Don’t know if it’s been mentioned further downthread, but another reviewer mentioned that the Braindance sequences can trigger seizures in epileptics - possibly because the tech for Braindancing seems similar to that used to deliberately trigger grand mal seizures by neurologists.

Man, if you have to play a decades old tabletop RPG to understand the plot of a video game, that’s not great.

I mean, if you read someone’s honest overview of a game and are no longer excited for it, that’s on you, not the reviewer.

I think it’s fair to want GOOD representation and not just ANY representation. As a bi dude, for example, I’m not excited to see more bisexual male villains and would like to see more positive bi characters.

With all of the trans commentary on 2077 it really seems like CDPR missed a golden opportunity to focus the narrative on identity.

Amusing how I made a guess on their gender just on how they just went out of their way to explain something no-one really asked them about and then you went to the default “he” yourself.

great write-up! so nice to see such quality and from your individual perspective. mainstream videogames journalism is much more alive and well than i had been thinking recently.

If y’all wanted a pseudo-objective 9/10 “this game really makes you feel like a cyberpunk” review, you can just go to IGN, or Gamespot, or all the other websites that already do that. Criticizing the writer’s impressions article for being about their subjective and personal experiences with the game is missing the…

Aaaaaaaaaany other mansplaining you’d like to do?

I think the heart of the problem is that Cyberpunk as a very specific thing from a very specific time. There’s the works it was drawn from, and pre-cyberpunk stuff that it pulled from. And assorted cyberpunky but on about something else things it inspired.

CDPR made the choice to foreground trans and gender-nonconforming people in their marketing for this game, and they also chose to make those depictions dismissive, fetishizing, or otherwise shitty. Trans critics are going to bring that into the review and it’s entirely justified, especially because for a lot of…

I just want to say that I think this is a really well done review that touches on a lot of interesting points.

I wish people didn’t take all these reviews so negatively. It sounds to me like you enjoyed the game, you just have reservations about it. It’s ok to not think a hyped up game is the best thing since sliced…

Wow. Judging by the comments, people who get mad if you think games aren’t art sure get mad when you review and discuss games like any other art form.

People can’t be ambivalent?  A work of fiction can’t be diverse yet still chock full of stereotypes?  Something can’t look great on paper but strikes one with an opposing feeling when actually experienced?

Given that the whole piece is introduced specifically as the result of partially-formed impressions of an incomplete experience, I’m not sure what sort of focused message you were looking for.  

This piece represents why I read Kotaku. Number crunching reviews are a dime a dozen. I want artistic analysis from people with unique perspectives.  

3 outfits gave it a score of 100. JFC. That’s saying it’s a perfect game. Almost no game deserves that. I hate that games reviewing has somehow ended up at anything below 85 is trash to everything is squished together in a 15 point spread. 

They’re running it on a PC, pre-day 1 performance patch, so any performance metrics are gonna be pretty useless. They tried to get a console code and couldn’t. 

Sure... they squashed bugs, optimized and made a handful of important QOL changes to the game in the months after launch... which is great, and plays a huge role in how fondly people remember the game... but the Bloody Baron narrative, experienced in the first 10 hours of gameplay, probably did more than any other…

In a design choice that stayed with me even more, you’re given the option to abstain from drinking in scenes with alcohol, complete with specific dialogue options, animations, and responses from other characters. I’m walking around Cyberpunk’s flashy, overwhelming world as a sober trans man, just like I am in real…