10 Harsh Realities Of Replaying Cyberpunk 2077

It’s no secret that Cyberpunk 2077has changed dramatically since its release, with the sheer amount of updates and massive overhauls making it more than worth revisiting even if you’ve already played it before. This has become even more true after the 2023 release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, which introduced several new gameplay improvements on top of its large-scale content additions.

Even though Cyberpunk 2077 is better in arguably every way since its initial release, the remaining cracks in some aspects of its world or gameplay start to become easier to spot on additional playthroughs. While the upcoming sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 has the perfect chance to improve and build upon these aspects, which remain as a few hard-to-swallow elements of the otherwise excellent open-world experience.

10

Cyberpunk 2077’s Life Paths Still Aren’t That Impactful

Given the tabletop origins of the Cyberpunk series as a whole, the Life Path system was intended to give a sense of background and even more roleplay potential for V. Offering unique prologue missions and a variety of specialized dialogue, the Life Paths in Cyberpunk 2077 do have some shining moments, but don’t affect too much of the actual storyline.

While there’s more variety in the initial stages of Cyberpunk 2077‘s story, most Life Path dialogue just offers flavor rather than having any meaningful effects, with each Life Path leading to the same result no matter what you choose. While it’s difficult to implement three additional outcomes on top of all the other choices you can make in Cyberpunk 2077, the initial promise falls a little short of its actual implementation.

9

V’s Romance Options Are Few And Far Between

The romance options in Cyberpunk 2077 easily offer some of its most heartfelt and honest character moments, which is exactly what makes the limited variety of them so painful to revisit. With only four romance options included in the base game and all of them being locked behind certain gender preferences, there are even fewer options to choose from, with only one male or one female companion.

Even with the available romance options remaining, there’s not much left to explore once you’ve finished their character quests, given little ongoing interaction, aside from the occasional text message or hangouts.

8

There Shouldn’t Be Time To Waste On Lengthy Sidequests

With how much the main storyline of Cyberpunk 2077 stresses that V is running on borrowed time as the effects of Johnny Silverhand’s Engram slowly take hold, many of the more entertaining side quests can take away from the immersive stakes that the story presents.

Even if the side content can offer some of the most fun or engaging missions in Cyberpunk 2077, the lengthy detours and disconnect between the exploration of Cyberpunk 2077‘s open world and the pressure from its story missions feel even more prevalent than before, especially with player freedom being one of the best-selling points of Cyberpunk‘s RPG experience.

7

V Offers Very Little Many Options To Play As A Villain

In a grimy world filled with corruption and crime on all levels of its dystopian society, it’s surprisingly hard to play a villain in Cyberpunk 2077. Aside from randomly choosing to kill NPCs or start fights unprompted, the narrative of its side quests and main story content often railroad V into being more or less a hero in Night City, with the most violent options often coming down on people that deserve it the most.

While this isn’t as much of a problem in and of itself, the marketing for Cyberpunk 2077 made it seem like there would be even more freedom in how you wanted to approach the world, which is one gameplay aspect its massive updates won’t be able to remedy, as V is just as much of a character in their own right as a self-insert for the player.

6

Exploring Night City Is Still Relatively Limited

Despite being one of the most gorgeous open-world games with some incredibly dense environments, many areas of Night City are entirely inaccessible for you to explore. With plenty of dead ends and blocked-off locations, there’s not as much room for discoveries or incentives to explore every nook and cranny of its incredibly unique environments.

While this works in favor of providing a stunning backdrop to drive through, Night City as a whole on a second playthrough tends to feel more like set dressing than a real, lived-in space that encourages player interaction.

5

The NCPD Is Still One Of Cyberpunk’s Weakest Aspects

Despite having received several major updates since release that make Night City’s Police Department more of a reasonable threat, it still fails to match up with the rest of Cyberpunk 2077‘s well-implemented gameplay styles. Acting more as an instant punishment rather than a lived-in part of the world, police chases also don’t have nearly the same pursuit or escalation tactics as games like Grand Theft Auto V.

While this would be a bit easier to overlook on their own, NCPD Scan Hustles are also one of the most tedious gigs in the game, with hundreds of generic missions blending together in a way that detracts from what could have been one of Night City’s unique offerings, which has the potential to be turned into a game-changing mechanic in Cyberpunk 2077‘s sequel.

4

There Isn’t Much Variety Between Enemies In Night City

With the sheer amount of customization and build variety that Cyberpunk 2077 introduced with its 2.0 update, the limited variety of enemies in the base game is all the more apparent. Even if the visuals and identity of each faction make them stand out drastically from each other, their actual combat tends to blend together in the long run.

With most enemies falling into simple categories of melee bruisers, basic shooters, and the occasional netrunner, regardless of their faction origin, combat tends to become a bit more predictable over time. Some encounters and boss fights, like the revamped Adam Smasher, also show just how much potential Cyberpunk 2077‘s combat has to push its combat even further than what it already offers.

3

The Lack Of Flying Vehicles Is A Major Missed Opportunity

Even if flying cars were never promised as an option to own in Cyberpunk 2077, their existence within the game makes it feel like a shame that there’s no option to own one for yourself. With several missions, even showing off the concept or allowing you ride in them yourself, the option of owning a flying vehicle as an end-game or completionist reward would have been a fantastic incentive for further replayability.

While some dedicated fans have created flying card mods that bring the concept to life in Cyberpunk 2077 with surprising quality, they lack the same stability and in-game mechanics tied to them that would make an official offering as immersive.

2

Night City’s Civilians Don’t Feel As Alive As Other RPGs

While it’s a bit more of a nitpick that doesn’t affect the moment-to-moment gameplay of Cyberpunk 2077, repetitive NPC routines and lack of reactions to player actions are still one of the more immersion-breaking aspects of Night City. While this isn’t nearly as noticeable on an initial playthrough, the more time you spend in Night City, the more apparent that the world of Cyberpunk 2077 is merely populated, rather than lived in.

Thankfully, Cyberpunk 2077‘s sequel already seems to be addressing this issue with a leaked development update, although it does raise concerns that it might be too ambitious once again. Despite these concerns, it’s still exciting to consider the sheer scale that Cyberpunk 2 and its immersive crowd sims could provide.

1

Many Side Gigs Feel More Like A Chore Than Anything Else

Even though some of Cyberpunk 2077‘s best stories and gameplay moments are tucked away in optional side content, there are even more repetitive gigs that can get incredibly repetitive after a while. With little to no narrative backing up their simple gameplay structure that seems to exist for completionists, there isn’t much in the way of meaningful replayability for many gigs.

While this content isn’t nearly as bad on the first playthrough, revisiting gigs in the future makes the little appeal of some extra combat and goodies even harder to appreciate, especially when compared to the other mission types Cyberpunk 2077 has to offer instead. Although many of these aspects are small issues in the grand scheme of Cyberpunk 2077‘s exciting offerings, they become harder to ignore the more time you spend in Night City.