So, (almost) two years later, we’re finally being given the Cyberpunk 2077 we were promised. At least according to CDPR.
In reality, Patch 1.5, while it has introduced many good changes, it isn’t the panacea we were promised (or deserve). I’m very happy that I never purchased Cyberpunk, it was a gift, and so that has softened my feelings and expectations around the title, but let’s be real: it’s a disaster, and the most recent update corrupted data and broke the game for many PS4 users.
I’m not going to go into detail about Patch 1.5, you can read about that everywhere, but with Patch 1.5 I have decided to give it another go. Originally, I played maybe four or five hours of the game as a Nomad. I made it to what I would consider the main part of the game, as you have your background prologue and then a series of tutorials disguised as gameplay that act as another prologue and lead you to the famous Johnny Silverhand. I think the game starts way too slowly and was extremely obnoxious and childish (see: dildo gate), but once you near the end of prologue.2, it starts to pick up and Johnny himself is an interesting character. With this in mind, I wanted to start from scratch and so I created a Corpo (incidentally, I think this is the best path re: your introduction to the world and the city), and herein lies my problem.
Character creation. When I was younger I enjoyed character creation a lot more. I didn’t mind spending hours creating my character and getting things just so. I don’t enjoy this kind of character creation as much anymore because I don’t have any free time, but Cyberpunk’s character creation is particularly flawed for one big reason: your character doesn’t stop moving.
Many games have done this. You are creating your character and they look around, shift from side to side, smile or frown or make funny faces, etc… in an effort to make the characters, I don’t know, feel more alive I guess. As a player I find this so incredibly obnoxious and I will never understand how this passes any internal UX tests. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to pick what lips, or nose, or whatever you want your character to have just for that character to look away from the screen and touch or play with the body part you are adjusting.
In Cyberpunk, as I try to choose the eyes with which I want to look upon the world, my character looks to the side and TOUCHES his eyebrows COVERING his eyes. As I try to pick the nose with which I want to smell the world, my character looks to the side and TOUCHES his nose COVERING it. As I try to pick the lips with which I want my character to eat digital noodles, my character looks to the side and TOUCHES his lips COVERING them.
To add insult to injury, it is done in the exact same way. Every. Single. Time.
This made character creation so frustrating and last much longer than it should have. It is so obnoxious and poorly done that I just can’t wrap my brain around the decision making process. Imagine going to a barber and every five seconds you twist your head to the side and touch your hair. You and your barber both would be furious with the result.
Jordan Galbraith 