If you happen to’ve been on the web between December of 2020 to proper now, you’ve in all probability heard one thing concerning the supposed Cyberpunk 2077 renaissance. That redemption arc appears to be lastly coming to fruition with the upcoming Phantom Liberty growth, which guarantees an entire overhaul of the RPG’s programs, to the purpose the place some folks, maybe your self included, are questioning if it’s time to leap on the Cyberpunk 2077 bandwagon, or in the event you ought to simply wait till the September 26 launch date. It’s a good query, and as an individual who has put a pair hundred hours into the unique sport, and performed a bit of little bit of the growth already, I’ve received ideas, and may hopefully enable you to make an knowledgeable choice about when or in the event you ought to head into Night time Metropolis.
What does Phantom LIberty change?
In keeping with CD Projekt Pink, Phantom Liberty is overhauling a number of programs within the base sport, to the purpose the place elements of it is going to play fully otherwise from not solely the sport because it launched, however because it exists now almost three years and a number of patches later. This contains new ability bushes, new tools, new quest sorts, reworks of enemy sorts, new options like automobile fight, and new ways and tweaks for the way police react to you doing crimes. A number of that is finished by gutting the outdated sport and placing one thing new within the house left behind. Your outdated construct will in all probability require a respec, and also you’ll even have new choices inside these ability bushes. Principally, as CD Projekt Pink describes it, your playstyle will probably be fairly totally different after Phantom Liberty launches.
What occurs if I play Cyberpunk 2077 earlier than these modifications?
At this level, enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 earlier than Phantom LIberty is enjoying a principally improved model of the sport that launched in 2020. Essentially, the sport remains to be the identical because it was, however is held collectively by a greater basis. There’s an argument to be made that this sport can’t be salvaged, whilst CD Projekt Pink has rolled out a ton of patches and free updates over the previous three years. And to some extent, I agree with that. Having a sport that crashes much less doesn’t make its fight encounters extra partaking, it doesn’t make its rancid, cynical politics any higher, and it doesn’t make Night time Metropolis really feel like greater than a extremely, actually fairly metropolis skyline that beckons towards potentialities it might’t notice. However Phantom Liberty looks like an earnest try to make good on among the mechanical promise the sport had earlier than it launched.
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Learn extra: Your Cyberpunk 2077 Love Story Will Proceed In Phantom Liberty
The modifications to ability bushes alone made Cyberpunk 2077 really feel like a special sport once I performed it. I used to be given a construct that felt most akin to one thing like Genji from Overwatch, full with dashes, deflecting bullets with my arm blades, and brutal finishes that gave me a cause to truly get in shut. I didn’t have almost as many choices within the base model of the sport. If these bigger sport concepts actually come to fruition and shine via stays to be seen, however I’m extra captivated by the sport CD Projekt Pink is placing ahead than the one I can play proper now, and that’s coming from somebody who, someway, loves the bottom sport because it exists at this time.
On prime of this, you gained’t must pay for lots of the system modifications, as they’ll be a part of the principle sport, freed from cost, So the quantity of upfront funding you’ll must pay while you begin for what the studio is positioning as the higher expertise is far smaller than it is going to be in the event you purchase the $30 Phantom Liberty earlier than you’ve tried on all these new modifications.
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What cause is there to play Cyberpunk 2077 now?
If, for no matter cause, you’ve not performed Cyberpunk 2077 but, realizing an overhauled model of the sport is just some months away needs to be cause sufficient to provide you pause earlier than shopping for it now. However as an individual who has watched the sport go from absolute catastrophe to a principally unremarkable RPG with some actual coronary heart beneath the rot has been fascinating. It’s what makes modifications like those Phantom Liberty guarantees fascinating to observe, as a result of I’ve the context of what 2077 as soon as was to look again and choose aside the way in which issues have and haven’t modified. Actually, the narrative of Cyberpunk 2077 as a gem that wanted sharpening has been some of the fascinating issues about it. Interrogating whether or not or not there’s any advantage to the story the web loves to inform is as entertaining an expertise as enjoying the sport will be when it’s really doing issues nicely.
But when that’s not the way in which you have interaction with video video games, I can’t consider a cause to play Cyberpunk 2077 proper now when quite a lot of its fundamentals are going to be vastly modified in just some quick months. If you happen to’ve waited almost three years to leap into Night time Metropolis, one other three months gained’t damage. If Phantom Liberty delivers on its promise of a revitalized sport, ignorance of what it as soon as was earlier than will be its personal bliss. However because the online game trade continues to launch video games that look essentially totally different years later, Cyberpunk 2077 as a product is as fascinating a story as something Night time Metropolis proposes.
However in the event you resolve towards this recommendation and leap into Cyberpunk 2077 anyway, you’ll want to take a look at Kotaku’s guides on quests to look out for, methods to discover love in Night time Metropolis, and basic ideas from somebody who’ve performed the sport greater than as soon as.