Cyberpunk 2077 Hasn't Earned Its Redemption Arc
Cyberpunk 2077's time is now. After a well documented rocky launch that resulted in the game being pulled from storefronts, refunds demanded, and CDPR's stock value crashing and burning amongst the rubble of of its reputation, a phoenix is rising. The phoenix has a branch of patch notes between its wings, cybernetic updates strewn across its plumage, and anime tail feathers. Impossibly, Cyberpunk 2077 is back on top of the world again, almost two whole years after it first launched. It doesn't deserve any of it.
This is the point where you say "well, I'm enjoying it!", and that's fine. I know I seem like the guy in the Quit Having Fun meme, but unfortunately that is sometimes what this job is about. Not to harvest hate clicks or to rile you all up for kicks, but because being a critic involves being critical, even of things you enjoy. I played Cyberpunk 2077 at launch, twice. I beat it in around 30 hours the first time, juddering to the end of it through all the crashes, then almost immediately again with a few stabilising patches that took me over 100 hours to complete every mission, apart from one which, in typical fashion, bugged out on me. I've played Cyberpunk 2077 a lot and I know there's fun to be had in Night City. But Cyberpunk has not earned this redemption, even if you personally are having an okay time with it, and it's important to keep that bigger picture in mind.
Related: Will We Ever Have Another Great Year For Games?
We've seen games come back from the brink before. As TheGamer staff discussed this week in our Big Question column, video games are full of redemption arcs. Destiny 2, The Elder Scrolls Online, No Man's Sky, Fortnite, the list is endless of games that, for whatever reason, launched in a poor
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