Cyberpunk 2077: Bugs that Outshine Potential Greatness 🐛

My thoughts on CD Projekt Red’s latest release

Published on Medium December 16, 2020.

By far, Cyberpunk 2077 was the most anticipated video game of 2020 and perhaps this decade. From the advertising to the top notch PR, the game was extremely hyped. The numerous delays and mandatory crunch indicated that development was being rushed. However, many fans, including myself, believed that CD Projekt Red would pull through and release a phenomenal game.

Full disclosure, I played the game on my PC build which has 32 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 3900x, and an EVGA RTX2070. I was able to play the game on the high-end settings with ray tracing, similar to the quality spec (RT High) that was tweeted prior to release. This is relevant because CD Projekt Red supposedly focused on optimizing the game for PC.

Story and Bugs

The side missions are absolutely amazing. The writing and world building is great, when hilarious glitches don’t interfere with the immersion (floating objects or invisible objects for example). That brings up an essential point. This is the glitchiest video game I have ever played. I encountered lighting bugs, enemy path bugs, and even teleport bugs in my playthrough (see links for video clips). There were two major side mission bugs that I experienced on the Killing in the Name mission and the I Fought the Law mission. It is unfortunate that CD Projekt Red previously stated that the game would be ready for release on PC AND console because it is only worse on console, based numerous reporting.

It seems that the glitches and bugs have become an unintended feature of the game for many, with solid memes. The glitches sometimes distract from the amazing acting and storytelling. These technical issues have marred the game and resulted in a major drop in stock value. It is a release disaster — a great case study for other video game studios to learn from.

One could say, the game is still memorable due to the story and world building, however I felt a lack of depth in the endings, relative to the rest of the game. Honestly, the endings felt rushed. In summary, the video game shows glimpses of greatness which are obscured by technical issues. With more development (1–2 months) and more attention to consoles, they might have turned it around.

Going forward

Unfortunately, the situation is probably one of the worst possible scenarios for CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077. The video game was reportedly unplayable for many on last gen consoles, with Sony issuing many refunds.

I do wonder if CD Projekt Red will take the No Man’s Sky approach and just quietly fix the numerous game bugs. They have admitted problems with project management and have denied that the bad release was due to staffing issues. They have not disclosed what organizational changes will be made. Additionally, folks have asked if they will offer a free DLC to make up for the mistakes. The decision has not been made on a free DLC. Only time will tell what impact this disastrous release will have on the game studio.