The infamous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 in 2019 is well-tread territory at this point, one that was met with numerous game-breaking bugs and performance issues across various platforms. Through several updates over the years, critical issues were addressed to get it in a playable and stable state for those who faced the worst problems. But the 2.0 update, launching alongside the release of the Phantom Liberty expansion, is a more fundamental one–a rebuild of Cyberpunk 2077’s very gameplay foundation.
If you were in the camp that was underwhelmed by the RPG mechanics of the original version, where progression felt somewhat inconsequential in terms of influencing your playstyle and effectively building your character, this update is a strong and confident answer to that. It completely revamps the skill trees, improves the cyberware system, adds new elements to vehicular combat, changes police behavior, and on top of that, brings several quality-of-life improvements. After starting a new save and spending roughly 20 hours with Cyberpunk 2077’s version 2.0, I’m happy to say that, from a gameplay perspective, it is now a stellar RPG.
My newfound enthusiasm for Cyberpunk 2077 starts with the new progression system. While you still have the basic attributes (Body, Reflexes, Technical, Intelligence, and Cool) to pump points into, the overhauled skill tree features branches of perks that genuinely impact the way you play. Many of these are distinct abilities for specific playstyles that you can build around, then mix and match to create hybrid approaches to combat. Instead of picking out incremental stat boosts based on percentages as you’d do in the original version, you’re now compelled to create a toolbox of abilities that continually evolves as you get deeper into the game.