Hello No Man’s Sky fans.

Greetings Fallout 76 enjoyers.

Salutations Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2015)veterans.

It seems this past decade we’ve had more than a few “Comeback” stories. Games that released in less-than-stellar states and started on the back-foot of popular opinion, only to soar (allegedly) to new heights in the years that followed.

If you aren’t sure if you’ve come across these sorts of games, just keep an eye out for their fan’s catchphrase: “It’s good now”…

I’m not actually here to say Fallout 76, No Man’s Sky and Battlefront 2 aren’t better than they were on release, that’d be madness. All 3 games have seen update after update, with No Man’s Sky and Battlefront doing so for free to-boot.

While it’s easy to be tongue-in-cheek about the nature of “It’s good now” statements, I actually just want to throw a name back into the ring that never really got that social second wind: Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberspunk 2077 – The Release

I can’t actually recall if any journos or creators used the term Cyberspunk when it released, but it’d be a crying shame if they didn’t. By all accounts (Source: I was there) the public release was a cavalcade of bugs, broken dialogue, quests not triggering, poorly balanced cops and crime, and linear vehicle segments.

The main thing that grabbed everyone was the amount of game-breaking and soft-lock-inducing bugs, alongside the weird and whacky things you’d expect from a game this scope (Faces not loading, physics throwing NPCs around, AI pathing making everyone stand still, the usual).

When you go in expecting the next game from The Witcher devs, and get something more akin to a (Modern) Ubisoft release, you are going to be put off.

Can’t Argue With Free

I should preface this by admitting I am playing Cyberpunk 2077 on a PS5, via a PS Plus subscription. This means I have the distinct advantage over original-release PS4 players when it comes to the game actually running, and also that I didn’t have to pay the *Checks Notes* $59.99 USD for the standard edition.

I’ll probably end up doing what I usually do with PS Plus games that slap, and buy the DLC. I get the base game via subscription and then only have to splash £10-25 on the DLC for a game I know I already enjoy.

While I’m not usually the sort of person that factors in price to moment-to-moment gameplay, it’s still worth mentioning.

Less Sci-Fi GTA, More Sci-Fi Dishonoured

Now, 5 years later, I finally tried it for the first time. I have heard it’s been “fixed”, but as someone who never really got into GTA I often wondered if even a “fixed” version of Cyberpunk would still be “meh” to me.

Turns out, all that rhetoric and spiel about Cyberpunk being like GTA is about as sound as the same comments about Yakuza being Japanese GTA. Hint: Not sound at all.

Cyberpunk might appear to be an open world city-scape with Joy-toys to “play with”, shooting ranges to test weapons at, garages to browse vehicles for thousands and thousands of credits (Okay, Cyberpunk calls them Eddys but like, they’re credits) but when you actually play the game, those elements are not really the same at all as something like GTA.

Cyberpunk, in moment-to-moment terms, is more like a huge Dishonoured map. It plays like an “Immersive Sim”, not an RPG (Although the RPG elements are well beyond what I expected too, to be honest) or straight shooter. While GTA certainly also fits between genres, it is as a base, a Third Person Shooter.

Cyberpunk is, as a base, an Immersive Sim. The genre can be hard to interpret but basically an Immersive Sim by modern parlance is a game that includes a reactive level, with enemies that can be manipulated, taunted and baited in an environment programmed to be interactable. Movable boxes, desks you can fit under, cranes you can lift, cameras you can hack, traps you can create; these are all elements of Immersive Sims. The prime examples of the Immersive Sim are Dishonoured, Prey, Thief and now Cyberpunk.

How does Cyberpunk, with its cinematic story, dialogue options, RPG skills trees and perk points and fully driveable open-world also moonlight as an Immersive Sim?

Very, very smart design.

The Frankenstein of Genres that Actually Works

Many games have tried to be a bit of everything, to take everything that’s popular and mash it together expecting it to just be good, because those features are good.

And sure, it’ll be passable. A tomato, a block of cheese and a bit of dough can be a meal, but I’d probably rather use the same stuff to make a pizza. The difference is design. And Cyberpunk is oozing with it.

I went for a full Cool Intelligence build, sneaking everywhere, sniping with a Smart Rifle if the sneaking failed. All the while hacking cameras, enemy optics, turrets and more to make my sneaking easier. My missions and gigs slowly started to split into neat planning, execution and escape phases. Sometimes it’d be a skill check that helps with those, sometimes a hack, and sometimes just having enough Cool gun skills I could triple-headshot some pleb guards without alerting anyone. Even within my restricted playstyle, there were options, and each gig felt like I had actually solved it, done the job.

There’s plenty of ways you can see gigs going differently. From being a “Solo” and slow-walking with an LMG into a garage to steal a car in broad sight, to using the agility and melee buffs to be in and out detected, but quick.

With the new vehicle skills there’s even room for bringing a car or bike along to any gig you like, and coming up with a solution that suits you.

I know the result of the gig is the same. You get the car out, you eliminate the target, you secure the data. But, Cyberpunk has enough smart design choices with how abilities, characters and missions interact that you have room to be yourself. You have the time and space to have fun playing the V that you chose to make.

Whoever Came Up with Gigs is a Genius

“Gigs” are one of the primary pieces of side content in Cyberpunk. They scatter across the map, and more unlock as you gain Cred and complete previous Gigs. Sounds predictable enough, but it’s the abundancy and variety of these one-and-done areas that makes Cyberpunk so immersive.

Each job can be handled independently, allowing you to flex a new arm ability, hack or weapon and not feel like you “wasted” anything. There are so many Gigs, of so many types, that messing one up is a fun learning experience or panicked shoot-out, rather than feeling like you have to reload the game every 5 minutes.

The real testament to the design is that I feel I could easily do a second playthrough, and all these Gigs would feel different enough that I’d enjoy them all over again. That is a testament to a system that rewards playing the V you want.

Don’t Judge a Game by it’s Discourse

It came as such a huge surprise to me, just how much the game reminded me of an Immersive Sim. Bear in mind that in addition to all that moment-to-moment gameplay you also get dialogue options, companion stories, side quests with more depth than Gigs and a main story split into in-depth stories.

The writing is great, playing on the cliché nature of a dystopia while also allowing people to actually exist and live in it. Characters are broadly well-written too, and well performed. All of that would have been true on release, but you’d never have had the chance to know if your game soft-locked you first…

Is it Worth Starting Cyberpunk in 2025?

Ultimately, Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the “It’s good now” games that is actually good now. You’ll especially love it if you go in thinking it’ll be a Sci-Fi GTA, because the game with constantly surprise you by being exactly not that.

It’s a first-person-shooter, stealth game, espionage sim and open-world RPG which is designed to suit literally every player you can imagine. If you hate any one part of that, from shooting to stealth, hacking to melee, even driving, you can basically avoid it. There’s actually a very cool train system that lets you find new areas without having to drive!

It’s about as hard not to recommend Cyberpunk now as it was hard to recommend it on release.