Cyberpunk 2077 Player Numbers Have Exploded Since the Edgerunners Update

They had the power of anime at their side.

Waiting for the next update with update to police chases etc then I’m going to start it again.

From what I've seen the game has gotten some nice new updates/features since release. Maybe I'll give it another try once the DLC releases

I started playing at patch 1.5 and I'm really enjoying it. Main quest writing and action is solid so far and I've enjoyed some of the sidequests as well. Whilst the game clearly has flaws (some of the gigs or cyberpsycho missions feel like CDPR probably wanted to put more story and writing behind them, like contracts in witcher 3 the open world activitiesare basic and drivingare terrible), it's pretty decent and would recommend. Also I'm not an anime fan really but watched the 1st two episodes of netrunners and its pretty good. There's just something about the world of night city that draws me in

Gotta say the anime is excellent from what I've seen! I might be tempted into jumping back into the game after the onslaught of games coming in the next half year.

A truly excellent game forever marred by a horrific launch. One of the best story driven single player experiences ever, right up there with Skyrim for me.

Got to admit, the temptation to start a new Cyberpunk 2077 run has been very strong after watching the Edgerunners anime. Thought it was really, really good.

Edgerunners was fantastic. David was an awesome protagonist. Gotta buy that David Martinez drink when I go back and play the DLC.

I tried updating and booting it up on PS5 last night, and keep in mind this is my first time playing the next Gen update version. It was awful. It may have ran fine in 60fps, but wow. The visuals are already very dated looking. Cars barely in long stretch of roads and highways, dissappear and appear before your eyes. Police still spawn out of nowhere near you. Enemy AI is awful, the UI ten years dated, etc. I shut it off after 10 mins, even not having played or updated it in over a year. All that aside the visuals alone were just so bad, it's such a shame how downgraded this game got unless you have a mega PC.

This pr campaign being facilitated through gaming outlets to try and pretend this game is somehow now fixed is an outright deception just as this game was at release.

It is just a sloppy unfinished mess foundationally. There is no fixing what is unfinished without serious commitment to do so. They did not/do not have that commitment, partly because they already grabbed enormous initial sales through this fraud, but in so doing they tarnished the brand and company to a point that from the perspective of corporate greed, it's not a safe bet to do much more than they have beyond the initial smash and grab they already pulled.

Now I get that some of the additional player count is because of this cheesy anime on Netflix I just want people to understand if you're on the fence of just wanting to give this game another try,.... if your criticism of it extends beyond anything other than frame rate drops then you are going to be sorely disappointed in how little they actually fixed or actually finished since release.

I haven’t watched anime for over 15 years. Thought I’d give Edgerunners a go since I loved the game. Boy, it was good!

I will play it again as soon as I can get my hands on a 4090. My initial playthrough was on PS5 a year ago or so.

Its actually a REALLY good game.

Sure they did.

When is the update for the improved police spawning? I couldn't continue when I realized how awful it is at the moment

@KundaliniRising333 I'm guessing you played it on HDR settings? Because that is the worst way to view it, there's a specific setting on console that makes it look better. Sounds like a bad luck of the draw with the other issues since the only thing I've seen is some pop-up and npcs sitting on each other. Nothing else out of the ordinary about 10 hours in with the PS5 version for me.

@VanguardKaiser if you think this game looks great on PS5, it's your eyes that need checking. Oh and I'll bite on the troll in this one... If you are calling out comments I made on other articles you would know it's not me playing Saints Row, it's my partner.

I just finished playing another game slandered by by critics for the same things they overlook or applaud in From Soft Games: Steel Rising. Amazing game and the best souls like I've played in years aside from Elden Ring which I would actually only rate a 7.

@WadeIsInsane what setting is that. I'm objective enough to try. I literally have it booted up as we speak

I've got it yesterday for the first time but not at all because of this. I didn't even knew.

Nice... I loved it. I played it on PC so the PS4 drama is not a factor on judging the game.

Cant wait for Phantom Liberty.

Hopefully with all the interest the game is getting and with more to come from Phantom Liberty CDPR will make further DLC as originally promised. With RedMod out now would be nice if they put in a mission builder so players can create and share their own gigs.

@KundaliniRising333 Sounds more like a problem your end. The AI isn't great but its not bad and while pop in does still exist its pretty rare now. The city being busy will depend if you're playing performance or the RT mode, if you play on performance its less busy though its still busy enough, worth noting time of day and location plays heavily into crowds and cars on roads. Overall i think it looks fantastic on PS5, you have to play around with the HDR more then i would like but once you hit that sweet spot the game really pops.

@KundaliniRising333 Think most will agree that the game looks and mostly plays good at this point, but you're free to continue to dislike it.

@KundaliniRising333 Like others have said, Night City has looked fantastic throughout my 15 hours of playtime so far. One of the most immersive games I've experienced, and I've played many.

The details of the city and characters look great. Maybe not best in class, and maybe not as good as a suped up PC. But a far, far stretch from awful.

