PC Gamer reports 2077 has, mostly, recovered from the beating it took in the first year of release (and a lot of it, but not all, was deserved) and crawled its way back to a solid positive rating, here is a snip;

You could argue that, as moments go, this one isn't all that terribly big, and yeah, that's fair. Despite its train wreck reputation, Cyberpunk 2077 was pretty okay on PC, especially if you had a fairly high-powered rig, and even when it first came out—which is to say, when it was in its worst condition—the Steam score never slipped below 70%, which counts as "mostly positive." That's not bad for most games, but Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't most games, and the fact that it wasn't bringing in universal praise was seen as a shock—and of course, the situation was far worse on consoles.

But as Momot said, CD Projekt has stuck with it, and things slowly turned around. The first real evidence of improvement came in November 2021, when new user reviews climbed to "very positive," helped along by a flood of input from people who picked it up for half price in the Steam Autumn Sale. The overall rating remained stuck at "mostly positive," but the new reviews continued to roll in, and the needle very slowly moved. Last year’s Edgerunners update, timed alongside the release of the highly-praised Netflix show, earned goodwill too by correcting some of the worst annoyances that’d persisted since launch, like the lack of cosmetic armor slots.

Today we talk to Nat, a VP artist based in the US whose been in the VP community for 7 years, enjoy;

Where do you see the virtual photo art form 5 years from now? Will we be able to easily tell it from actual photos by then and if not does that concern you?
I hope awareness of the medium increases. I wish for more opportunies of dev. Companies working in unison with VPs. They create such awareness for their products and extend the longevity of the game exponentially. As far as the latter, I hope graphics increase to that level but there are numerous games and VPs who photograph at all graphics range. I think as the technology improves that is very probable that we can no longer discern.

What trends in the VP space do you foresee becoming big in the field? What trends, aspects of VP do you hope gets left behind in the past?
My wish is that the space continues to grow and more spaces become available to showcase VP work. I recently showcased my VP work at the London Games Festival at an outdoor exhibition. I hope for many more of these opportunities for all VPs as it only increases appreciation of our medium. As far as trends, I hope photo mode tools increase and virtual photographers are able to convey necessary tools that become the standard for all games.

I hope that our passion for this medium does not result in paywalls which unfortunately has begun to already happen. Locked emotes, poses, skins/outfits these are tools we use to arrange a photo. Especially coming from the console, these are sometimes defining variables in how we are able to compose a photo. I hope we can get ahead of this trend now and convey that these things should be available to everyone.

What has been your most positive experience in the 2077 community and on the flip side what has been your most negative?
Luckily I have only had positive interactions. However, I think most of my VP in Cyberpunk circulated through my friends and followers. It’s hard to gauge if I would consider saying I have a foothold in the Cyberpunk community but after this interview I can now say otherwise!
 

What drew you to the cyberpunk genre?
The sci-fi themes, the futuristic technology, and cybernetics are very interesting, it gets me thinking about the distant future. I also absolutely loved The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and was excited when CDPR showcased Cyberpunk 2077, it got me pretty interested in seeing their take on the cyberpunk genre. Since playing the game I’ve grown a whole lot more interested in this genre.
 
What in your view is the best aspect of the cyberpunk genre CDPR got right with 2077 and what do you feel they missed the mark on?
Much of the aesthetic and the world design, it’s very beautifully crafted and fits the dystopian themes very well. All I’m too disappointed in is that the world isn’t immersive as it could have been and there’s just little to interact with besides the quest and story content.
 
What message, to you, does the cyberpunk genre imply or relay as a viewer, fan?
The means for survival within a cold dystopian society, how much of your humanity can you keep a hold of and what are you willing to sacrifice?
 
What photo/GFX tools that are not in 2077 would you like to see in the sequel Project Orion?
I’d like to see some depth of field improvements, more posing options with the potential to move some body parts around and it would be very helpful to be able to alter the time of day and weather conditions.
 

