At E3, earlier this year, Cyberpunk 2077 was pretty much on top of everybody's list of games they need to see. That was no different at Gamescom either. At E3, both Nathan and Kai got the chance to see some hands-off footage of the game, which you can read here. For Gamescom, CD Projekt Red promised some new gameplay footage. Naturally, anticipation grew even further. For a full hour, I got to sit down and watch this brand new hands-off gameplay demo of the game. Here are my impressions. Cyberpunk 2077 New Mod Introduces Fully-Functional Retrothrusters It's hard not to get hyped up when you think of CD Project Red tackling a futuristic, sci-fi dystopian setting as they are in Cyberpunk 2077. I can't say that I'm familiar with the boardgame, Cyberpunk 2020, nor have I read any of the related novels. I'm going into this pretty blind. Not that the game isn't very quick to quickly illuminate the world, setting and lives that go on in Night City. Night City could be both the aptest and ill-suited name for the city, at the same time. How? Because it's abundantly clear that this is a city on the edge, as are the people in it. In my short playthrough, I saw a crime scene being investigated by the police, people down on their luck looking aimless in their lives and I faced off against a dangerous criminal gang. Or at least the person with the controller did. Of course, there are also corrupt higher-ups from companies who practically run the world. That was the apt part. Now we have the ill-suited part, though even that is apt. It all takes place in the brightest, busiest place I've ever had the fortune to see in a video game. Neon lights advertising everything from a soft drink, guns and even a good time with a prostitute. Even the billboards are said to target your wants and needs, which would make for the most engaging in-game advertising ever, particularly as they're advertising in-game products. It's glittering and overwhelming as if it was the offspring of Times Square and Shinjuku, on speed. It looks outstanding and likely the best thing I've ever seen in a video game to date. Cyberpunk 2077’s Return to the PlayStation Store Is Still Undecided So how does this demo differ from the E3 one? In a few simple, but very important ways. First is by showing off character customisation offered at the start of the game. The audience of the current showing was given the option to choose the gender of the character. It was a simple vote, which female won, though options from both were shown. It shows already that character selection and customisation is something that is in the game and working. What was also shown is that as you create your character, you're given the option to choose a backstory and even a childhood hero. Whether this will stay in the game at release and, if so, how it will impact on the game remains to be seen. Much like with the E3 demo, you begin by storming a hideout to save Sandra, who's on death's door and about to be scavenged for parts. V and his or her pal, Jackie, blast through the bad guys, which also includes shooting through a wall and taking an alternate path. It's action-packed and entertaining. Once you've located Sandra, after seeing the gruesome antics of these rebels, you remove a virus that is blocking the inbuilt chip that calls for emergency assistance and then carry her to safety. As before, the whole route you're given the constant view of possibly the most realistic in-game breast and nipple I've ever seen. What should be noted is that I don't see this as CD Project Red being 'edgy' or trying to push any envelope. When The Witcher was released in 2007, the partially nude cards were just there to be edgy. At least I would argue that. However, the company and their games have matured. This is what you would really find in that situation. There is nothing sexual about it - this is a woman who was very close to being pillaged for spare parts. You're rescuing her. Now it's back to your apartment, before heading out into an area that reminded me of Peach Trees from Dredd (a criminally underrated film). It's huge and bustling in itself. A living city within a tower-block. A billboard then advertises a drink to you. If you like the advertisement and accept it, a cursor pops up to guide you towards your sugary beverage. Go to a weapon shop, your ripperdoc, it all seems just so lifelike. The most impressive thing was stepping out into the street though, seeing people walking around, living their lives. It wasn't that they were there, it was just how exquisitely detailed everything was. I find I have to repeat myself when I say that this is likely the best game I've ever laid my eyes on. This is where the demo slightly varied. As you're making your way to the maelstrom gang, CD Project Red decided to show how the dialogue opened up. After a chat with Dexter Deshawn, a stereotypical gangster, you're working for him to retrieve a military-grade drone stole by the Maelstrom gang. We met the not-so-friendly military contractor but this time worked out, through conversation, that there was something extra on the chip she gave us. Not only did it contain 50,000 Eddies - Cyberpunk's in-game currency is the Eurodollar - it also had a virus on it. After managing to talk our way into the