Cyberpunk 2077 has had a resurgence on the scale of Robert Downey Jr, this is in part to the release of the Phantom Liberty DLC (review found here). But it is also due to the numerous updates put out by the developers to fix this notoriously broken game.
The biggest and most important of which was the ‘V.2’ update, below is the information about what it has changed and how that will affect the playing experience throughout Night City.
Revamped Cyberware
Cyberware is one of the most unique selling points to Cyberpunk 2077…its literally in the name. Although the cyberware was one of the features of the game that wasn’t too broken it could have been way better. And now it is.
By cyberware I mean any kind of cybernetic implants and augments you can install on your V. Which range from replacing their arms with powerful melee weapons to armour and health increases to quickhack and RAM recovery upgrades.
Now as you level up your V, your cyberware capacity increases, allowing you to equip more powerful enhancements. There are also new perks invest in like Edgerunner and Renaissance Punk perks to increase this further.
Revamped Perks
Speaking of perks, gone is the perk system of old. V now has five attributes, each with their own expansive skill trees with so many perks that you can’t unlock them all. This means that you really need to think about your playstyle and how you want to play and spend your points accordingly. So, if you want to take the stealth approach whilst also using Cyberpunks quickhacks? Focus on the intelligence, cool, and technical ability attributes, then invest in perks such as Ninjutsu, Killer Instinct, and All Things Cyber for the ultimate cyborg ninja…in a leather jacket.
The melee combat perk system has also seen an overhaul, and with there being loadsof melee weapon options in Night City, they are definitely worth a try. Two of the new perks are ‘Wrecking Ball’ which allows you to charge into enemies on foot and ‘Quake’ which is a huge ground pound, that damages and staggers your foes.
With all of these skill changes and a greater emphasis on character planning, you might be overwhelmed with how to proceed. Not to worry though as CD Projekt Red have a handy ‘character builder’ on their website, where you can test out your ideas.
Additionally, there are also new skills you can upgrade. These are done passively and reward you with some small buffs every five levels. These buffs can be things like +1 perk point, an increase to movement speed or carrying capacity, or reducing the RAM cost for quickhacks.
Below are the new skills:
- Engineer
- Solo
- Shinobi
- Headhunter
- Netrunner
Vehicles
There are four big improvements to vehicular combat.
One of the most-needed features when it comes to vehicular combat comes in the form of quickhacks. Confusing to why they weren’t in Cyberpunk to begin with, but you can now target other cars while driving and interfere with their cars by slamming their brakes or accelerating them straight into a wall, tampering with their steering, or exploding them entirely. Now as much as these are great features, the RAM costs are huge, even with my netrunner build struggled to use these new features on certain vehicles.
It may seem basic in a game like this to be able to fire your gun from behind the wheel of your car of the future or Johnnys ‘Ancient’ Porsche. First or Third Person, you can finally wield your gun and lock onto enemies looking to ram you off the road Mad Max style. The realism means you will shoot through the windshield or the side window, although some of the fancier Cyberpunk rides have open sliding doors to shoot though.
There are now vehicles with mounted weapons that you can now use outside of certain missions.
The changes don’t stop there. Now if you’re on a bike, you can also use melee weapons if you pull up alongside your opponent.
Oh and you can now launch yourself out of your car at full speed and shoot your enemies on the way down.
Night City Police Department Reform
In V.1 of the game, the police force of Night City was essentially made up of useless bumbling officers. Police chases weren’t really a thing, and they would often teleport around the place, and in some cases wouldn’t engage you even if you committed a crime in-front of them…or in my experience to them.
In 2.0, they’re smarter, stronger and faster. Night City police officers now actually patrol the streets, actually have the ability to chase you down in their vehicles and have received some training to set up roadblocks to cut you off.
The five-star heat system will be familiar to many of you who have played Cyberpunk or any other crime sim, has also been revamped. Now at level five the dreaded MaxTac will be after you. Powerful weapons, powerful vehicles, powerful cybernetics, they pose one of the greatest threats to V in the game.
Additional Features and Changes
The annoying crafting blueprints have now gone, being replaced instead by tiered item components. This is apparently a much simpler system to craft items from scratch and upgrade your existing arsenal, but as I never bothered with the crafting blueprints as they were annoying and pointless I can’t comment.
Clothes are now only for your aesthetic. Your armour is now built up by cyberware enhancements. So, you can wear whatever outfit you like without missing out on any stat increases.
Not to mention there are also new radio stations, called Growl FM, Impulse and Dark Star.
There have also been general improvements to combat AI, UI/UX tweaks, and just the whole game overall. I believe it is safe in saying now that Cyberpunk 2077 is fixed and as good as we all wanted at launch.
