A brief review of the next-generation version of Cyberpunk 2077: What CDPR is missing now is time

In my opinion, evaluating the next-generation version of Cyberpunk 2077 is a simple matter:

Although the performance was not perfect, friends who did not purchase this game due to reviews or gave up midway due to bugs can now return to Night City to enjoy a tense and exciting life.

But for friends who have already overcome bugs and solved the game, this next-generation version is not as attractive. It didn't bring us enough new content, more like a 14 month delayed first day update, allowing players to play 2077 normally.

After the update live broadcast ended on the evening of February 15th, I immediately updated the game and provided a targeted experience according to the version update instructions. If you are still hesitating whether to return to Night City after reading the thousands of words of update instructions on the official website, then continue reading.

*The experience this time is Xbox Series X version of Cyberpunk 2077.

A more realistic and smooth night city

Opening 2077 again, my first impression was that the game became very smooth.

Whether it's intense battle scenes or shuttling through streets illuminated by various neon lights, the game can firmly stabilize at 60 frames. Only when driving at high speeds in the city can one feel that the Xbox Series X is struggling to simultaneously read and render at high speeds, with frame rates dropping to around 40-50 frames. However, the current performance of "2077" is much better than the intermittent lag before the update. No wonder the content related to graphics and frame rate has been placed at the forefront in the update instructions. It can be seen that CDPR is very confident in the optimization of frame rate this time.

Scenes like are complex, with multiple vehicles on the same screen and frame drops while moving at high speeds

Of course, all of this is limited to the performance mode of the game.

In the next-generation version, in addition to the default performance mode, there is also a ray tracing mode in the graphics options. CDPR claims that in this mode, the game will run at dynamic 4k and 30 frames, providing players with more realistic shadows and reflection rendering. In practical experience, I feel that this statement is only half right.

After turning on ray tracing mode, the frame rate of 2077 will drop sharply to around twenty frames, and the frame rate is not very stable, similar to the performance before the game update. Unfortunately, after players sacrificed their frame rate, the game did not provide a better gaming experience. After switching the screen modes multiple times for comparison, I feel that there is not much difference between ray tracing mode and performance mode in terms of screen performance. It is better to choose performance mode and enjoy a smooth 60 frame game.

Perhaps the player's demand for 60 frames is too high, and CDPR spent a lot of time adjusting the performance mode of the next-generation version. From the current performance of ray tracing mode, CDPR is not ready to show the graphics bonus that ray tracing brings to 2077 to the host player.

The second feeling is that the Night City has become more authentic. Firstly, there are more pedestrians on the street, which looks like a normal metropolis rather than a ghost city.

The population density of Night City has finally increased

Previously, if you threw a grenade on the street and turned around, pedestrians would be brushed off by the system. Nowadays, pedestrians are no longer just squatting and holding their heads in place, but will scatter in all directions, and even after turning around, they are still there. Take out firearms and aim at NPCs. Some NPCs even take out weapons to fight against V for self-protection. What kind of simple night city is this.

This is the normal reaction of ordinary people, rather than holding their heads in place and squatting to defend themselves

In addition to pedestrians, vehicles driving on the streets also behave more naturally. When driving a vehicle on the street, one can notice that other vehicles will give way to a certain extent instead of continuing to follow the established route. Sometimes my vehicle is parked randomly on the roadside, and the vehicles behind me will try to adjust the angle and pass through, but the triggering conditions are relatively strict and may not always succeed.

still has a chance of one car blocking a road

This major update has solved many legacy issues, but CDPR has also brought some new bugs when fixing old ones. For example, "Time Jump" not only changes time, but also refreshes the surrounding environment. This feature has a high chance of encountering bugs in densely populated city centers where the surrounding environment is not loaded and the surroundings are foggy.

There should be many buildings around

In terms of my actual experience, some bugs that previously affected my gaming experience have been fixed in version 1.5. When picking up dropped items, the situation of getting stuck underground and unable to interact has decreased. The side quests that couldn't be triggered by card bugs before have also appeared normally, which made me think this was a new addition in version 1.5 and caused a lot of jokes.

V， Go all the way to the accelerator

Night City is so big that we can't rely solely on our own feet. All kinds of vehicles should be V's good companions, but the driving experience of 2077 is indescribable, feeling like we're playing with a soap soaked in water. In this update announcement, CDPR used a few hundred words to tell players how they improved their driving experience. I also spent a long time experiencing the changes of different vehicles and comparing their driving experience.

