CD PROJEKT RED Offers Public Apology for Cyberpunk 2077, Shares Roadmap for Future Updates

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The Cyberpunk 2077 controversy continues. In a video published to the game’s official YouTube channel today, CD PROJEKT RED co-founder Marcin Iwiński offered a public apology for the disastrous console versions of Cyberpunk 2077, which have been criticized for game-breaking bugs and terrible performance that fell far short of the Polish developer’s quality standards.



“I, and the entire leadership team, are deeply sorry for this and this video is me publicly owning up to that,” Iwiński said. “Please don’t fault any of our teams for what happened. They all are incredibly talented and hard working. Myself and the board are the final decision makers and it was our call to release the...

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How about re adding the 60% content they obviously cut from the game? For a game based on shadow run there is quite a bit of content missing. I’m sad to say that I think this game could have been great without such a hardcore focus on Keanu. Love the guy but this game needed a different direction.
 
To be quite honest, I requested a Steam refund.
I think this game is just plain bad.
The shooting mechanics especially.
I applaud CDPR for the "vast-ness" of Night City, but overall the game just isn't what I thought it would be at all.
 
How about re adding the 60% content they obviously cut from the game?

So, what do you base this on? You know that all of the so called "leaks" about what was cut from the game have been proven false. From a technical perspective, most of them didn't make sense. There is no evidence that 60% of the game is missing. In fact, we have little evidence much of anything is missing beyond the rail system. V's mansion is often referenced as cut content, but it isn't. It's fully explorable in one of the ending paths. Missing features like wall running that we know of wouldn't ever amount to 60% of the game missing given its current length. I've kept up with the game since it was announced and I've watched dozens of these Youtube videos commenting on the game daily. Many of them are off base. Many of the early videos are flat out wrong as they are based on incomplete playthroughs of the game etc.

Most of what these people say is based on opinion rather than any actual information from the developer or credible sources such as people who actually worked on the game. Most of it is click bait which provides zero evidence to back up whatever title these Youtubers or hack writers came up with.

For a game based on shadow run there is quite a bit of content missing.

I don't know that Cyberpunk was ever based on Shadow Run. Even if it was, not including things seen in Shadow Run isn't an indicator of missing content. How the **** does a pen and paper loosely RPG based on another pen and paper RPG amount to a ton of missing content in a video game based on Cyberpunk? There is a huge failure in your logic here.

People also need to get over the idea of cut content being some sort of sign of something insidious, lazy, evil or whatever. Content gets cut constantly from games as the scope of the development project ends up getting scaled back due to technical, budgetary, and time constraints. When you don't do this, you get Scam Citizen. Sometimes content gets cut or changed for editorial reasons. Either something doesn't work in practice or during the prototype stage. Sometimes, it was just changed to improve the story. While we know Cyberpunk has its share of this, its common in any creative media such as games or movies.
 
To be quite honest, I requested a Steam refund.
I think this game is just plain bad.
The shooting mechanics especially.
I applaud CDPR for the "vast-ness" of Night City, but overall the game just isn't what I thought it would be at all.

The game has its share of problems. I'll grant you that, but its shooting mechanics aren't that bad unless you are running the game on a potato. I play the crap out of Destiny 2 which is one of the best games in terms of feel and general shooting mechanics. Even the CoD games don't quite match up to the smoothness and the responsiveness of Destiny 2. If that game has anything going for it, the shooting mechanics are it. Cyberpunk 2077 will never measure up to a game like that, but I never found the shooting mechanics to be all that bad.

As for the game not being what you expected, I've heard that quite a bit, especially early on. What were you expecting exactly? CDPR was quite transparent about what the game was and what we could expect from it. The only thing that they did not prepare us for was how buggy and unrefined aspects of it were, such as the poor police AI / Behavior or the various visual glitches and balance issues. If that's what you are talking about then I'd agree, but some people seem to have gotten it into their heads that it would be some sort of cyberpunk themed life simulator, and for the life of me I can't understand where they got that crap from.

