Every few generations, there are video games that epitomize everything great about the medium itself. From Final Fantasy VII and Ocarina of Time, to Bioshock and The Last Of Us, these masterpieces epitomize what’s possible in video games, encapsulating the unique ways they can deliver stories and offer perspective on the world we currently find ourselves in.
In 2020, CD Projekt Red did what few developers ever have. It followed up the conclusion of its generational fantasy role-playing trilogy, The Witcher, with a dystopian look at our own bleak future. While the game infamously launched in shambles, the Poland-based studio managed to turn it around for the better over the next three years. The result was nothing short of astonishing. Cyberpunk 2077 is not only one of the best role-playing experiences of the current generation, but it sits pretty comfortably as one of the best games ever made. And this month, PlayStation Plus subscribers get to enjoy this instant classic for free.
Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world game where you become V (short for Valerie or Vincent, you get to pick), a local-born mercenary looking for their big break in Night City. You and your best friend Jackie are on the come up looking for quick schemes to become someone in this haven of wealth, depravity, and opportunity. When their biggest job yet goes unimaginably wrong, V is left facing oblivion. With their options limited and days seemingly numbered, they decide it’s time to become a legend with their back against the wall or die trying.
The game’s lengthy prologue is probably Cyberpunk’s low point of the game. But the world-building is so rich, the linear series of events goes by in a jiffy. Once the game does open up, however, it’s up to you to create your legacy as Night City’s most hungry up-and-comer. Across dozens of quests, meet wild and memorable characters, uncover long-latent conspiracies, and witness just how far humanity’s fallen in pursuit of profit and vanity. As V, you’ll get to take part in making the city a little brighter or doubling down on its unchecked debauchery.
Night City is the best representation of a sprawling modern city. From the glitzy lights of its garish skyline to the dank, crime-ridden underworld that festers in its nondescript alleyways, the scale and variety of Night City feels like the real deal. But it also offers a prophetic warning of what America’s worst qualities can do to the fabric of redeeming ones. Corporate interest runs amok, as sexism, racism, and exploitation consume the human condition. Look in any direction in this smoggy Gomorrahian metropolis and you’ll be instantly reminded of its excess in blinding lights. Existing in Night City is both thrilling and horrifying. And you can’t help but be seduced by it all.
CD Projekt Red’s immaculate world wouldn’t mean much if you didn’t have a fun game to keep you moving through it. Luckily, Cyberpunk 2077 lives up to its promise. Whether you want to play it as a first-person shooter, a covert spy that strikes from the shadows, or an immersive sim that rewards clever use of your wits and body augments, Cyberpunk 2077 lets you fulfill the fantasy. At the end of my most recent playthrough, I was a double-jumping cyborg ninja capable of dashing across rooms and reflecting bullets with a wave of my katana. Another, I was a revolver-slinging techno-cowboy who could slow down time and dispatch a room full of baddies before they could even touch me. There are a staggering number of ways to build your V, and somehow they’re all viable and fun to see to the end.
Night City’s expansive sprawl is both thrilling and horrifying.
CD Projekt Red
While the base game is excellent on its own, I implore anyone who jumps into Cyberpunk 2077 for free to consider buying its award-winning expansion, Phantom Liberty. Not only does it feature one of the best quests in the game (clocking in at 30 hours to see everything it has to offer), but it also expands on the fiction with a compelling deep dive into Cyberpunk’s broader themes of digital immortality. Phantom Liberty is on sale right now, and is the best $21 you can spend on a video game.
Cyberpunk 2077 is the best game on PlayStation Plus right now. If you haven’t played it yet, amend that as soon as you can. It is simultaneously a loving send-up and fantastic realization of the cyberpunk genre, one whose paranoid commentary on modern life feels especially prescient in the face of gaudy, tone-deaf billionaire weddings and corrupt government leaders prioritizing profits over life itself. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the best games of the generation, and its addition to PlayStation Plus makes it one of the best added values the service has had in months.
