The 8-year long wait is finally over – Cyberpunk 2077 is now out and ready-to-play since its announcement in May 2012.
A lot of hype surrounds this game as the gaming community has high expectations of the phenomenal combat and gameplay mechanics of Cyberpunk 2077. Many also look forward to the questing system (as seen in Witcher 3), along with the completely customisable characters in the game.
But does it live up to the hype?
Overview of the storyline
Source: IMDB
Set in a dystopian world known as Night City, Cyberpunk 2077 is an action-adventure based role-playing open-world game that follows protagonist, V, who is a mercenary that’s taken up several jobs together with fellow mercenary Jackie Welles.
The story begins after a heist turns awry. The mission to steal a valuable prototype biochip believed to grant immortality goes wrong when the biochip is damaged during the escape.
The only way to protect the data stored in the chip is for the player to slot it into their character’s head.
However, you’ll soon realise that the biochip contains the soul of iconic, former Samurai band-leader-turned-terrorist Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves) who has passed on for approximately 50 years.
Here’s where things get even worse.
Since the chip is integrated with the vessel’s nervous system, Silverhand’s personality and consciousness will gradually overtake your character’s – first appearing in your character’s head as a voice, then taking on the form of a “devil” on your shoulder and finally replacing your character’s mind, soul, and spirit.
Gameplay: Combat, music & imperfections
The way Cyberpunk 2077’s story unfolds is largely based on your preferences, pace, and even the kind of combat which suits your playstyle best.
If you like to make an entrance and participate head-on in an all-out brawl, consider specialising in guns or melee weapons like classic swords or plain-old fisticuffs. If you’re more into some crafty, stealth plays – you can annihilate enemies using poison, silent takedowns, throwing knives and hacking foes’ gadgets to distract and harm them.
The endless possibilities in this futuristic world have reeled people in since players have the freedom of choosing a diverse range of in-game experiences depending on the lifepath they choose.
Combat
Source: IMDB
Thanks to Cyberpunk 2077’s flexibility to accommodate different playstyles along with its vast weapon variety, players can expect to go on a thrilling combat adventure in the game.
Revolvers, machine guns and shotguns – the lethal weapons of choice for annihilating your enemies.
Meanwhile, tech weapons utilise railgun-style electromagnets to completely shred opponents with a simple pull of the trigger. Some of them are also capable of targeting and curving bullets around corners and cover.
On the other hand, melee’s an option too.
Increase the chances of winning in a bare-knuckle fight by equipping your avatar with grappling mantis claws, limb-hacking swords, a classic bludgeon or all kinds of other body modifications that build up your character’s raw, brutish physical prowess.
Be it a katana slice or grenade explosion, be prepared to be immersed in a sensational combat experience as you witness all sorts of realistic grisly details in Cyberpunk 2077.
Music
“Extremely industrial”, “terrifying yet beautiful at the same time, “trippy, psychedelic, yet uplifting” – these are just some of the descriptions the game artists have mentioned about Cyberpunk 2077’s soundtracks.
Particularly during combat and in unique areas, music impacts our decisions with how appropriately it fits various scenarios.
Blaring, techno music in a club will make you feel like making your character approach your target at a slow, dramatic pace while frenzied music in the middle of a boss fight with a melee-focused foe may provoke you to pull out hairy Gorilla Arms (a wildly popular augmentation players like to buy) despite how unsightly they may be in action.
Imperfections
Unfortunately, this highly anticipated game isn’t entirely picture-perfect.
Source: Hubblesphere
Despite having exceptional gameplay systems and breathtaking in-game environments, the development of the game was rather rushed, resulting in a number of bugs affecting characters’ appearances, defects on items and glitches that made the characters look as if they were experiencing epileptic seizures.
Some players have witnessed guns or other items like cigarettes, phones, and the like, hovering in midair. Even after a patch was completed, items would still remain in the air long after a character had moved away.
Other issues like having to restart quests because of NPC glitches, characters in T-pose, sudden character teleportations into scenes and disappearing weapon stats in the inventory also started popping up.
The long list of bugs is a major disappointment but we hope to see some significant improvements after the finished patches.
Meanwhile, many players have had a good laugh thanks to the glitches in the game.
Source: jasonschreier
Source: Mr_InFamoose
Animation: Refined, cinematic-quality experience
Source: IMDB
Cyberpunk 2077‘s developer, CD Projekt Red, didn’t only want to enhance the overall quality of animation beyond that of its previous title but went a step further to make refinements to every one of the characters in the game’s open-world – including the NPCs.
While that goal was set in motion, CD Projekt Red took on yet another challenge of animating faces and adding in the lip-sync for 10 different languages, completely without the use of facial motion capture.
They decided to approach JALI, a provider of a suite of animation tools to elevate the game’s appearance.
With JALI’s tech, the developer could animate characters’ faces realistically since the animation tools account for various often overlooked aspects like brow, eye, neck movement and other subtle changes in the facial muscles when people talk.
Meanwhile, Night City boasts an artistic design that makes it alluring: the blue-pink neon that lights up Japantown, the resplendent skyscrapers populating the City Center, the corrupted plains of the Badlands and the rust of the forsaken resort town Pacifica.
Whether it’s the way that nearby neon light reflects off people and walkways or the intricate details on a character model – Cyberpunk 2077’s graphics are undoubtedly impressive; especially if the minimum system requirements are met.
How your business comes into the picture
Before CD Projekt Red rolled out Cyberpunk 2077, the 8-year development period comprised all sorts of marketing collaterals to promote the game and maintain the hype.
After all, it helps players visualise the game better and get a feel of it before diving into the actual gameplay. In fact, here’s a sneak peek of one of their latest trailers if you haven’t tried the game yet:
Just like how CD Projekt Red has managed to consistently add a touch of pizzazz for each of their advertising content, you can do the same with animation; be it in the form of motion graphics or visual effects.
Drop us an enquiry with details about your marketing campaign or idea and we’ll get back to you with the animated video production cost as soon as we can!