People also expected some revolutionary gameplay, which at no point had been demonstrated during the game's massive PR campaigns where actual gameplay was shown aside from the wall running mechanic. Even wall running wasn't new as other games have done it in the past. Although, Cyberpunk's take on it was a fresh one. Unfortunately, when you actually play the game you can see why it would be difficult to make it work outside of all but the most specific areas. There just isn't enough verticality in a city scape. Sure, it would work well outside and in warehouses and places like that but the vast majority of building interiors just wouldn't allow for it.
 
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If you don’t mind, I’ll address your comments one at a time.

60% of the gameplay being cut:

No functioning Police AI
No Functioning Rep system (street cred is just another XP bar)
No droid/mech gameplay
No branching quest lines
No secondary homes
No flyable ships
No vehicle upgrades
No living city AI routines
No cybernetic augmentation cutscenes after your first Aug
Limited partner choice/lack of unscripted social interactions

The list goes on.

Just because CDPR says the leaks aren’t true doesn’t mean the leaks aren’t true.

The pen and paper TRPG Shadowrun is exceptionally relevant. Many of the gameplay elements from Shadowrun have a direct gameplay mechanic in CyberPunk. Missing play style options is disappointing.

Giving a false sense of urgency to an open world game is a mistake as well.


All this being said, I really like the game. I wanted a Fallout or Deus Ex game and that’s about what I got. My gaming experience has been relatively bug free but I can’t shake the feeling that there are things missing.
 
If you don’t mind, I’ll address your comments one at a time.

60% of the gameplay being cut:

No functioning Police AI

This isn't evidence of something being cut, but rather not functioning properly or simply being designed poorly. CDPR didn't cut police AI. Rather, this is an example of the game's state of polish or lack thereof.

No Functioning Rep system (street cred is just another XP bar)

It functions as it gates what weapons, cyberware and other things you can acquire. It also serves as a trigger for what vehicles and quests open up in the game. Again, this is not evidence of 60% of the game's content being cut. I would agree this could have been used differently, or in a better way, but instead a lot of what you think street cred would be used for is actually gated by attribute scores.

No droid/mech gameplay

This was never promised. If you are talking about the flathead, this was cut due to the overlap with netrunner builds and being largely redundant and overpowered. This is an example of CDPR being overly transparent biting them in the ***.

No branching quest lines

Incorrect. How stories branch and the consequences and later events that tie to the quests may not be as divergent as people wanted, but video games like Mass Effect always provide the illusion of choice. Even when you have choices that change certain questlines, eventually everything has to converge on the same point. It's a technical limitation. I'll grant you this one somewhat partially, but I don't know if I'd agree that CDPR failed to deliver on this. What we were shown in gameplay footage ahead of time is what we got in that quests like the Maelstrom hideout can play out very differently and do impact other quests later on.

No secondary homes

I only vaguely remember something like this even being mentioned ahead of time.

No flyable ships

This is flat out incorrect. We were told right after the first footage of the aerocar was shown that these were automated and we would never be able to fly them. CDPR has been very transparent about this.

No vehicle upgrades

I'll grant you this one. I don't recall the system being promised as an upgrade system as much as a cosmetic customization system which was showcased early on and then actually dropped.

No living city AI routines

True, but this isn't really content in the sense that this isn't something which would have increased the length of the game. It does impact immersion somewhat, but even the way it is now Cyberpunk's NPC's are far more diverse and numerous than those of any other open world games I've ever played. I'll grant you this was a case where CDPR over promised and way under delivered.

No cybernetic augmentation cutscenes after your first Aug

In a sense this isn't true. Your first visit to Viktor's clinic has quite a bit of this, albeit nothing as gruesome as getting a pair of Mantis blades installed or something like that.