hideout of the Maelstrom gang, it was time to make the deal. Rather than lie to them, it was decided to tell them the truth about the virus. It was cleaned and the gang was more than happy to hand over a military-grade drone to you. After all, you just bought it for 50,000 Eddies. That's when it was time to go guns blazing. The battle was fast and frantic. It was fantastic to see V using drugs to enter a bullet-time style mode for a bit of time, using the katana to literally slice pieces off of an enemy and, of course, use it to block bullets. But this is no different to what was experienced before - though it really is fantastic to watch and got knows how great it will be to play. Unlike at E3, where the drone was taken by Militech and the agent you meet arrives as you leave, we had a completely different ending to the quest. Here, that person is gone. You're told that her contract had been terminated - something I imagine has a literal connotation in this world. It's then time to get back to Dexter Deshawn, hand him over the drone and - of course - you get to keep the 50,000 Eddies for yourself. Coming out of the demo, we were all given a Q&A to show our thoughts. Any positives or negatives. I gave the game a 10/10 on how anticipated I was and liked what I saw. My only complaint was that the subtitles didn't completely match the spoken dialogue and could have done with a little work. Genuinely, out of the whole thing, that was my issue. I went into Cyberpunk 2077 anticipating something great. I came out of it having seen something that truly has the potential to be one of the best games to have been made so far.<doc-sep>The Witcher 3 was a VERY tough act to follow, but CDPR have done it. CD Projekt RED After two teases at both E3 and Gamescom - which were only shown to select industry insider audiences - we knew Cyberpunk was something of a big deal. The followup to The Witcher 3 by one of gaming's most cherished developers? It was always going to gather steam, and fast. Cut to August 27th, and following CD Projekt RED announcing there would finally be a livestream debuting gameplay for all to see, the hype and interest in the project has skyrocketed. Now we've seen 48 minutes of glorious 4K gameplay, comprising city-living, gun combat, stealth, hacking, conversations, character customisation and a ton more. Cyberpunk 2077 has apparently been in development since 2012, and it shows. From the grimiest drug dens to the shiniest corporate skyscrapers, logo-embossed leather jackets to bio-augmented limbs fronting circuitboards and exposed sockets - it's the first time we've seen an entire Cyberpunk world brought to life. All that said, like Night City itself, there's a ton more going on under the surface than you first recognise, and it's worth picking through this substantial amount of footage, frame by frame...<doc-sep>
I loved it and can't wait for it either. What people maybe forgetting though is that the bulk, if not all of the game was built with the current gen hardware in mind and according to CDPR is 'finished' - although there is still a lot of work and additional content (like side missions etc to add in). As far as visuals go, its not something we haven't seen this generation already - maybe not in the scale that Cyberpunk is aiming for. The Witcher 3, specifically the Blood and Wine DLC was absolutely stunning and had built up areas with numerous NPC's but also much greater draw distances too and a lot of scene complexity. I don't think the characters are as well realised or as well animated facially as Uncharted's or Last of Us 2 but then those are linear games. I know things can change between now and release but there are a number of shadows that are low res, glitchy and not baked in. There is some confusion over the day/night cycle - whether its story related or real-time - which again will affect the resources needed in a game of this scale. As for the release, I opted for a current gen release with a next gen option arriving later - a bit like Last of Us or the Tomb Raider reboot but it could equally be a cross generational release. It really depends on how much more work CDPR need to do to get it ready for release (after all they say it will release when its ready to) and whether or not the next gen consoles are out when it does. I doubt we will see any new consoles before Nov 2019 at the earliest which is over a year away so until we know when either the next gen consoles or the game will release, I can't say for definite whether it will get a simultaneous cross gen release or staggered release with a next gen version coming later. I do expect it to release on this generation though and nothing I have seen screams 'impossible' for current gen console hardware. I don't expect it to look as 'impressive' on a base XB1 though and wouldn't be surprised if its a more 'compromised' (visually scaled down) version. Even if its more advanced and demanding than the Witcher 3, the PS4 may not be a locked native 1080p and could use dynamic resolution to make it playable at 30fps. Point is there are ways of scaling it down for 5yr+ old (as it will be when it releases) hardware. I do think that standard PS4 owners looking to buy will have less to worry about with this than standard XB1 owners!