Category Archives: Cyberpunk

Warning: Spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty may lie ahead.

Remember the French netrunner that stole your heart during Cyberpunk 2077s Phantom Liberty expansion? Well, theres now a mod thatll let you romance her.

Yup, get ready to live out a fantasy in which you dont utterly disappoint this very attractive woman, who could probably do a lot better than someone whos swapped half of their internal organs out for toasters. Though, with this mod installed, Aurore Cassels endless flirting at the Black Sapphire soiree actually has a payoff.

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The mod, dubbed Aurore Romanced (Lady Marmalade) is the work of modder Deceptious, who has previously added some subtle improvements to the base games romance encounters. This time theyve created a short quest thatll allow you to spend some quality time with Aurore after encountering her at Kurt Hansens party during Phantom Libertys main quest.

For those unfamiliar, you end up playing roulette with Aurore and her brother Aymeric while simultaneously nicking both of their identities for your own nefarious ends. Once youve concluded your nice evening at the Black Sapphire, a mission called Lady Marmalade (yes, its a reference to the song involving the Moulin Rouge that youre thinking of) will kick off and culminate in an encounter that allows both masculine and feminine Vs to have a bit of tasteful fun with Aurore.

If youve already blazed through Phantom Liberty and dont fancy starting an entire new playthrough of it just to show someone your baguette or well, the other thing, theres good news. Deceptious has made it so that the quest can also be triggered simply by heading Vs Megabuilding H10 apartment and inputting a certain console command detailed in the mods description.

Unfortunately for those who dig Aymerics quiet charm, it looks like youll have to wait a little longer for the chance to become one of the things recorded on his external memory storage disks.

If youre planning on jumping back into Cyberpunk 2077 to check this out for yourself, make sure to check out our coverage of its latest patches and must-have mods, as well as the interesting hijinks you can get into by no clipping at a certain point during Phantom Liberty.

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You can finally romance the hot French netrunner from Cyberpunk ... - VG247

A Northland man was left shocked after it was revealed a custom car he designed would be turned into a Hot Wheels diecast.

Chris Watson entered his 1990 Mazda Mx5 into the Hot Wheels Legends Tour a contest for passionate petrol heads to have a chance at seeing their vehicles in toy form.

Watsons roadster, nicknamed Chimera, is based on the cyberpunk genre of science fiction and drew inspiration from movies like Bladerunner, Akira and Ghost in the Shell.

Chris Watson's custom Mazda Mx5. (Source: Supplied)

That all sort of inspired me to go for something really unique with my build, Watson told 1News.

I follow a lot of designers on Instagram that make some insane computer renders of these sort of cyberpunk-styled cars, but nobody was trying to make anything like that in real life, so I sort of decided that I would give it a go.

Watson said it's a "cosmetic only build", describing it as a "full-sized model kit or something like a film prop like the DeLorean from Back to the Future".

The car features a custom carbon fibre shark fin spoiler, LED rear light bars and fender flares Watson designed.

Inside the car, you can find a mounted cyberdeck on the passenger seat.

A "cyberdeck" inside Chris Watsons custom Mx5. (Source: Supplied)

Watson said Chimera was probably the most ambitious exterior project I'd tackled.

Since starting the project, Watson hasnt slowed down constantly adding different features to the car.

I wanted this car to be a constant evolution because I never really liked the idea of building a car once and then just never touching it again, so I'm always looking at this car and thinking, what can I change?

I've actually already started on the next iteration of the car, and so I've torn off the entire rear end and started mocking up a new front end as well.

The custom fender on Chris Watsons cyberpunk Mx5 Mx5 (Source: Supplied)

He said it was unbelievable to find out his car was being turned into a toy.

I think it's so cool to have this car made as a Hot Wheels because it's got a really different style to what most cars have, and I think it's just got heaps of interesting little details on it, I always loved those sorts of things as a kid.

Watson also said a mini version of his car would help when designing new additions.

Having it made as a Hot Wheels is actually going to be so awesome because, for years, I've wished that I could have a little mini version of this so I can test out all my ideas on a small scale before trying them on the actual car.

So I'm probably going to end up buying a dozen of these things and testing new paint jobs, new spoilers, wheels, front bumpers, all that sort of stuff.

