With 90hrs of play I already have a grounding to opine on this game.

"It is definitely not for everyone." I say this with the certainty of a person who was expecting a Deus Ex and got exactly what he was wanting.

I've been a Tabletops fan since the 90's, so I've followed the saga of Silverhand, Bartmoss and Cunningham as far back as Cyberpunk 2020 edition 1.0, through 3.0 and now RED ending in 2077. So read this review with a pinch of salt.

For obvious reasons I will not write this review as a professional review, as many have already done, but rather as a fan's account for players and potential fans.


Night City is a city that breathes, and has a unique identity, ranging from the downtown Chinese/Japanese context of the Tyger Claws, to the Mexican ghettos of the Valentinos, Pacifica a region that was supposed to be a commercial center but has been abandoned, where the Voodoo Boys and the Animals fight for territory, the outskirts dominated by the 6th Street Gang and the desert full of garbage, oil and spilled blood of the Badlands, where the Families of Nomads fight for their survival,

In my opinion, the game should not be that game that is "played with a player mentality" of doing quests, gaining levels, and finishing it up by picking up getting all achievements. Instead, take control, and walk slowly through the scenery, observing each thing, each item predisposition, listening to each NPC dialog, seeing each poster, each graffiti, each garbage disposal and scenery destruction.

You can, for example, get a "spoiler" explanation of the whole scenario if you read a newspaper on what is laid out on the table talking about Arasaka and Johnny Silverhand. Or by seeing how their actions impact the world, through the newspapers on TV, the radio programs, or even the loading screens.

The game has a monstrous attention to detail that is well worth the stop. To feel the energy of Night City, a city that in the morning seems dirty, and simple living on appliances, and at night, shines and breathes free as a loose organism.

Of those 90hrs, I can say that 20h of them were doing primary quests, 50h of them were the sidequests or "Gigs" called in Fixer jargon, and the rest were walking around the city, because at no time did I use the ability to skip the map. Walking through Night City, and paying attention to every inch of it, whether in the passenger seat, or the driver's seat, in first person, and noticing the level of detail on the dashboard of a simple car. It gave me an artistic vision that shows that a lot of love was put into the game.

The story itself is simple, but the way it is described, and the relationships between V with the other characters, including Silverhand himself, is formidable. The endings put tears in my eyes, hitting the core. Especially what happens to Jackie Welles in the prologue of the game.

Speaking of tears, this game does not fail to touch on heavy topics, such as sex exploitation, organ trafficking, heinous crimes, racism, homophobia, torture, religious fanaticism, how the media takes advantage of everything for money. How corporations buy our souls and discard our bodies after using them. Although Pondsmith did not write the game script, I am sure he was very happy with the result.

The game has technical bugs, yes. Crass bugs, by the way, but for anyone who has played all of S.T.A.L.K.E.R and loves that buggy gameplay. Or played Batman: Arkham Knight at 13 fps when it was released (remember that disgrace?) this game is extremely optimized. And I haven't had any game-breaking bugs once.

Although my PC is really out of the box now: An i7-10700k, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD and an RTX 2060 Super. I didn't see any problems that hindered my gaming. And I am sad for those who were not so lucky.

Overall, it is a game that should be played, and enjoyed as a labor of love, and not just a "transphobic and flawed" piece of media (which I find completely insubstantial). Since I'm a trans woman as well.

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I hope that it helps to see the work of labor and crafting which was unfortunately rushed by greedy investors... But hey isn't this the most Cyberpunk scenario?

Maxine