I haven’t played Cyberpunk 2077 but it’s my favorite game of the year

Like many non-gamers, I have experienced Cyberpunk 2077 mainly through press articles and posts on Twitter. And I have to say that maybe this is the best way to experience it.

I mean, listen – I’ve been hearing about this game for years, because a lot of my colleagues and friends are gamers. Everyone has all the hype! I had to delay the end of year package for which I was managing the project in order to adapt it.

But almost immediately after the launch there was drama: Sony took the game out of its store and started offering refunds! Microsoft also offers refunds! The same goes for Best Buy and Game Stop! Employees of the game’s creator, CD Projekt Red, are revolting! If your file gets too big, it will be corrupted and useless! An epilepsy warning! DMCA strikes!

If there are two things I love are drama and chaos, and boy Cyberpunk 2077 offer both. There is also this, which I thought was a joke, but when I read the responses of the tweet, I realized it wasn’t a joke at all.

A friend of mine bought it the day it was released and basically went to a bunker to play there for a few days. He called it “a wonderful mess” but also said the weaker part is combat and “the AI ​​is stupid as bricks”. Another cannot complete her side quest with Johnny and is very angry about it. Like, not ironically angry: she desperately wants to meet Nancy at the goth club, but the NPC she’s supposed to be talking to isn’t there. (Also, as a condition of using her story, she requested that I mention that Judy is his wife.)

Part of the drama around Cyberpunk is objectively not funny at all: overworked developers and stereotypes about trans people. Our sister site Polygon has gone so far as to post a standard disclaimer on every article about the game simply because there is so many pass here.

Before the release of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red has come under close scrutiny by journalists for its working practices, especially with regard to ‘crunch’, a term referring to long overtime for weeks or weeks. month. Despite previous promises to the contrary, the company has imposed a mandatory squeeze on some employees. Cyberpunk 2077 has also been criticized for its marketing – specifically, the use of a sexualized trans model in a promotional poster, as well as the flippant tone used in much of the game’s advertising and social media.

This thing is a fucking fiasco! My main conclusion is that the people who will enjoy this game the most are people who know and love a large number of players, but who are not players themselves. And for us, the best part of the game is the problems.

We’ve collected some of our favorite issues in a group chat, and now I’m going to share them with you. Fair warning: some of them are not safe for the job.

(Note: When I shared the following clip in our group chat, a friend of mine replied, “I know the intersection EXACTLY.” Apparently cars are still blowing up there?)

I love this game. Please never fix bugs. Please also link to your favorite issues in the comments.