It’s been 12 months now since Cyberpunk 2077 was launched on the market and during this time frame the game made a lot of talk, thanks to an extremely troubled launch and a damage control not exactly punctual operated by CD Projekt Red. Without going too far into the shadows of the past, let’s try to understand where Cyberpunk 2077 is a year after its launch.
Cyberpunk 2077 a year later
One of the most critical points regarding the Cyberpunk 2077 product is undoubtedly the performance of the version of the game dedicated to console old gen, on which the work of CD Projekt Red struggled right from the start. In fact, you will all remember that the situation was so serious as to induce Sony to remove the game from PlayStation Store, a practically unprecedented measure.
Over the past few months there have been many updates aimed at making Cyberpunk playable on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and Sony has even re-added it to the PS Store catalog. But what exactly is the situation like? Now Cyberpunk 2077 old gen is undoubtedly playable, even if not exactly enjoyable, since the drops in FPS are still noticeable and the many bugs that we are not going to list.
The reason is simple: although updates have not been lacking and demonstrate the commitment of the software house, Cyberpunk 2077 cannot be handled effectively by such old hardware, which struggles heavily when dealing with such a graphically advanced product.
The situation is obviously much more sustainable on the current generation consoles, that is PlayStation 5 e Xbox Series X|S, above all thanks to the excellent hardware sector that these two machines can boast. In this case the corrective patches were successful stabilize the framerate at 60 FPS, with many optimizations designed specifically for next gen consoles.
The future prospects are also good, if we consider that theupgrade next gen is yet to arrive and that will probably lead to the game being very enjoyable on these two consoles.
The situation on PC
A good performing PC is undoubtedly the best platform to play Cyberpunk 2077 on, a certainty that hasn’t changed since the game’s launch. In fact, if we take an in-depth look at the problems of the title on this platform, we immediately discover that these are not so much related to the technical sector, as to characteristics related to the game itself.
We are talking about elements like the artificial intelligence of enemies, at times so limited as to make you smile, to the physics of some game elements and to a general little balance of the gameplay solutions that can be adopted to make your way through the streets of Night City.
Cyberpunk is still a limited game, in some ways, but if you own a mid-range PC, our advice is to play it there, as it is on these systems that the imagery conceived by CD Projekt Red shows more muscles and is close to what the software house promised in the marketing campaign.
It should be noted that some bugs still categorically refuse to vanish, and appear with alarming frequency during gameplay, inevitably affecting the player’s immersion in the game world. Not to mention the NPC clones a few steps away from each other, one of the biggest plagues of the open world offered by Night City, which instead is always splendidly made.
A slow recovery
Beyond these small limits, it is evident that a year after Cyberpunk 2077 is on track for its recovery, as the thousands of positive reviews of the users that are crowding Steam in this period, also thanks to the bargain price at which the game is sold. In short, it seems that Cyberpunk is becoming what the developers wanted it to be from the beginning.
The title also grabbed the Game of the Year award from IGN Japan rocketing to the top of the list of the ten best games of the year along with other flagship titles such as It Takes Two, Resident Evil Village and Metroid Dread. A great result, if we consider the disastrous start.
It remains to be assessed how the game will update itself over time, given that both the aforementioned next gen upgrade and the Payable DLC of the title, which should significantly expand Night City’s play offering. Also in 2022 the Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer mode, although at the moment we know almost nothing.