Chris Watson's custom Mazda Mx5 is set to be turned into a Hot Wheels diecast. (Source: Supplied)

He hopes his design will attract more budding designers into customisation so that maybe one day theyll have their creations turned into a Hot Wheels car.

If this was around when I was a kid and I heard there was a way for me to build something and then have it made as a Hot Wheels, I definitely think that wouldve given me more motivation to work on cars and come up with really interesting designs.

Ted Wu, vice president and global head of design for vehicles at Mattel, said Watsons car embodies what this tour is all about.

Chris journey from rural New Zealand to securing a spot in the Hot Wheels Garage of Legends is truly inspirational, he said.

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Northland man's custom cyberpunk car to be released as Hot ... - 1News

Its a slow news day around the traps because the US is busy gorging itself on bird meat and thanking people? As an Aussie, I dont really understand the tradition, but, in lieu of any real games news, it does mean we get to write about proper nonsense.

eli_handle_b.wav, the current pope of rotoscoping film and television characters into video game footage, has done it again. This time, Austin Powers, international man of mystery, is making a gigantic nuisance of himself in Cyberpunk 2077s Phantom Liberty DLC.

The video includes, but is not limited to: Austin annoying Reed on various missions, making frequent passes Night Citys most terrifying women, and using his mojo to defeat Adam Smasher.

If youve not come across elis work before, youve got quite a bit to catch up on. Some of their greatest hits include Parks & Recreation grump Ron Swansons tour of Half-Life 2, Woody in Red Dead Redemption 2, and turning The Offices Michael Scott loose in Mass Effect.

This isnt even the first time eli has used Austin Powers in a video. Two previous projects dropped Austin into Mass Effect as well. It goes pretty much exactly how think it will.

You can find all of eli_handle_b.wavs videos on their YouTube channel.

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Here's Austin Powers Being A Huge Nuisance In Cyberpunk 2077 - Kotaku Australia

Its taken some time, but it finally happened. More than two years after its initial release, Cyberpunk 2077 has finally earned a very positive overall review rating on Steam. Who'd have seen that coming in December 2020?

Cyberpunk 2077 has gone down in history for having one of the worst video game releases of all time. Gamers overwhelming hype for CD Projekt Reds open-world RPG set them up for disappointment - the bugs, glitches and performance issues (especially on Xbox One and PS4) were horrendous. Since then though, numerous updates and patches have been rolled out to transform Cyberpunk 2077 into the title it always should have been, and even though its taken a while, gamers now truly recognise it for what it is - a genuinely great game.

Take a look at the trailer for Cyberpunk 2077s DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, right here.

CD Projekt Reds global community director, Marcin Momot, responded to the news, and tweeted: Cyberpunk 2077 Steam reviews are now sitting at Very Positive with 80% of all scores being favourable. Thank you all for acknowledging all the hard work the team has put in over the years since the release!

As PC Gamer reports, it should be noted that this very positive rating only shows on Steam if your settings exclude off-topic reviews. Basically, Valve labels some ratings, which it deems to be the result of review-bombing, to be off-topic. If you discount those (which Steam automatically does on the store page if youre not logged in) then the very positive rating is what youll see. Otherwise, it still shows as mostly positive.

The release of Cyberpunk 2077s one and only DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, is right around the corner. Its set to launch exclusively on PC and new-gen consoles (sorry, PS4 and Xbox One folks) on 26 September.

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Cyberpunk 2077 finally has 'very positive' rating on Steam, 2 years later - GAMINGbible

Over the past two years, one game has made a prominent mark with many gamers, be it for good reasons or bad. Cyberpunk 2077 is still rather important with fans to this day, and many are looking forward to the upcoming Phantom Liberty DLC expansion. As it takes the protagonist V into a new espionage-based storyline, there's lots to excite players from the potential for more action-packed sequences, important choices, and even a new ending for the base Cyberpunk 2077 game that can only be earned through playing the DLC in full.

However, even though Phantom Liberty has earned its place among one of 2023's most anticipated titles despite only being an expansion pack to a game that was released in 2020, the spy-thriller adventure is the only one of its kind for CD Projekt Red's open-world RPG. It begs the question as to why this is, as things are looking up for Cyberpunk 2077 as of late after an incredible rough start. However, the state of the game at launch is most likely exactly why CD Projekt Red chose to look ahead instead of looking back.

