Cyberpunk 2077 (2.0 + Phantom Liberty)

I need to acknowledge what this game was at launch in 2020 before I talk about what it is now, because the context matters. Cyberpunk 2077 launched broken on last-gen consoles, unfinished on PC, and as a PR disaster that damaged CD Projekt RED's reputation severely. On a 4090 at launch it was technically impressive but mechanically hollow — the RPG systems were a facade over a competent but unremarkable action game.

Update 2.0 and the Phantom Liberty expansion have fundamentally changed that assessment.

The reworked perk tree is night and day. Playing a Netrunner now means actually hacking through the architecture of enemy systems in real time, not just pressing a button and watching opponents melt. Reflex builds feel like a ballet of violence. Tech weapons create entirely different engagement rhythms. For the first time V's build actually shapes how Night City fights back.

Night City itself was always the true achievement and it remains one of the most staggeringly detailed environments in gaming. Watson, Pacifica, Dogtown added in Phantom Liberty — each district has a texture and a social geography that I have not experienced in any other open world.

The main story and Johnny Silverhand's arc were always strong. Keanu Reeves delivers a performance of genuine complexity. The endings hit differently depending on the choices you've made and the character you've built.

Phantom Liberty is the expansion that showed what Cyberpunk always could have been. Reed and Song So Mi are among the best new characters CDPR have ever written. The spy thriller tonal shift is expertly executed.

Frame rate still staggers in Dogtown at 4K max settings. Path tracing is extraordinary but brings even a 4090 to its knees. These are edge cases on high-end hardware — on mid-range systems the optimisation work is significantly better than it was.