First of all, the conclusion is that the driving experience of all vehicles has improved to varying degrees. Although it may not be particularly useful, most vehicles have changed from completely unusable to usable levels. The changes to the motorcycle are not significant, but the epic enhancement of the falcon and wild wolf makes it easy to fly.

In terms of specific details, the game has adjusted the collision model of the vehicle, so that when colliding with other vehicles, it will no longer have springs installed under the vehicle, and the whole car will jump and jump with just a gentle touch.

The original four wheeled vehicles have all undergone steering adjustments, no longer lightly tapping the steering wheel as before, causing the entire vehicle to slide in that direction. However, the optimization of steering seems to be adjusted separately for different car models, with varying tactile changes. For example, the new car "Sky Quartz" may not have had a chance to make serious adjustments, and the driving experience is not as excellent as I imagined.

The new car, "Sky Quartz" Robber ", is not only difficult to drive, but also not as beautiful as displayed on the official website

If other vehicles have only gone from being completely unusable to being usable, then the modifications made by Hayabusa have surprised me a lot. It was originally one of the few vehicles in "2077" that had a decent driving experience. After the update, its control was very good when turning at low speeds or moving at high speeds. It truly had a feeling of hitting wherever you pointed, and the feel was so good that it flew.

As for motorcycles, although the updated instructions mention that CDPR has also made adjustments to them, I personally feel that the driving experience has not changed significantly. It is still a practical type of transportation in Night City. If you don't have a particular preference for a particular car, I would still recommend using falcons, wolves, and motorcycles as the main means of transportation for V.

However, CDPR has not adjusted the display logic of the mini map, and the map display range will not be adjusted according to changes in vehicle speed while driving. If you want to fully enjoy the pleasure of driving in Night City, you may have to wait patiently for a few more versions.

Do you want to walk horizontally in Night City at level 50? That's too naive

CDPR said in the live broadcast that they adjusted the game's skill system, cut off some useless skills, remade a flying knife genre that I had never heard of before, and optimized the action AI of enemies and teammates. Such a large-scale adjustment makes me curious about what changes will occur in the battles of 2077 under the new system.

Let's first talk about the skills section. In order to adapt to the changes in the skill system, CDPR has reset the skill points of all players. However, when the character reaches level 50, they cannot learn all skills and can only specialize in two or three genres. They cannot become an all-around mercenary.

At the full level of , you still cannot learn all skills

In order to experience the impact of new and old skill systems on combat, I chose the hacker+pistol+sword genre that I previously used, which perfectly covers both long-range and medium to close combat scenarios. Unfortunately, in the actual combat part, whether it was long-range hacking into enemies, pulling out pistols to engage in close combat, or close range knife fights, I didn't feel much difference between the battle and before the update. Perhaps only players who play with flying knives can feel the qualitative changes that the new skill system brings to battles.

The skills section didn't impress me, but in actual combat, I still felt the surprise that 2077 brought me.

The first change is that the enemy's actions are more diverse.

In the past, my combat process used to use hacking skills to locate all enemies in the area. Enemies that were difficult to detect in the corners were first dealt with using hacking skills. Those who gathered together would choose an enemy with stronger attack power to contract Cyber Psychiatry. Then I watched the good play from a distance, and only when I accidentally exposed my position did I officially end up killing.

After the update, the use of hacker skills is not much different from the original, but when fighting head-on against enemies, I found that their combat awareness has increased. If I am far from the enemy, they will prioritize seeking cover, making me feel like I am no longer attacking moving targets in battle. In addition, they will also search for favorable positions for themselves during battles, such as enemies using shotguns, who will try to bring them as close as possible to the player during battles and unleash the maximum power of their weapons.

Enemies are more intelligent and will actively seek cover. Unfortunately, in front of me as a hacker, he was still too exposed

The second change is that under simple difficulty, one can clearly feel that the combat difficulty is greater, and V is no longer an invincible presence in Night City. During the live broadcast, CDPR said that V in simple mode is too strong, and they want the enemies of Night City to have the ability to fight back against V, but this is not a joke.

