This is a good realisation to make since the size, scope, and grandeur of Night City is nothing to sneeze at – it'll always have glitches in some places. In terms of size and detail though, Night City is really a monumental achievement. And one that also feels around the leading edge of where in-game visuals are headed.
Even now, annually and alter after the game's initial (and very rough) debut, it is the star of the show. A bustling future metropolis that's to put it simply, breath-taking. If its look, feel, and lore you can find just about everywhere grabs you, well, Cyberpunk 2077 is an immersive feast. Again, it isn't perfect by any means, but it's an experience to savour. Especially now.
And that is because the next-gen patch finally optimises the sport for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (reviewed here). Using the results definitely giving off a “this is what it ought to have been” vibe. On next-gen consoles this is basically a soft reboot, gone are the countless game breaking bugs and never-ending list of quest glitches. Gone may be the shitty 20-fps level performance. Now there is a Performance Mode, and it is a game title changer on its own. And with SSD storage the loading times are minimal too. May possibly not conserve a steady 60-fps all the time, as well as the most part it's pretty much always up there, even during combat.
The fact that you can go from V's apartment down to a bustling intersection without a loading screen or seeing texture pop-in is remarkable too. There is a ray-tracing mode capped at 30-fps for those wanting that true next-gen feel, when you are limited to ray-traced shadows it doesn't live up to what's possible on PC. Granted, we're talking about a GeForce RTX 3090 powered rig in which you enable an entire suite of game changing ray-tracing effects.
Really though, this update brings the console release up to the performance standard experienced by many using the pc front – particularly with just how smooth it's to get out and about. When coupled with the level of detail and the much needed bump in NPCs roaming the streets, it feels every bit like the next-gen experience we all expected so that it is. In fact, it is so good on Xbox Series X that I went back as to the Used to do when I played on PC in 2023; I walked from job to job, no vehicle, whether the destination would be a few hundred metres or perhaps a handful of kilometres.
It's here where I discovered a number of awesome, yet subtle, additions; the opportunity to pet animals, watch traffic behave a lot more like traffic, see more diverse characters go about their day or evening, check out a much more billboards the launch version did not have, and watch as NPCs busted out umbrellas when it began to rain. With everything here making Cyberpunk 2077 feel alive in a way the launch version did not.
Outside of impressive console performance, that is reason enough to call mtss is a substantial update, there's all of the other goodness that accompany Cyberpunk 2077's Patch 1.5. If you haven't played the game since launch and have held off so far, the difference is huge.
There's the large mountain of bug fixes that kind out all manner of quest-related issues and open-world glitches and bugs. There's the arrival of player customisation, the ability to buy new apartments, the revamped enemy AI and skill-tree system, better driving physics, these new traffic simulation.
Really though it's the effect from the improved enemy AI and much better skill-trees that is probably probably the most profound. In a lot of ways it makes Cyberpunk 2077 seem like the RPG it had not been at launch, where weapon and character stats and skills and upgrades and cyberware actually matter and be a core part of the combat experience. Having all that there but in the midst of the shooting gallery at launch was something of the letdown. Go forward to 2023 and also the combat, both melee and projectile-based is fast, tense, and incredible.
In relation to fundamental changes players expected, well, this next-gen Cyberpunk 2077 falls short. There's still no proper policing system and also the whole completing gigs and jobs for the various gangs of Night City is still very-much a static to-do list. Faction rewards have been added, but there's hardly any in the way of making a true impact on how Night City operates. Finite items to do and see with not a great deal that feels emergent. Place it this way, you can cause destruction to anyone and everyone, run a block or too, but still be in the good books with cops and gangs everywhere.
Coming to the concept that Cyberpunk 2077 will probably never be perfect, not that such a thing exists, is a fairly reality check. Based on the stunning beauty and scope of Night City almost always there is going to be a big list of stuff that I'd want to do. I wish to have the ability to buy food from vendors, visit specific clothing stores picking out outfits off the rack, build relationships NPCs in a manner that makes their lives important. Join one gang and place it towards the others having a turf war.
The good news is the fact that Patch 1.5 can also be considered a clean slate in terms of DLC, new features, and planned expansions. Based on the 14-months it popularized get here though, it's anyone's guess regarding where Cyberpunk 2077 is headed. Having said that, expanding what you can see and do in Night City is still a thrilling prospect. Which can be a good as an endorsement it's possible to give. There's still that sense of awe, despite all the blowback and also the poor state of the game on consoles in 2023.
In addition to Night City you've also got the expansive cinematic story chock full of ambitious story beats and wonderful side stories. CD Projekt Red's bread and butter, with a 5-hour trial available on PS5 and Xbox Series X there is no reason to not jump into what's an incredible first few hours of narrative action. Even though the mainline Johnny Silverhand story feels a tad too linear and finally becomes completely detached from the concept of creating your personal story within the world, there's still lots of brilliantly quests featuring Judy, Panam, River, Rogue, and many others to discover.
There's memorable characters to find and crazy discoveries too. From a sentient vending machine right through to Skippy the smart gun. When Cyberpunk 2077 launched in December of 2023, lots of press made it clear that the game – for the most part – impressed on PC. On PlayStation 4 and Xbox One though, the memes and jaw-dropping videos and clips came thick and fast. For all of the incorrect reasons.
To call its launch-day stability and performance on consoles terrible is something of the understatement, then one that will not be forgotten anytime soon. A videogame cautionary tale for the ages. Because of the impressive next-gen update, that is what it'll become. A tale, a tale. Cyberpunk 2077 has become something you'd want to fire up on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Come for the incredible Night City and stay for the engaging (if messy) story, the intense combat, the improved exploration and immersion, and also the newfound focus on open-world RPG action.