Limited partner choice/lack of unscripted social interactions

I don't recall CDPR giving us an exact number of romance options. That being said, I'd agree with you in that our choices are very limited. You have one choice for a gay male, one lesbian and one option for a straight male and a straight female. That's it. Of course, this can be fixed slightly by modifying the game as can be evidenced with male V romancing Judy through a console command.

The list goes on.

Does it? Because I don't think it does. You've provided next to no evidence that the game is missing 60% of its content. Flyable ships were never promised. I consider the missions and story lines content. I'm less concerned with how many apartments I can buy as I won't hang out in them. I think this is the crap the Cyberpunk life simulator crowd was expecting and didn't get despite there being very little from CDPR leading us to believe that this is what the game would be. Again, there are missing features as you pointed out but even if you were correct about all these things it wouldn't amount to 60% of the game missing.

Did you actually play it? There is 130+ hours there easily. Buying apartments, car customization etc. would all be great features but they hardly amount to over half the game missing.

Just because CDPR says the leaks aren’t true doesn’t mean the leaks aren’t true.

There is next to no evidence that CDPR is lying.

The pen and paper TRPG Shadowrun is exceptionally relevant. Many of the gameplay elements from Shadowrun have a direct gameplay mechanic in CyberPunk. Missing play style options is disappointing.

How so, because I don't think it is. First off, ****ing forget Shadowrun. That's not Cyberpunk. What's missing in the game that's in the source material for the Cyberpunk pen and paper RPG? That's really all that matters.

Giving a false sense of urgency to an open world game is a mistake as well.

It really isn't. Creating tension through a sense of urgency is what makes stories feel important. Creating a sense of urgency in a game type that obviously doesn't really enforce a sense of urgency tells you that the writers did their jobs right. It's hardly a mistake though. One of the biggest problems with open world games is their lack of narrative focus and their generic and direction less gameplay. Cyberpunk avoids this fantastically.

All this being said, I really like the game. I wanted a Fallout or Deus Ex game and that’s about what I got. My gaming experience has been relatively bug free but I can’t shake the feeling that there are things missing.

There are things that were cut, but again cut content and cut features are normal parts of game development. CDPR's only mistake is being overly transparent about that. Other developers aren't so transparent and for this very reason. It leads to whining when feature creep inevitably leads to the game being scaled back to meet launch deadlines, budgetary constraints and technical limitations. For example, it sounds great to have AI routines for NPC's where you could theoretically stalk them and figure out what's going on in their virtual lives.

There are two problems: 1.) That's creepy. 2.) It's something that CDPR would have had to spend a **** ton of time coding and something that ultimately, the game doesn't need. Yes, it would add something to immersion but ultimately it was a huge time sync and technical challenge with little to no pay off in terms of the game's narrative and gameplay.
 
The pen and paper TRPG Shadowrun is exceptionally relevant. Many of the gameplay elements from Shadowrun have a direct gameplay mechanic in CyberPunk. Missing play style options is disappointing.

You might have a better point if you referenced the ACTUAL source material of Cyberpunk 2020. They changed the name to Cyberpunk 2077 BECAUSE of the year. The only thing missing from the game are really deep anime references to Akira.

Please if you're going to try and trash someone for not honoring the source material at least get the source material right.

https://www.abebooks.com/Cyberpunk-2.0.2.0-2nd-Edition-R-Talsorian/30367283298/bd


Kids these days... ;)
 
Yes, I’ve played the game. It’s flawed and incomplete. That’s my opinion. Shadowrun is a game in the same vein. I’m not trashing them for not honoring the source material. I’m making the argument that the game is incomplete and a far cry from what was marketed.

I’m not sure why Dan and Grim are working so hard to defend a game that is at least glitchy, if not a shell of what was originally planned. I’d argue Deus Ex Human Revolution does a better job of executing the futuristic dystopia action genre than Cyberpunk 2077. These are my opinions, and frankly I’m surprised by the vitriol with which you two are defending a game that is good, but far from great.
 
