01//Briefing
You play V, a mercenary in Night City who takes one job too many and ends up carrying an experimental chip holding the engram of Johnny Silverhand, a rocker-terrorist who died fifty years earlier. The chip is slowly overwriting you. That clock gives the main story its urgency, and the long, argumentative relationship between V and Johnny is the best writing in the game. You pick one of three lifepaths at the start (Nomad, Streetkid or Corpo), which changes the prologue and adds dialogue options throughout.
02//In the field
First-person combat splits into three schools that all work: guns (with smart weapons that curve bullets around cover), blades and fists boosted by cyberware, and netrunning, where you hack enemies through quickhacks without firing a shot. Update 2.0 rebuilt the perk trees, armour and cyberware capacity, so builds now feel distinct rather than numerically different. Driving is serviceable, chases are louder since the police rework, and stealth works but is the least developed of the routes.
03//The city
Night City is the reason to play. It is vertical, crowded and coherent: corporate plazas sit two blocks from shanty markets, every district has its own architecture, radio stations and gangs, and side jobs are often better written than the main plot. Gigs from fixers, cyberpsycho hunts and the longer side stories (look out for the ones involving Panam, Judy and River) are where the city shows its depth. Few games make standing at a street corner this interesting.
04//Systems & choice
Choices matter mostly in relationships and endings rather than in reshaping the city. Several endings depend on who you have earned trust from, and a hidden one rewards a specific conversation with Johnny. Phantom Liberty adds a tighter, spy-thriller campaign in the walled district of Dogtown, with a new ending of its own and the relic skill tree. If you buy one expansion on this site, it is this one.
05//On your rig
The PC version is the best way to play. It scales from older GPUs to full path tracing, supports the major upscalers and frame generation, and the 2.x patches fixed most of the launch-era bugs. It is Steam Deck Verified, but expect to accept lower settings and a 30 fps target on the Deck. A fast SSD makes a noticeable difference to streaming in the denser districts.
Upgrades
- A city with more texture than any other open world
- Three combat styles that all hold up after the 2.0 rework
- V and Johnny's relationship carries the story
- Phantom Liberty is a top-tier expansion
Bugs
- Main story choices change little in the open world
- Driving and stealth lag behind combat
- Still demanding on mid-range PCs
BEST FOR
Players who want one huge, dense world with a strong story at its centre.
SKIP IF
You want choices that reshape the map, or you only have a few hours a week.
SC//Scores
- Story & writing ×25%
- 4.8
- Play feel ×25%
- 4.5
- World & atmosphere ×20%
- 5.0
- Systems & choice ×15%
- 4.4
- PC tech ×15%
- 4.2
4.8×25% + 4.5×25% + 5.0×20% + 4.4×15% + 4.2×15% = 4.615 → 4.6
FINAL VERDICT
The rough launch is history. Today Cyberpunk 2077 is the most complete cyberpunk game on Steam: a city that feels inhabited, combat that supports very different builds, and a story that lands its emotional punches. Add Phantom Liberty and it tops our chart without much competition.
Written by the Game Top Guide editorial desk · Updated 3 Oct 2026 · How we rate · Report an error