RELATED: Future Cyberpunk, Witcher Games May Have Multiplayer Elements

Truthfully, a big reason why Cyberpunk has remained a topic among gamers ever since it was released is due to how it was one of the most highly anticipated games in 2020 that ended up launching in an abysmal state. There were so many bugs and glitches that were both game-breaking and antithetical to the game, like the unlimited money glitches Cyberpunk 2077 fans quickly found, that analysts believe that the poor final product led to CD Projekt Red losing a little under 500,000 sales in refunds like those issued through the PS Store.

Ever since CP 2077 was launched, CD Projekt Red focused on damage control, developing patches, updates, and even smaller DLC packs that gave players something to enjoy while the studio focused on fixing the game's overall performance. Now, two and a half years after Cyberpunk 2077 first launched, many believe the RPG to be in a better state to where it's worth picking up, which plays into why the Phantom Liberty DLC is so hotly anticipated. However, 2077 is still far from perfect, and having Phantom Liberty be its swansong is ultimately beneficial.

There's only so much CD Projekt Red can do for Cyberpunk after its main development cycle has finished. While what has been done is impressive, there are still some issues that will always linger as they require more time and effort to fix. As a result, it's better overall to move on from an improved Cyberpunk 2077 and take what mistakes were made into consideration for the Cyberpunk sequel currently in development. The only way to do that is to let go of CP 2077 with a proper send-off that will get fans, and the developers, excited for what's to come next.

Phantom Liberty is likely being made with this as one of its specific purposes. When attendees go to try out Phantom Liberty at Summer Game Fest's Play Days event, some thought that the DLC managed to finally hit what Cyberpunk 2077 dreamed of being back when it first launched. Requested changes such as a complete overhaul of the police system in the game will be added as well. If the Cyberpunk 2077 DLC manages to stick the landing with all of its promises and live up to its hype with players, then it would be the finishing touches that the RPG needs before both fans and developers are able to move on to different things.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty launches on September 26, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Every Celeb Character Confirmed for Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC So Far

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Why Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Being the Only DLC is For the Best - GameRant

Johnny Silverhand, the cybernetic rocker bad boy played by Keanu Reeves won the hearts of Cyberpunk fanbase with his charisma and sorted past. While his first appearance in Cyberpunk 2077 is hostile and antagonistic, he eventually warms himself to the main character V as well as the player.

Related: Best Cyberpunk Games

As the two characters work together on missions and confront the Corpo overlords of Night City the players learn more about Silverhands motivations and beliefs but not all the interesting information is well-known to the fans. Johnny Silverhands origins are only briefly discussed in Cyberpunks main story. Of course, fans can find shards of information that go into the lore more in-depth, but most fans dont know much about where Silverhand comes from or how he became the legendary rebel rocker boy of 2077.

In the aftermath of the war, many American soldiers deserted or rebelled against the corruption of the American government, Johnny being one of them. After his desertion, he fled to Night City where founded his band Samurai, and left the name Robert John Lindre behind to become the infamous Johnny Silverhand.

It is this chapter of his life that he reflects on with V in the run-down motel during the main quest line. Johnny talks about his time in the army briefly and tells the story of how he lost his best friend in the war as well as his arm. Johnny then gives V the dog tags of this supposed best friend as proof of his loyalty to V going forward. Most players will have found this to be an honest and connecting moment between the two characters as Silverhand seemingly lays everything out on the table. This is not the case however and probably goes by most players unnoticed as the tags Silverhand gives to V are actually his own. They have the name of Robert John Lindre, of course, both the players and V are unaware of this.

Throughout the main storyline, the player is confronted with Johnny Silverhands past as he and Vs memories are intertwined due to their shared consciousness. There are two flashback missions that put the player in the role of Johnny Silverhand, the first being in 2023 and the second being in 2013. Most players will take these missions at face value and that it is a verbatim retelling of the actual events. However, this is not the case and on further inspection, the players can discover that these events are far from the truth of what actually happened.

Related: Cyberpunk 2077s Phantom Liberty DLC Will Be at Summer Game Fest

The first flashback in Cyberpunk as well as Johnnys introduction into the story is the more inaccurate of the two and is actually almost completely false. While yes Johnny Silverhand was indeed a part of the assault team on Arasaka in 2023, but he was never the leader. The role that Silverhand plays in the mission was actually Morgan Blackhands, another Night City legend that is frequently mentioned throughout the game and who is completely omitted from Johnnys flashback.

