Cyberpunk 2077 arrives as one of the most talked-about video games of 2020, a sprawling role-playing game set in Night City. Built for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, it asks players to live as V, a fighter for hire chasing power, fame and a way to survive with a dead rockstar’s personality implanted in the mind.
Trailer, via Cyberpunk 2077.
Night City
Night City is the game’s biggest achievement. Six districts, each with its own mood, run into one another without a loading screen. Neon signs, gang turf and corporate towers sit side by side, and walking through it feels different depending on the hour, the weather and the block.
V and the Rockstar in the Head
V is a blank slate shaped by early choices, but the character grows sharper once the digital ghost of a dead rockstar starts riding along inside their mind. The friction between the two drives most of the story. Their scenes together carry the game’s best writing.
The Gigs
Away from the main story, Night City is full of side content. Some of it repeats, but the strongest gigs stand out for reasons that go beyond loot:
- Character-driven side quests that reveal new sides of Night City’s factions
- Fixer jobs that reward exploration over combat
- Extra storylines tied to romance choices that pay off later in the plot
Bugs and Performance
Cyberpunk 2077 does not run the same on every platform. Ranked from strongest to weakest performance at launch:
- PC, running on capable hardware
- PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, through older-hardware support
- PS4 and Xbox One, where frame drops, crashes and visual glitches are far more common
On base PS4 and Xbox One, those problems are hard to miss. Textures load late. Cars flicker. Combat can slow down at the exact moment precision matters most.
PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S
On PC, and on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S through older-hardware support, the experience is far smoother. The world holds together. Combat, driving and hacking systems all work closer to how they’re designed to. It’s a different game depending on where it’s played.
Combat and Choice
The shooting, hacking and close-combat systems are flexible enough that no two builds play alike. A hacker leaning on hacking attacks moves through Night City very differently than a fighter built for close-quarters combat. That flexibility is where the role-playing promise of Cyberpunk 2077 is best kept.
Not every choice matters as much as the game suggests it will.
What Stays With You
Cyberpunk 2077 leaves behind a city more than a story. Long after the credits, it’s the walk through Night City’s crowded streets, not any single mission, that lingers.
Cyberpunk 2077 scores 8.6 of 10.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
