Here's the thing, though. It prompted me to download some hot patches. I played through once, did everything right, did everything according to everything video games have ever taught me, and ended up with the BLEAK ending (you know the one). And that caused some real soul-searching. So I played through again, went a little more rogueish, got bogged down in errands and shifted my focus to something else rather than do the raid on Nakatomi Plaza or whatever. But I mean... this game wanted 24GB worth of patches before I could play it through again, which is my intent. The universe rallied around Cyberpunk and declared it an abject failure, an utter disappointment from the hottest, most promising studio in games and moved the fuck on. But it's sublime. It's a towering achievement. It is every bit as pure and shining an accomplishment as Blade Runner, for the exact same reasons only more. Maybe that's a sign you're getting old. All the games you wanted when you were a kid but there was absolutely no way you could code them? They're AAA now. Cyberpunk? I can smell the clubs, man. I have those tumblers. They didn't use Massive Attack's Teardrop, they ripped it off exactly how they should have. I'ma play through it again and that's entirely because some dude I've never heard of decided the only appropriate way to review the thing was to spend ten goddamn hours doing it. He's absolutely goddamn right - video game reviews suck universally. The style is terrible. Youtube style is terrible. Reviews longer than a speedrun? ...probably not a style that can persist? but I'm glad he did it once, and he did it about exactly the right game. We're gonna talk once I've finished this playthrough. 'cuz Cyberpunk 2077 is worthy of note, I don't care who you are. You tried Horizon Zero Dawn yet? Or does that not exist on any of your platforms? 'cuz Cyberpunk 2077 is a faithful homage to a genre of literature and gameplay that existed from 1983-1992, bleakness and all... but HZD is its hopeful, beautiful, optimistic little sister.
I pretty much 100%-ed the game on my first playthrough and just started up a new one. A "positive" side effect of this Moment we've been living through the past two years is that my memory has gotten worse, I've forgotten enough of the minor plot points and side stories that it feels fresh again. Really looking forward to talking about it more. Horizon Zero Dawn is at the top of my Steam wishlist, just waiting for a sale to pick it up. I love Girlfriend Review so much, their Nier Automata review has convinced at least one friend to actually play it which feels like a huge win for a Yoko Taro game.
I presume you got to the B route then? Yeah, wasn't a big fan of the hacking mini game but I've played a lot of bullet hells so maybe it didn't bother me as much. Except for some boss fights they're basically recycling the same 4 or 5 templates so once you "solve" them you just do the same thing every time. I did every side quest I could during route A so my route B was pretty quick. Figuring out and manually setting up your chip configuration can also make you disgustingly Cyberpunk-level overpowered. What I really like is how the game manages to explore the themes of purpose, meaning and free will almost in isolation since the setting is so far into the future and so devoid of humans that it manages to slip out of the post-apocalyptic setting into something new. The common criticism of many open world games feeling mostly "lifeless" becomes an asset supporting the theme, while still giving you a sense of awe when you explore it and meet its inhabitants. I haven't read nearly enough science fiction to call it unique, but it felt fresh in a video game. I loved the musical score and the aesthetic, and as someone who struggled my way through Drakengard and the original Nier it is SO much better from a gameplay perspective once they brought in PlatinumGames its not even funny.