I mean... 2077 is technically NSFW by default so is it REALLY a "protest" or more being accurate in defining the subreddit? To me the reddit admins are being small minded and not seeing the forest from the trees. But let me know what you think in the comments;

This apparently hasn't gone over well with Reddit. A mod from Reddit itself has demanded that the subreddit remove its NSFW tag, but the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit mods were apparently never given an opportunity to protest their case and reason with the mod, so they're keeping the NSFW tag and risking a possible suspension, because "fuck them."

This has led to a lot of naked characters appearing on Cyberpunk 2077's subreddit. You might at first assume this is just pure trolling (and admittedly, you'd be forgiven for thinking that), but it's technically a bonafide protest, cheekily proving to Reddit's powers that be that, yes, Cyberpunk 2077 is a mature game and thus the subreddit deserves to keep its new 18+ rating.

Rant has a chart and breakdown of how all the cyberware affects your character and gameplay. While it may all change with patch 1.7 it's still valid for a while. Here is the opening;

Apart from being one of the best examples of Raytracing in a video game, Cyberpunk 2077 also excels in its gameplay department. As an RPG, it presents players with a vast selection of gameplay styles. It can even rival Elder Scrolls games when it comes to build variety. The beauty of games that have such a gameplay structure is that it allows players to create some breathtaking builds.

Cyberpunk 2077is no stranger to overpowered builds because of what the developers allowed and what the players could tinker with. So regardless of how many playthroughs they have had, players will find strength in these builds necessary to take on a megacorporation like Arasaka.

This week we have someone I have been following for some time. She is an amazing VP artist and I am so very glad she took the time for us. Here is Anna White 2077 VP from Europe;

What are your thoughts about AI art, cyberpunk or otherwise? Is it really 'art' in your view or just several 'stolen' images mushed together? What is your take?
It's a hard question but for me it's so artificial that I'm not really interested in that. I believe that art is always connected with humans beings. With their talent, emotions, experience. A lot of people can say that the human being actually tells the AI what to "draw" and therefore it's half-human made, but I saw a great example of how it can turn out bad for real artists. Unfortunately I can't find it anymore but I saw an article that showed how AI copied a style of some artist, it really just stole her arts, put them together to create something "new" but if you compare those pictures you can clearly recognize that these arts were originally made by her, the true artist. The sad thing is that the AI art got much more attention in a short period of time than this artist had ever before even though she spent years practicing and developing. That sadness me, I feel like it's not fair.

Where do you see the virtual photo art form 5 years from now? Will we be able to easily tell it from actual photos by then and if not does that concern you?   
Seeing the progress of the graphics in games I believe that in 5 years Virtual Photography can also be used to make shots for real fashion magazines, posters or different commercials. I hope it'll be taken more like a real profession so VP'ers can get different contracts from companies. I saw lots of examples that are just perfect for these purposes. Soon we'll not be able to recognize what is real and what is not, it's already happening, I love to trick my friends and show them some of my shots, they don't believe some of them are not real taken photos. I don't see anything bad in this, that's the progress lots of people have been waiting for a long time since first games appeared and I'm glad I'm living in this era.

What about the 2077 characters specifically got your interest? All time favorite NPC in 2077 and why?
Jackie Welles is my favorite without any doubt, a true friend that everyone would like to have. And in Cyberpunk 2077 that is full of lies it's really a treasure. Also I have a big sympathy for Rogue, she's a strong woman that keeps the city in a tight grip and survives. She is a legend in my opinion. Strict, demanding, hard but deep inside she keeps her feelings. That's what I love in these two characters.
 

VGSI writes an opinion article of how they view the changes of Phantom Liberty and how what they saw in the expansion demo is more of what made 2077 great to start with. Here is a snip;
 

When I take a step back and think about everything I played of Phantom Liberty, it really feels like a highlight reel of Cyberpunk 2077’s best moments. The characters have always been fleshed out, and the cinematics have always been engaging, and the combat can be brilliant if you have the modifications you need. Phantom Liberty gave me all of this from the start, and I really enjoyed my time with it.

