Cyberpunk 2077 is awesome. It’s a triumph of game engineering, features a huge, lively worlds, and is one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played. It will certainly land on many peoples’ Game of the Year lists.
That is, unless you’re playing on the original Xbox One or PlayStation 4.
If you’re playing on those consoles from 2013, then what you’ll get is a blocky, nigh-unplayable mess. The game will crash, or have odd graphical glitches. During particularly intense segments, the gameplay might slow down to a crawl.
For those who have the new Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, the game plays great. And it absolutely shines on Windows PC, very clearly the target platform.
Cyberpunk 2077 pre-sold in huge numbers, but nearly all the gameplay shown before the launch was captured on PC. The game’s developer didn’t let people know beforehand that the games would not play well on their old consoles, and only provided review copies on PC. The experience is so bad on the older consoles, Sony and Microsoft are offering refunds on the game, no questions asked.
So, why do people pre-order games like this? Years ago, pre-ordering was a way to guarantee a copy of the game that might have limited stock available on launch day. But it’s been a decade since I’ve had trouble finding a game, and even if there was limited stock, I could just buy it digitally and have it on my console instantly.
It seems, more and more, that pre-orders are a way to get you on the hook before anyone has a chance to convince you not to buy the game, with only marketing to judge it by. So, my advice is just... don’t pre-order games. Wait for the first reviews, make sure it’s worth it. You won’t miss much, I promise.
