A fantastically written story with exceptionally delivered voice actors in a narrative that makes you think you are living in Night City and lose track of time? That is what I call a great video game.
What is Cyberpunk 2077?
Cyberpunk 2077 is an action RPG video game based on Mike Pondsmith’s pen-and-paper RPG series of the same name: Cyberpunk.
The title was first publicly announced in May 2012, eight years before its official release and it was developed and published by the Polish company CD Project Red, well-known for its other series The Witcher.
Style of the game
The game is in a first-person view, meaning that, besides the cutscenes or when you look yourself in the mirror, you see only your character’s hands as you wander inside the game.
Since it’s called Cyberpunk, you have guessed correctly that you are in a high-tech, lowlife dystopian society, surrounded by flashy billboards, extreme outfits, neon lights, fast cars, gadgets, and human augmentation.
There is a lot of violence, Neo-Tokyo aesthetics and all the futuristic elements you would expect to see in a cyberpunk world.
Characters of Cyberpunk 2077
Your character’s name is V, and you can play as either a male or female or whatever else you want them to be.
V stands for Valerie if you play female or Vincent if you play male. However, during 99,9% of the game, your name is simply V.
The customization mechanics are highly advanced so you can explore a vast range of possibilities of dressing your character in the latest futuristic fashion and adjust their appearance as you please.
V, can have one of three backstories, called “Lifepaths” which you get prompted to choose one of them at the start of the game. This is roughly what they are:
Lifepath 1: Nomad. You were a Nomad but you left them behind and went to the city to explore a new life.
Lifepath 2: Street Kid. You keep living your life as you used to in the streets. You have been away and you just got back to your home city.
Lifepath 3: Corpo. As you may guess, you work your way up to the corporate ladder.
Each “lifepath” has certain extra dialogue choices throughout the game, and you get to experience a different intro level for each background life.
Your Sidekick Jackie
Depending on which lifepath you choose you will have a different introduction to Jackie but he always ends up being your closest friend and partner in crime.
Plot
You and Jackie are both mercenaries taking up jobs in Night City hoping to increase your street status.
The plot of the game gets interesting when they get contacted by a fixer named Dex. Fixers are the crime brokers in this city, they gather all the information they need and they organize any attacks that need to be done.
Fixers select their crew carefully and Dex has one job that, for whatever reason, has chosen you and Jackie to do.
This particular job will not go down very well and you will end up with a piece of technology that will completely change the trajectory of your life.
However, due to all the unfortunate events that will happen to you because of Dex’s job, you will end up crossing paths with one Johnny Silverhand.
Johnny Silverhand is voiced by Keanu Reeves who also shares his likeness. Silverhand is a former rock musician and a war veteran with a rebellious attitude. Add to that a Keanu Reeves appearance and you have a killer character.
This situation is nothing short of crazy and you will get to interact with Silverhand quite a lot, sometimes in the worst other at the best possible times. You as the player get to see flashbacks and background stories that will give you more context into what is happening.
In the end, you as V, will have a blast living your best, or worst depending how you see it, cyberpunk lifestyle within the Night City.
If you like the aesthetics of a futuristic, dystopian cyberpunk environment and you are a fan of action RPG video games then this title is without a doubt a must.
Marketing of Cyberpunk 2077
In 2019 during the XBOX E3, the game was hyped by none other than Keanu Reeves himself, since he is indeed a character in this title. His live appearance on stage after his character’s appearance in the tease trailer caused extraordinary excitement among fans everywhere.
Issues on release
Unfortunately, the game did not have a good launch. Regardless of the amazing storyline and the high-quality voice acting, the game itself was so buggy that made the title unplayable at times. It was not a complete game on release, it created a lot of scandals and it took years and an amount of patches to make the game the masterpiece it deserved to be.
However, if there was ever a time to play it, that time is now.
What is happening to Cyberpunk 2077 today?
Many updates and one expansion later powered by Idris Elba as one of the main characters of the expansions, we are at Cyberpunk 2077:Phantom Liberty timeline.
A worthy continuation of the title, that dives deeper into the darkness of this cyberpunk setting. That darkness is called Dogtown and you might get a second chance to fix things.
Available on Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 4 and 5.