Cyberpunk 2077: 3 Reasons To Believe The Hype

After eight years of build-up, can Cyberpunk 2077 possibly live up to the hype surrounding it? Hype is no new thing in the video game industry, but there is reason to believe this game could live up to it. Here are three reasons Cyberpunk will live up to the hype.

Cyberpunk 2077: 3 Reasons To Believe The Hyped - Cover Image

Video games are all things to everyone. For some, playing games is a highly social experience involving teamwork and cooperation to get the job done. For others, playing a game is a solitary pursuit between the player and the experience created by the developer. I find myself in the latter camp. Gaming is a profoundly personal hobby for me. Getting lost in worlds and stories is why I became a gamer in the first place and continues to be my driving force where the medium is concerned. It is for this reason that CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 appeals to me I know I’m far from alone in my excitement for the game, so I’d like to share with you three reasons why I believe Cyberpunk 2077 will not only reach the hype but surpass it. 

The Developer 

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt changed the game as well as what we expected from western RPGs.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt changed the game as well as what we expected from western RPGs.

Despite being founded 25 years ago, the stratospheric success of CD Projekt Red and the respect within the gaming community that’s been fostered from that success is relatively recent. Not since Rockstar’s GTA 3 has a developer with little experience in creating open-world games proven their skill in their first attempt with such aplomb. The developer’s unwavering love and respect for the books of The Witcher allowed them to create something extraordinary in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a genre-redefining game.

It’s this unwavering respect for source material, as well as the developer’s skill at taking static worlds and making them live that fills me with confidence. The cyberpunk tabletop game has deep, complex lore for CDPR to mine from and with Mike Pondsmith’s cooperation, Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be something special.

The Lore

The Cyberpunk tabletop top game has been around since 1988, giving CDPR over 30 years of lore to bring to life.

The Cyberpunk tabletop top game has been around since 1988, giving CDPR over 30 years of lore to bring to life.

When Cyberpunk 2077 was first announced in 2012 I had never heard of the board game that inspired it. I couldn’t have imagined how deep and complex a lore Mike Pondsmith and his team had created. Night City is a living, breathing city scarred by decades of war, corporate scheming and poverty. I admittedly get myself lost in pages of history, fact or fiction, and my hype level has passed the sensible. From the city itself to the gangs, guns and character backstories (Nomad, Streetkid, Corpo) I can’t wait to arrive in Night city and not reemerge for many hours.

An official lore book for Cyberpunk 2077 is releasing this month. Considering that many (including myself) will be approaching this new universe with fresh eyes, this 200-page book will act as the perfect welcome guide to Night City, a place I intend to spend hundreds of hours exploring.

The Tech

Though technically a cross-generation title, the best way to play Cyberpunk 2077 on console will be the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Though technically a cross-generation title, the best way to play Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles will be the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X.

If the world were a fair place, we’d have already played, completed and raved about Cyberpunk 2077; Alas, the world tends to kick you in the face. A combination of a deadly pandemic and CDPR’s perfectionism led to the game getting delayed from April 16th to November 19th, 2020. This delay effectively makes Cyberpunk 2077 one of the first games to release on the next-generation consoles. We don’t have concrete dates for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, but if you don’t own a PC and have a choice of consoles, you’d be mad not to play on next-gen.

The one thing that can make or break the immersion of an open-world game is the number and length of loading screens one has to sit through. The new consoles architecture will make loading screens (mostly) a thing of the past. Those stuck on current-gun hardware might have a nasty shock, because I’ve no clue how this game third-party game will run on OG hardware. I personally feel that cross-generation games hold developers back from achieving their ultimate vision. Yes, CDPR has garnered immense respect for their pro-consumer stance. However, much of that respect stems from their unmoving focus on quality. We’ll see how the current-generation versions turn out, but I know how I’ll be playing.  

Conclusion

I’ve been burned by hype before, we all have, and if you claim you haven’t, I don’t believe you. Until we’ve played a game, we can never have a rounded view of it, but that’s also the wonder of video games, specifically open-words. The allure of adventure is inbuilt in us all, and Cyberpunk 2077 screams adventure. Will the game live up to the almost insurmountable hype that surrounds it?  Let us know your opinion in the comments below.

Cyberpunk 2077 is available to pre-order on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

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