Cyberpunk next gen review
Cyberpunk 2077 is criminally underrated by people who haven't actually played it. Yes, the release was a mess and it is still a bit of a buggy mess on last gen consoles (apparently, I can't verify this one myself) but the game itself is really great. There are all sorts of debates to be had with this game such as whether it would have been so broken at release if entitled consumerism hadn't forced CD Projekt Red into releasing it before it was ready and now there's the debate of whether the next gen version was worth the wait. And the answer to both of those is no, no it would almost definitely not have been so broken and no the next gen release isn't really worth the wait.
The next gen version of the game is great, but it really isn't a massive improvement to how the game was on these consoles anyway. It loads quicker and now benefits from adaptive triggers but that's really about it. It already looked just great (although it does bear a lot more detail now) and it already ran really quite smoothly and if I'm honest there doesn't really seem to be any other major changes. There is ray tracing now which is nice but not all that noticeable unless you're running both versions side by side. Crowd reactions have reportedly been improved but I'm yet to actually experience this so I can't comment on how significant this is, crowds are bigger and Night city does feel a bit more lived in though I will say that. One thing I will say is that the fact that none of it is really noticeable is a testament to how good Cyberpunk actually was in the first place on the newer platforms, it has always looked and played great.
It's a 54GB file size which is very modest by the modern standard (for comparison NBA 2k22 PS5 is 130.5 GB) but this is still going to take up a chunk of that precious memory space and I'm not so sure whether using that space up if you've already played it is worth it. Equally I'm not sure what would have made it worth it, maybe nothing would have. I'm more excited for the Witcher 3 next gen overhaul, that's a game that's starting to show its age a little bit and could do with that extra boost, Cyberpunk 2077 was more in need of a last gen update to get it working on the older consoles rather than an update to polish it up on a platform that it already is great on. Maybe I'm being a little cynical but I just feel that giving the older game a new coat of paint first would have made more sense, it feels like polishing a pair of shoes that you've literally just bought sure they might be a little more shiny but not enough to really be worth the effort.
Maybe it would be worth running the old edition and the new update side by side to really get a feel for the difference but I feel that for this to have been worth it the difference should be immediately noticeable. I said the same thing in my Uncharted remaster review, these aren't really games that needed this treatment, it's always very nice to receive updates like this but are they really worth the money, time, and effort that could be spent on new projects or even just remastering and remaking older properties that need it that little bit more. I know for a fact that a fully remade/remastered version of the Witcher 3 or the first three Uncharted games would have been received with much more excitement. Absolutely none of this is to say that I don't appreciate the work that goes into these updates but I really just think it doesn't fully showcase the talent behind it all and that's a bit of a shame.
Cyberpunk is still well worth picking it up if you play on a platform that can fully run it and this update may just be the incentive needed for those that haven't played it already. If you have already played it and enjoyed don't worry about rushing to download it again, but maybe if you didn't enjoy it this could be just the thing to convince you to spend a bit more time in Night City.
It feels unfair to rate this one so I won't be but I will say that Cyberpunk is a truly excellent game and if you're on a next gen console now is the time to pick it up.