Yes, I’ve played the game. It’s flawed and incomplete. That’s my opinion. Shadowrun is a game in the same vein. I’m not trashing them for not honoring the source material. I’m making the argument that the game is incomplete and a far cry from what was marketed.

I’m not sure why Dan and Grim are working so hard to defend a game that is at least glitchy, if not a shell of what was originally planned. I’d argue Deus Ex Human Revolution does a better job of executing the futuristic dystopia action genre than Cyberpunk 2077. These are my opinions, and frankly I’m surprised by the vitriol with which you two are defending a game that is good, but far from great.


Dude saying a game based on a different system that doesn't have dragons, spell casters, physical adepts, supernatural creatures, and a whole mythos with immortal elves... has a lot that isn't in a game that is purely about deck and the loss of one's self to flash before cash and style before substance... you clearly Don't understand the differences at a very core level between the game worlds.

Does that make the game have less glitches? No. But you can't bitch about it missing 2/3rds of a game world it isn't even pulling from.

Thsts like me complaining that the documentary about penguins didn't have enough gunfights in it.

Sure maybe it could have used them but that wasn't what the movie was about.

I'm defending if anything the source material.

Better example. It's like watching Harry Potter and complaining because Ironman wasn't there.
 
It really isn't. Creating tension through a sense of urgency is what makes stories feel important. Creating a sense of urgency in a game type that obviously doesn't really enforce a sense of urgency tells you that the writers did their jobs right. It's hardly a mistake though. One of the biggest problems with open world games is their lack of narrative focus and their generic and direction less gameplay. Cyberpunk avoids this fantastically.
I agree with everything else you said except for this. They added a sense of urgency that made me rush my first playthrough ignoring almost all sidecontent, in the hopes of being able to return to them after the urgent issue has been settled. Instead the game slaps you in the face with endings that prevents you from going back to missed content. So the game design is paradoxical.

There is literally over a hundred hour of side content in the game, and some of it pretty great, but you have to break immersion to experience them. This is terrible game design. I'm now on my second playthrough and I have to pretend that the main quest does not exist to be able to get the experience as a merc in night city. The game is great this way and I can barely stop playing it each night. But it requires the utter disregard of the main story. Like cdpr's left hand didn't know what the right hand intended the game to be. It's like two games in one. A narrative driven linear game, and an open world mercenary simulator all in one. And the two clash.

The most infuriating thing is that there would be zero problems with this, if the game just allowed you to continue playing as your character after the end and finish merc jobs then. No, the bullshit load the last save from before the last mission but keep gear you collected during the last mission does not count. It's as immersion breaking as it gets. At that point I'd rather start a new game, which I did.
 
I agree with everything else you said except for this. They added a sense of urgency that made me rush my first playthrough ignoring almost all sidecontent, in the hopes of being able to return to them after the urgent issue has been settled. Instead the game slaps you in the face with endings that prevents you from going back to missed content. So the game design is paradoxical.

There is literally over a hundred hour of side content in the game, and some of it pretty great, but you have to break immersion to experience them. This is terrible game design. I'm now on my second playthrough and I have to pretend that the main quest does not exist to be able to get the experience as a merc in night city. The game is great this way and I can barely stop playing it each night. But it requires the utter disregard of the main story. Like cdpr's left hand didn't know what the right hand intended the game to be. It's like two games in one. A narrative driven linear game, and an open world mercenary simulator all in one. And the two clash.

The most infuriating thing is that there would be zero problems with this, if the game just allowed you to continue playing as your character after the end and finish merc jobs then. No, the bullshit load the last save from before the last mission but keep gear you collected during the last mission does not count. It's as immersion breaking as it gets. At that point I'd rather start a new game, which I did.

I understand what you are saying and I believe fallout was it 3 or new Vegas had that same problem. In the release of the game at the end you died. Sure you saw the story but you were dead. They did eventually patch thst out mind you. But it had the same issue.

