Ooh, the introspective angle!
Despite my gentle policing of myself, I've found myself with Cyberpunk's name in my mouth much more often than I'm rightly comfortable with, and it's getting to the point where I'm actually following CDPR's shenanigans again. Their patches, their streams, their gambles and gambols; their insistence, even whilst sitting in the kitchen of a house completely engulfed in flames, that 'everything is fine'. It's admirable, honestly. I wish I had that level of confidence in anything that I make or do. And whilst I do agree that their game is certainly in a better place than it was at launch, (it'd be mighty hard for that not to be the case) one has to wonder where exactly they're going with all this. Because CDPR are going somewhere, they've made it abundantly clear how Cyberpunk's slipup is not the end of the story and that they're committed to fixing it before moving onto The Witcher 4, or whatever the next big game ends up being; but I just can't figure out what the team need to do to consider Cyberpunk's state 'adequate'.
I say this because CDPR have willingly adopted the lofty responsibility of calling the performance of Cyberpunk essential to their reputation, which is fair. But we already know that the problems with the game were more than bug related, they were over-promise related, so Cyberpunk is never going to become the game that they promised because they've just not got the resources to make that game. So if that's the case, what are they sticking around for? I'm genuinely confused why they haven't moved onto to just getting out the DLCs and quickly moving on to greener pastures, because until they do it seems like they're waging an unwinnable war. But whilst I don't understand it, I respect it, enough to start a discussion when I see a Cyberpunk fan ask, as they often do, if it's not high time we all swallow our pride and forgive CDPR for everything they've done.
I'm not kidding, there was a real reader editorial drummed up recently where someone was arguing that CD have run the gambit, taken their punishment, and should now be given the right to re-enter society judgement-free. I'm was intrigued so I read the article, and the arguments presented were- well, let me just ask you what you think. This individual acknowledged the state of the game at launch, which was unacceptable, and then accounted the many bug-squashing patches that have gone so far as to make the game playable on last gen consoles. I mean, it looks terrible on those platforms thanks to the many necessary downgrades required to hit an acceptable framerate, but the man's right! He seemed to imply from this that the constant criticism has since grown outdated, and even offered the fact that what CDPR did with their launch was nowhere near as bad as what other companies like EA do anyway. (A point which could be argued is entirely moot here, but he made it) Thus we have a fan who is satisfied with the current product, as is their right, and who is wondering why everyone else can't be too.
From such a perspective, the plea is compelling. Afterall, Cyberpunk is still an above average first person adventure game that takes everything that Farcry is doing with their checklist open worlds and really perfects that formula down to a tee. Fixing the bugs makes that game more accessible to players, so why shouldn't they be forgiven? Heck, how long can we hold a grudge against a company for the decision to release this game cripplingly early, even when that likely comes from the offices of the higher ups? I mean, CDPR were once the industries' heroes, weren't they? Who's to say that can't reclaim that position again after their time shutting up and making reparations for the audience? Well, I will say for one that I am still not happy, and I'd imagine a lot of others still aren't either, and that is because as I indicated earlier; this argument misses the point entirely.
Although to be fair that isn't the fault of the person who wrote this article. They've found their enjoyment in this game, which is great, and they likely never understood what all the outrage was about and merely watched the online after-launch coverage to be clued in. The fault really lies at the blame of all the compilation creators who, rather reductively, shrunk down their coverage of Cyberpunk's issues into it's bugs. Yet then again I think this was understandable. Afterall, things not working properly is the easiest to identify and most visible indication of a rushed and unpolished product; but it does obfuscate the real problems lying at the heart of the spinning vortex. Even in an ideal near future wherein every Cyberpunk bug has been squashed and eliminated; we're still left with a final game that lacks the breadth and depth to meet the demands the team themselves knowingly inspired with endless spineless promises, as well as the demands of the very game we've ended up with. Like skin stretched over a figure too large, the body of Cyberpunk is ill-fitted and mechanically ugly.
I remember when Cyberpunk first dropped that trailer with it's extensive mission deepdive that ended with the words "And that was just one mission", before pointedly leading fans to believe we'd see that sort of choice and agency throughout the entire campaign. (You don't) The emphasis that was laid onto the character origins which inspired three separate vignettes during the marketing stage to emphasise their distinct approach, only for launch to reveal that these origins merely affected the prologue and pretty much nothing of the game's main body. The bold claims about how this was "Next generation of Open world game" coupled with shots of the player riding rollercoasters, drinking at bars and racing; painting the image of some sort of evolved world simulation activities. Cleverly hiding the fact that bars can only be enjoyed in story missions and the roller coaster is an odd standout of being one of the only world attractions you can actually interact with. But the racing is at least real. You wanna race? Cyberpunk has you covered.
The impression that those familiar with these sorts of games was left with, an impression encouraged at every level of marketing and even by individual comments from key members of staff, was that this game was Deus Ex in an open world setting. That incredible undertaking that Eidos Montreal have been unable to attempt for all these years? Yeah, CDPR managed it on their first attempt in a fraction of the time. Heck, about the time of the last major chunk of unnarrated gameplay, the Deus Ex twitter even acknowledged the similarities by strategically announcing a sale for the modern Deus Ex games, citing the triggering incident with a vague 'while you wait'-type tongue-in-cheek message. So when it comes to asking when CDPR are going to be in the clear for their screw up, my response is; "When they deliver the game they wasted the last half decade promoting to us. Cause what we got, ain't it."
But ultimately that is just the line in the sand that I've drawn for myself. The path to forgiveness that my own stubbornness has lain before CDPR. And it should perhaps tell you something about myself to note that I fully believe that task to be impossible for the team, because I have no faith in their ability to live up to their promises. You, however, might favour the game they've built with more fondness, and perhaps even have a mind for trusting these beleaguered developers once more. Whatever you do, however, I implore you don't feel sorry for the guys who managed to completely cover development costs through lie-driven pre-orders alone; they really don't need any tears shed on their behalf.
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