Should you’ve been on the web between December of 2020 to proper now, you’ve in all probability heard one thing concerning the supposed Cyberpunk 2077 renaissance. That redemption arc appears to be lastly coming to fruition with the upcoming Phantom Liberty enlargement, which guarantees an entire overhaul of the RPG’s techniques, to the purpose the place some folks, maybe your self included, are questioning if it’s time to leap on the Cyberpunk 2077 bandwagon, or when you ought to simply wait till the September 26 launch date. It’s a good query, and as an individual who has put a pair hundred hours into the unique recreation, and performed just a little little bit of the enlargement already, I’ve acquired ideas, and might hopefully provide help to make an knowledgeable choice about when or when you ought to head into Night time Metropolis.
What does Phantom LIberty change?
In response to CD Projekt Pink, Phantom Liberty is overhauling a number of techniques within the base recreation, to the purpose the place elements of it would play fully in a different way from not solely the sport because it launched, however because it exists now practically three years and a number of patches later. This consists of new talent bushes, new gear, new quest sorts, reworks of enemy sorts, new options like car fight, and new techniques and tweaks for the way police react to you doing crimes. Quite a lot of that is accomplished by gutting the outdated recreation and placing one thing new within the house left behind. Your outdated construct will in all probability require a respec, and also you’ll even have new choices inside these talent bushes. Principally, as CD Projekt Pink describes it, your playstyle shall be fairly completely different after Phantom Liberty launches.
What occurs if I play Cyberpunk 2077 earlier than these adjustments?
At this level, taking part in Cyberpunk 2077 earlier than Phantom LIberty is taking part in a largely improved model of the sport that launched in 2020. Basically, the sport continues to be the identical because it was, however is held collectively by a greater basis. There’s an argument to be made that this recreation can’t be salvaged, at the same time as CD Projekt Pink has rolled out a ton of patches and free updates over the previous three years. And to some extent, I agree with that. Having a recreation that crashes much less doesn’t make its fight encounters extra partaking, it doesn’t make its rancid, cynical politics any higher, and it doesn’t make Night time Metropolis really feel like greater than a extremely, actually fairly metropolis skyline that beckons towards potentialities it may possibly’t understand. However Phantom Liberty looks as if an earnest try and make good on a number of the mechanical promise the sport had earlier than it launched.
Learn extra: Your Cyberpunk 2077 Love Story Will Proceed In Phantom Liberty
The adjustments to talent bushes alone made Cyberpunk 2077 really feel like a unique recreation after I performed it. I used to be given a construct that felt most similar to one thing like Genji from Overwatch, full with dashes, deflecting bullets with my arm blades, and brutal finishes that gave me a cause to truly get in shut. I didn’t have practically as many choices within the base model of the sport. If these bigger recreation concepts actually come to fruition and shine via stays to be seen, however I’m extra captivated by the sport CD Projekt Pink is placing ahead than the one I can play proper now, and that’s coming from somebody who, one way or the other, loves the bottom recreation because it exists immediately.
On high of this, you gained’t must pay for lots of the system adjustments, as they’ll be a part of the primary recreation, freed from cost, So the quantity of upfront funding you’ll must pay if you begin for what the studio is positioning as the higher expertise is far smaller than it is going to be when you purchase the $30 Phantom Liberty earlier than you’ve tried on all these new adjustments.
What cause is there to play Cyberpunk 2077 now?
If, for no matter cause, you’ve not performed Cyberpunk 2077 but, understanding an overhauled model of the sport is just some months away ought to be cause sufficient to provide you pause earlier than shopping for it now. However as an individual who has watched the sport go from absolute catastrophe to a largely unremarkable RPG with some actual coronary heart beneath the rot has been fascinating. It’s what makes adjustments like those Phantom Liberty guarantees fascinating to look at, as a result of I’ve the context of what 2077 as soon as was to look again and decide aside the way in which issues have and haven’t modified. Actually, the narrative of Cyberpunk 2077 as a gem that wanted sprucing has been one of the crucial fascinating issues about it. Interrogating whether or not or not there’s any advantage to the story the web loves to inform is as entertaining an expertise as taking part in the sport may be when it’s truly doing issues effectively.
But when that’s not the way in which you have interaction with video video games, I can’t consider a cause to play Cyberpunk 2077 proper now when quite a lot of its fundamentals are going to be vastly modified in just some brief months. Should you’ve waited practically three years to leap into Night time Metropolis, one other three months gained’t harm. If Phantom Liberty delivers on its promise of a revitalized recreation, ignorance of what it as soon as was earlier than may be its personal bliss. However because the online game trade continues to launch video games that look basically completely different years later, Cyberpunk 2077 as a product is as fascinating a story as something Night time Metropolis proposes.
However when you resolve in opposition to this recommendation and soar into Cyberpunk 2077 anyway, make sure you take a look at Kotaku’s guides on quests to look out for, the way to discover love in Night time Metropolis, and normal suggestions from somebody who’ve performed the sport greater than as soon as.