Skip to main content

Cyberpunk 2077 is still the same game with the same issues

Cyberpunk 2077 is in trouble. It has been since the game launched and people couldn’t play it on their PS4 or Xbox One consoles. Trouble has followed it through every patch, hotfix, and update that rolled out through 2021. And even now, with another massive update that’s given the game a suite of improvements on current-gen consoles, Cyberpunk 2077 is still in trouble.

Cyberpunk 2077 — Next-Gen Gameplay | PlayStation 5

While Cyberpunk 2077‘s 1.5 update makes the game look prettier and run smoother on consoles, I’ve been playing it on PC since launch, and nothing’s different. I understand that the game isn’t suddenly going to have ray-traced shadows on my computer when I boot it up, and that’s not what I expect. This update has been positioned as the game’s next big change, the version that should have been released in the first place.

Recommended Videos

But the issue is that nothing is different. When I boot up Cyberpunk 2077 now, I don’t feel like I’m playing a different game than I was when it launched in 2020. Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t something that will be radically changed from what it was in December 2020, and it’s time for us all to come to terms with that.

Skin-deep changes

If you’re playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PS5 or Xbox Series X, you’ll find that the game runs and looks better than it did before. That’s a great thing, don’t get me wrong. Having played it on PC since 2020, I get the appeal in that. Cyberpunk 2077 is a gorgeous game, and when it’s running at 60 frames per second (fps), Night City can really come to life.

But a majority of the bigger changes in this patch are simply skin-deep. Cyberpunk 2077 is the same game with the same story, sidequests, and weirdly transphobic advertisements. You can change your character’s appearance whenever you want now, and you can throw knives properly, both of which, again, are nice things to have.

Cyberpunk 2077 — Next-Gen Update Launch Trailer

Cyberpunk 2077‘s gameplay loop is unchanged, though. While a heap of quality-of-life features have been thrown into the game, actually completing its quests or driving around Night City remains unchanged. Sorry, that last part isn’t completely true — you can perform burnouts in cars now. Whoopee!

A lot of the changes are what I’d describe as “pretty neat.” Players can buy new apartments for V and have them play guitar inside. Cool. But it’s not gameplay-changing, and that’s true of everything in Cyberpunk 2077‘s 1.5 update. Anyone picking the game up today on consoles will get the same thing they would’ve gotten a year ago, save for higher frame rates and all-important ray tracing.

Bad to the bone

The fact of the matter is that Cyberpunk 2077 will seemingly always be a bug-filled game, whether those bugs are just visual or actually impact gameplay. These traits seem like they’ve almost been baked into the game like they’re part of its core. And for what it’s worth, Cyberpunk and its bugs are inseparable at this point. It wouldn’t feel right playing the game without something going awry.

A hacker uses a computer in Cyberpunk 2077.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In the four or so hours I’ve played the game since its 1.5 patch went live, I’ve experienced some of the same quirks that have been around since it launched. I saw characters T-posing during cutscenes, sound effects not playing during specific animations, and cars driving through solid objects. While Cyberpunk 2077 runs better across all platforms now, little of the game has actually changed.

If anything, that’s evident from the content of every patch leading up to 1.5. Over the course of the past year, post-launch development for Cyberpunk 2077 has seemingly been dedicated entirely to making the game playable for everyone without game-breaking bugs and glitches. For what it’s worth, CD Projekt Red has managed that much. You can play through the game without being softlocked 20 hours into it.

Cyberpunk and its bugs are inseparable at this point.

But the only actual gameplay changes to Cyberpunk 2077 have come in this past update, and even then they’re not huge. Players can throw knives at enemies now without losing them forever, and some perks have been rebalanced. There isn’t any new content. Cyberpunk 2077‘s story expansions seem like a long-forgotten promise.

If you didn’t like Cyberpunk 2077 the first time you played it, the game’s latest patch isn’t going to change that. Really, all the game’s 1.5 update does is give console players the PC experience. The game can run at 60 fps, at a 4K resolution, with some light ray tracing. But those visual features don’t reinvent the game — they just polish the mess that’s always been there.

Otto Kratky
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…
Topics
5 games we want to see running on PS5 Pro: Black Myth, Stellar Blade, and more
The main character of Black Myth: Wukong.

The PlayStation 5 Pro will launch in less than two months, and although it's not as technologically advanced as some hoped, it can still benefit many games. Many titles this generation have launched with shoddy performance on the PS5. Other games would also see a boon from making their already gorgeous visuals look even better with features like PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). So far, we've only gotten the names of 14 games that have confirmed PS5 Pro support, but there are several other games I'd love to see running on Sony's new console hardware. These five games, in particular, could truly benefit from being enhanced for the PS5 Pro.
Black Myth: Wukong

The biggest video game of 2024 has been Black Myth: Wukong, a Chinese-developed action game inspired by Journey to the West. It has found massive success across both PC and PS5, but currently, PS5 is the inferior way to play it. A Digital Foundry breakdown highlighted how Black Myth: Wukong encounters frame rate consistency and latency issues when attempting to run at 60 frames per second in performance mode on PS5. Having a stable frame rate and minimal input latency are musts for action games, so the fact that Black Myth: Wukong is struggling to have both on PS5 is telling as to why we need a mid-gen console refresh. If the PS5 Pro can make the game much more stable in performance mode, it can ride the coattails of gaming's biggest 2024 gaming breakout to great success.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Read more
The Witcher 3 REDkit is out and it makes modding easier than ever
Geralt from The Witcher 3 and his horse Roach.

Modders got some good news on Tuesday with the release of The Witcher 3 REDkit, a free tool that Witcher developer CD Projekt Red says will allow people to edit "almost everything within the game."

REDkit was developed mainly by Yigsoft, a developer that's worked alongside CD Projekt Red on The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. According to a blog post, the tool is similar to ones used to create The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (although REDkit's store page notes that "achieving the full scope of development akin to the original creators may require access to external tools"). The post also says that more tutorials and documentation will be unveiled soon, but people who want to hop in immediately can do so. The REDkit is now free to download on Steam, GOG.com, and the Epic Games Store.

Read more
Forget live service. Great DLCs kept us playing old games in 2023
Kratos looks solemnly in God of War Ragnarok Valhalla.

For years now, studios have been chasing the impossible dream. Rather than giving games one or two great expansions, we've seen a rise in live-service games looking to replicate the titanic success of games like Fortnite. Though that continued in 2023 (especially in Fortnite itself), this year has seen a return to a more traditional approach to DLC and expansions -- and that's led to some unforgettable results that prove the power of a focused update.

The year started strong with Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania and that momentum kept going strong through the end of the year with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, and God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla. Ultimately, this speaks to a future where both can coexist. Not every game needs to relegate post-launch support to seasons upon seasons of road-mapped content; sometimes, a meaty expansion can be just as compelling.

Read more