Cyberpunk 2077 (1.5) review: what Night City should have been

I love Cyberpunk 2077 because I loved the original tabletop RPG setting. I wanted to be excited for the initial launch around 14 months ago, but it wound up a broken mess. Everyone I knew had intense problems with the game.

Now that patch 1.5 is here and the game has officially launched on next-gen consoles, I took a spin around Night City on the PlayStation 5 to see how it went. While I did see a glitch or two at the start, there were far and few between.

Welcome back to Night City. Here’s how my stay went.

Cyberpunk 2077’s original launch was as broken as Night City

I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but Cyberpunk 2077’s launch was not ideal. Delay after delay ultimately led to a buggy, unplayable pile of code. It was almost fitting since Night City is a broken, dystopian nightmare.

The 1.5 patch promised fixes for bugs, gameplay features, and overall improvements for the game. I picked this up because I have no preconceptions on what to expect. I know what everyone else knows, but I didn’t experience it myself.

While not perfect, Cyberpunk 2077 has never been more playable, or more enjoyable (Image via CD Projekt RED)

My overall experience in the PlayStation 5 version of Cyberpunk 2077 was incredibly positive. The load times were fantastic, the gameplay was great. Cyberpunk’s Night City is a hellscape, but it’s one that I enjoyed taking a ride through.

Night City actually feels alive in Cyberpunk 2077

I’ll be avoiding most of the story to not spoil it for people who wind up playing it for the first time like myself. But the story of treachery, betrayal, and degeneracy in Night City is well-told. Keanu Reeves was perfect for portraying Johnny Silverhand, and his presence only adds to the game.

The city itself is alive, and it shows on the PlayStation 5. Load time is fast, and NPC AI has improved for the better. Some NPCs are more aggressive, and if you’re hassling them, they’ll attempt to make you quit.

This was encountered during the Delamain side quest, but while funny, did not stop the quest from completing (Image via CD Projekt RED)

I didn’t find any bugs that caused the game to crash, try though I might. My playtime was completely unimpeded by problems. I saw a few visual bugs, but they did not stop me from enjoying the game and did not slow things down.

Without spoiling the story, it’s a thrill ride, though it can occasionally become convoluted. There’s a lot to take in as a mercenary in Night City. I felt pulled in so many directions at once, which is one of my least favorite things.

I could at least pick what I wanted to do and focus solely on that, and lord knows, there are secrets and mysteries to unravel in Night City. Not to mention plenty of bad guys that need to be put down.

There was no shortage of things to do, but at least I didn't feel pressured to constantly do everything (Image via CD Projekt RED)

The pacing was great for the open-world content. One complaint I heard was that the fixers (essentially Quest-Givers) would constantly harass the players to do their jobs, but now, they give you one at a time. Now there's no intense rush to do things all the time.

How was combat in Cyberpunk 2077 on the PlayStation 5?

I would say that AI is more intelligent here too. Enemies tend to use the cover far more frequently, adding to the game's overall challenge. I appreciated this, but one thing stood out as something that didn't work for me.

In the settings, you can turn on Aim Assist. It also had a section where you could change the level of Aim Assist you receive - for example, snapping onto targets. This did not seem to work at all.

Combat was fine, but I do wish Aim Assist felt better overall (Image via CD Projekt RED)

When shooting without scoping in, it would occasionally feel like the reticle was right on target immediately, but not all of the time. As my skill level with guns improved, the aim became steadier.

It just felt incredibly misleading to see “Aim Assist” and not feel like my aim was being aided in any way. Other than that, combat was intense, fast, and enjoyable. I did find myself using a katana more than any other weapon.

I could feel V getting more potent in combat the more I played. He started miserably, but V became an absolute killing machine after time and patience.

It was incredibly satisfying to introduce villains to the way of the sword (Image via CD Projekt RED)

The look and the feel of Night City

Visually, Cyberpunk 2077 was stunning in 4K on the PlayStation 5. Night City is a place that wallows in its degeneracy, and it shows. It’s a place covered in grime, darkness, and filth. It’s a place where people are broken and do whatever it takes to get by.

Visually speaking, the world is gorgeous. Occasionally, NPCs may lack visually, but the world is beautiful (Image via CD Projekt RED)

At the very least, thanks to improved AI, regular citizens act appropriately when things get rough. If V (the main protagonist) brandishes a gun or starts shooting, people cower or scream and run.

Unless it’s someone also packing heat, they will most likely immediately return fire. This is a city I easily find myself lost in, losing hours of my day just wandering the town, doing odd jobs, and putting bullets in evil-doers.

The game feels finished, finally. There’s still work to be done. However, it’s in a much better place on the PlayStation 5 than on PC and PlayStation 4 at launch.

In Conclusion

While I didn’t bask in all of the bugs, glitches, and crashes of Cyberpunk 2077, I was very familiar with them anyway. They didn’t bother me because I wasn’t playing the game. I have personally looked and tried to get a crash in the game and found none.

The bugs I saw included a militech dummy T-Posing and a few art assets not showing up in the game (like a table in the early game). I also saw a car come to a stop in the air and Dexter DeShaun’s car struggling to get off of the curb after a mission.

An enjoyable experience, Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that needs a transmog system badly (Image via CD Projekt RED)

That one was hilarious, at least. It doesn’t excuse the sorry state that Cyberpunk 2077 launched in, but it is much better. V’s various adventures throughout Night City were enjoyable, from customizing my character, buying apartments, playing the guitar, and searching out Tarot cards spraypainted on buildings that only I could see.

This is the version of the game that players initially deserved. It isn’t what they got, but at least it’s here now.