Cyberpunk 2077 has officially gone down as one of the biggest gaming flops of all time, not to mention its surrounding controversies. Despite being originally slated for release in April 2020, the game was finally released in December of that year, and expectant consumers were quick to eviscerate the title for its array of bugs. The game was so unstable that Sony even pulled it from the PlayStation Store until midway through 2021.
Although many of these issues have since been fixed, Cyberpunk 2077 players are still encountering performance problems. With the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions scheduled for release in early 2022 after their own delays, fans may still have a while to wait for a version of the game that works properly – if it ever materializes. In the meantime, some of the game’s worst glitches have at least consoled disappointed fans with their sheer comedic value.
Cyberpunk 2077's Bugs and Glitches
Following the success of their previous titles including The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red’s cyberpunk adventure was one of the most hyped games in history. Unfortunately, it has thus far failed to live up to that anticipation, as fans continue to find and highlight errors and glitches within the troubled game. At launch, one of the funniest blunders was a massive typo on the sign at the southern border of Night City or—according to a sign that infamously said “Nigth City." This was a pretty glaring error and one that playtesters clearly missed.
Down the road, this bug was one of many that were fixed by major Cyberpunk 2077 patches in March and April 2021. Also addressed in these updates were some of the worst problems with the driving mechanics. When the game released, YouTube quickly became awash with clips of cars defying the laws of physics, either disappearing into the floor or otherwise interacting unexpectedly with the game world.
Other high-profile malfunctions in the game’s early days included NPCs sitting down in non-existent chairs, ghostly shadows appearing beneath characters who had completely disappeared, and driving sequences that placed the camera inside the player model’s head so that their floating, disembodied eyeballs blocked their field of vision. Many YouTube compilations of these bugs became hugely popular, and the game’s reputation and commercial performance were badly affected.
Sadly, the March and April patches didn’t address all of the game’s bugs, resulting in another significant update to Cyberpunk 2077 in August 2021 entitled Patch 1.3. Although this added some minor DLC content like alternate costumes, its main purpose was to further stabilize the now infamously-underperforming title, and this update did go some way to improving the perception of the game.
Several issues still persisted, however. Unresolved bugs allowed mischievous players to exploit them to gain unfair advantages, such as combining cyber arms and tranquilizer rounds to obtain infinite ammo capable of one-shot-killing virtually any human character, while other glitches granted abilities like invincibility.
Keanu’s enthusiastic appearance at E3 2019 seems a long time ago, as do the pre-emptive awards with which Cyberpunk 2077 was showered, including “Most Anticipated Game” and “Special Commendation for Graphics." However, the game has still sold well (due in part to huge numbers of pre-orders), and fans hope that the title can otherwise be optimized via a combination of future Cyberpunk 2077 DLC and upgraded next-gen versions.
Meanwhile, although Cyberpunk 2077’s most notorious glitches have been addressed by the 2021 patches, the game is still renowned for its unreliable performance on last-gen consoles. Time will tell whether CD Projekt Red can save the title’s damaged reputation, and eventually make Cyberpunk 2077 the classic fans once anticipated.
Cyberpunk 2077 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are in development for a 2022 release.