But is this the fresh new start for Cyberpunk 2077, the unofficial reboot? Well, Cyberpunk 2077 is certainly better than it ever has been before, but the staff overlooking my demo couldn’t help but remark “oh, I’ve never seen that before” as I double-jumped over obstacles in the environment, and as I jumped in Elba’s car, a truck driving past dematerialized, leaving only the driver floating past.

Rant drops a short to the point article of the confirmed changes we should expect with Phantom Liberty or/and patch 1.7, here is a snip;

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty Revolutionizes the Game’s Cybernetics

The new expansion overhauls Cyberpunk 2077’s cybernetics, making armor dependent on the character’s cyberware. It used to be tied to the character’s clothing, so players had to sacrifice looks for defensive stats. Now, they can wear whatever they want without having to worry about making their character more vulnerable.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty will make cyberware riskier, too. V will have a limit on how much cyberware they can add before they get health penalties and other debuffs. This may also be patched into the main game. Some may see this as a limiting way to play the game, but it may also push players to be more deliberate when it comes to augmenting their characters.

Gamer goes on a hard rant, and I mean hard about she does not like 2077 and does not think it's a game beyond mediocre. While SOME of the comments have merit some sound like they are coming from some oblivious rage induced keyboard warrior 11 yr old on moms computer. None the less I will let you determine for yourself, here is a snip;

Cyberpunk 2077, in its current state, is a perfectly passable triple-A game. Given its budget, that's a low bar. There are still all the various ways the game objectifies women, fails to develop or interrogate the racial stereotypes of its gangs, and fetishises trans bodies while keeping you locked into a cisgendered body during romance scenes regardless of your character creation choices.

But that's woke! I don't care about that if the game is good! Bad news bucko, it's still not. The lack of third-person play, the lack of wall-running, and the emptiness of the city that locks you out of each building reveals the hollowness at Cyberpunk 2077's core, and no amount of polish can fix it. Plus, the driving is still bad. While some missions have depth and heart, many more feel rushed and linear, while most of the extra abilities remain useless, the economy is imbalanced, the guns lack much sense of variation, and hacking has no meaningful function in the game. Also, the driving still kinda sucks after the upgrade.

As we reported yesterday, Gamespot took one quote out of a large interview and ran with it minus context of the larger article. Well now PC Gamer who doesn't want to fall behind in the click bait is doing the same with the quote. Curious how they ONLY quote this from the article and nothing else? As I said yesterday maybe because in the rest of the interview he took accountability for the poor launch and expressed how they want to make it up to fans? Well that doesn't make clicks, but ignoring the entire interview except one paragraph out of context sure get people clicking and commenting. Do better you tools. Anyways here is part of PC Gamers rant;

After countless delays Cyberpunk 2077 was pushed out the door unfinished, full of bugs and under-developed systems. On last-gen consoles, bugs and performance issues were so bad it was rendered unplayable, to the point that Sony removed it from sale on the PlayStation Store. This was a platform holder saying that one of the biggest games of the decade was simply not in a good enough state to be sold. Regardless of player backlash, this is more than enough to prove that it was not released in an acceptable state.

This retcon willfully ignores truths that we all know, like how those positive reviews were not based on the versions of the game with the biggest problems. Or that reviews are not always representative of what most players think about a game. I've certainly reviewed games that I loved only to find myself in a tiny minority.

This is the one quote they took issue with;

"I actually believe Cyberpunk on launch was way better than it was received, and even the first reviews were positive. Then it became a cool thing not to like it. We went from hero to zero really fast. That was the tough moment. We didn't know what was happening. We knew that the game is great, yes we can improve it, yes we need to take time to do it, and we need to rebuild some stuff."

And yes by itself yes it does look bad. However if you read the ENTIRE article, it makes more sense. And while he could have worded it better granted he is correct. Some DID hop on the CDPR is going to fail, 2077 will never be playable bandwagon in YouTube. MattyPlays and ever worse Legacykilla did video after video of how CDPR was going out of business and how 2077 was a "failure". Those 2 posted non-stop vids about it for over a year. So in the interview he ISN'T incorrect.

Anyways give us your thoughts below;