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Cyberpunk 2077’s tumultuous launch will soon be a master class in What not to do when launching a game, as more details emerge on the game and its development, the worst CD Projekt seems.
Aside from glitches, bugs, and other tech glitches, gamers discover entire mechanics in trailers for games from years past that didn’t make it to the final product.
After combing through E3 2018 Trailer, the first one gameplay trailer From that same year, and other official sources, we found a number of things that were left on the cutting room floor that could have really helped the game live up to the hype.
What happened to the deep personalization system?
If you watch this original 2018 gameplay trailer, the first minute and a half of the walkthrough shows and describes a long list of customization, giving the player all the reign to create V in any frame of their choosing. The UI showed different face types, the colors were laid out in an easy-to-follow grid, and the amount of options for things like hairstyle and tattoos seemed astronomical.
The final version, however, does not have all of these options. The customization has been reduced considerably, losing a lot of the things that made it so impressive in the first place. The player still has a good influence on V’s appearance, of course, but it’s not near the level initially promised. Admittedly, the trailer states that “nothing is final”, but the idea of teasing us with this customization sequel and then launching the one we had left a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of players.
In all fairness, the fluid class system in which players simply assign points to certain attributes and classes are not selected managed to achieve the end product, so all was not lost.
Where have the destructible environments gone?
Original gameplay for Cyberpunk 2077 showed off the game’s dynamic cover system, which still exists today, but it also showed how impermanent any piece of cover found is. Coverage and destructible environments were a major advantage early on, giving battles a more realistic feel as V was forced to switch between cover points.
Unfortunately, destructible cover simply does not exist in the game that was released. Hiding behind a shelter poses no imminent danger; Unless you get flanked or accidentally get up during a firefight, you can go through battles without having to really think about it. On its own, a lack of destruction really wouldn’t be a big deal, but added to everything the game lacks, it’s hard to ignore.
No more third person cutscenes
After delivering the patient to Trauma Team (a scene that has remained largely unchanged from the 2018 gameplay demo aside from a dialogue), Jackie and V share an elevator conversation that takes place in a cutscene with a third person perspective. We see the custom V talking, smiling, and interacting with Jackie from outside his eyes, giving us another chance to see the demo pilot designed antihero.
Viewing of these scenes in third person was removed from the final product altogether, although in this particular case, the end result might be seen by some as more immersive. Everything now takes place in real time, the player has the right to look around while being engaged in these scenes, and the transition between scene and gameplay is seamless. Not all of the cut content is detrimental to the final product, and here we have an example of a design change that could be seen as a benefit to the game in the long run.
NPCs rich in detail no longer exist
The NPCs of Night City were central to the gameplay trailer, with two quotes from the voiceover narration standing out:
“We’ve dramatically improved our crowd and community systems to create the most believable city in any open world game to date.“
“The streets of the city are teeming with crowds of people from all facets of life, all living their lives, with a full day / night cycle.“
However, the NPCs who currently inhabit Night City do not appear to exhibit any of these qualities. Pedestrians always spawn outside the player’s line of sight, sometimes multiple copies of the same NPC can spawn, etc. In a few cases, players followed a citizen crossing the street only to find that the person would simply cross the same road multiple times.
When a player attempts to attack an NPC on the street, anyone not in the player’s line of sight immediately disappears, rendering an entire city block empty in a 360-degree turn. Most NPCs can be ignored during a game of Cyberpunk, but that doesn’t change the fact that their abilities have been significantly curtailed in the two years since this trailer’s release.
Graphics on consoles are well below expectations
We’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about the difference in graphics output between the PC and console versions, which has been noted at length since the game’s launch. The Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 seem to hold their place with the game, but As we explore the latest generation of consoles, things are starting to change quickly.
Characters appear from scratch, their faces and features fade in real time. The promised 1440p / 4K experience on all consoles is reduced to 900p in some cases. Faded sets, character models that look like something out of the PlayStation 2 era, the list goes on. The game is nearly unplayable on the latest-gen hardware, especially the base models, and those who still own these consoles should wait for the upgrade before venturing into Night City.
Never promised, but never delivered
Gameplay trailers like the one CD Projekt Red showed us in 2018 are often going to feature more than the games themselves can offer due to the time constraints and budget and technical limitations of the target hardware.
That said, seeing everything CD Projekt Red had planned compared to what was included in the final version is a bitter pill to swallow. The trailer showed us a world brimming with potential, and the end result is decidedly less limitless.
If there’s one lesson here – and there is – it’s that early game trailers like the one we got for Cyberpunk 2077 (and No Man’s Sky, etc.) is that the developers dream of amazing worlds, but the end product is worthy of skepticism … even if it comes from a developer with a previously strong record.
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