As much as I often criticizeCyberpunk 2077, I do genuinely love a lot about it. That is, in large part, thanks to its phenomenal worldbuilding, which expands upon the ideas and settings from the original tabletop game. The atmosphere of Night City is one of the key draws for me and the thing that has me returning year after year for another playthrough. The guns and cyberware are always fun to play around with, but it is the themes and concepts binding them and the game’s beautifully bleak world together that I find so intoxicatingly engrossing.
Of course, as much as a lot ofCyberpunk 2077is genuinely great, there is always room for improvement. For a while now, I’ve been hoping that its sequel, which is currently in development, will bring about a lot of that change.Cyberpunk 2077’sworst features, or often its best yet most underdeveloped, need expanding upon, fixing, and tweaking to make them the very best that they can be. That absolutely applies tothe game’s most underutilized idea, one that is so disappointingly implemented it frustrates me every time I play it, and I playCyberpunk 2077a lot.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Implementation Of Cyberpsychosis Is Disappointing
It Doesn’t Really Have The Effect It Should
The idea of cyberpsychosis is absolutely fascinating in the world ofCyberpunk, and something that has been explored expertly in the expanded media, and, of course, the original tabletop game. The best representation of it can be found inEdgerunners, which hones in on it specifically as a key narrative point for multiple characters, including the show’s protagonist. The way it drives people crazy is fascinating, as is the fact that people within theCyberpunkuniverse will risk it all for a little more cyberware. It is, in my opinion, easilyCyberpunk’smost interesting idea.
However, despite being such an inherently unique concept that is begging to be explored in video game format,Cyberpunk 2077absolutely botched its implementation by, frankly, barely doing anything with it. In one ofCyberpunk 2077’smany updates, an Edgerunner perk was added, which allows players to go over their cyberware limit at the cost of their health, and forces them to occasionally enter a Fury state that increases their attack. However, beyond that,there’s no way of succumbing to cyberpsychosis either intentionally or not. That, honestly, is a great shame.
While the visual representation of it inEdgerunnersis both beautiful and horrifying, the ability to experience it firsthand and see how gameplay can elevate the exploration of it as a broader and deeper concept would have been incredible.
It baffles me that cyberpsychosis never made the cut, especially with how much of an emphasis was put onCyberpunk 2077’samazing cyberware. While the visual representation of it inEdgerunnersis both beautiful and horrifying,the ability to experience it firsthand and see how gameplay can elevate the exploration of it as a broader and deeper concept would have been incredible. That is especially true when you consider the many amazing and interesting ways CD Projekt Red could have added cyberpsychosis toCyberpunk 2077.
Cyberpsychosis Could Be An Amazing Feature In Cyberpunk 2077
It Could Have Been A Risk/Reward Mechanic
Cyberpunk 2077played it safewhen it came to a lot of its core features, but especially with cyberware. The fact that you can more or less chrome V out without any real repercussions, upgrading each part of their body until they’re ostensibly as ridiculously cybernetically enhanced as David at the end ofEdgerunnersor even Adam Smasher, is ludicrous. However,that could have changed had CD Projekt Red added some form of cyberpsychosis to the game, something that is a trade-off for all the benefits you reap from equipping so much cyberware.
V could have a humanity stat that slowly trickles down the more cyberware you equip.The lower the humanity stat, the more V begins to hallucinate, get glitchy visions, perhaps accidentally fire their weapon in public, or even start seeing innocent civilians as aggressive enemies. Then, once their humanity stat reaches the very bottom, they go full cyberpsycho, which not only forces the police to attack them, but slowly drains their health unless they kill people. That way, the game ostensibly forces you to engage in carnage to stay alive.
I wish I could say that half of these ideas are unique, but the thing is, they’re not. That’s becausemodders added cyberpsychosistoCyberpunk 2077, utilizing many of these concepts to make it a reality. It can be a function within the game, so long as you play on PC and are confident with modding, which is whatmakes it all the more frustrating that CD Projekt Red never thought of adding something similar. That’s why I’m hoping the sequel can finally rectify this mess and add it in.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Sequel Can Fix Cyberpsychosis
It Can Make It A Core Feature
There are a lot offeaturesCyberpunk’ssequel should improveupon, and cyberware is definitely one of them. It isn’t even that CD Projekt Red needs to add some form of cyberpsychosis, whether that’s exactly like the aforementioned mod or its unique take on it.Cyberware in general needs to feel more impactful, have a bigger visual effect on the protagonist, and have a greater impact on gameplay. A lot of the time, cyberware felt like passive buffs rather than a significant and irreversible impact on the protagonist’s body, as it does inEdgerunnersand other expanded media.
The sequel could change that by introducing cyberpsychosis and a humanity meter while greatly increasing the power and abilities cyberware gives the player. The game is thus much harder without cyberware, but players also don’t run the risk of suddenly hallucinating mid-combat, or, worse, going cyberpsycho.That trade-off would be significantly more interesting than simply being able to equip as much cyberware as possiblewith little to no meaningful repercussions.
Cyberpunk 2077is almost completely immersive, but situations like the aforementioned, in which the gameplay doesn’t quite match up to the roleplaying experience or the narrative, really pull me out of the experience. The sequel needs to be the most immersive game ever made, as that really is the main way CD Projekt Red can improve uponCyberpunk 2077, and to do that, it needs to better bridge the gap between the themes of the world and the intricately designed gameplay.
