Cyberpunk 2077 completes its redemption arc by nabbing its first Game Award three whole years after launch

Cyberpunk 2077's V thinking smart
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Three years on from a legendarily catastrophic launch that jeopardized CD Projekt Red's once-sterling reputation, Cyberpunk 2077 has completely turned it around. After failing to nab a Game Award for its initial launch (eligible at the 2021 TGA), Cyberpunk took home an award for Best Ongoing Game at this year's show.

Now, I always loved this game, but it's come a long damn way since December 2020. While a lot of attention gets paid to the game's performance uplift and many bug fixes, the way it's evolved mechanically has always stuck with me the most. First, it was welcome touches like armor transmog, added quests, and expanded text conversations in 2021, but this year's 2.0 update blew everything out of the water.

Cyberpunk's perks, weapons, and other gear were completely overhauled, turning it from a fun, if flawed roleplaying experience into one of the best action RPGs out there. The fantastic Phantom Liberty expansion only sealed the deal, and I no longer feel like I have to add caveats when I recommend Cyberpunk 2077.

My coworkers pointed out an unfortunate implication to this award seeming to celebrate releasing a game in bad shape, only to get back pats for fixing it later, but I don't really see it that way. Again, those bug fixes are one thing, but I'd say the 2.0 update's RPG system changes absolutely go above and beyond the usual "fixes"—they're genuinely iterative.

I definitely see an issue of mismatched categories here though: "Best Ongoing Game" strikes me as a category best reserved for live service games or MMOs, while Cyberpunk is a single player RPG that's received updates and an expansion. The Game Awards definitely strains at its category distinctions elsewhere as well—see Dave the Diver, which was published by a billion-dollar company, being "indie," or the show's bafflingly broad "Best Sim/Strategy" award, which pitted Cities: Skylines 2 against Pikmin 4 this year.

Ultimately, I found it to be an award well-earned, despite that caveat, and this feels like a fitting end to the critical saga around Cyberpunk 2077. The game itself does have at least one more big update to go though, with patch 2.1 promising a host of further improvements.

Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.

Read more
Baldur's Gate 3
2024 was still the year of Baldur's Gate 3: Why we're all still playing Larian's once-in-a-decade RPG 16 months later
Fallout 76 - a player in a vault suit gives a thumbs up
Fallout 76's former project lead says it's still his favourite game he worked on, but the initial reception was demoralising: 'I got yelled at in an Apple Store, I'll never forget'
Johnny Silverhand riding shotgun in Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077's new patch arrives the day after I finally finished the game, and of course it fixes the one late-game bug that really annoyed me
Spirit of the PC: Stalker 2
Spirit of the PC 2024: Stalker 2
Crashing servers, flame wars, and a 60-day path to redemption—the utterly chaotic first year of Helldivers 2 has been a democratic doozy
Androgynous knight in intricate armor holding sword partially obscuring face while holding helmet in other hand
2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me
Latest in RPG
A lolporrit squeals in excitement while being driven in a moon buggie in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, patch 7.2.
Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.2's trailer has me finally hyped to get stuck back in—and to go to the moon and pilot some mechs, because why not
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 barbers change hairstyle - Henry sitting on a horse wearing armour.
How to find a barber and change hairstyle in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 image - Henry riding a pink and blue striped horse while holding a fish
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 now has Steam Workshop support, and of course one of the first mods lets you adjust the 'jiggle physics'
Erenshor - A player and two simulated MMO party members stand on a plateau in front of a yellow landscape
This RuneScape-looking 'simulated MMORPG' has all the nostalgia without the drama because all the other 'players' are NPCs
New art of Harry and Kim from Disco Elysium, with Harry holding a lit molotov cocktail.
Despite Disco Elysium Mobile aiming to 'captivate the TikTok user,' it looks surprisingly decent—but it's still insulting to Disco's ousted creators
Latest in News
A lolporrit squeals in excitement while being driven in a moon buggie in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, patch 7.2.
Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.2's trailer has me finally hyped to get stuck back in—and to go to the moon and pilot some mechs, because why not
A pink GameSir Nova Lite, and a purple 8BitDo Ultimate 2C float in a teal void.
Hall effect controllers are so cheap now I’ve got a deal for you AND your player two
Peely from Fortnite with banana-fied Wolverine claws.
Fortnite comes to Snapdragon: Epic Games announces upcoming Arm support for its Easy Anti-Cheat software
Texas Instruments MSPM0C1104 tiny chip
World's smallest microcontroller looks like I could easily accidentally inhale it but packs a genuine 32-bit Arm CPU
Silent Hill f transmission trailer screenshots
'We've been keeping fans waiting for an awfully long time': We finally got to see more of Silent Hill f and boy, does it look great
A goblin with sharp teeth, wearing goggles, lets out a mischievous cackle in WoW's latest patch: Undermine(d).
The hooligan hacker guild that tore up WoW's newest raid (twice) just posted video evidence of the whole thing, and it's got me feeling weirdly nostalgic