Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077’s bugs and technical issues certainly hold it back, and with any luck those will be fixed in the coming months. But it’s more difficult to imagine CD Projekt Red doing enough to resolve the deeper problems: awkwardly balanced systems, storytelling misfires, and an inability to merge its open-world action and RPG gameplay into something smooth and cohesive.

Playing Cyberpunk 2077 is like suffering a death of a thousand cuts. If the bugs don't get you, the bad quest design, the insensitive writing, or a million other small problems will. All told, Night City might not be worth the visit.

Cyberpunk 2077 retains its gunplay, open-worldness and its many elements that really make it stand out as an RPG. Nevertheless, its performance is abysmal, at times making it near unplayable. CD Projekt RED's fans do not deserve all of the crashes and bugs that Cyberpunk 2077 is riddled with.

Don't even think about playing Cyberpunk 2077 on base PS4, its performance is awful. Of course, no one can expect a game to run like it does on a good PC, where it is a stellar experience. But what we feel is that this version was abandoned, no effort was put in it. Blurry, not very smooth, suffering from NPC that just pop or have no faces for a couple of seconds. It also feels very empty, which obliterates its positive qualities. Not to mention myriad glitches and hiccups that are probably less evident on PS4 Pro or PS5, but which make us say that you need a computer or, if everything goes well, wait for the Next-Gen versions if you want to have a real taste of Cyberpunk 2077.

If your only option right now is playing Cyberpunk 2077 on either of the base console platforms, I highly suggest you don’t play at all until its many terrible performance issues are fixed. And if you’ve already bought it and had an experience similar to what I’ve described, you should absolutely get a refund if possible. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions are simply not in an acceptable state, and it makes me sad to think that so many people are having their first Cyberpunk 2077 experience ruined this way – because when it works, it’s a fantastic RPG.

If the game remains relatively playable in its scripted sequences, with a few hiccups here and there, the exploration in the open world is often laborious, even sometimes unplayable. Textures that don't display or are runny, pronounced aliasing, low definition, overdue framerate, freezes, lagging interface, crash ... these Fat versions are a striking proof that Cyberpunk 2077 should have never been anything but a next-gen game.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a blatantly unfinished game, and the worst part is that CD Projekt has known this to be the case for quite some time. On PS4 and PS4 Pro, poor performance comes close to wrecking the experience. On PS5 via backwards compatibility, there's still fun to be had — a glimpse of the game's excellent potential — but even then, it's crippled by countless bugs and unforgivable crashing issues. There's something special at the core of Cyberpunk 2077, but in its current state, it's simply not good enough. A disaster of a launch that'll be remembered for years to come.