Zach McNeilly

I'm only about 6 hours in so far, so I may update this review, but so far this game is very good. I have a decent video card, RTX 2080, and have no issues keeping FPS over 50 at 2k on high settings. Plenty of complaints about performance out there, but with the latest drivers it's exactly what I would expect. The writing is good so far but I've seen a number of reviews mention it as a weak point. I can see why; as gamers we have been conditioned to be the main character of the story in the games we play. Our actions drive the world, and the world doesn't exist without our actions. The Witcher 3 is a phenomenal example of this style of game. Cyberpunk is not at all. The main character is the world around you and you play as the Narrator, passively experience the story as you move through the world. This also makes it feel like less of a traditional roleplaying game. Roleplaying is active; you make decisions for your character in the way they would make them. In Cyberpunk the decisions you make are which storyline to pursue, who you talk to, where you go, and how you decide to interact with the world. If the Witcher series was an attempt to digitize pen and paper RPGs then Cyberpunk is digitizing choose-your-own-adventure novels at the same scale. Overall the closest games to this narrative style that I've played are Bethesda games (FO:4, Skyrim, etc.) and it is a significant departure from the Witcher series. Outside of the writing this is everything you expect from a AAA title. I won't comment on the difficulty or mechanics of the game because there is very little surprising. One thing I **really** like is the game feels more natural and alive. When you're talking to another character they won't just pause indefinitely while you mull your choices for example. They'll either keep going without you responding, or drop the conversation, or get upset. For example at one point you're offered a quest item and if you don't take it from their hand within a few seconds then they'll move it back to their pocket until you ask for it.