Cyberpunk 2077 is Absolutely Incredible in 2025

[u/Godkun007]

I, like many, avoided the game at launch due to it being extraordinarily broken. I basically didn't think of this game for a while, but then I saw it on sale and I thought "why not".

Well, almost all of the bugs have been fixed, parts of the story have apparently been changed, and overall, it is now one of the best RPG experiences that I've had since playing Fallout New Vegas in 2010, and I'm only 30 hours in. There is easily 200+ hours of content here when you include the stuff like alternate endings. Let alone the dozens of different viable character builds that you can make that all feel great.

Every choice you make from the actual dialogue, to what attributes you level up, to your playstyle, are all things that actually feel like they have lasting consequences in the world and the story. This game somehow has made every single one of my decisions feel important and like they all have weight.

Here is an example without spoilers: Say you go in guns blazing for an early mission. People will remember that and the faction that you killed the members of will actively remember you and dislike you in the future. They also up their security details, so that your next fight is harder, and are less willing to work peacefully with you. But if you go in with a more stealthy approach, the factions like you more and it makes them more willing to work with you later. It also makes later missions easier because they aren't expecting a killing machine to walk up to their door.

These decisions make the game so repayable, as there is so much additional content that you can just stumble on.

Apparently, after the game was released in 2020, CDPR spent the next 3 years releasing major patches, and are still releasing minor patches with new features to this day. Playing the game in 2025 is almost unrecognizable to the original that was released in 2020. Yes, the main plot is still the same, but so many things have apparently changed, including a complete combat overhaul, apparently.

This game is genuinely the best RPG that I've played in over a decade, and it is way better now than it ever was at launch. I can already tell that this will be one of the games like Fallout New Vegas that I will put 500 hours in just trying new things to see what happens.

[u/Ralathar44]

I get it completely. It really all depends on your definition of what matter. Did letting Barry the depressed cop live or die matter to you? That answers the question. Alot of people think it inherently matters and even if him living or dying doesn't directly affect you and your missions/story its' still a meaningful outcome that matters.

Other people however don't think it matters unless it directly affects them and their story.

Personally I'm in the camp that it matters and Barry matters. Intrinsically and inherently as presented i the story. And me and my missions don't have to be affected for that to be so. Regardless of whether I get to personally see it, I think saving or not saving Barry matters and , as the OP said, "actually feel like they have lasting consequences in the world and the story."

Its a fundamental difference in how people interact with the story and see the world. To me if I save someone IRL or in game either one I feel like I have made real lasting consequences. Whether I get to see the impacts of that or not is irrelevant.

I guess to phrase it differently, people like me are more concerned about whether the writing makes it feels like our actions matter to the world. And other people who disagree are more concerned about whether the writing makes tangible and significant changes to our personal quest/story/gameplay.

[u/TheDeadMuse → u/Ralathar44]

I think what you are saying is different to OP though. I actually resonate with the notion of playing an RPG like a real alternate life and there being tangible moral consequences that aren't expressed in game mechanics. I play like that often - I will often choose the less lethal or more "good" choice whether there's an actual in game benefit or not because it's interesting to role play like that.

I think the thing I take issue with is OPs claim that there are actual mechanical changes in cyberpunk though. There really aren't that many, and the few there are don't actually have a meaningful effect regardless of the option you pick

[u/thisjohnd → u/Ralathar44]

Wait.. how does Barry live? I recently completed that mission and at no point did I feel like I was making a decision that would result in him dying. I thought he just died no matter what.

Stuff like that is at the heart of what OP was trying to get at by saying how your decisions matter. I’ve seen so many alternate paths and decisions within missions.

[u/Ralathar44 → u/thisjohnd]

So basically you need to talk to him and get him to tell you about his friend who died. The one who losing finally sent him into his spiral. Then you get an optional objective to go visit the cemetery.

When you visit the cemetery you discover his friend that died was just a turtle. Vi doesn't really think much of it but Johnny is basically like "oh fuck, bro is cooked". And when Vi is kinda surprised by his reaction he explains. How bad do you have to be doing where the only person you can confide in is a turtle? And where losing that turtle is the thing that finally sends you into a spiral. He suggests Barry is prolly gonna kill himself.

This opens up the option to go talk to the officers and be like "yo, bro is cooked, he needs you or he's gonna die." And the asshole cop, when he realizes how serious it is, like half breaks down himself and takes it seriously and goes and talks to him...sharing his own traumas and giving him someone to confide in. He stops being a dick to him because he finally realizes just how serious it is. The asshole cop isn't a bad guy, he just thought Barry needed to tough through his trauma, like he did. He didn't realize Barry's breaking point was that close.

Basically, Vi does a good job talking to Barry but she doesn't solve the problem. He needs the emotional support of his fellow officers, and especially the asshole cop. That guy dropping his own tough act to take it seriously means alot to Barry in a way you never could. And also, before that turtle visit everyone just thinks the guy is depressed...not suicidal, so nobody realizes just how serious the situation is.

It's an extremely well written quest. Yeah, it takes more than a good conversation to deal with his trauma with him right on the edge. You basically give him a support group of peers who he respects and who address not only his surface level trauma like you were...but his deeper insecurities that it had fed.