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The first few reviews of CD Projekt Red's magnum opus, Cyberpunk 2077, are in, and it's quite the mixed bag.
While a large section seems to agree unanimously on the gorgeous open-world setting and innovative splendor, the major drawback that many outlets seem to be harping about is the abundance of bugs.
According to them, this is likely the result of the game getting rushed post the multiple delays and development crunch fiasco, resulting in a somewhat sub-par gameplay experience on the whole.
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Apart from the concerning bug issues, the key takeaway from the early set of reviews from prominent outlets is the unwarranted and overtly critical lens revolving around finding questionable flaws in the overall gameplay.
This approach has led to people from the online community labeling these Cyberpunk 2077 reviews as "cringe" and tinged with shades of activism:
With questions raised on the game's handling of "positive representation," the run-up to its release seems to be riddled with a strong duality of perception, as fans reacted to the game's early "negative" reviews.
Cyberpunk 2077: Fans react to negative reviews
According to a majority of fans, the recurrent feature in most early reviews of Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be the tendency to be negative for the sake of being so.
There appears to be an apparent discrepancy between the critic's thoughts and the final scores, which surprisingly has been consistently in the 90-plus range so far.
This sense of hypocrisy was highlighted in a recent video by Jeremy Habley of TheQuartering:
"They all seem to have the same wording, but they can't find anything wrong with it. They want more of their progressive politics in the game; that's what it is."
His comments link directly to another reason why Cyberpunk 2077 is being called out by game critics — for simply not being "woke enough."
For instance, in Polygon's review, the introductory paragraph emphasizes how, instead of being a revolutionary benchmark equipped with a futuristic worldview, Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be perfectly comfortable living in the past.
Gamespot adopted a similar stance, deciding to give the game 7 out of 10 overall for a "lack of purpose."
While justified criticism in the form of a bug-riddled experience is always welcome and necessary, what has irked the online community and made it all the more skeptical is this negative approach.
They believe that this approach digresses from the game's central gameplay and technical prowess.
With just two days left for the game's official launch, gamers and fans seem to be having a hard time buying into some of the early Cyberpunk 2077 reviews.
This is because, in their eyes, media outlets are pandering a tad bit too much to a socio-political template rather than merely focussing on being a nuanced, out-and-out game review.
Until players can finally get their hands on Cyberpunk 2077 on 10th December, they can only say that the jury's still out on this one.
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