Daily Archives: October 11, 2021

Cyberpunk 2077

Yesterday, I got a new PC from PowerGPU after my old one died last week. I could have repaired it, and I probably still will, but I figured it was time for an upgrade anyway.

The first game I installed after I got it set up? Cyberpunk 2077. Not because Im dying to go back and talk to Hanako for the twelfth time, but because I wanted to see how it looked on my new machine. And what I found was further evidence of how badly CDPR screwed up this launch, and how things could have gone an entirely different direction.

Ive played Cyberpunk 2077 through about two and a half times now. My first playthrough was on my Xbox Series X running an Xbox One X version of the game. My second was on PC, running the game on my 2060, which was enough to make it certainly look better than the last-gen console version, and yet my build was not powerful enough to turn on raytracing without frames dropping into unplayability.

So, here we are nearly a year later. I now have a 3080, I am playing on a brand new $3,000 machine. We have had 10 months worth of performance patches and fixes.

And finally, finally Cyberpunk looks and feels like the transformative game it could have been, if it had resisted the temptation to both release too early and to cater to last generation consoles.

Cyberpunk 2077

With my PC now, I can play on max settings, and turn raytracing up to Psycho levels. Thats literally what the setting is called, Psycho. This results in dramatic transformation of the lighting in the game, particularly at night, where you can now see things like reflections of the neon street signs in road puddles and car windows.

In general, the game looks absolutely incredible now, and Ive been entertaining myself wandering around, taking the screenshots you see here. And its doing all of this while not dropping at frames at all, running smoothly.

The problem, of course, is obvious. I am on a computer that costs $3K. This is not the first game to run much better on an expensive machine, and yet the gulf here between not just an ultra PC and PS4/Xbox One, but also the current Series X and PS5 versions, or even a lesser PC, is massive. And what percentage of the playerbase has experienced a game that looks and plays like this? 1%? 0.1%? If that.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 should never have been released for last-gen consoles. Maybe that is incorrect from a sales perspective, as the game moved 15+ million units, many of those on those consoles, and yet from a reputation perspective, if CDPR had waited and produced a Series X/PS5 version that was close to this level of visual fidelity, the entire narrative around the game would have changed. And yet here we are a year later and were still not even sure that version is going to make it out this year.

I have never experienced a transformation quite like this, at least in terms of visuals. The core problems with Cyberpunk 2077 remain of course, and are not PC-dependent (enemy AI, game difficulty), but this could have easily been highly praised for a host of other reasons had it not released on consoles where it looked terrible and barely ran at all at launch.

My advice remains not to pick up Cyberpunk if you havent yet until the Series X and PS5 versions come out, as if theyre anywhere close to this, it will be a transformative experience. Everyone should get to experience the game like this, but only a tiny fraction ever will.

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Playing Cyberpunk 2077 How Its Supposed To Be Played Is Lifechanging - Forbes

Gif: Kotaku / ThinkingStars

During the Steam Next Fest, a week-long event featuring demos and previews for upcoming games, one game called out to me from the crowd: the cyberpunk role-playing game ANNO: Mutationem. The trailer alone felt specifically designed to lure me in, with its rhythmic soundtrack, its neon-drenched cityscape, and its badass female lead chopping up mechas with a laser sword. I was smitten.

Designed by ThinkingStars, ANNO: Mutationem is an action-adventure game in which you play as Ann Flores, a highly-skilled combat-trained lone wolf, as she faces off against mega-corporations in pursuit of her missing brother. If her description reminds you of Ghost in the Shells Motoko Kusanagi, well, youre not off-base. Right off the bat, ANNOs aesthetic recalls the iconic cyberpunk stories that came before it like Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, and Blade Runner. In the demo, Anno even wakes up from bed and opens her blinds just like GITS Major Kusanagi, wears a similar skin-tight combat suit, and has a scripted scene where she looks out at the citys skyline, like a pixel art version of Rick Deckard looking over Blade Runners dystopian Los Angeles. ANNOs obvious inspirations dont dip into parody though; instead they provide a familiar foundation from which the game jumps off to tell its own story.

READ MORE: Heres Everything You Can Play During Steams Big October Event

An iconic moment from the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell where Motoko Kusanagi greets the morning from her apartment. Screenshot: Kotaku / Production I.G

Similarly to Kusanagi, Anno awakens from a dream to see the false night sky of Skopp City. Screenshot: Kotaku / ThinkingStars

The demo follows Ann as she visits Alan Doyle, her cybernetics doctor, to discover who has been hacking her virtual assistant. Naturally, the good doctor wants to run some tests through combat simulations, and Ann obliges. In what I can only describe as a cyberpunk magical girl transformation, Ann dons her combat suit and dives into the simulation like Neo in The Matrix. A+ for style points.

