Cyberpunk 2077 has been out for a year now, and its legacy remains the same. What was supposed to be the next generation's biggest game yet, a revolutionary milestone for the gaming industry, ended up being a disaster upon launch. While many players' copies of Cyberpunk 2077 were plagued with bugs, glitches, and performance issues, some, mostly those playing on PS4 and Xbox One, were essentially unable to play it as textures and graphics weren't able to fully load and the game would frequently crash.

This resulted in a massive flux of players attempting to get refunds of the game, and all of this news came after the game reportedly ran well on last-gen consoles, according to CD Projekt Red. In short, the horribly unfortunate launch will likely go on to become some of the biggest news in gaming history and has been damaging to CDPR's reputation. However, Cyberpunk 2077's performance issues are far from the only thing that led to such widespread disappointment. After all, the game does run considerably better for many consoles now, but it can't change that CDPR misled gamers in the first place.

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How Does Cyberpunk 2077 Run A Year Later?

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Cyberpunk 2077 has seen a large surge in player numbers thanks to Black Friday sales knocking its triple-A price down to a fraction of the original cost. Currently, Cyberpunk 2077 is on version 1.31 with 1.5 set to be the next major update, which should be released alongside the game's next-gen versions. The most recent update fixed numerous gameplay and performance issues, and overall, the game crashes significantly less. But the issue still stands that players are likely to encounter a myriad of bugs and glitches on last-gen hardware, even if it's more playable than it was at launch.

Due to the Black Friday sales, Cyberpunk 2077 was able to achieve a Very Positive rating on Steam, which highlights a couple of things. Firstly, Cyberpunk 2077 was always much less of an issue on PC, which can be observed in reviews published before the game launched to the public. Many critics game the gave above a 7 out of 10, but they were virtually all given PC codes, and it can be presumed that this was done to avoid backlash due to the PS4 and Xbox One's poor performance of Cyberpunk. It wasn't until all consumers got their hands on the game that reception plummeted. At the end of the day, the best and safest way to play Cyberpunk 2077 is on PC. While playing (the last-gen versions of the game) on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S now have solid performance, they miss out on mods, and the modding community has done a lot to improve corners of the game and better its overall experience.

Secondly, the Black Friday reception of Cyberpunk 2077 shows that players are willing to play a buggy game—but not for its full price. The expectation of a triple-A $60 game is that it should be polished, sleek, and fluid and Cyberpunk is still not quite there yet. But because price often plays into consumer reception, players now feel like the game is "worth it" and are willing to look past some bugs, especially for a significantly low price of $10.

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How CD Projekt Red Misled Consumers

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Cyberpunk 2077 is certainly not the only game to be improved long after its launch, and it's likely that CDPR will continue to fix bugs for years. But this isn't the only issue that players observed when the game launched. Many took time to analyze what features had been promised ahead of its release, and while it's normal for elements to get the chopping block for various reasons, it seemed to boil down to being cut for time.

There's mountainous evidence to support this theory, even if CDPR denies that this is the case. Comparing what was promised during the E3 2018 demo to Cyberpunk 2077's launch version, there's a lot missing. Firstly, the scene between V and Jackie was thought to be a cutscene, but it never appeared in the game. And gameplay elements such as weapons that were showcased ahead of its launch never made it in the game. One of the most apparent cases supporting the idea that these were cut for time was the optical camo cyberware, meant to make V invisible. At launch, PC players could find the item in the game by manually searching for it, but equipping it using console commands did nothing because the mechanic wasn't ready yet. It was patched in version 1.3, and it's great that CDPR is slowly working towards living up to its hype, but it goes without saying that they should've been present at launch.

That being said, it still isn't the only game to have an improved reputation far down the line. No Man's Sky is the most well-known example. At launch, it was considered a disappointment to the same caliber as Cyberpunk 2077, but now, it's widely regarded as a solid game. So even if CDPR did overhype its game by announcing it too early and teasing mechanics and features that didn't make it to the launch version, in the months to come, players may begin to judge the game without this context in mind and based on its story and experience alone. Yes, it may feel a bit hollow and cheapened in some areas, but the story itself is what makes Cyberpunk 2077 shine.

At Its Core, Cyberpunk 2077 Has Always Been a Strong Story

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Cyberpunk 2077's story is surprisingly somber. Following V as they become a successful mercenary, players watch as disastrous events unfold when a botched job permanently binds Johnny Silverhand's conscious to V's brain, and removing it would seemingly kill them. V meets with different big shots to get it fixed all while tangling with the worst of the Arasaka Corporation, which believes that V was half responsible for the death of its leader. In the end, V must make an impossible decision

Aside from its story, Cyberpunk 2077 features many prominent and memorable characters like Judy Alvarez, Panam Palmer, and Takemura that bring meaning to V's now-short life and the player's takeaway. Each ending is uniquely crafted with care as well.

Even if the development and release of Cyberpunk 2077 were problematic, the narrative and writing that make up the majority of the game were agreed upon to be skillful, even if it wasn't necessarily perfect or masterful. Now that the game has surpassed its first anniversary, Cyberpunk will start seeing even more regular discounts, which make it worth giving a try, even if it can never be the game CDPR originally intended it to be.

Cyberpunk 2077 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions in development.

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