Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly looks better than the trailers

With the release of Cyberpunk 2077 just hours away, early reviews for the game are beginning to come in.

One review assembled on YouTube by Digital Foundry has stated that, much to their surprise, it seems that CD Projekt Red might have undersold the graphical fidelity of Cyberpunk 2077.

According to their review, when played with a GPU which can handle the game’s ray tracing and other graphical components, the game actually ends up looking better than even the polished trailers made to sell the game.

This games a whole new generation of graphics. You realize RTX is like a thing of the future. It's so elegant. I've played Watchdogs Legion first hand and I've taken mouthwatering images . I can't wait for cyberpunk . The fact that we get to experience it is just amazing. pic.twitter.com/XNGAS8o9ZV

— FA113N (@n_fa113) December 6, 2020

Where to see Cyberpunk 2077 at the highest graphics

Unfortunately, Digital Foundry wasn’t able to show how Cyberpunk 2077 actually looked on their own gaming rig as the review policy from CD Projekt Red stipulated that reviews released before the game could only use previously released footage.

However, with the game only hours away, a number of streamers and content creators have gotten their hands on early copies. Because a lot of these streamers play on high quality gaming rigs, there is plenty of footage of the game being played naturally at the highest settings.

When these new videos are compared to the older videos of gameplay it seems as though Digital Foundry’s claim holds up. Although Cyberpunk 2077 certainly sports its fair share of middle tier graphical content, when played at the highest quality, it effectively pushes the bar for graphical quality in open world games.

Do graphics matter in Cyberpunk 2077?

Whenever a new game or console reveals that it has managed to push the boundaries of what was previously thought possible with graphics, the debate over how much graphics ultimately matter gets reignited.

It’s entirely fair to say that graphics don’t always matter and that other things can often matter more than a game’s appearance, but that doesn’t capture the whole debate.

It’s true that Cyberpunk 2077 will likely rely more heavily on its gameplay, writing, and characters than on its graphics to keep players engaged, but graphical quality does have a role to play.

Namely, high quality graphics allow players to seamlessly enter the world of Cyberpunk 2077, with the visual appearance serving as a medium for gameplay and writing to be absorbed by the player.

Cyberpunk 2077 tip: If you have any graphics related bugs or issues you need to lower your graphics settings. This can solve a lot of problems!🔧#Cyberpunk2077 pic.twitter.com/8iyLPzeF8d

— Cyberpunk Network (@CyberpunkNT) December 9, 2020

For most players, this can be achieved by playing the game at a medium setting, and not all players are going to need to see the game with all the bells and whistles enabled. It will ultimately come down to each individual player to figure out how they want the game to look.