Coincidentally, I am using a simple difficulty level game. Before the update, my V was similar to what CDPR said. In Night City, it is simply invincible, and even standing still, the enemy cannot take much health from me. When I used the clearance save to return to the Night City, I found that fighting against the small thugs on the roadside could get me half or half health, and every battle was no longer just me crushing the enemy unilaterally.

I don't think this adjustment is a bad thing. After the enemy became stronger, I regained the feeling of racking my brains and fighting against the enemy in the early stages of the game. Even after completing the game, if I want to become a victorious general in Night City, I still need to study new tricks.

Finally, I also tried updating the instructions on how to escape the wanted NCPD.

In the past, when V was wanted by the police, we could only stay away from the scene as soon as possible, otherwise it would be difficult to survive under the strong firepower of NCPD officers. After version 1.5, V can choose to find a place to hide in the search area, which can also escape the pursuit of the police.

Unfortunately, from my actual experience, there is still a lot of room for optimization in this feature.

There are not many places for V to hide in the Night City. Although the complexity of the buildings in Night City is not low, it is actually difficult to find suitable hiding points in the search area. Instead of paying attention to the chasing police and thinking about where they won't notice, it's really more convenient to just drive away.

The second issue is that the police's search scope is too large and the search time is also too long. Usually, we only need to drive a few hundred meters forward to get rid of the wanted person, which takes less than half a minute. But if you choose to hide, it may take a minute or even longer to lift the wanted status. So I would recommend using this feature in some special areas, such as places with ladders. The CDPR police officers don't know how to climb stairs, even if you climb down the stairs in front of him, they won't chase after you. They just keep shouting and cursing in place, and soon they'll be back in line and go home.

NCPD， If you have the ability, come down and catch me

Always go home and take a look

Housing is one of the few new features in this update of 2077. V can rent apartments in four different locations of Night City as their hiding place, and can also spend money to change the decoration style of their initial residence.

Changing the style of your own home is also good for

For players like me who have already completed the main storyline of the game and have a lot of funds, the first thing to do after the update is to rent all these places and then drive to see what their new home looks like. But the quality of these houses is far from what I imagined. After browsing around, I felt like I might have fallen for the trap of the rental platform.

I personally feel that the best place is the loft in the valley area, which is large enough and has a beautiful landscape. Sleeping upstairs, playing table tennis, drinking coffee, and watching TV downstairs. Standing by the window and gazing at the horizon stretching out in the distance, one feels that the money has been spent well.

A house in the valley area of , a highly cost-effective single apartment

The houses on Japanese streets can rank second, and the exquisite decoration at the entrance can intimidate many people. Unfortunately, the two sides of the house are not as stunning, ordinary, and the area is not very large.

The house on Japan Street has a very beautiful entrance

As for the company square and the accommodation in the northern district, it can be said that there are no highlights, and I can't even find any places to introduce.

After looking at these four residences, I feel that CDPR has not fundamentally solved a long-standing problem of why V wants to go home.

You see, if we need to jump to a different time, we can just open the menu and there's no need to run home to sleep. If you store props, you can directly open the warehouse in the car. Besides moving back the bodies of some important characters, it seems like home is dispensable for V.

CDPR knows what players like to do. After this update, you can now interact with scenes while carrying a corpse on your back

So CDPR has designed some new interactive elements in the house, allowing players to have things to do at home, such as playing guitar, drinking coffee, playing table tennis, and also gaining a buff for corresponding activities.

(After drinking coffee, there is an additional buff mark next to the health bar)

A golden nest and a silver nest are not as good as one's own small nest. That's right, but when your brain could turn into a paste at any time due to Johnny Silver's hands, just such a small gadget obviously cannot make V let go of the main storyline and become a homemaker.

Conclusion: A 14 month delayed first day patch

I know some players are very dissatisfied with the updated content of 2077, after all, it has been 14 months since the game was released, and the game has also been updated to version 1.5. However, CDPR has not yet sorted out the mess of the game itself, making this next-generation version update more like a 14 month delayed first day patch.

Like you, I also hope that CDPR can bring us the stable operation and massive content updates of 2077. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as. There are still many areas that need to be extensively adjusted in 2077, and CDPR needs to work hard to repair the game to make it as close as possible to the night city in the minds of players.

I don't encourage any game to become the next game, but I'm glad to see that CDPR hasn't given up on this game. To regain their reputation, they need to carefully polish every detail of Night City. What they need most now is time.