Cyberpunk 2077

A Journey Through a Possible Future There are games you play, games you finish, and then there are games that stay with you for a little longer. Cyberpunk 2077 was that kind of experience for me. I had already played it in the past on Xbox Series S, but I never really experienced it the way I wanted to. This time was different. Playing it on PC, with ray tracing pushed to the maximum and everything my GPU could handle, finally gave me the chance to experience Night City the way I had always wanted. I also came into it with very high expectations. I already knew how much this game had to tell, how complex it could be and how much freedom it offered. I knew there was a lot to discover, but knowing all of that did not make the journey any less special. Finding My V One of the funniest parts of my experience is that it took me around 50 hours to really find my own way of playing. At first, I approached almost everything through stealth, carefully planning encounters and trying to remain unseen. Then I started combining katana combat with netrunning, and suddenly everything clicked. Later, especially during the final stages, I changed again and went almost completely the opposite way: shotgun in hand, charging straight into the action like a mix between a berserker, Rambo and the Terminator. It was chaotic and incredibly fun, but more importantly, it felt like I had finally found my own V. That connection with the protagonist was one of the things I appreciated most. I often felt completely in sync with his decisions and reactions. I wasn't simply controlling a character. I felt like I was following someone who, just like me, was fighting against the world for one simple reason: survival. Night City Is a Character And then there is Night City. I genuinely believe that Night City is one of the protagonists of Cyberpunk 2077. It feels alive, and every district seems to show another side of the society that created it. Every street, every building, every advertisement and every skyline tells a different story. You can walk through the city and immediately feel the contrast between technology, wealth, poverty, violence, ambition and desperation. It is not just the place where the story happens. It becomes part of the story itself. Even after dozens of hours, I still found myself stopping just to look around and take in the view. That relationship between V and the city gradually became one of the things I loved most about the whole experience. The People You Meet Along the Way The characters are another huge part of what made this journey so memorable for me. Panam is definitely the one I became most attached to. It's hard not to become emotionally invested in the relationship that develops with her and the people around her, and those moments became some of my favorite parts of the game. Johnny Silverhand was completely different. My relationship with him constantly changed. There were moments when I hated him, and others when I felt completely in sync with him. I think that is exactly what made his presence so interesting: he never felt like a simple companion or a character you were supposed to either love or hate. He challenged V, argued with him, influenced him and sometimes made him realize that they were thinking in exactly the same way. That relationship became one of the strongest parts of V's story for me. The Missions I Will Remember Some missions were simply fun, but others stayed with me long after they were over. The final assault on Arasaka Tower was definitely one of those moments, because after everything that had happened, it felt like the culmination of the entire journey. Johnny's past was another part that I found particularly memorable, giving even more depth to a character I had already spent so many hours trying to understand. And then there was the concert sequence with Kerry Eurodyne and the others. Experiencing that scene in first person, surrounded by the music, the lights and the atmosphere of Night City, was one of those moments where I stopped thinking about objectives and simply enjoyed being there. These are the moments that turn a huge open-world RPG into something deeply personal. Phantom Liberty Phantom Liberty gave me another reason to stay in this world even longer, and I really enjoyed it. The main story, Dogtown, Reed, Songbird, Mr. Hands and all the places connected to them created an experience that felt worthy of being part of Cyberpunk 2077. Reed and Songbird in particular gave the story a very different emotional tone, and Songbird's final moments were among the most difficult and emotional parts of the entire DLC for me. No matter which ending you reach, her story carries a weight that is hard to forget. I also appreciated how strongly Phantom Liberty continued the game's philosophy of choice and consequence. Even the different ways V can approach situations can lead to very different experiences. The ending where V is cured through Reed's help and returns after two years gave me mixed feelings, but I understood the intention behind it. 115 Hours in Night City I spent around 115 hours with Cyberpunk 2077 and completed every achievement, including Phantom Liberty: 57 out of 57. My time with the game was balanced between exploration, missions and experimentation, but toward the end I definitely started speeding things up. After playing so much stealth and precision, I wanted to experience other sides of the game, and that was when my V transformed into a shotgun-wielding berserker. Going from silent infiltration to running straight into combat was almost like experiencing another version of the same character. And that is one of the things I appreciated so much: I was constantly discovering new ways to play, even after dozens of hours. What Cyberpunk 2077 Made Me Think About More than anything else, Cyberpunk 2077 left me with a reflection on life, choices and the future. It made me think about how different our lives can become depending on the decisions we make, and how much we are willing to fight for the things we care about. It also made me look differently at the idea of the future itself. The world of Cyberpunk can be incredibly beautiful from a technological point of view, but what fascinated me most was the contrast between that technological progress and the human stories taking place inside it. The first time I saw the enormous mountain of garbage outside Night City, I immediately thought that this could actually be a possible future. I hope it isn't, but the fact that similar realities already exist in parts of the real world makes that image even more powerful. Final Thoughts I finished Cyberpunk 2077 with one feeling above everything else: Satisfaction. Satisfaction because I finally experienced the game the way I had always wanted to. Satisfaction because I discovered Night City piece by piece. Satisfaction because I watched V grow, change and fight for his life. Satisfaction because I met people I will remember. Panam. Johnny. Reed. Songbird. Kerry. And so many others. I spent around 115 hours in this world. And for a while, Night City felt real. I explored its streets. I listened to its stories. I watched its lights. I laughed. I fought. I chose. I lost myself in it. And eventually, I reached the end. Closing the game after completing everything did not feel like simply finishing another title. It felt like saying goodbye to a place I had spent a long time visiting. A place that gave me memories. A place full of characters whose stories I will remember. A place that made me stop and look around more than once. A place that, for 115 hours, became my world. And maybe that is the greatest thing a game can do. Make you feel like you were really there. Goodbye, Night City. I'll remember the journey.