And game pacing in ANY rpg the main story line is ALWAYS hurry do this hurry do that. 100% of the time. (That I can recall). Top example is SWTOR. You were saving a planet but were still elected to do all of the side missions... and you definitly couldn't go back after the end of the game.

So yes your points are valid. And I hope you have no fond memories of at least those two other iconic rpgs because they broke immersion.
 
Yes, I’ve played the game. It’s flawed and incomplete. That’s my opinion. Shadowrun is a game in the same vein. I’m not trashing them for not honoring the source material. I’m making the argument that the game is incomplete and a far cry from what was marketed.

I’m not sure why Dan and Grim are working so hard to defend a game that is at least glitchy, if not a shell of what was originally planned. I’d argue Deus Ex Human Revolution does a better job of executing the futuristic dystopia action genre than Cyberpunk 2077. These are my opinions, and frankly I’m surprised by the vitriol with which you two are defending a game that is good, but far from great.

Let's be very clear, I never said Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't flawed. The developers did say the game would have certain features early on which were dropped. I'm not arguing against that. What I am arguing against is the bullshit hyperbolic statement that the game is missing 60% of its content. This is simply untrue. Or at the very least, no one has provided any evidence to back such a claim. As far as the game not being as advertised, I'm going to disagree with that as well. We saw plenty of gameplay footage of the game in the months and even some more than a year away from release. I also disagree that it's a shell of what was originally planned.

Scaling back features and cutting content during development is perfectly normal. I'm not sure why this concept is so difficult to grasp. The difference here is that CDPR was way too transparent about the game's development and shouldn't have been given their inexperience making a title like this. Honestly, nothing that was scaled back would really have changed the game a whole lot in my opinion. For some reason, people expected more than CDPR ever promised or are acting way to butthurt about what was scaled back or what we know was taken out. CDPR showed off the game quite a bit and if you preordered it with artificially high expectations that's on you. Many people got caught up in fantasies about what the game should be rather than what CDPR was showing you it was.

People also blindly placed faith in the developer after the Witcher series. This is and always will be a mistake. I didn't care for those games, so I was skeptical. I didn't preorder the game until right before it released. I did so fully informed on what the game would actually be, including early previews which flat out said the game wasn't revolutionary.

If you are sensing any vitriol, its because I don't like hyperbolic statements or claims of the fantastic without evidence to back them. You sir, have provided no evidence to back the claim that 60% of the game's content is missing.


I agree with everything else you said except for this. They added a sense of urgency that made me rush my first playthrough ignoring almost all sidecontent, in the hopes of being able to return to them after the urgent issue has been settled. Instead the game slaps you in the face with endings that prevents you from going back to missed content. So the game design is paradoxical.

There is literally over a hundred hour of side content in the game, and some of it pretty great, but you have to break immersion to experience them. This is terrible game design. I'm now on my second playthrough and I have to pretend that the main quest does not exist to be able to get the experience as a merc in night city. The game is great this way and I can barely stop playing it each night. But it requires the utter disregard of the main story. Like cdpr's left hand didn't know what the right hand intended the game to be. It's like two games in one. A narrative driven linear game, and an open world mercenary simulator all in one. And the two clash.

The most infuriating thing is that there would be zero problems with this, if the game just allowed you to continue playing as your character after the end and finish merc jobs then. No, the bullshit load the last save from before the last mission but keep gear you collected during the last mission does not count. It's as immersion breaking as it gets. At that point I'd rather start a new game, which I did.

In fairness, this is a common design issue with all open world games. In fairness, you should probably have recognized this. I've seen this behavior with every open world game I think I've ever played. I agree that being able to return to the game world with the main story settled would have made the most sense with this type of design. I still think that the main story line needs to provide a sense of urgency or it doesn't feel all that impactful.
 
