Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.0 Made Me Like a Game I Hated

Cyberpunk 2077‘s new free update, Update 2.0, is finally here and it absolutely saved the game for me. All Cyberpunk 2077 players on current-gen consoles and PC, including those who don’t buy Phantom Liberty, will get access to Update 2.0. While it may not blow your mind or feel like a totally new game, it will make it a much more enjoyable one. For starters, there are brand new mechanics that give you more ways to engage in combat. The most notable one is vehicular combat, allowing you to both utilize mounted guns on vehicles or fire a pistol or SMG out of the window of the car. It’s admittedly far more fun to launch rockets or fire a heavily caliber machine gun at your foes than it is to use a regular old gun, but they all get the job done.

Admittedly, I find the driving in Cyberpunk 2077 to be pretty rough. Cars handle like they’re moving across ice covered in oil and are generally quite miserable to use in most cases. Adding gunplay on top of that can make it all feel a bit cumbersome. The shooting is satisfying and smooth, but the driving is not and I often found myself slamming into other vehicles or walls when trying to do a cool drift while firing at pursuers. It doesn’t help that Night City doesn’t really feel designed for car chases either which can deflate some of the excitement of being chased by two or three different cars. There are so many lengthy stretches of roads, and there aren’t that many interesting streets or intersections that can be used to expertly evade pursuers. Dogtown is a bit better, but it is a small part of a larger map. Thankfully, CD Projekt Red allows you to use an auto-aim feature while driving which can target key areas like tires and make it feel like less of a juggling act.

CDPR has also injected new features into existing ones as well. The perk system has gotten a massive overhaul, and now, when you start the game, you’ll have all of your perks reset so you can respec everything. Previously, the perks in Cyberpunk felt very scattered and not that exciting. There were various perks that just gave you modifiers like “increases X% of damage in stealth” and other bonuses that don’t make leveling up feel exciting. It felt like it missed the point of letting you build a character with specific paths and playstyles in mind.

Update 2.0 fixes that completely with more clearly laid out perk branches that actually elevate the gameplay with new things like air dashes. I vehemently despised the melee combat when I first played Cyberpunk 2077, but now, it’s part of my main playstyle. I started building my character to be a cyber-ninja of sorts, utilizing quick hacks to weaken or disorient my enemies when they’re at range and then quickly moving in to slice them up with a katana. There’s also a new perk that allows you to deflect bullets back at your enemies which can help you close a gap between someone shooting at you while still dealing damage. All of this can be combined with various movement perks to make you run faster, dash further, and move more vertically if you so desire. 

I also keep a pistol handy just in case and will leverage perks that can activate slow-mo for a short time, allowing me to land some quick headshots without it being massively disruptive to my momentum. Cyberpunk 2077‘s combat has never had this much rhythm or depth to it, but the reworks to various pillars to the game have taken it to new heights. I really never anticipated having this much of a turn around on the game, but I am so glad it happened.

Unfortunately, Cyberpunk 2077 still seems to have a bunch of bugs, even after Update 2.0. I saw people floating, cars flipping into the air for no reason, staircases that were disconnected from the world, I had an airdrop disappear after I cleared out the enemies and hacked into it and much, much more. There was even a climactic boss battle where said boss ended up getting stuck and couldn’t move. I was able to just lay bullets into them with no effort, and it really sucked all of the energy out of the scene. It’s a far more stable game than it was in 2020, but it is really saddening to see that it’s still got some rough edges.

Even though there are still some issues with Cyberpunk 2077 that still gnaw at me, Update 2.0 clearly delivers the fully realized vision CD Projekt Red had from the start and then some. It’s a much more satisfying RPG that is elevated by a variety of new mechanics and features. If you fell off of the game or have been avoiding it due to the game’s launch issues, I highly recommend returning to it as you may find that it is a much more commendable product. After this update, CD Projekt Red will hopefully be able to identify what it needs to improve upon in a sequel and will be able to do so efficiently.