Perhaps the largest lie the players are told is Johnny Silverhands death. In reality Johnny never made it back to the rooftop to have a showdown with Adam Smasher, he actually died on their first encounter. This rivalry between Smasher and Silverhand is also played up by the retelling but in actuality they had little to no interaction before this event.

It's here as well that Johnny replaces Morgan Blackhand in the real events. Blackhand and Smasher had been rivals for years, and it was these two that actually had the showdown on the rooftop. In truth Smasher thought very little of Johnny in 2023 and actually killed the rocker boy quite easily before he was able to escape to the rooftop.

The second flashback in 2013 of Johnny going on a mission to save Alt Cunningham with Rogue and Thompson is mostly true. However, there is a scene at the end of the mission where a grief-stricken Johnny Silverhand beats Thompson in a fit of rage over the loss of Alt. Silverhand claims to V that this incident soured their relationship and that they never worked together again. This is a lie however as his voice can be heard on the comms during the 2023 flashback as well.

The main reason for these changes in Johnnys memories could be due to Arasaka's meddling. Silverhands engram had been in Corpo control for fifty years and was most likely tampered with. Arasaka is a shady and manipulative organization after all and would have reasons to suppress knowledge and hide certain information. The other reason for these changes is revealed by Alt Cunningham later in the story. She points out that what the players witness is a retelling of Johnnys subjective point of view and not the actual truth. Johnny, like all people, omits certain details and lies about past actions. He lies to V as he does to himself.

While Johnny Silverhand is an amazing character that grows an epic bond with V throughout the story of Cyberpunk, most fans are unaware of his true past. While he is a great companion and gives advice to V and the players, he still occasionally lies or at least has the wrong information. In any case, these are things that most people did not know about the legendary rocker boy.

More: The Best Open World Crime Games

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Cyberpunk 2077: Things You Never Knew About Johnny Silverhand - GameRant

Youve got to love the aesthetics of dystopian cyberpunk video games, where all the technology looks like its cobbled together from cast-off bits of the old worlds remains. Kudos go to those who attempt to recreate these virtual props and bring them into the real world, but our highest praise goes to those who not only make a game-realistic version of a prop, but make it actually work.

Take the Nokota Manufacturing radio from Cyberpunk 2077, for instance. [Taylor] took one look at that and knew it would be the perfect vessel for a Baofeng UV-5R, the dual-band transceiver that amateur radio operators love to hate. The idea is to strip the PCB out of a Baofeng no worries, the things cost like $25 and install it in a game-accurate 3D printed case. But this is far from just a case mod, since [Taylor]s goal is to replace the radios original controls with something closer to whats in the game.

To that end, [Taylor] is spinning up an interface to the stock radios keypad using some 7400-series bilateral analog switches. Hooked to the keypad contacts and controlled by a Mini MEGA 2560 microcontroller, the interface is able to send macros that imitate the keypresses necessary to change frequencies and control the radios settings, plus display the results on the yellow OLED screen that seems a dead-ringer for the in-game display. The video below shows some early testing of the interface.

While very much still a work in progress, weve been following [Taylor]s project for a week or so and hes really gaining some ground. Weve encouraged him to enter this one in the Cyberdeck Challenge weve got going on now; it might not have much deck going for it, but it sure does have a lot of cyber.

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Bringing A Baofeng Into The Cyberpunk 2077 Universe - Hackaday

Cyberpunk DefinitionAnswering What is Cyberpunk?

As a sub-genre of science-fiction, Cyberpunk has managed to branch out and be so much more than its origins. That said, there is still a basic concrete definition from which many authors and artists start with when making something in this field. This is, essentially, what Cyberpunk meant and still means from the outset.

Cyberpunk is a science-fiction sub-genre dealing with the integration of society and technology in dystopian settings. Often referred to as low-life and high tech, Cyberpunk stories deal with outsiders (punks) who fight against the oppressors in society (usually mega corporations that control everything) via technological means (cyber). If the punks arent actively fighting against a megacorp, theyre still dealing with living in a world completely dependent on high technology.

