I’ve been busy having a great time playing the game, but there are definitely Cyberpunk 2077 issues. There are bugs and performance issues, but I’m lucky that the majority of those are on consoles and lower end systems.
First the Bad Cyberpunk 2077 Issues
Of course I have run into people or vehicles appearing and disappearing randomly, but it’s been very minor. Maybe it was a streaming issue since there are no load screens. Assets need to load and unload based on where you are and where you are looking. I have an NVMe SSD, so it’s not a speed issue.
Cyberpunk 2077 issues with cops are a problem. They have pretty dumb AI wise and teleport to your location. Dumb and annoying. You can shoot a civilian and they will immediately show up. People have even shown this happens in the middle of nowhere or on a rooftop.
If you are ground level, you can just get in your car or motorcycle to get away. They don’t seem to have driving AI, so they won’t follow. With my Netrunner build, I don’t get into to many issues with cops yet, so this is not a big bug for me.
I’ve run into occasional clipping issues or repeated conversation, but they are few and far between. Focusing on the missions keeps me from ruining the illusion of the living city and running into even more bugs.
My performance hovers between 80 fps (indoors) and 40 fps (in the busy parts of the city) with my RTX 3090. I’m still working with an i7 6700K for my CPU, so I actually had to turn ALL the graphics settings all the way up to avoid CPU bottlenecks Cyberpunk 2077 Issues. It looks good and smooth enough to have fun, so I turned off the counter to focus on playing.
There are a lot more bugs and glitches people have reported that you can peruse to see what kind of progress the game makes with upcoming patches.
Now the Good, it is Still Fun
Despite the Cyberpunk 2077 issues, I’m still having a lot of fun. For me, it’s the type of game where I don’t want to play anything else and can’t wait for the next play session. I’m enjoying the story and the well done conversations with the various characters.
With the graphics turned all the way up, it looks better than ever and my GPU is doing all the heavy lifting. The lighting, shadows, particle effects, reflections, all of it make me glad I made that expensive GPU purchase. Conversations with other main characters look as good as cutscenes from other games.
The use of all the quick hacking skills allows me to keep things pretty quite and not get involved in too many frustrating gun fights. It makes me feel very powerful in the game, using brains/tech instead of brawn.
Brain Dance
There are at least a few missions that require you to use a BD (Brain Dance) to study a small portion of people’s memories to find clues for the mission you need. It adds a very interesting layer to the game and has few of the Cyberpunk 2077 issues.
You have the ability to play the memory like VR video in real time, pause, rewind, fast forward and analyze it. The latter part is a lot of fun. You go into a scanner mode to analyze evidence. It allows you to investigate 3 different layers:
Visual – you can analyze clues the from things the person saw in their BD. Things like documents, people’s faces, security camera feeds, etc.
Heat – useful for finding hidden compartments, hididen bodies or things you need to steal.
Sound – used to playback conversations that they overheard, background noise that clues into the location, etc.
These little mini investigations are futuristic and fun. They definitely help the story along and I hope they build on that in future DLC.
Mission Choices
A big part of the fun I’m having are the choices I can make for the various missions. Who do you kill, negotiate with, steal from, knock out, etc.. There’s usually an option to avoid the human element and use technology to get what you want.
For example (some spoilers ahead), there was a recent mission with various choices before and during the quest that can affect the outcome. I had the option to meet with a corporation representative before meeting with a gang to buy stolen goods or I could just skip to meeting the gang.
Choosing to meet with the Corpo also gives you another choice whether to use the infected money card they give you to pay the gang or remove the virus from it. I chose to remove it so the cash would look legit and I’ve read it’s a good choice, because giving the gang the infected chip will make them attack you, after finding the virus.
In my confrontation with the gang, there was an option to let my partner Jackie attack them or calm him down. I cooled him down, because it was pretty obvious letting him attack the guy would have led to a blood bath. I did run into a quick instance of the Cyberpunk 2077 issues with a T posed soldier
Cooling down Jackie let me choose to pay the gang with the credit chip from the Corpo, pay with my money or ask for a discount. I chose the latter and incurred the wrath of their newest leader, Royce. He held a gun to my head and you have options that lead to you holding a gun to his head.
From therw you can choose to take him out or agree to pay. I chose to make the deal and pay the man with the credit chip I removed the virus from. I even warned him about it and how Militech is on their trail to try to earn some trust.
This led to Militech attacking and me fighting alongside the Maelstrom gang. I let them be mostly fodder while I searched for equipment and money. I ended up finding the previous leader of the gang, Brick, sitting in front of a laser mine. The backstory of the mission is the fixer that gave you the mission previously paid Brick, but he knew that Royce took control of the gang and would likely not honor the deal.
I was able to choose to help him, leave him or kill him. Choosing to save him, like I did, gives you multiple options depending on your skills. You can use hacking skills to open the door, find a computer with a note of the door code or even force it open.
I found the code and used my tech skill to disarm the mine to save him (you can also find the detonator). For saving him, Brick offered to help me in the future. That might pay off down the road, since I let his nemesis Royce fall in battle. He might take back his place as leader.
At the end, Militech was waiting outside due to my choices and they did not kill me on the spot. I convinced their new leader (my action got the previous Corpo fired or killed) that their troops shot at me first and he let me go for saving him. The crazy thing is that I’ve read there are choices you can make to save the original Corpo, Stout, that you dealt with. A short romance with her later becomes your reward.
This is just one mission and that is a crazy amount of different choices that change how the mission is played. Not all missions have that much variation, but there are definitely numerous other opportunities to make choices for several outcomes. Some deaths and outcomes are set in stone, but in the end, there are at least 6 distinct endings.
Cyberpunk 2077 Issues with Johnny Silverhand
Most people have seen from the trailers that you end up with Johnny Silverhand in your head via a biochip you and Jackie steal. What you don’t see is that you get to relive some of Johnny’s memories (play a short mission as him) before you start seeing him like an AR ghost in Night City.
It’s a great little flashback to show you how Johnny ended up on that chip. After that you are basically wrestling control from him, until you both come to an understanding. Two minds in one body keeps you at a pretty consistent tug of war.
Keanu Reeves is the perfect companion along this journey through Night City and the chip in the head thing harkens back to his Johnny Neumonic movie. His Johnny Silverhand is constantly berating you and not so lightly pushing you into fulfilling his agena (revenge against Arasaka at all costs). He gives advice that might be to your benefit or end up screwing you in the end. It’s another choice you get to make whether to take his advice.