My favorite part of Cyberpunk 2077 was just walking around and looking at things. The architecture and city layout were fascinating to me. Maybe I'm just lizard brain or something, but it was genuinely amazing that I could drive all the way out of the city and look at the skyline. It was still identifiable all the way out there.

It's possibly the first game I've played where an urban environment seems about the size that it should be. I know it's actually not, it's actually quite small compared to a large city, but whatever perspective tricks they did completely fooled my tiny brain.

In terms of atmosphere and aesthetic, it's one of the best games I've ever played. The characters are all memorable. Some of the quests are fantastic, like the talking gun, the AI taxis, that one about the murderer finding Jesus, it all stoked the parts of my brain that enjoy flash and sparkle. The music is really goddamn good.

Everything else though? 5/10 at its best moments. The combat is goofy. It's way too easy to break the game's economy. It's very easy to become an overpowered death god only halfway through. At a certain point I didn't even have to walk near the enemies. I could hack them all into suicide from 100 meters away.

The overall plot isn't great either. It has an anti-establishment framework to it but without any of the specific details. The main character's motivations make absolutely no sense other than some vague desire for money and power. Everyone you meet also seems to like V, sooner or later. There aren't any characters I remember who hate your guts and refuse to work with you if you're an asshole to them. The politics of the game are really odd and skewed. It seems to endorse a snarky, individualistic nihilism and tries to contrast that with corporate greed, but in practice it all came across as the same thing to me. Johnny only seems to hate Arasaka for completely personal reasons and ended up doing performative terrorism.

There are even a few plots where you meet characters who have a more genuine anti-establishment ethos, like the mission with the radio signals, and the other characters around you treat it all with derision and mockery. It's supposed to be funny. Haha, look at these dorks who believe in something.