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[Draugoth]

CD Projekt is looking for a redemption story with Cyberpunk 2077's big expansion, Phantom Liberty. I spoke to director Gabe Amatangelo about overhauling the game, getting as much time as they need, and improving CD Projekt's work-life balance issues:

• Also a little scoop in here: Amatangelo, who started in 2020 and became director of Phantom Liberty a year later, told Bloomberg that after this he will direct the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077

Phantom Liberty features an ambitious storyline that involves rescuing and protecting the president of the game’s fictional “New United States of America.” Based on a recent hour of playing time, the new extension appears to challenge players with lots of interesting decisions, such as whether to trust a pair of drifters who show up at the safe house in which the president is hiding.

Following the blueprint of the company’s previous hit game, The Witcher 3, CD Projekt had originally planned to release at least two expansions for Cyberpunk 2077. But after its poor reception, the company scrapped the original strategy, pivoted to free content updates and eventually decided to focus on Phantom Liberty.

In May 2021, top director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz left the studio following an internal investigation into accusations of bullying, which he denied. Shortly afterward, his brother Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz, who was leading Phantom Liberty, stepped down too and was replaced by Amatangelo, an industry veteran who had joined CD Projekt the previous year.

Amatangelo went on to lead the development of Cyberpunk 2077’s well received patch 1.5, which was released in February 2022. He and his team are now finishing the new expansion. CD Projekt’s board of directors, he said, has given them carte blanche to “make it right,” including all the time and resources he requested.

Whereas the expansions of The Witcher 3 were released within a year of the game’s arrival, Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty has been in development for more than two years. “The commitment to it from a board level is something else, really,” Amatangelo said. “I was struck by the humility and willingness to change.”

By contrast, people who worked on the initial release of Cyberpunk 2077 said that they had expected to keep improving the game for at least two more years of development. Instead, the rushed release has become a cautionary tale for the industry and a reference point when other companies delay games.

Despite its problems, Cyberpunk 2077 has been commercially successful, selling more than 20 million copies. But it was also marred by so many glitches that Sony Group Corp. ended up pulling it from the PlayStation digital store for more than six months.

 

[Kdad]

getting as much time as they need, and improving CD Projekt's work-life balance issues.

STFU Jason.

For someone so concerned about the welfare of the working class...he/she sure doesn't have an issue using Twitter.

 

[Heisenberg007]

The new patch sounds great. I hope it delivers on their original vision of the game.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I’ve only ever played Cyberpunk as of 1.5 on PC and I think it’s a great game. I played probably 10 hours worth but dropped it for something else like I usually do!

I’m going to start a brand new playthrough when the new update drops and I’ll pick up the expansion too.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Ok, redeemed for me.

Will buy full package when it releases.

 

[Gambit2483]

The fact they completely reworked the police system/AI and added actual car chases showed that they are trying to make the game that should have released.

Hopefully they can pull a "No Man's Sky" because this franchise/World deserved so much better than what we initially got.

 

[Bernardougf]

The new patch sounds great. I hope it delivers on their original vision of the game.

If it does please let me know.. may be time to jump in... witcher 3 complete edition is just goat material .. wish cp2077 leave up to that

 

[rhodesianshepard]

I bought Cyberpunk on release but stopped playing after 5-8 hrs due all the issues. Really excited that all the updates also come to the base game. The AI was so atrocious on release it completely killed the immersion for me. Look forward to jump back in

 

[Gaiff]

Releasing Cyberpunk for last-gen consoles was a horrible blunder. They should have simply released a PC version and then a PS5/SX port. It cost them a lot in the long run.

 

[stn]

One thing I would really like from this patch, and it might seem stupid: for long sleeve attires to display properly. I assume it conflicts with the arm cyberware but there must be some way to patch it in.

 

[Last Hearth]

Unfortunately this game is not redeemable for me.

 

[Kacho]

I mean that’s cool but I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

[DeepEnigma]

getting as much time as they need, and improving CD Projekt's work-life balance issues.

 

[drganon]

I only played it after the next gen patch and thought it was really good. But if they're going to further improve things, ill check out the expansion.

 

[KyoZz]

Not falling for their bullshit EVER again. Even now, the game is still heavily bugged because most of the biggest issues are tied to how the game has been coded.
So fuck them.

 

[R6Rider]

 

[Abriael_GN]

Not falling for their bullshit EVER again. Even now, the game is still heavily bugged because most of the biggest issues are tied to how the game has been coded.
So fuck them.

Imagine being this irrationally salty about a game.

 

[crackajack]

Releasing Cyberpunk for last-gen consoles was a horrible blunder. They should have simply released a PC version and then a PS5/SX port. It cost them a lot in the long run.

Strategically it was an error, but I also don't get what was so demanding that it did not run well on PS4 and Xbone. The visuals had to take a hit, sure, but something in the code was fundamentally not in harmony with Jaguar cpus and they had to remove so much now that aimlessly wandering NPCs of Hitman or AC (on PS360) filled a world better. Just weird.
But eg. Driveclub also fumbled its launch and they needed forever to fix it. Happens it seems.