Are there some minor issues here and there. Yes, but again, a far stretch from awful. I play all my games on a 7 foot wide projector screen with a 4k gaming projector, and I am constantly blown away by the detail.

If the roads during my play through had any more cars on them, it would make driving around a headache, as I regularly have to weave in and out of them. There are as many cars on the road as there are in a Need For Speed game.

Is there pop in, yes. But I notice pop-in while playing just about all games. It is not so egregious in this game, and given the size and detail of it, some pop-in is understandable. I've seen far, far worse. It's plenty playable. More so even.

The AI is nothing to write home about. It's plenty serviceable, but again, characterizing it as awful just seems like massive hyperbole.

Either you're ultra critical or there's something wrong with your setup. Everyone's opinion is valid though, and if the game is just not for you then it's not for you. But, man, the distance between this game and awful is huge.

@KundaliniRising333 For my game I have Film Grain Off. Chromatic Aberration Off. Motion Blur Off. You could also try being experimental with the HDR settings based on your tv/monitor setup.. But overall it looks better with HDR off completely along with turning off those 3 options in Graphics mode than the default look.

@kcarnes9051 I am most definitely critical. In this world it's a must. However, with cyberpunk being literally the largest mainstream fraud committed by a game developer in modern history I'd say being critical of it is probably pretty well Justified.

other people that have chimed in and suggested this is my setup or things like that like I've already done the whole film grain turn off and chromatic aberration turn off and I have a two and a half thousand dollar Samsung TV I don't and even use HDR on it with this console as it's pretty much broken anyway when it comes to PS5. I don't really think it's the TV because games that genuinely look good look amazing on it, granted not an oled but it's still a high end top rated set.

All of those things aside though I think it really is just a matter of perspective; things that I've seen when I first booted up this game when I got it on launch day and seeing the state it is in 2 years later and knowing the fraud that was committed and being part of it I cannot say that this game is vastly improved technically or visually from when it was released. yeah it freezes less as it was nearly broken on the PS5 on release it literally froze/crashed every hour for me. I put over 40 hrs into this game mind you, for at the time there wasn't much new to play.

My biggest critique though like I said is not the technical problems with this game it's the fact that it's unfinished and you can tell while you're playing it. missions are Half Baked aside from anything from the short main story, the world is just filled with a bunch of filler Ubisoft style markers and content and everything is just empty you can tell even systems were rushed. everything's just half baked the police system, pedestrians, AI,... it's all still as unfinished as it was on launch all they've done in 2 years is attempt to shore up the technical limitations and problems that they could and try to appease the shareholders for their next project.

I think some just have a higher tolerance for problems like this and I don't really anymore. That coupled with a nostalgia based bias toward praising CDPR due to the Witcher series(which I played and enjoyed them all), contribute toward others tolerance of what is largely a game unfinished and needed a year or more of development. I simply don't share that tolerance or bias.

cyberpunk has now become the example of what not to do industry wide in terms of game releases and how game developers even communicate or don't anymore.

The game still is as it was released: unfinished and missing most of what was promised.

What is a transmog system?

@Ryu_Niiyama Transmog means you can make gear/weapons have the look of one item you own, but the stats of a different item you own. So you can have the look you want without sacrificing stats.

The anime is top notch, stylish and brutal. Finally an enjoyable return to Night City.

I just have to disagree. Being more critical is not always a must. Learning to be more discerning about when to be critical is higher level thought.

If you were willing to let go a little, I think you would find that being a less critical in certain situations sometimes will help you enjoy things more.

I'm especially critical of movies, and I find that I always start a discussion of a movie with things that I didn't like, even for movies that I did like overall. And then I follow up with saying, "Oh, yeah, but I did like this." Almost as an after thought. The realization quickly sets in that being so critical sometimes sucks all the air out of the room and out of life. Life can be more enjoyable focusing on the positive.

Regardless, there is a difference between being critical of a company's business practices and promises versus being critical of what the game actually is in front of you. These are two separate topics.

Yes, CDPR deserves criticism for how the game was released. It's fair to be critical that they overpromised and didn't follow through. It is fair to discern that level of criticism.

But the game is the game. And the game for what it is now is plenty playable and enjoyable taken on its own. It's worth the price of admission measured against similar games. It's far from awful. This is where discerning and letting go comes in.

One must be able to compartmentalize the game from the development of the game.

You seem hung up on what was promised. In creative fields projects often get out of hand. Grand visions ultimately get dialed back. It's not an uncommon phenomenon. And, yeah, it can lead to disappointed when the original vision isn't fulfilled or when a product is released unfinished by impatient execs. That legitimately sucks. But from the outside it looks like an ungodly affront to fans with diabolical intentions, when it's really a complex situation of various people missing the mark and making mistakes while others legitimately are doing the best they can.

But few people in the grand scheme of things actually obsessively cling to every word that a developer says to amp up anticipation or the highs and lows of a games life cycle. Most people are casuals. And I'd wager most casuals are enjoying Cyberpunk fine in its current state. I'm personally happy it's where it's at. I'm happy I was patient enough to wait to play it upon news that the launch went poorly. I played other things and am happier for waiting.

