Cyberpunk 2077: PS5 vs PC

As part of our first 5 hours feature, I decided to do a Cyberpunk 2077 comparison between the PS4 version and the PC. Below are my impressions of the first 5 hours in Cyberpunk played on each of the two platforms.

PS4 version via PS5 Backwards Compatibility

I started my Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough by picking the Nomad lifepath. The game starts in the outskirts of Night City in an area that is reminiscent of Mad Max. It doesn’t last very long as you get chased out of town by a local sheriff. I was only there for about 10 minutes. On my way, I ran into Jackie who had taken a job smuggling a pet into Night City with me. Not long after crossing the border into Night City, there is an ambush as you discover the job is a set up. With that, chaos ensues and you wake up on the streets of Night City with Jackie. 

As I progressed through the main mission I met Victor, a pseudo-underground doctor. Victor installs some implants to allow for scanning though you have to defer payment until the job is done. This prompts a side quest mission to pay back Victor. If you accept this sidequest when it pops up, it breaks the main quest and you have to reload your save. This was one of a number of bugs I ran into during my playthrough.

My Story

During the early parts of the story, there is almost nothing to do outside of the main quest. You get side quests assigned to you but, I am concerned that deviating from the path based on my experience with repaying Victor. You can visit vendors to clear some side quests yet almost everything they have is locked out. I am fairly certain that there is an initial five to ten hour period where you just follow the main quest and then the game opens up. Although, I am just assuming since the game does give you a lot of side quests early on. 

Once I got things sorted and completed the Brain Dance tutorial, I met up with Meredith. She is a Manager level Corpo. She was not very friendly and everything in my head said not to work with her but I wanted to see how things evolved. Five hours in, it has not evolved yet. I am under the impression that I will eventually have to pick between Meredith and Dex. Or I may have already by just talking to her.

Dexter or “Dex” is a mob boss you take a big job from. The first job involves stealing a spider-bot at the Maelstrom HQ. After killing some of the crew there is a boss battle with Royce the new leader of the Maelstrom. After a meeting with Dex, we take the bot to break into the home of the Arasaka President. One of the largest corporations in Night City. That’s where the Cyberpunk story starts to get good. About five hours in. 

PC in Ultrawide on Ultra Settings

Right at 7 PM EST. I launched Cyberpunk 2077 on my PC. I do not believe there was a single frame, scene or area that did not have some sort of janky thing happen. Dialog got stuck on my screen until I rebooted. I had all sorts of cars and items floating. Also I don’t believe the Ultra Wide compatibility is finished yet. On my 21:9 set up, the far left and far right edges of the screen were blurry. This is strange because The Witcher 3 is one of the best looking games you can play in 21:9. 

I picked the Street Kid life path and early on I got held at gunpoint by Jackie while stealing a high-priced car. The cops beat us up before you can even talk to Jackie. After that, I woke up on the streets of Night City with Jackie. For no reason at all, we are now the best of friends heading out to get burritos together. It is a pretty jarring transition. Jackie carries me along the main story as I take on a number of challenges and completed heist jobs with him. After that we head to the home of the Moxes at what appears to be a high-tech brothel. Evelyn, one of the girls at the club, goes through the Brain Dance tutorial while Victor walks me through the retinal scanners tutorial. 

The Divergence

As part of the main quest, after the tutorials, you take on jobs with Jackie. The first one is to steal a spider-bot to take to the home of the President of the Arisaka corporation. You head to the base of the Maelstrom boss, Royce, to recover the spider-bot. Things turn tense in the negotiations, and a shootout ends with you killing Royce.

The spider-bot gets you into the Arasaka controller hotel where things turn ugly yet again. The story really picks up here right as you near the five hour mark. While attempting to recover a relic from the head of the Arasaka, you witness him being murdered by his son. Discovered while trying to escape, I shot my way through an area that was very clearly designed for stealth. Jackie did not survive the escape. With that ends the first five hours.  

Comparing The Two

Playing Cyberpunk 2077 on the PS5 day two, was a much smoother experience compared to playing on a high-end PC as soon as the game launched. I think it bodes well for the game’s future. It runs very poorly right now. Yet I am sure the game will get better every single week. I assume in about six months this is going to be a very solid experience hopefully running as a native PS5 game. 

On the early heist missions with Jackie, I noticed the two playthroughs were different in very mild ways. On my Nomad playthrough, I opted to talk with Meredith before stealing the bot. She met me at the end of the spider-bot mission and gave me a new scene with her but I don’t think it really changed the scenario yet. 

On the other hand, when stealing the spider-bot I opted not to tell Jackie to calm down. This changed the scenario so that the head of the gang (Royce) never comes out of his area. The shootout starts early and all of the doors become locked. Then you help the real Maelstrom boss get out of a locked room. Although there was no change in what happened in the overall story just the first boss encounter.

This is another change I noticed, and I am not sure how it happened. It was the encounter with Royce. During my Street Kid playthrough, there was no fight with him. Conversely, on my Nomad playthrough he showed up at the end of the spider-bot mission as a boss. So it seems there is a scenario where Royce is the first boss, you fight once you get to the spider-bot.

What’s interesting is, I can’t tell if the choices that I made prior to the heist set this in motion or the choices that I made during the heist did. I played both sides of working with Meredith and Dex, did that change my path? Or did just telling Jackie to calm down bring Royce out, alter the entire story of the first part of the game? Regardless, the game continues to find ways to surprise me and my Cyberpunk comparison was just what I needed to see how impactful my choices could be.