After completing a combat tutorial and cutting your teeth on a kaiju battle, you discover that Ann is suffering from Entanglelitis, a cybernetic Mechanika virus that has gone viral in the games world. Anns Entanglelitis flares up when fights get too intense, causing her vision to distort. Ann then decides to see her brother, whom she hasnt heard from in ages. She discovers hes wrapped up in the citys criminal underworld, and finds herself targeted by the same slew of cybernetic goons that are hunting him.

The games combat is just as smoking sexy style as the trailer makes it seem. Although it took a bit to figure out the timing for dodges, I did a serviceable job of pulling off sick laser-sword combos on a bunch of enemies, which was satisfying as hell. Theres also a hacking mechanic that lets you not only unlock new story pathways, but also scan an enemys stats before you hack and slash your way through them.

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This all takes place in a world so packed with intriguing details that you could easily miss many on your first playthrough. I usually get my fill from a demo by playing it once, but I was compelled to play this one multiple times to hunt for new item details, dialogue options, and weapon upgrades.

Coke probably isnt the best choice of food, Mysterious Sewer Guy. Screenshot: Kotaku / ThinkingStars

ANNO: Mutationems demo has dialogue options for players to choose from. Screenshot: Kotaku / ThinkingStars

Has Alan Doyle tried unplugging his super computer and plugging it back in again? Preferably without Ann still inside it. Screenshot: Kotaku / ThinkingStars

Players wont traverse the game alone. Ayane, Anns plucky sidekick assists her throughout the game and provides much needed cuteness. Screenshot: Kotaku / ThinkingStars

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Players can use Anns hacking ability to unlock items in the game and assess enemy stats. Screenshot: Kotaku / ThinkingStars

My efforts revealed additional lore, more characters to interact with, and weapon upgrades Id missed, though the demo locks you out of gaining enough credits to buy them, and, tragically, of feeding the mysterious person in the sewers who is worried about their bubbly farts.

The stunning pixel art mixes 2D and 3D elements seamlessly in a way that reminds me of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, my 2020 game of the year. The demo suggests that ANNO: Mutationem could be a breathtakingly beautiful RPG with a strong female lead and a combat system in which I can express myself. Hopefully the full game will live up to that promise.

ANNO: Mutationem is slated to release sometime before the end of 2021.

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Friendship Ended With Cyberpunk, Now ANNO: Mutationem Is New Best Friend - Kotaku

If youre a fan of the "Akira" or "Ghost in the Shell" universe, chances are youll love how this machine turned out. With a high-tech look that combines sharp lines with geometric elements, the Xenotype seems like it belongs in the "Cyberpunk 2077" fictional world.

The Xenotype is part of the M.H.C. Collection, a project that focuses on the exploration of shape, form, and design. Carlos motorcycle is an expression of his subconscious in the rawest way possible, as he puts it.

He wanted his first sketches to reproduce the vibe of a legendary Ford 90. So the artist went with something unconventional, but which had to fit the Ducati 916 chassis. From there, things took off, and the machine received a distinct retrofuturist aesthetic.

With Xenotype, youre bound to get fascinated by the incredible level of detail that lets you see the reflection of the bike on the ground and even the dust on its wheels. For better grip and smooth ride, this thing moves on wide Michelin tires.

Its front sports a slim vertical LED lamp that adds to the cyberpunk look. Theres also something that catches our attention at the front: a handlebar that seems to be hidden into the bikes body. Although it adds to the aerodynamic shape of the machine, it doesnt do much when it comes to its functionality.

To overcome that issue, Carlos says that the bar is meant to extend when the engine is on. Its a cool idea, but it still would implicate a bunch of problems and uncomfortable posture. And theres also the seat that should be added to the list of things that would make it a nightmare to ride.

Well, this beast only exists through the renderings created by the designer, so I wouldnt worry about those details. Still, it would be quite a head-turner if it ever became real.

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Xenotype Motorbike Concept Is Out of This World, Rocks the Cyberpunk Aesthetic - autoevolution

If you are looking to get your cyberpunk fix, The Ascent will make that happen. When the game first unfolds we are shown a huge multi-story arcology owned by The Ascent Group, which is where the game gets its name from. But unlike most titles these days that use amazing backdrops as window dressing for much more limited worlds, in The Ascent you will actually be exploring and fighting within a true, fully realized environment that can actually be considered almost a true megacity in size.

There is not a lot of plot to be found in The Ascent, which is a little disappointing because the game world is literally filled with thousands of interesting nooks and crannies that would be perfect for an RPG. But developer Neon Giant instead chose to concentrate on making a capable twin-stick shooter for its first venture into the game industry, and given the smoothness of combat and the ridiculously beautiful (almost fully destructible) world given to players, this was a good decision.

