Ah, Cyberpunk 2077—it's incredible to think that a game that launched so disastrously it prompted a class-action lawsuit is, years later, being praised as one of the best RPGs you can play right now. At least if its currently 'Overwhelmingly Positive' recent reviews on Steam are anything to go by.
PC Gamer's Wes Fenlon did an excellent write-up of that journey last year, but as a quick history crash-course: Cyberpunk 2077 at launch was buggy beyond belief on PC, and borderline unplayable on PS4 and Xbox One. So unplayable, in fact, that PlayStation removed it from its storefront while offering full refunds.
CDPR bunkered down and issued a series of patches, incrementally improving the experience, but it wouldn't be until the triple whammy of the Edgerunners anime, Phantom Liberty, and the 2.0 update that perceptions started to shift and the game was back in vogue again.
- Overwatch 2 achieves the improbable, clawing back a 'Mixed' rating in recent Steam reviews after a well-received perks update
- 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'
It's a redemption story that gave me, as someone who didn't play it until after the game was fixed, some rather mixed feelings. I got to enjoy a stunning game that devoured dozens of hours of my life and, for a blessing, was mostly bug-free. I also did so knowing it took nearly three years to get there.
Regardless, Cyberpunk's redemption story is being reflected in Steam's "Recent Reviews" score, which (at the time of writing) is seated at an honourable 95% positive reviews out of 7,043 in the past 30 days. It's a testament to how fixed the game really is—and an emotional uplift for its designers, as per quest design lead Pawel Sasko on Twitter.
"You can't imagine how much it means to me," Sasko writes, "I have never been close to giving up and always believed this could be somehow possible, but never thought I would actually see it. Thank you so much for the second chance chooms."
Several other developers from CD Projekt joined in to express their gratitude alongside Sasko. Michał Zbrzeźniak, the game's cinematic designer, writes that the game's redemption is a result of "our (dev) continuous effort combined with your (players) continuous support." Senior Lead Weapon Artist Michal Kalisz also adds: "You can't even imagine how much this means for all of us. Started from the bottom, now we are here."
I think we'd all prefer a world where games released in their best state—and Cyberpunk certainly wasn't completely terrible at launch, getting a 78 from us in our Cyberpunk 2077 review. But even that comparatively glowing score came with an advisory against its "onslaught of bugs."
Still, the overhauls applied to Cyberpunk 2077 are nothing short of commendable, even if the industry climates that caused its shoddy release weren't exactly great. I, for one, am glad that Cyberpunk 2077's finally getting its moment in the sun.