 

[HL3.exe]

Hope it succeeds. I liked the tone/vibe enough. Even though a lot if the edgy language is cringe, it's humaneness in it's characters, the personal stakes and motivation being more personal/existential, instead of the usual "world is in danger" tropes was refreshing and well executed.

But I was severely disappointed from a design and structure standpoint. A lot of systems where bloated, poorly implemented or just straight up bad (looking at you pointless 'looter shooter' system). it's underlying simulation is non-existent, heavily scripted or janky as hell. It black pilled me on AAA games quite a bit. (Just being unsustainable, and no real meaningful growth in game-logic complexity, just vapid 'window-dressing' simulation and focusing of visuals)

But the tone and vibe alone make me interested, especially if they solve these systems driven issues. Cautiously looking forward to it.

 

[KyoZz]

Imagine being this irrationally salty about a game.

Not salty but fuckin disappointed.
I pre-ordered the game because I thought CDPR was a developer I could trust. They blatantly lied again and again (we leave greed to other) and released an unfinished product.
BUT I'm not just a troll or a hater, here is my Steam review for instance (written in French so sorry if I failed the traduction):

The game is far too buggy, and these constantly break the immersion. We're literally at an early access stage, and it pains me to write this.

But where I can't forgive CDPR is on the lies. I can accept a game that has problems (even after 3 postponements I could have forgiven), but what does not pass are all the parts that have been amputated.

The list is long (the police, the reactive world, the NPCs with their own routines etc...) and I don't want to repeat what you can easily find on the internet.
You can also just watch and listen to the official 48-minute gameplay video and its famous "Night City is the most believable city in any open-world game to date".
What a joke...

Interactions with the world are ridiculous, food and water are useless and even give outright negative effects. Your choices have almost NO consequences except in two or three very specific places, the rest is an illusion.
The city is untapped and you can clearly feel whole portions of "cut" content, I'm thinking in particular of the roughly butchered Pacifia district.

Despite everything, I managed to appreciate the game under certain aspects: a dark universe, full of details with a high quality soundtrack and endearing and well-written characters.
Visually it's a great success, with a city to die for that has a real identity. The characters are extremely detailed with animations which in my opinion are the best of what can be done today. The places visited are all worked with care.

The pure gameplay works very well. The double jump opens the door to a lot of possibilities and the Deus Ex aspect (from 2010 and +) in open world stands out a lot.
As for the feel of the weapons, it varies quite a bit between a very fat pump and a smart-gun with auto aim piou piou of the future (don't use these weapons to save yourself) but overall it's really clean.
There is still a slight filler on some NCPD interventions, which are the blue dots on the map and which represent a substantial part of the secondary content.

TLDR; a game to do once when all the bugs are fixed but too many lies

As you can see, it's not "the game is shit". It's more complex than that. Only success left I have to unlock is bugged, other than than I 100% the game:

But I don't see myself giving them 30e more. What they did with the patches is way too little, too late.

 

[Rex_DX]

I assume the overhaul to the base systems is a free update releasing in conjunction with the expansion ... right?

... they wouldn't lock that behind a paywall would they?

I'm still buying the expansion so it's kind of moot for me but I'm curious.

 

[GymWolf]

Yeah they need to balance their game to not be a mindless cakewalk if they want me to buy the dlc.

 

[Kacho]

Not falling for their bullshit EVER again. Even now, the game is still heavily bugged because most of the biggest issues are tied to how the game has been coded.
So fuck them.

Yeah, if feels like they're making the same mistake all over again. The issues are at the very core of the game. You can see it in the games DNA when you play it. It's a bunch of little things that add up and isn't as charming as something like Bethesda jank.

The game seems to be in a much better state now and I'm sure the expansion patch will push that even further. However, I'm way past the point of giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah they need to balance their game to not be a mindless cakewalk if they want me to buy the dlc.

Couldn't agree more. Balancing and progression were two things they called out so here's hoping.

 

[Abriael_GN]

Not salty but fuckin disappointed.

Keeping this kind of grudge is what you call "salty."

At the moment, Cyberpunk 2077 is up there with the best RPGs on the market. No game has no flaws. Cyberpunk 2077 has some left, but it's an experience that offers way more than most games out there.

Also, CD Projekt is *by far* one of the developers who has always proved to be customer-friendly. That doesn't mean never making mistakes, but they've owned and worked hard to fix them all. Can't say that for many devs out there.

 

[TheMan]

The fact they completely reworked the police system/AI and added actual car chases showed that they are trying to make the game that should have released.

Hopefully they can pull a "No Man's Sky" because this franchise/World deserved so much better than what we initially got.

I don’t think they’re going to pull off anything quite that miraculous but yeah it would be nice for the final package to be closer to their original vision

 

[nowhat]

So they've patched in better NPCs, a whole new DLC area and all that. Have they patched in a decent RPG yet?

Don't get me wrong, I'll buy this. And will be replaying Cyberpunk on PS5, which I assume will be a better experience than PS4 Pro at launch (that literally crashed every 30 mins). So I'm cautiously optimistic. But so far, as an RPG, Cyberpunk has firmly been in the "meh" territory for me.

