CD Projekt!

Overall, I actually quite like Cyberpunk 2077. The story is good. The character models and voice-acting are about the best I’ve seen. For me that sums Cyberpunk up. Stick to the story and have a great time, but as soon as you wander off to dip into the sandbox and try and make your own fun, the wheels come off.

Is 2.0 a good update ? Yes, I would say it is, but it’s only raised a very mediocre game to being OK-ish.

The Metacritic score for it was 86 (PC). After the release CD Projekt were severely criticised, as we know, but it still managed to achieve that score on PC (Xbox Series X/S is 87). That score puzzles me now, and I wonder if history is now going to repeat itself with 2.0 and Phantom Liberty, which many sections of the gaming media are proclaiming as a game changer. I’ve got it down in the 60s, maybe 70s even after 2.0.

I get the feeling also that CD Projekt just want the nightmare to be over; to close the book on this sorry tale once and for all. I recall one of the devs, when asked last year for the millionth time about a New Game+ mode, actually became a little terse and irate about it, and said it wasn’t as easy to do as people think, neither confirming or denying that it was in the works.

It’s not as easy to do? The New Game+ mode dropped for The Witcher 3 when the first expansion released. Two expansions (Blood And Wine and Hearts Of Stone) which are widely regarded as some of the finest in gaming.

No sorry, CD Projekt, you just want out now, I understand.

By reader r-s-w

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