10 Differences Between Cyberpunk 2077 At Launch Vs Today
Apartments
The big update that landed in early 2022 brought many new features, including the ability to rent apartments. Like cars, the apartments range in price and quality. The cheapest one is in Northside and costs only 5,000 Eddies, while the most expensive is in Corpo Plaza at 55,000 Eddies – plus, there’s V’s luxury mansion you unlock in only one of the game’s many endings. That means there are 7 apartments that V can call their own, while completing an in-game romance will also net you an additional one. Finally, you can also now renovate V’s original apartment and change its color scheme to one of half a dozen.
Perk Tree
In patch 1.3, CDPR decided to totally overhaul the perk system, so much so that your points were automatically reset so that you needed to respec completely. This is because many of the original perks were totally useless in gameplay – including the notorious one that was supposed to let you hold someone hostage but which had zero functionality. Now, some perks have been moved around, they’ve been renamed to be more accurate, and there’s always a menu option to respec again – for a price. This means new players aren’t going to get stuck with a bunch of perks they end up not needing with no way to change things up.
Phone
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Along with the many, MANY bugs, one big issue the game had at launch was the phone. V’s phone would ring constantly and they would always answer, sometimes answering during important missions or during conversations with other characters. It was extremely annoying, but luckily, it was eventually tweaked. You can now refuse to answer V’s phone when it rings, just like in real life, which will make plot-heavy missions a lot more immersive. Even just driving around Night City is made better by the fact you don’t ALWAYS have to talk on the phone. This seems like a minor fix, but if you played the game at launch, you’ll remember exactly how annoying the phone was and how necessary this change is.
Texts
And still on the topic of the phone, patch 1.5 added a slew of brand-new text conversations you can have with your in-game romance options. A lot was made over the fact Panam will now send V nudes, but there are many more, less-NSFW additions. You can be given presents or even get additional opportunities to spend time with your in-game significant other. As well as that, players loved the ability to now sleep next to their chosen girlfriend or boyfriend. This is lightyears away from the game at launch, where not only could V not sleep next to their partner, but they also notoriously couldn’t sleep properly at all, instead lying down sideways on the bed. We wonder what Panam would have had to say if she saw that.
Driving
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Though “Cyberpunk” had many unforgivable technical issues at launch, something we COULD forgive was the state of the driving. Sure, it wasn’t great, but as it was CDPR’s first attempt at adding a driving mechanic to a game, it’s easy to look past. It was still fixed in a patch, however, with the controls becoming more responsive, more realistic, and even adding the ability to drift PROPERLY. This makes traveling through Night City even more fun, especially if you’ve got a machine that can handle high FPS gameplay. The game still doesn’t have real car chases or flying cars unless you install mods, but we’ll take what we can get.
Transmog
Another issue players had at launch was the fact that if you equipped the loot with the best stats to your character, they’d look like they got dressed in the dark. That is, if the game didn’t glitch and make V’s pants disappear, which was something it liked to do. Finally, though, Patch 1.6 added transmog. This means you can equip the gear with the best stats, but change its appearance to look like any other piece of gear you’ve yet looted. Since the cyberpunk genre famously prioritizes “style over substance”, as stated in “Cyberpunk 2020’s” rulebook, it makes sense that you should be able to ensure your character always looks as good as possible.
Next-Gen
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Patch 1.5 finally brought with it the full, next-gen upgrade. Previously, you did need high-end PCs or consoles to even get the most out of what was supposedly the “last-gen” version. Now, however, performance on PS5 and Xbox Series is drastically improved, with a high resolution and rock solid frame rate most of the time. There’s even ray-tracing on consoles finally, though it does obliterate the frame rate and increase the chance of a game crash if you turn it on. It’s also been announced that, finally, story-based DLCs will be arriving for “Cyberpunk”, but that Patch 1.6 is officially the final patch last-gen consoles will get.
The AI
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The NPC AI at launch was undoubtedly some of the worst AI we’ve ever seen in a modern game, largely because AI barely existed at all. NPCs wouldn’t cower in fear if you tried to shoot them and they didn’t really have set routines. The cars and cops were worse, however, as cars had no AI at all. They’d just drive around in a set path, often around in a circle over and over again, and wouldn’t be able to function if anything got in their way. They’d also simply run you over rather than stopping, while the cops meanwhile would spawn on top of you but then lose you extremely easily if you ran away. Much of that has been fixed now, with cop and NPC car AIs massively improved.
Customization
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Before launch, “Cyberpunk 2077’s” deep character creator was being celebrated. It let you add cyberware, change your eyes, and even be transgender. However, after entering Night City, you were unable to change any of that, which seemed absurd given the game’s subject matter and themes. We eventually got patches that let you change V’s hairstyle and color, but now, visiting a Ripperdoc will let you revisit the character creation screen and totally redesign V if you want. This is great not only because it makes sense in the game world, but also because the dim lighting of the character creator often means that V looks completely different when you’re actually playing – not that you see them often.
Map
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At launch, the map was terribly designed. It was way too busy, with no easy way to filter out superfluous icons, and with side jobs and gigs having the exact same icon. This has been cleaned up significantly. Now, side jobs and gigs have different icons in different colors, and you can filter in or out cars for sale, apartments, service points, and so on. It’s decluttered by default and that makes for a much smoother play experience. The mini-map has also been changed a little, it’s now more zoomed out so that you don’t miss turns while driving – something that became a popular mod because the mini-map was originally so frustrating.