The name Cyberpunk was coined by author Bruce Bethke, who used it as the title for one of his short stories. The author has said he didnt intend the name to represent this new category, and that the name itself came about through synthesis as he tried to combine different words together. The idea of the name a punk or troublemaker with insane computer skills remains.

The history of Cyberpunk origins, and what it consists of, is surprisingly extensive. So for the sake of all you readers at home, well condense it a bit here. But for those who have the time, take a look at the first part of Indigo Gamings documentary on Cyberpunk below.

What is Cyberpunk A documentary

The exact date from which this sub-genre emerged is not set in stone. However, certain books can point to its creation. In particular, Philip K. Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is seen as one of the first examples of this type of fiction (proto-Cyberpunk). It was part of the New Wave science fiction literature scene, which included many well-known authors, such as Dick, John Brunner, J.G. Ballard, and Bruce Sterling.

In the 1960s and 70s, these authors and others created science fiction worlds that rejected optimistic utopias. Instead, they opted for dystopian near-futures, where technology had advanced too far and nations as we knew them ceased to exist. These were also topics of popular sci-fi cinema of the 70s, but as far as Cyberpunk goes, it was still in the zygote phase of its creation.

It would not be until the 1980s that the sub-genre would truly make itself known to the world with the iconic film Blade Runner (1982). Based on Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner is not 100% Cyberpunk by definition, but its look, feel, and setting means it qualifies.

It introduced the world to a dystopian near future of constant rain, overpopulation, electric billboards, and humanoid androids. Whats more, it influenced William Gibson, a man frequently referred to as the godfather of Cyberpunk. Additionally, Katsuhiro Otomos manga series AKIRA began serialization in Japan the same year Blade Runner released.

Cyberpunk origins Blade Runner

But lets not digress from Gibson, for in 1984 he released Neuromancer, which is known as the Cyberpunk novel. Featuring a console cowboy, clear divisions between the rich and poor, a pre-internet internet (the matrix, aka cyberspace), and artificial intelligence, this novel more or less announced the arrival of Cyberpunk as we know it.

By the mid to late 80s, Cyberpunk already had its own anthology book and a tabletop game. Which later became the basis for CD Projekt Reds video game adaption Cyberpunk 2077.

Additionally, Neuromancer had two sequels (and a video game) and Otomos AKIRA was made into a groundbreaking animated film, further influencing how the genre would look in the world of anime.

Cyberpunk AKIRA

By the 1990s, Cyberpunk had seriously hit the mainstream, to extremely questionable success. Some of William Gibsons short stories were even made into movies, with Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and New Rose Hotel (1998) (they were box office failures). And in-between those movies, filmmakers took influence from the genre and made movies like RoboCop (1987), The Running Man (1987), The Lawnmower Man (1992), Judge Dredd (1995), Strange Days (1995), and Ghost in the Shell (1995).

The Matrix (1999) eventually wound up being the most mainstream Cyberpunk influenced movie of its era. And by the time the Wachowskis they themselves influenced by Japanese Cyberpunk anime like Ghost in the Shell made The Matrix, the sub-genre of Cyberpunk had evolved in dramatic ways.

Cyberpunk in film The Matrix

Not getting into the overwhelming number of derivatives that exist, Cyberpunk was no longer just punks against the system (though that was certainly still a part of it). More than anything, films, television, and other mediums had taken elements from it to create stories that evoked Cyberpunk imagery and themes. Even if they themselves were not overly Cyberpunk in nature.

At the same time, Cyberpunk was moving away from literature, soon finding a home with movies, television, and above all else, video games. Seminal games like Shadowrun, Snatcher, Perfect Dark, the Metal Gear series, and the Deus Ex series have been among the most prominent and acclaimed examples of Cyberpunk fiction anywhere.

Cyberpunk retrospective Deus Ex

Even with Cyberpunk making a name for itself in video games, movies have continued to tackle its themes in different ways. Philip K. Dick keeps getting adapted with Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003), andA Scanner Darkly (2006).

Meanwhile, other filmmakers either keep adapting Japanese Cyberpunk anime/manga Ghost in the Shell (2017), Alita: Battle Angel (2019) or make their own stories with Cyberpunk themes, like Ex Machina (2015), Upgrade (2018), and Possessor (2020).

And of course, there is Blade Runner 2049 (2017), the ultimate example of just how much the original film and the sub-genre it helped create has influenced science-fiction as a whole.

