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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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."

Platkow-Gilewski has been at CD Projekt for 12 years, joining back when it was 120 people and he was part of a marketing team of six. Now the business is around 1,200 employees and his team is close to 100. And for him, the real disappointment around Cyberpunk 2077 is that it let down the studio's core fans.

"I was personally not happy with how things turned out. I was not expecting that. I knew immediately that we had to come back. I liked the spot we were in. I'm not talking about the peak of hype, but two years before that, we had our community, we liked them, they liked us, it was awesome to work at CD Projekt RED.

"After the release it was tough, but I knew that we had the same people. The gamers are the same… we just need to fix our relationship. The only thing we can truly do is just deliver what we are capable of. I have a feeling that soon we will be able to do that and hopefully that will be a new beginning for everyone."

While Cyberpunk 2077 was still in development, CD Projekt Red promised that a multiplayer mode would be added to the highly anticipated game sometime after launch. Fans were excited about the chance to test their augmented V against another player's in encounters that could combine Cyberpunk 2077's hacking, driving, and fast-paced combat. However, the developer eventually decided that due to the attention required to improve the base game's single-player, multiplayer would need to be scrapped. Thankfully, Project Orion presents a brand-new opportunity to bring multiplayer back in a big way.

Owners of the limited edition Cyberpunk 2077-themed Xbox One X will reportedly be reimbursed for the upcoming Phantom Liberty DLC, after it was announced late last year that the expansion won’t be coming to last-generation consoles.

The Phantom Liberty DLC was announced for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 in December, alongside the announcement that Idris Elba and his velvet voice would be starring in the expansion. The DLC looks incredible, a far cry from how the game originally launched, and it became clear sticking to next-gen (or current-gen, I guess) was pretty much necessary to make it work.