Cyberpunk 2077, My Love.

I am sure you are all aware of this game by now, maybe you followed its production and pre ordered it, maybe you read a review, maybe you just like Keanu Reeves, However you found it, you found it, as did I.

I originally played this game just after release on my ps4, from that information you might think that I am about to trash the game and say that it released broken, incomplete and that I hated it. However, I loved every second of it.

Luckily the most I ever encountered in terms of glitches was a texture glitch on an opening cinematic after completing the chosen lifepaths prologue, after that I found Night City and all it had to offer me.

I played through the all the quests, all the endings, every different interaction, and it was remarkable.

The setting itself is simply breath taking, the city scape is vast and magnificent, the buildings full of life and purpose, the higher end of the city being an amazing compilation of luxury and wealth, the lower end being that of abject poverty. CD Projekt RED really brought this hellish dystopia to life, Night City in all its glory.

It's hard to describe the affection I have for cyberpunk as a genre, and the silly rant I could come up with wouldn't do it justice anyway.

But Cyberpunk 2077 isn't simply a game set in a cyberpunk dystopia, its a human experience.

The Characters, God, The Characters. Cyberpunk 2077 at its core isn't a game about being a career criminal or becoming rich, Cyberpunk is a game about relationships and the people in them.

As an example, straight after the first chapter of the games story after having lost Jackie, we are introduced to Johnny Silverhand (played by and modelled after Keanu Reeves) A man quite literally mentally bonded with us via a broken chip imbedded in the protagonists head. Johnny is a Rockstar and terrorist from 50 years ago, long dead.

He is an asshole, having killed, lied and terrorised his way to fame, going as far as to assist in nuking a skyscraper to further his own ends of finding his lover, Alt Cunningham. Johnny is also the reason for the main protagonists terminal illness.

However we also see a very human side of his persona, during the side quest 'Chippin' in' we visit the place that Johnny was buried after being killed by the Arasaka corporation.

Johnny is saddened after finding that his final resting place has no marker, no headstone, no indication that he is buried there, he went from being a small yet worshipped rebel rockstar, to being nothing in an oil field. During this interaction Johnny will only respond well to a positive comment about him, even after admitting guilt and then being presented with the fact that he ruined the protagonists life, he still asks for a second chance and then proceeded to talk about himself more, commenting on the fact that the protagonist is the only person who doesn't completely hate him, though realises he doesn't have a choice due to their literal bond, being constantly together 24/7.

What's most striking about Johnny as a character is how real he feels, a character that doesn't fully accept how bad a person he is, and really only helps the protagonist out of a lack of other options. Keep in mind that he only agreed to help your character after realising that if you die, he dies as well, and I don't think he is ready to give up being somebody even if he knows that he is now a nobody.

He still choses to act important, acting as if he can solve impossible problems by just talking to the right people and conning his way back into a city that has forgotten him. He still choses to spout his ideological beliefs throughout the game, despite his inability to act on them. Johnny desperately wants to believe that he is important, even talking down to the only person he can even talk to, threatening them, and using them for whatever he can get from them.

Johnny being one of the many characters you can explore and make a firm connection with.

The quests surrounding these characters can be that of happiness, despair or simply them getting to an end. The characters the protagonist meets throughout the game are not simply a means to an end, they are the game. Going through their quests is entirely optional but not doing so would not only make the game shorter, but would take away the best parts about your journey through the world of cyberpunk and the story it tells.

At the end of the game your character is presented with options on how you want the game to end, these range from stunning acts of glory where you battle to your goal, helping a corp executive over take a company, or simply choosing the easy way out.

After its all said and done and the credits are rolling you get to see one final message from each of the characters you have encountered and you get to see their thoughts about you, and the impact your choices made on them.

Its a touching moment really, realising the depth of these relationships above just features of a quest.

For example, if you chose to kill yourself rather than fighting or letting your illness take over you, at the credits you are met with sorrow. The characters that loved you will mourn, those that you chose not to make a connection with won't really say anything all that meaningful.

If you can take one thing away from me talking about what I consider to be one of the best games of the past few years, then take this, play Cyberpunk 2077.

I don't know what the future holds for cyberpunk, but its nice to see CD Projekt RED are fixing their mistakes, adding new content and are even working on a dlc, which I am definitely buying.

Reviews be damned, this game is a God send.