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And game pacing in ANY rpg the main story line is ALWAYS hurry do this hurry do that. 100% of the time.
There is an easy fix for that: Pacing. Insert pauses into the main quest that lets you explore without feeling guilty about it. For example Assassin's Creed Valhalla achieved this by making side missions part of the main quest. So if CDPR would've made it part of the narrative that you needed a certain street cred, to say even get an audience with rogue, or made her fee 10 times of what it is forcing you to do merc work to get enough money and or street cred this would've been instantly solved.

So yes your points are valid. And I hope you have no fond memories of at least those two other iconic rpgs because they broke immersion.
I'm almost certain that Fallout3 lets you continue playing,the only difference being that the river turns into purified water that you can drink of. Fallout4 too, I don't remember New Vegas at all. The only thing I remember from that is that I loved hardcore mode in it (need to eat, sleep, drink).

Even Mass Effect 3 was able to easily resolve this by making war assets part of it. So in turn the more side stuff you did, the bigger your chance of success in the finale. Mass Effect 2 solved this by the recruitment process and making the crew's loyalty a key factor. You also needed to wait for certain world events, like the second abduction. In CP2077 it's always your move.

CDPR just slapped a square peg in a round hole and expected it to work.
 
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In fairness, this is a common design issue with all open world games. In fairness, you should probably have recognized this. I've seen this behavior with every open world game I think I've ever played. I agree that being able to return to the game world with the main story settled would have made the most sense with this type of design. I still think that the main story line needs to provide a sense of urgency or it doesn't feel all that impactful.
Not all, see in my above post. All of the games I listed had a sense of urgency but they still managed to include the sidequests in it. Of course there are bad examples also like Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Androemda, but I Expceted better from cdpr in this regard, much better.
 
Not all, see in my above post. All of the games I listed had a sense of urgency but they still managed to include the sidequests in it. Of course there are bad examples also like Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Androemda, but I Expceted better from cdpr in this regard, much better.

Well, Mass Effect 2 and 3 aren't really open world games at all. They are a split between linear and non-linear games. As for the rest, what you are talking about are clear and obvious narrative excuses for why you need to do XYZ side quests instead of doing the main quest. The problem with that is the gating on quests and world events is much more obvious and less organic. The problem is that CDPR didn't bother with that makes the world feel more organic, but your right it does contradict the sense of urgency established by the main story. I also dislike the way the game sets its point of no return at the end of the first major quest line before you can do the stuff for Johnny and Rogue. It really doesn't make much sense to have structured it that way.

So, while it generally feels a little more organic you do lose sights of the main objective and the mechanical gating is placed in the worst place. Meeting Honako at Embers is the gate to the game's ending and its accessible way too early. I know why they did that, but it because it can't be unselected, it's annoying as hell.
 
Well, Mass Effect 2 and 3 aren't really open world games at all. They are a split between linear and non-linear games.
In this that has zero relevance. Mass Effect is open enough so you can go to the planet of your choosing and do side missions there. It's proof that you can have a sense of urgency while not forcing the player to disregard side missions.

As for the rest, what you are talking about are clear and obvious narrative excuses for why you need to do XYZ side quests instead of doing the main quest.
Really, because it seems to me you are the one trying to find excuses to dismiss the arguments. Tell me why it wouldn't make sense that the best fixer in town wouldn't even talk to lowly V? Hell it was presented as a big break even to get Dex to talk to you, then suddenly after failing the first mission you get from Dexter you waltz up to Rogue? That's contrived AF.

So, while it generally feels a little more organic you do lose sights of the main objective and the mechanical gating is placed in the worst place. Meeting Honako at Embers is the gate to the game's ending and its accessible way too early. I know why they did that, but it because it can't be unselected, it's annoying as hell.
That's not gating, you are missing something. You don't have to go to meet hanako, you can do all the other stuff before you do. I was postponing the meeting for days while I finished the Johnny questline.
 
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