Cyberpunk movie Blade Runner 2049

As the future seen in older Cyberpunk works has become both paradoxically outdated and real, the genre has found new life in new forms of media. It has spawned too many other sub-sub-genres to count, with post-Cyberpunk, dieselpunk, and steampunk being among them.

Theres even an entire Japanese film genre called Cyberpunk that takes the body modification element to unnerving (and horrific) extremes.

Its a sub-genre that exists as an attitude, a fashion trend, a political call to arms, and as a form of entertainment. Cyberpunk is no longer just one type of thing, but rather a greater and ever changing life form, one which never stops being relevant or cool to old and new fans alike.

Now that your crash course on Cyberpunk is complete, its time to look at what some of the best movies in the sub-genre have to offer. Our list ranks 10 of the best movies for filmmakers, ranging from under-seen gems to bonafide classics, all of which interpret cyberpunk in their own unique ways.

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What is Cyberpunk Genre Definition, Origins & Examples - StudioBinder

Review Information

Time played: 45 hours

Platform: PC

Hotly anticipated for the best part of a decade, Cyberpunk 2077 is finally here, and its as rambunctiously detailed and gorgeous as the trailers suggest.

CD Projekt Red has added another inimitable RPG to its library, one that you could easily sink tens of hours into over the course of many months, eking out every hair-splitting detail.

Its easy to recommend if you need a big game to tide you through the holiday season, especially if you can look past the present mechanical hiccups and a somewhat compromised narrative.

In Cyberpunk 2077, you play as V, a mouthy merc who will do whatever it takes to become a living legend in Night City. Unfortunately, that also means harboring the long-dead spirit of Keanu Ree-, sorry, Johnny Silverhand, a washed-up rockstar terrorist who is slowly taking over their mind. Hi-jinks ensue!

When you get your hands on the game, the scale of Cyberpunk 2077 will no doubt make you anxious. Weve spent 45 hours poring over the majority of its content and experiencing three of its endings, and our map screen is still nowhere near clear. But this is no cause for concern because when it comes to RPG quest design, CD Projekt Red is the best in the business.

Even the most inoffensive of enemy encounters has a story behind it in Cyberpunk 2077, which makes exploration fundamentally awesome. Thanks to the scope of the setting, you never really know who or what youre going to stumble into next. A burger date with a criminal messiah or a black market braindance exorcism? Even the rowdy racing missions are good fun. Curious delights await the most inquisitive players, and youve always got options in how you want to approach them.

Its very easy to spend 30+ satisfying minutes quick saving and quick loading your way through one combat segment to get the right sequence of events you had mapped out in your head. Youll sear your synapses over a dubious dialogue choice in an otherwise unimportant side mission just because the framing is so interesting that you care about the outcome.

Its that Witcher witchcraft that the Polish developer is famous for that makes what is banal in other open-world games exhilarating here. We kept saying wed crack on with the main missions in the interest of completing the game quicker, but every time we finished one, wed get dragged away into a four-hour desert stupor of superb side quest after superb side quest.

Roleplay certainly played a part in how this game took our brain hostage. We played as a Nomad hacker with a teal undercut and custom heart-shaped pubes. Our V is a smooth-talking technical mastermind who can breach their opponents defenses from afar and contaminate them with code, causing contagion and cyber psychosis, forcing their manipulated subjects into forced suicide.

This games hacking mechanics put Watch Dogs to shame, letting you control almost every aspect of an environment in a fashion only rivaled by classic immersive simulators like Deus Ex. If things went awry, wed rely on our cybernetic augmentations to do the talking, like our dermal engravings that let you wield Smart weapons with homing bullets and the Mantis Blades, razor-sharp forearm protrusions that let us mop up any mushy-brained stragglers.

And even when missions pump the brakes, Cyberpunk 2077 keeps things interesting by turning you into a Batman Arkham-esque investigator. Braindance puzzles divulge plot details by letting you play through and inspect others recorded memories committed to digital wax. Youll then be able to spot-check suspicious NPCs with stat-based dialogue checks that hark back to the halcyon days of Fallout 3.

If you think about it, there arent many single-player FPS RPGs of this nature on the market, so returning to this style felt novel, especially with the next-gen nuance implemented by CD Projekt Red. But thats not to say there arent some redundant systems in play here.

