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I have not played Cyberpunk 2077 but it’s my favorite game of the year

I have not played Cyberpunk 2077 but it’s my favorite game of the year

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A children’s treasury of glitches

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Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077
Image: CD Projekt Red

Like many non-gamers, I have experienced Cyberpunk 2077 mostly through news articles and Twitter posts. And I’ve got to say — this is possibly the best way to experience it.

I mean, look — I’ve heard about this game for years, because a lot of my coworkers and friends are gamers. Everyone got all hype! I had to delay the end-of-year package I was project-managing in order to accommodate it.

But almost immediately after launch, there was drama: Sony pulled the game from its store and started offering refunds! Microsoft is also offering refunds! So are Best Buy and Game Stop! Employees of the game’s maker, CD Projekt Red, are revolting! If your file gets too big, it’ll be corrupted and useless! An epilepsy warning! DMCA strikes!

If there are two things I love, they are drama and chaos, and boy, does Cyberpunk 2077 offer both. There’s also this, which I thought was a joke, but then when I read the tweet’s replies, I realized it was not at all a joke.

One of my friends bought it the day it came out and essentially went into a bunker to play it for a few days. He’s called it “a wonderful mess,” but also said that the weakest part is combat and “the AI is dumb as bricks.” Another can’t finish her Johnny side quest and is very angry about it. Like, not ironically angry: she desperately wants to meet Nancy at the goth club, but the NPC she’s supposed to talk to isn’t there. (Also, as a condition of using her story, she asked that I mention that Judy is her wife.)

Some of the drama around Cyberpunk is objectively not funny at all: overworked developers and stereotypes about trans people. Our sister site Polygon has gone so far as to post a standard disclaimer on every post about the game just because there’s so much going on here.

Ahead of the release of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red faced scrutiny from reporters for its work practices, particularly with regard to “crunch,” a term referring to long overtime hours lasting weeks or months. Despite past promises to the contrary, the company imposed obligatory crunch on some employees. Cyberpunk 2077 also faced criticism for its marketing — in particular, the usage of a sexualized trans model in a promotional poster, as well as the flippant tone used in much of the game’s advertising and social media.

This thing is a fucking fiasco! My main takeaway is that the people who will enjoy this game the most are people who know and love a great many gamers, but are not gamers themselves. And for us, the best part of the game is the glitches.

We have been collecting some of our favorite glitches in a group chat, and I am now going to share them with you. Fair warning: some of these are not safe for work.

(A note: when I shared the following clip in our group chat, one of my friends replied: “I know EXACTLY the intersection.” Apparently cars always blow up there?)

I love this game. Please never fix the bugs. Also, please link to your favorite glitches in the comments.