Even 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077's biggest fans would admit that it got a lot of things wrong. Because of a troubled and expensive development cycle featuring multiple delays (and a game that still launched way too soon), a lot of the original vision was compromised or shorn off in order to get the game into a vaguely working state, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a task the studio ul🔯timately failed at. However, an almost universally agreed opinion is that they got the music right - but the sequel needs to 🌟double down.
I have a strange relationship with Cyberpunk 2077. I have 150 hours logged, having beaten it twice, but I had the most fun when I subverte🅠d what the game wanted an𝕴d played it as a fashion shoot simulator. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s all that great at delivering the sort of game it wants to be, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:nor do I like wha🍒t the game stands for. It’s a dichoto🅰mous experience, and the m🌞usic is the perfect example of that.
Cyberpunk 2077 breathes music. The game famously created its entirely unique soundtrack from scratch (one of the few big promises the game kept), and is built around rockstar and terrorist Johnny Silverhand living in your head. There’s also Us Cracks,🦄 who I maintain are the most interesting characters and deserved more room to breathe, Johnny’s bandmate Kerry, and Lizzy Wizzy. Several scenes take place at concerts or nightcl🤪ubs too. There’s a lot of love for music, but sometimes it only g🍷oes skin deep.
Outside of the impressive soundtrack, Cyberpunk’s attachment to music feels like that of a poser. It’s wearing a Nirvana t-shirt but it only knows Teen Spirit. Johnny’s career as a rockstar is occasionally explored, but only as back-up for key scenes that move the plot along as it directly impacts V, not as it ever shaped Johnny. Us Cracks, I’ve already mentioned, don’t get the screen time they deserve. 💦Lizzy Wizzy’s mission is concerned with a behind-the-scenes plot rather than the music. It knows all the B-sides, the live albᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚums, the liner notes, but it never gets the chance to talk about them.
Kerry’s mission, built around getting the band back together and featuring a substantial musical number, is the only time we see the game’s narrative live up to the soundtrack. Of the four romance options, I think Kerry’s is the least engaging because of the distance he forces betw൩een you, how late in the game he arrives, and how narrow the relationship's focus is. While the concert showcases the game’s affection for music, it’s not surrounded by enough character development to make a lasting impression.
For all the musicians featured in the game and for all its attempts to tell their stories, Cyberpunk 2077 only gets one right, and that comes at a cost to everything else. It’s not just the ꦉindividual narratives though, it’s the world. There are mis൲sions in Cyberpunk 2077 where it feels like one of the most immersive experiences around, where everything falls into place, where it seems as though CD Projekt Red has lived up to its lofty ambitions to create one of the best video games of all time. Then you wander into the world and find it bereft of life, populated only by listless driving AI, empty streets, and deed after deed after deed to bountiful mango farms.
The missions, so full of everything, are like the radio - turn the dial in Cyberpunk 2077 and you’ll instantly be soaked in curated techno-futuristic music. And the world, so empty and devoid of emotion, is the nightclubs. If you specifically turn on the soundtrack for which the game has garnered so much praise, you will feel the music wash over you. Unfortunately, the many, many scenes you spend exploring n▨ightclubs or dive bars are full of generic, repetitive beats that lack any personality. Cyberpunk 2077’s music is great, but it uses it all wrong.
It’s clear that the music was another victim of the development cycle. We tend not to throw it in with the rest, because the actual soundtrack delivers, but with more time to cook it could have been integrated so much better in the world. Hopefully the sequel is finished before it launches🐲, not after, and Cyberpunk 2077’s love of music can light up the sta﷽ge, not just the radio.