It's a lot more dynamic in practice, but Cyberpunk 2077s nearest neighbor combat wise is Fallout 4. Its not doing anything too exciting in that department beyond the quirky cyberware, but it still provides a good enough gameplay loop. However, melee combat, especially with blunt weapons, feels particularly floaty and disappointing, so its a shame that theres an entire branch of missions based around it.

And over nearly 50 hours, weve never even considered the need for consumable food or drink items, despite the fact that they so easily clog your inventory. The Wanted system is also a dead weight that serves no purpose other than to annoy you when you run over a civilian by mistake easy to do, given the tight streets and erratic steering of vehicles as you travel between icons.

And yes, unfortunately, there are plenty of glitches to contend with. From quests we cant complete to overlays not going away, there's a lot going on. Weve had memorable moments scuppered by unruly animations and missing dialogue and textures. Par for the course, you might say, and fair enough it hasnt stopped us from mainlining the damn thing long after completing it. A Day One patch is coming which should iron out some of the creases, but given there are hundreds of clothing items and specific animations for pulling a laptop out from under a bed, keep your expectations tempered.

The main questline acts as the reliable spine of Cyberpunk 2077, introducing cool characters and providing structure to the open world, coaxing exploration in the same inoffensive way that Skyrim does. Given that youre playing as a blank slate, it falls short of being as rich and novelesque as The Witcher 3 if that is what youre expecting. Still, its an enjoyable blockbuster with some neat twists and killer set pieces, as you take out snipers at a busy corporate parade and infiltrate a digital brothel.

The supporting cast is fronted by Johnny Silverhand, Vs obnoxious sidekick whose in-game model looks like Keanu Reeves after a bad nights sleep. He goes on like one of those people still in denial about the death of rock music and exists to torment the player with eclectic dialogue that sticks out amid an unconvincing redemption arc. Reeves performance is great fun to watch, but the writing that surrounds it undermines it. Its a shame, but there are plenty of other interesting side characters with better arcs that youll get to know throughout the game.

In the themes and subtext department, the game is often at odds with itself. Its an anti-capitalist satire that has ironically positioned itself to be the ultimate hot commodity in 2020, one that has been made under allegedly questionable conditions. What were left with is a very corporate take on cyberpunk that leans on vogue 80s aesthetics, hypersexualization, and random spats of out-of-place philosophy. Its surprising how much it felt chained to the plot points and characters of its tabletop inspiration, too, despite being set half a century after it.

The way the game treats its female characters is disappointing, and its politics are all over the place. It digs into some sensitive themes that are well above its pay grade, and the conclusions often ring hollow thanks to the games inherent edginess. A lot of the imagery seems designed to shock the player without ever actually making them think, usually at the expense of the oppressed. Frankly, its hard to be enthused about the crystal ball punk manifesto of a game that brandishes influencers on its billboards...

Weve no idea how it plays on consoles just yet, but we played on PC with an RTX 2080 powering its stunning rain-slicked ray-traced streets. Even on max settings, it ran peachy, with some natural frame rate dips in busy areas. It sounds fantastic too. The sound designers and composers need a lot of credit for their thumping techno beats and Nine Inch Nail facsimiles that echo through grime-infested abandoned buildings and atmospheric bars. The guns are similarly crunchy and punchy, just how we like them.

Were going to be playing a lot more of Cyberpunk 2077, even though weve already seen it through and sunk nearly 50 thoroughly enjoyable hours into it over the course of a week. The fun factor, replayability, and value for money on offer is undeniable, and the limited market of FPS RPGs with immersive sim gameplay systems makes Cyberpunk 2077 an easy sell for those who love games like Fallout and Deus Ex its an amalgamation of many of the genres best features.

There are half-baked mechanics, glitches, and narrative missteps to contend with that you may or may not struggle to ignore. Still, the overall package is well worth a look, especially if you want to leverage the games remarkable fidelity to take advantage of your next-gen console or graphics card.

Cyberpunk 2077: Price Comparison

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Cyberpunk 2077 review | TechRadar

1. More Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC News Coming In June  GameSpot
2. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Info Finally Dropping in June  Push Square
3. CD Projekt Red promises to share more information about Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty in June  Notebookcheck.net

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More Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC News Coming In June - GameSpot