Cyberpunk 2077: Why Patch 1.1 has to mark a turning point for CD Projekt

The debate surrounding Cyberpunk 2077 and its current state remains a curious one. Especially because, in our opinion, CD Projekt Red actually produced a terrific role-playing game that is still criticized by many players (rightly). We ourselves had to withdraw its platinum award from the game due to new bugs.

A state with which CD Projekt can of course be anything but satisfied. And which they are currently not only regretting, but for which they have already apologized several times. Most recently in a video by company co-founder Marcin Iwinski:

But as is well known, actions say more than a thousand words. Therefore, the team published a roadmap in the same breath. This, however, remains about as superficial as I do when I explain cyberpunk to my 90-year-old grandma.

At least we now know: The next update will not be a hotfix, but the first major patch 1.1. A milestone that we should not underestimate – and an important opportunity for CD Projekt.

Patch 1.1 has to deliver more

Especially for us PC gamers, the next patch will be 1.1 and the following patch 1.2. must mark a turning point. So far, CD Projekt Red has only operated damage limitation with its hotfixes.

Three pieces have been released so far and each one has a single goal: to fix bugs! Fewer T-poses from NPCs, quests that cannot be completed, broken memory statuses, and passenger cars popping up.

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The team has already taken on all of this and more. And of course – the large patches also have to keep the technology up to date. It’s about time that CD Projekt took care of more profound problems.

Apart from the bugs, Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the best games in recent years for us. At the same time, despite everything, there were some aspects that we had to criticize in our test. Fortunately, these points of criticism only include mechanics that could be improved with a patch afterward. For example, the team can no longer easily adapt to the story, but luckily it doesn’t have to.

For the most annoying quirks of Cyberpunk 2077, on the other hand, CD Projekt can certainly find a solution and even if the big patches don’t solve every one of them immediately, they can slowly lay a foundation for them.

The top three problems Cyberpunk 2077 should solve soon

The balancing

A real classic in video games when it comes to post-optimization. But also an area in which the master class of a studio shows itself. Often you only find out after the release, when thousands of games go a thousand different paths or try out builds, where the game balance gets out of hand.

Cyberpunk 2077 has not yet quite succeeded in finding the perfect balance between its various levels of difficulty and the different play styles. In our test, we described the optimal playing feel if you had a degree of hardness somewhere between “normal” and “hard”.

The former is still far too easy, while V is extremely quick to bless the temporal in the latter. In addition, katanas and sniper rifles blow everything away, while mercenaries with submachine guns clearly lag behind. A few simple changes to the damage could work wonders here.

Loot and equipment

When it comes to collecting new items, Cyberpunk 2077 has yet to shine. While there are some extremely cool unique items like the Skippy talking pistol, we pick up the same guns a lot more often while playing. We can then disassemble them to improve other items or to craft, but that’s not really fun.

The process is quite lengthy and in order to make good objects we have to assign a lot of skill points. This is mostly not worth the effort, as we can find stronger weapons faster or increase the damage with other skills. A side effect of the loot system is also Vs Obvious fashion confusion.

If you just look at the stats and want to improve your armor, you have to arbitrarily combine a lot of fashion styles and live with an ugly dressed V. It is difficult to predict whether a transmog system will come in the next patches. It would be desirable to be able to upgrade beloved clothing more easily, which would already be a great help.

Better driving performance

This is a problem that many players perceive very differently. Some get into one of the futuristic cars and then cruise without much fanfare through the streets of the city illuminated by neon lights. Others (like me) don’t get along with the controls at all. Since this problem is also being discussed on forums or on YouTube, I am obviously not alone in this.

Maybe CD Projekt Red will be able to optimize the driving behavior with a patch so that even fewer players constantly arrive at the quest destination with a dented body. At the moment, many people regularly lurch when driving, miss various exits, or need what feels like 200 meters of braking distance before the car comes to a standstill, even at low speeds.

All of this can be cushioned a little in the options, but it would be more elegant not to run in a serpentine pattern when starting the game for the first time.

Much to prove

I know what some people think now: “CD Projekt Red has completely different worries right now!” And that’s true. Getting Cyberpunk 2077 working on the old consoles is the top priority. But at some point, CD Projekt Red has to convey to Sony, for example, whether the role-playing game meets their quality standards again. And then it is not enough to deliver a product that only has the worst dents. Then the game has to be better than it could have been without bugs.

In my opinion, this point is crucial in trying to regain the trust you have lost. Not only on the consoles but also with disappointed PC gamers. Will it all work out? Not necessarily. Do we trust CD Projekt Red? Absolutely.