 

[KyoZz]

Keeping this kind of grudge is what you call "salty."

At the moment, Cyberpunk 2077 is up there with the best RPGs on the market. No game has no flaws. Cyberpunk 2077 has some left, but it's an experience that offers way more than most games out there.

Also, CD Projekt is *by far* one of the developers who has always proved to be customer-friendly. That doesn't mean never making mistakes, but they've owned and worked hard to fix them all. Can't say that for many devs out there.

I don't agree there is still A LOT of bugs you can easily reproduce (like the one with the NPCs changing as soon as you aim which is, as I said, tied to how the game is coded).
What does CP2077 do which is such a revolution? Apart from the graphics, nothing. They lost all credibility to me, but you set your own limits and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Msamy]

From what I saw this dlc are gonna look amazing

 

[Gamer79]

Redeem it but still charge $30?

 

[Kacho]

Redeem it but still charge $30?

To be fair to CDPR, they aren’t charging for the patch that will fix a lot of the issues.

 

[SF Kosmo]

getting as much time as they need, and improving CD Projekt's work-life balance issues.

STFU Jason.

For someone so concerned about the welfare of the working class...he/she sure doesn't have an issue using Twitter.

It's about fixing what was broken in the company, though. When people are crunching for long periods of time the quality of their work goes down and you start getting a bunch of janky fixes for problems that needed more time.

Jason is just reporting what new management says they've done to fix the culture that led to a broken game.

 

[Fools idol]

It's comical they think I will buy a DLC after the trainwreck they released that I paid full price for and couldn't even play on my system because the game was completely broken for months after release.

It makes me resent people who buy this, as petty as that sounds, because there is no excuse for their shit.

 

[iorek21]

I hope the patch has a more "immersive sim" than vanilla. Things like being able to sit at benches or restaurants and eating/drinking stuff like you can do on quests. Putting new cyberware at ripperdocs should have more animations than just opening a menu, that was a huge letdown on vanilla.

NPCs being more lively would be great as well.

 

[ebevan91]

I hope the patch has a more "immersive sim" than vanilla. Things like being able to sit at benches or restaurants and eating/drinking stuff like you can do on quests. Putting new cyberware at ripperdocs should have more animations than just opening a menu, that was a huge letdown on vanilla.

NPCs being more lively would be great as well.

This is one of the confirmed changes for the next major patch. You'll actually be able to see the cyberware being installed.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Redeem? Cyberpunk is one of the best games I’ve played in the last few years.

 

[March Climber]

Imagine being this irrationally salty about a game.

For No Mans Sky it’s been almost 10 years of salt for certain people here.

 

[Adam_802]

Why would CDPR give this POS the time of day?....

 

[Tokio Blues]

Redeem? Cyberpunk is one of the best games I’ve played in the last few years.

Totally agree with this take. It is meant to be played as an RPG not a GTA. It has a lot a flaws, it's not perfect. But man, the world, characters and all the lore is a beauty. I enjoyed a lot, almost 140hrs, and i did all main and secondary quest, including NCPD.

 

[Superkewl]

can't wait! been holding off on this game till it was complete and only got a few months to go

 

[Danjin44]

It is meant to be played as an RPG not a GTA.

Its not but you cant deny CDPR kind of marketed like that, so I would say this was their own fault.

 

[Arsic]

I’m down to do a full replay during the winter if it changes enough. I completed it on release and just felt the endings were the worst part l.

 

[NickFire]

They have long since redeemed themselves with the current gen versions IMO. But heck yes expand away. Looking forward to it.

 

[Black_Stride]

Redeem?

Didnt CP2077 win GOTY and this expansion isnt going to lastgen machines which were truly broken?

 

[Mr Hyde]

For No Mans Sky it’s been almost 10 years of salt for certain people here.

Is it 10 years since NMS launched?

 

[LostDonkey]

Is it 10 years since NMS launched?

7.

Is the expansion free?

 

[GigaBowser]

You cants just tack on an open world years later this wonts work

 

[Tokio Blues]

Its not but you cant deny CDPR kind of marketed like that, so I would say this was their own fault.

Yes, but that doesnt make it a bad game at all. You can clearly see that devs were restricted by the technological capacity of the last generation consoles. The minimum requirement for the new DLC is an SSD. They sold false promises, and it was buggy at launch, but is really a good game.

 

[Danjin44]

Yes, but that doesnt make it a bad game at all. You can clearly see that devs were restricted by the technological capacity of the last generation consoles. The minimum requirement for the new DLC is an SSD. They sold false promises, and it was buggy at launch, but is really a good game.

As someone who doesn't usually enjoy WRPGs this was fun game but also one of the buggiest game I ever experienced in my life. For me the Cyberpunk setting was really biggest selling point.

 

[HazukiSensei]

I mean that’s cool but I’ll believe it when I see it.

What platform did you play on, and what did you think if the witcher?

Because the games are literally good at the same things lol

 

[Putonahappyface]

I'm done with this game now. I'll possibly try a sequel after reviews though.