Edgerunners Has Breathed New Life Into Cyberpunk 2077

thegamer.com:

I spent my entire weekend playing Cyberpunk 2077. No, I’m not seriously ill, nor am I being held hostage in a basement by CD Projekt Red, it’s because I wanted to. My return is due to a perfect storm of myriad factors that have come to present the maligned RPG in a new light.

The next-gen update makes the game not only playable on current-gen consoles, but rather gorgeous, and a selection of patches have added a bunch of new content while eliminating the most irksome bugs. It’s still pretty ropey, but this is an experience that can now stand alongside other stellar entries in the genre as one worth playing.

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Such renewed interest is also thanks to Edgerunners. Studio Trigger’s anime adaptation arrived on Netflix last week to critical acclaim. Its stunning final act aside, I wasn’t especially glowing in my review, but it brought Night City and its atmosphere to life in ways that not even the game quite managed. It felt warm, familiar, and ripe with potential that I was keen to delve back into. So here I am, 14 hours into a new playthrough with no signs of stopping.

I’m not alone either. This cross-media synergy has seen Steam hit 85,000 concurrent players at the time of writing, surpassing the record established at launch in the midst of all the unparalleled hype and controversy. New players, returning ones, and those who likely fell in love with Edgerunners and want to see more from this world have signed up hoping to lose themselves, and CD Projekt Red could have desperately used such a draw two years ago. Imagine if 2077 launched with more than just broken console versions, but an animated side story, additional literature, and reasons