In The Ascent, you begin the game as a low-level corporate worker, which means that you were brought to The Ascent arcology from another planet with all of your expenses paid so that you could start a new life. The only catch is that now you are an indentured servant to the corporation, which is pretty much one step above being a slave. You get assigned to perform mostly dirty and possibly unsafe maintenance tasks in the lowest and dirtiest levels of the city, with your first task being to basically unclog your bosses toilet, which has somehow merged with his shower for a really stinky experience. For whatever reason, this seemingly simple task involves rebooting a reactor-size machine surrounded by monsters in the dingy basement levels of the city. But it also acts as a good tutorial on how to play the game.

I mentioned that The Ascent is a twin stick shooter, which is a game where using one stick on the controller is for movement and the other is for your facing. And given that The Ascent started on the Xbox console before moving to Steam, this makes sense. However, with the PC version you can use a mouse and keyboard for the controls instead. For most games like this I would not recommend doing that, but it works surprisingly well in The Ascent. The mouse aiming is much more precise when playing the game this way, although using a controller was far more comfortable so I often opted to play that way. Either way, combat in The Ascent is amazingly smooth.

That is not to say that The Ascent is easy. The combat is smooth, but that is absolutely necessary here because of the sheer volume of enemies the game throws at you. Even wandering the city (which again is literally almost the size of a real city) can trigger fights with gangs that dont like you passing through your territory, so you will be in combat a lot. Your helpful and ever-cheery PDA sometimes warns you when you are approaching a bad area. It will say something like, This area is known for having a high population of young entrepreneurs looking for unwilling investors.

Those random fights can get kind of crazy, but the scripted ones are even more brutal. If you are about to engage in a boss-type fight, you can bet that lots of other enemies will start crawling over the side of the railings, running at you from areas you thought were already clear and even dropping down from hovercars to try and smash your face or shoot your head. Almost every combat turns into one of those wild battles.

Oddly enough, the game really pushes its cover mechanic where you can stoop down behind something (although you need to be careful because many things in the environment are destructible) to absorb bullets. You can then hold your gun over your head and safely shoot over your cover. It sounds good in theory, but I almost never used it. There are too many enemies spawning from every angle in most fights. By the time you get set up in cover, there will be two or three people coming up from behind you to render your little makeshift fortification useless. Instead, I spent most of the game backpedaling and shooting all the trailing bad guys coming up behind me. You can also dodge, which helps when someone tosses an explosive or you just need to break out of the line of fire for a second.

Improvements to your character are almost completely gear based in The Ascent. If you want to get more powerful in combat, you need to find a better gun or more effective armor. Thankfully, the guns can be modified and improved using components you find as you adventure. This means that even your starting weapons can have a lot of longevity and usefulness. Indeed, a heavily modified early weapon is going to often be a lot more powerful than baseline equipment you find even later in the game. Yes, those more advanced weapons have the potential to be total butt-kickers, but you probably need to hold onto them until you get to a modding station before you can start to really rip things up with new gear.

As you progress in the game, the amazing environment continues to be the star. Moving up higher in the arcology brings with it new maps, new environments and more wealthy accommodations. Its really interesting that the higher you go in the games world, the better things look. There is less trash and debris on the streets and everything just seems much nicer, which is especially evident in the little town-type areas you come across.

And you will also experience higher quality enemies, like corporate security and well-funded combatants that make the early bruisers you face seem like a warmup exercise. Thankfully, by that point in the game your character should also be getting much more powerful to match the increased challenge. Its clever that the world changes a bit the higher you go, which may be another reason for the title of the game beyond just the name of your corporation.

I played The Ascent in single player mode, but the game also supports multiplayer with up to four people. Given the size of the environment, its probably best if you play with a tight team so that you can all fully support one another. Doing that would likely add another element to The Ascent, sort of like an action-based MMO. So if you have good friends who play these kinds of games, The Ascent could make for some good times.

For a first outing, Neon Giant has done an amazingly good job with The Ascent. Sure there are quite a few bugs here and there. At one point we could not continue a quest because the enemies we were supposed to kill simply didnt spawn in the area where we were supposed fight. We had to exit the game and reload before they actually showed up. Maybe they were afraid of us?

But in any case, The Ascent is a really good title when its working properly. I honestly cant think of another game with such a beautifully rendered and realized world. Its a lot more interesting to look at than the world we got with Cyberpunk 2077.

Give The Ascent a try. Its a fun game, offers smooth combat and one of the most eye-popping cyberpunk worlds you can experience right now. Like The Ascent Corporation itself, there is a lot of little flaws and ugliness down below, but taken as a whole, its quite an impressive offering.

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Shooting up The Ascent's Beautiful Cyberpunk World - Gameindustry.com - GameIndustry.com