Sometimes it's better to have a casual mindset so that you don't get so deep in the industry talk building up what's supposed to be a revolutionary game. Buying into hype rarely turns out well.

Sometimes it's nice to just come into a game with few expectations and general knowledge and just enjoy it for what it is rather than basing your expectations on 10 years of development news and getting caught up emotionally in the drama.

But in a vacuum the game now is fine.

@kcarnes9051 Being critical in a society and corporatocracy disguised as democracy is a must once you see through the veil. However I too once played "chill, go with the flow," role in life, but a higher level of understanding comes with a higher level of thought you are right. However, willfully choosing to simply accept or dare I say condone the misgivings of our species, regardless of the modality or subjectivity severity of the infraction is certainly not some elevated way of thinking or living.

However this is a more philosophical talk better left elsewhere and when it comes from within.

In terms of my criticisms. You have made a lot of assumptions on where I am at both in thought and emotionally over this fickle little video game. In truth this is just a video game. However the comment section of an article discussing the video game and it's merits is exactly the place to share my specific thoughts on it if I so choose there's no certain level of emotional damage and attachment that I carry from its release and cdpr specifically that is somehow clouded my perspective and experience of the game that's ridiculous and an assumption on your part. I'm literally playing it right now today as I have time to do so and like I said I put over 40 I think 50 hours into this game during its first 3 months or 4 months of release and I can tell you comparing the two objectively based on simple experience they are not that much different other than stability improvements and aframe rate boost that ironically I've been experiencing quite a few drops in currently with this next Gen version 😂.

And I totally agree and applaud and am happy for your enjoyment of the game and many others however I still hold true to the belief that it is unfinished and it feels unfinished as you play it end of story on my end. No deep psychological or emotional attachment and Trauma to developer or release cycle or promises yada yada yada

For those who watched the Edge Runners anime, did anyone catch the joke about the Police popping up out of thin air?

@KundaliniRising333 I never said that you needed to accept or condone any of the poor practices illustrated by the release of this game. I explicitly said that is fair criticism.

Again, there is a difference between being cognizant and critical of mechanizations behind the scenes versus compartmentalizing the quality of a product in a vacuum.

I'm in short addressing that you're calling this an awful game as it stands now, which it simply is not. Maybe average at worst.

If you heard nothing of this game (nothing about the release and nothing about the development) and plopped yourself down in front of it today, it would be perfectly playable and enjoyable with minor issues. Certain elements are fairly average. But, again, far from awful.

You keep measuring it against what was promised and bringing in the wrongdoings of corporations and using that to judge the game against what it actually is.

The game is the game and what was promised is what was promised. Two different things.

It's very strange that you willfully put 40 or 50 hours into something that you thought was awful. There seems to be some kind of disconnect between the meaning of your words, your perception, and the self-flagellation you seem to put yourself through. Most people don't devote 40 to 50 hours to something they think sucks.

I have made no unreasonable assumptions about your emotional state. But considering that you are a human being and all human beings have emotions, it's reasonable to assume that you have negative emotions regarding this game based on the way it was developed and released. I take it you're not a robot.

But feelings about what should have been in the game or how it should have been released have no bearing on what the game actually is.

Judge the game for what is in the game. Not for what some creative director aspired to put in the game 10 years ago.

People devote the majority of their lives to things they dislike. Cmon now.

But all aside I'll give this, the game isn't. Awful, it. Merely unfinished and for me it. Makes it just that, playing an unfinished game.

I'll admit it's no 2/10. But I wouldn't rate it anything more than 5 in its current state.

So yes average works.

@KundaliniRising333 People generally do not WILLFULLY devote their lives to things they dislike in the absence of devotion, obligation or necessity. And if they do it's simply not mentally healthy.

Usually doing something you dislike by fulfilling devotion, obligation or necessity is done in service to the betterment of oneself, another or for a moral standard. In the absence of serving yourself, another or a moral standard you are simply subjecting yourself to something you dislike without cause. Which is neither rational or beneficial.

It makes sense to do things you don't like if it's beneficial. It is not healthy to do things you don't like if it's not beneficial.

You have a choice to play a game. It is not an obligation. Or a necessity. And their is no higher calling to playing a game out of devotion.

So playing a game you dislike is simply self-flagellation. Wasting your time simply to displease yourself when more enjoyable things are widely available.

Again, that is unhealthy.

The widely excepted metric for an average game out of a ten point scale is a seven, as this is the average score given to games in the industry across a wide swath of publications.

Saying that an average video game score is a five is an extreme position and, again, suggestive of your inclination for being overly critical with a habit for resorting to hyperbole.

Man, I thought this was about a cool anime series but instead became a weird therapy session... some people sure have a unhealthy mindset and are their own worst enemy. Take a breather and enjoy life a little.

@RobN thank you for explaining!