Welcome, folks, to the second blog of “Is the game worth playing in 2026?” I, your gaming guru, am summoned again to review one of the best open-world sandboxes, titled “Cyberpunk 2077,” that goes face-to-face against GTA V. With endless memes, comical bugs, and a disastrous launch, the neon-lit futuristic city has been contributing for the past 5 years.
Launched in 2020, this game has showcased immense potential, and with several patch updates, the game finally appeared in the limelight in mid 2021.
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I still remember the date when I drained all my fortune like “Arsenal bottling the Premier League every season,”
due to its broad futuristic storyboarding and false hype generated over time.
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Why would I rant about this game?.... You ask, well, for those who don’t know, our beloved Cyberpunk went through massive financial challenges due to which the game was initially removed from the PlayStation Store. After listening to millions of prayers, the game went under major overhauling and delivered a remontada with its 2.0 update with an expansion DLC of “The Phantom Liberty”.
Delivering the comeback of the year, Cyberpunk 2077 became one of the most-selling games. Now the question arises… Is this game good to invest in 2026? Well, the answer to this question is simply “YES!”
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Still, let’s dive deep to explore different components of Cyberpunk 2077 that make it worth your gaming sessions.
Is the chaotic factor as good as GTA V? Gameplay Mechanics
Cyberpunk may have returned from the dead, but delivering the same chaos as the long-running GTA franchise is no joke. Especially when we are talking about GTA V, which brings three menaces to society in a single title!
Speaking of the gameplay mechanics, it has quite improved over the years. I mean, who would want law enforcement to spawn like Enderman right behind you while you are busy wreaking up the city! With the combat mechanism built on a blueprint of the 2.0 update, messing around with NPCs is now more fun. Although Cyberpunk shared the same fate as the GTA series, its RPG-driven storyline makes the combat more unique and power-based. While major games focus on balanced combat mechanics, Cyberpunk 2077 has given gamers a free hand with a plethora of weapons and features. I mean, it’s a no-brainer, a futuristic game that showcases EMP boosted cars, railguns, and the neon setting. Cyberpunk 2077 had to deliver something extraordinary, unlike those traditional open-world chaotic sandboxes. Moreover, I would recommend you to play this game if you love to scribble on enemies with melee weapons. With the best first-person combat in the entire industry, Cyberpunk 2077 has gained a lot of respect even after such humiliation for “fake PR.”
Developed by CD Projekt RED, the game was released at a whopping $59.99, frankly speaking, the game was rushed and was released in an unfinished state, with combat mechanics as bizarre as Fallout 4 during its release.
However, the production house understood their project so well that if you play this game on a 4090 with a refresh rate of 120Hz, Cyberpunk will be the main cause for severe hallucination, and I am not sugarcoating!
As when, I swung the mantis blade while deflecting bullets and hacking enemies' brains, turning them into a pile of meatloaf, the combat mechanism went like a hypersonic missile right through my mind! All in all, the kinetic and heavy gameplay make the game stand out at the top of the Mt. Everest of open-world games.
What’s more from the Futuristic Inventory?
Speaking of the RPG mechanism, players can fully customize their main characters, also known as V. Like other mainstream RPG titles such as Elden Ring and Phantom Blade Zero, players need to upgrade the skill tree along with different attributes like Intelligence, Body, Tech, Reflexes, and Cool.
Besides the general stuff, Cyberpunk 2077 has three builds: Netrunner (Hacker), Stealth, and a pure strength build, which can be customized with suitable weapons and attribute synergies.
What’s more? Well, in here you can choose different life paths between Nomads, Street Kid, and Corpo, which will put a heavy toll from the prologue in V’s character background and dialogue delivery throughout the narrative.
Diving deep into the rigid RPG system, the gameplay features Ripperdocs, an implant used for cyberware installation that is used to upgrade stats. Shifting towards the looting system of Cyberpunk 2077, it’s just epic, no comments! With every kill, the loot box depends on your luck, as it consists of a plethora of wide-rarity weapons with unique traits.
Fun Fact : Cyberpunk 2077 is a multitasker in the genre of games, as Gameplay modes like immersive driving patch 2.31 make the vanilla driving “smoother than the Operator.” If you like a slice of life simulation, you can make this game that way!
What Holds Within the Night City? Storyline
If you are expecting a narrative with “a protagonist walking away with his lover while bombing the huge corporation of the antagonist”, then my friend, you need some milk, because this game features an RPG tagline, and believe me, an RPG game haunts like “your father calling you with your full name.”
Emotions aside, the narrative is set in the dystopian Night City on the Pacific coast of California. A futuristic neon-lit setting where every encounter feels personal due to its first-person interaction.
You don the role of V (protagonist), a mercenary in Night City who fights against the time and Arsaka’s corrupt schemes.
It’s not about vengeance, time’s less, and you need to act fast, you are bound with a chip of Johnny Silverhand, a military veteran who fought against corrupt megacorporations. From “I’ll kill you to I’ll take a bullet for you.” This game has become a modern art of next-gen gaming! With every step comes peak criticism and extreme gaslighting. If I were a juror, I would definitely rank this game 9/10 for its character and storyline. The textural scattering, subsurface animations, and reactions filled with side-eye are just top-notch. Being the most hyped yet controversial game, Cyberpunk 2077 has aged like a fine wine. That’s just some generic storyline, according to an RPG… you say,
Well, there’s a literal character played by Keanu Reeves whose spirit gives a reality check every 2 seconds! Moreover, being the lead singer of Samurai Band, Johnny Silverhand, single-handedly promoted the game from the dark abyss with his unknown humor and on-screen aura.
Speaking of the map size, it’s comparatively small compared to The Witcher 3 due to extreme density.
Completing side quests, on the other hand, can be tiring as missions are repetitive with almost the same loot box rewards.
What does Night City Look Like? Graphics
Undoubtedly, Cyberpunk 2077 holds the crown for eye-pleasing graphics if compared to other modern-age games in the industry. Well, it's a shame as other games built on Unreal Engine feel like slideshows or stuffed CGI that makes the visuals boring. However, Night City in this case wins with a massive ratio because of its high-end graphics with intense ray tracing, DLSS 3/4, and Ray Reconstruction to maintain godly frame rates!
With dim lighting and shady texture all over the neon-lit city, visuals played an essential role in bringing the true potential of this game. Modders, on the contrary, brought out the cinematic masterpiece with their photorealistic dreamscape.
From motion blur to reflection, everything’s just chef-kissed. So, if you want to rev your car on a rainy day, a neon-lit city is the best place to experience the dreamy world of a corrupt future.
Wrapping Up
If you are thinking of an academic comeback, return like Cyberpunk 2077, as the production house gave sucker punch to every hater out there with such amazing performance. Still, if you are concerned about the game’s price according to its gameplay, believe me, it’s worth every penny.
So, hurry up and add the game to your wishlist as Cyberpunk 2077 could be your “game of the year.” Until we connect in the next blog, comment down your thoughts on Ghost of Tsushima vs Assassin’s Creed : Shadows.