So maybe 10 hours into Cyberpunk (PS5)...
A) I have not played The Witcher 3 because I did not like the gameplay of the 2nd one, nor care for its world. Outside GOT, high fantasy rarely does anything for me. However, I love a good Western RPG and have been let down my almost every single one of the modern era (Fallout 3, Outer Worlds, Mass Effect Andromeda).
B) I did not follow any of the pre-game hype. I learned years ago to ignore everything until reviews. Because of this, I had no expection of what was promised.
C) I also love GTA and open world games in general.
So... 10 hours in:
A) The bugs have been extremely minimal
B) The flaws of the game are very evident and most of them are linked to the open world design decision. For example, when driving the world suddenly feels empty. And the density of the open world and the type of random encounters that Red Dead 2 set the stardard for were simply outside of this games budget. The city looks gorgeous and the art design are awesome though and the verticality of things is extremely unique. It makes me wish they had made your character more agile ala Mirror's Edge.
C) Other flaws include the UI is kind of being a mess, the pacing of the voice acting being a touch off and the voice acting itself being a touch hit or miss (though most of it hits)
AND YET
I haven't been this addicted to a game in a long, long time. I mean maybe the Switch animal crissing counts? But that was at the height of the pandemic. And much like Stardew (which I was also addicted to in 2019) was more about the gameplay loop than a sense of awe and a story driving me forward. Maybe LoU2? But I'd argue I actually chipped away at that one a reasonable pace even if I was consistent about it. With this game, I literally got off work on Friday and have not left my apartment other than to walk my dog.
So why is it so addictive despite the flaws?
1) The story (thus far) is really well done. And the characters and world building are even better.
2) The gunplay is really satisfying. Which as somebody who would never actively choose to take a stealth approach, means I'm really enjoying to core gameplay.
3) The game just has so much fucking imagination and I am 1000% absorbed in where everything is going.
So yeah-- I haven't dug to see if there is Cyberpunk discussion for 2 years ago on here... but in the year 2022 on a PS5? If you are a story driven gamer who likes Fallout or OG Bioware... Cyberpunk is definitely worth playing.