On release, ‘Cyberpunk 2077‘ looked destined to go down in history as one of the worst game releases ever to plague the gaming industry.
It was a huge embarrassment to CD Projekt Red, and to AAA games in general. At release ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ suffered from bugs that were so bad that the game was rendered unplayable. If that wasn’t bad enough, low frame rates and blurry textures resulted in such bad reviews that the developer actually offered everyone a refund.
Since the drama of their release, CD Projekt Red have worked hard to patch all of the issues to get it playable and closer to the game that we were originally promised.The game has also been updated for next-generation consoles, so more bug fixes have been implemented during this process.
What Updates Have We Seen So Far?
‘Cyberpunk 2077’ patch 1.5 brought huge updates that completely revolutionised the gameplay. One of the biggest updates involved adding a new generation update to allow gameplay on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S – this also included haptic feedback for the PS5 controllers. In addition to the new console updates, there are a lot of fixes and improvements for poor textures. Crucially the update includes updating the frame rate for gameplay to 60 frames per second and 4K scaling. They also added ray tracing to shadows to improve the texture.
After all of the bad reviews and feedback that CD Projekt Red received at the launch of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’, the gaming developer have taken the step to offer a free trial of the upgraded game to PS5 and Xbox Series X users, rather than expecting them to commit to buying the full game in the wake of all of the bad press. The demo allows you to play through the first 5 hours of the game, and if you buy the full version you’re able to carry your progress over.
In an effort to make up for all of the bad press, CD Projekt Red added new content for anyone who owns a copy of the game across any platform. Once you get to act 2 you’re given the choice of several apartments around the city as well as lots of new customisation options and plenty of new items and weapons.
Have The Bugs in the Game Been Fixed?
Of course, one of the biggest patches that everyone has been talking about are the bug fixes. When the game launched it was impossible to play – there were too many crashes and the texture was so poor that you couldn’t see what was happening as you were playing. On top of this, the weapons didn’t fire properly, weren’t calibrated and recoiled in a way that made it impossible to play.
Over the past year, CD Projekt Red have worked to patch the visuals of the game through extensive bug updates and patches. They have worked on sharpening the blurry visuals as well as adding more texture to the shadows within the game. The developer has always worked through each of the weapons to make them easier to fire – focusing on the recoil and the balance when firing.
What’s The Game Like Now?
So, have they improved the game enough to make it playable? Yes, but it’s still not great.
One review said that it will never be as great as players expected it to be, but it is a complete game that runs well with minimal bugs. One reviewer even went as far as to say that it looks great and will keep you engrossed for 30 hours or so. Another reviewer said that ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is finally worth buying.
What About The Future of the Game?
There still seems plenty of room for additional content and DLCs too – some users have noted the Westbrook Casino found in Night City. Whilst it currently features a whole range of table games and a number of slots that would rival the best online slots sites, none are interactive at this point in time. But, like with GTA, we’ve seen placeholder buildings turned into interactive, accessible parts of the map with later updates
Realistically, there are still a lot of angry fans that have sworn off of the game forever. They simply refuse to play the improved game and won’t listen to the developers who have put hours into fixing ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ to make it the great game that it is today. It’s understandable; it’s one of the biggest letdowns that the gaming community has experienced for a long time and CD Projekt Red have irreparably damaged their reputation, resulting in reduced sales figures for future games.
Having said that, CD Projekt Red worked hard to fix the problem, apologised repeatedly and can now genuinely say that ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is a great game to play – but they may need to do more to turn around the opinion of those fans that were left feeling disappointed previously. Free trials and extra content will have swayed things for some people but certainly not all fans across the board. Of course, there is a chance that as the game starts to be played and reviewed by more people, the positive reviews will also do their bit in swaying those that have so far sworn off the game. At the end of the day, gamers are passionate about their industry and being let down by the game previously is not something that they will want to repeat any time soon.
If there is one thing that CD Projekt Red must do it is make sure that there have been lessons launched throughout the ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ releases and that they use this to ensure any future game releases are as flawless as possible. The gaming industry does often expect a few bugs and glitches in first releases but what they also expect is a quick fix and to be able to enjoy a hassle-free game; which is where CD Projekt Red and ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ originally missed the mark.
