The reputation and experience of CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 has been a topic of discussion ever since the game came out. The game has been praised, criticized, and beaten over by fans and critics alike for many different things. Attempting to quell the ire of the fanbase, patches have now left the game in a "satisfactory state" according to CDPR. However, one fan went back to the initial 1.0 build of the game, and found some content that had been removed after the Day 1 Patch.
Cyberpunk 2077 players are familiar with cut content. Fans who explored Night City have found various cut corners and features from the final release, such as a train system. With the game's troubled development well documented, there were bound to be things left on the cutting room floor in order to make its release date. However, it's a bit strange to see that some features did make it into the final release of Cyberpunk 2077, but were removed with a Day 1 patch.
These cut discoveries were covered by Tyler McVicker in a YouTube video detailing some of the content that he had found during his playthrough of the unpatched Cyberpunk 2077. One of the most noticeable things was the Street Vendors that players could find in the overworld of the game. These vendors could be interacted with and could sell their wares to V. Not only that, but specific items were removed through the Day 1 patch, such as a variety of Suppressor and Muzzle attachments for guns.
Other cut content that was found includes quality of life features. Specifically, there was once a full 3D "Free Look" version of the map that took vertical travel into account. The UI had changed a lot, such as removed icons from the Map Legend and even a mode where players could look at 3D models of their inventory. McVicker's video used the PS4 version of Cyberpunk 2077, explaining that physical console copies are the only way to play this unpatched version. He estimates the build of the game that had been shipped to retail was from late September 2020, as it would line up with the original announcement of the game going gold before its delay.
McVicker theorizes that these features were cut for optimization purposes. The launch version of Cyberpunk 2077 was already a technical mess, so removing features that would further nterfere with the game's performance was likely the right call. He goes on to further speculate that these could possibly return in a future expansion or enhanced edition. It's possible that restoring these cut features would make Cyberpunk 2077 worth playing, and McVicker adds that he intends to explore the rest of this unpatched version to document more of the changes.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in development.