You play as V, with all of your equipment and upgrades.
Keanu Reeves returns as Johnny, the domestic terrorist turned computer virus gradually corrupting V’s mind.
I can’t think of another game that can match Dogtown’s bustling markets and busy streets.
It’s a place of bleak cracked concrete and gorgeous graffiti.
The bright days and long sunsets create the sense of a long hot summer, full of tension.
Sometimes a roaring sound overhead will announce the arrival of a crashing ship.
Minutes later I was teleported into one of their memories, battling a criminal gang in the rain.
Dogtown is a remarkable place full of fascinating people.
I spent a while sitting on a worn couch chatting with an NPC about the neighbourhood.
I would normally find myself skipping ahead, but thoughtful framing helps every conversation along.
Sometimes the game restricts your view, letting you glance away a little from side to side.
The HUD vanishes for some conversations that are more important than others.
Sometimes it’s possible for you to move around freely, unchained.
This is a form of direction unique to video games, and it is realised wonderfully in Cyberpunk.
It is hard to go back to other RPGs after playing Cyberpunk again.
Naturally, everyone is out for themselves.
Silverhand is a devil on your shoulder, mistrusting everyone, and there is plenty of intrigue to unpack.
In an imperfect, violent world what do you have to become to change things?
To secure the President’s safety you do have to blast a lot of bad guys.
There are a few prolonged horde encounters and the occasional bullet sponge boss that warrant some big guns.
Relic skills are the best addition to combat.
As a handgun wielder, my favourite path is Vulnerability Analytics, which highlights enemy weak spots during firefights.
I have restarted Cyberpunk multiple times hoping that it might one day become the game I was hoping for.
The main reason to play the game is to become tangled up in their lives.
it’s possible for you to sprout swords from your forearms and leap across the battlefield.
It’s an absurd but entertaining vision of what augmented near future combat might look like.
It’s a hard game to recommend on the basis of combat alone.
With their subdermal implants and titanium skulls, it’s still too tough to bring down your average thug.
This is only a bother when combat encounters occasionally drag on too long.
I’m always happy to fight through entire buildings full of augmented gangs to reach the next conversation.
