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The Art Garden KC
The Art Garden KC
Aydan Stigler, Photographer • September 20, 2023

A mural of Patrick Mahomes on the side of Ale House.
The Best Places to Catch the Chiefs This Season
Alexandrea Erisman and Adedeji AdebaworeSeptember 15, 2023

Let’s face it, the spot to be on game day is undoubtedly GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, but we can’t all score a ticket inside.   We...

Two guests enjoying coffee at the front of Cafe Corazon.
Local Latinx Coffee Shop Makes a Home in KC
Luis Marin, Staff Writer • September 14, 2023

  Cafe Corazon, established in 2019, is a local Latino and Indigenous owned coffee shop that brings an unparalleled perspective to the Kansas...

Sarah Zapata’s installation titled “So the roots be known” in the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art’s atrium
“So the roots be known”
Lauren Zoller and Jazlyn SummersSeptember 14, 2023

  A new exhibit at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art highlights Kansas City’s lesser known lesbian history, and the artist used UMKC’s...

The Colonial Shops opened business in the 1920s.
An Update on UMKC’s Commitment to an Elevated Campus Life
Soffia Hernandez, Writer • August 24, 2023

The University of Missouri-Kansas City announced plans to create a more student-oriented campus life in the State of the University Address. Now,...

Video Game Review: The troubles of “Cyberpunk 2077”

Realistic+video+game+with+Actor+Keanu+Reeves%2C+wearing+sunglasses+and+a+black+tank+top%2C+with+a+robotic+hand+and+arm+raised+towards+his+face.
Actor Keanu Reeves is extensively featured in CD Projekt Red’s latest game, “Cyberpunk 2077.” (The Verge)

Broken, buggy and unfinished. These are not the words anyone wants to hear associated with a new game, let alone something as high profile as “Cyberpunk 2077.” However, no three words can better describe this game, which tries to be a “Grand Theft Auto” style open-world game set in a neon-drenched dystopian future.

The CD Projeckt Red’s (CDPR) bungled development and launch of this game is surprising because the developer was reputed to be one of the best in the business. CDPR had promised that the “Cyberpunk 2077” would be so great that it would surpass their last award-winning title “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,” and usher in a glorious new age of open-world games.

The game’s tall ambitions were not just the fantasies of its many over-hyped fans, a torrent of marketing spurred them on. It was hard to avoid the trailers, gameplay footage, concept art and appearances from the well-loved celebrity Keanu Reeves.

All of this material built up the game and continued to make big promises. However, it all proved to be all smoke and mirrors. Behind the scenes, CDPR had constant troubles with the game’s development, which started in 2011.

“Cyberpunk 2077” seemed to channel a doomed Kickstarter, making more and more promises without concern for their feasibility. Like so many other studios, CDPR made the development process worse due to the intense, unhealthy pressure forced on CDPR employees.

The game-breaking bugs, many minor glitches and other features that are lacking or nonexistent in the game are not surprising for these reasons. CDPR bit off more than they could chew, and in the end, they showed more concern about pushing the game to get the most out of last-generation consoles than actually making a good game.

CDPR has shown that it is no different than the other game companies that many people often cast as villains, like Electronic Arts or Bethesda Game Studios. The story of “Cyberpunk 2077” mirrors so many other stories in the gaming industry, but this whole saga has echoes of BioWare’s “Anthem” — another game that had a horrible development process, plagued by mismanagement and practices that hurt its regular employees.

Avid gamers should not lightly take this continued practice of mismanagement, short-sightedness and anti-consumer deception from game studios and developers. These companies burn out their employees but don’t seem to make better games.

Widely celebrated titles like “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” or “Red Dead Redemption 2” have had had developments that are less than stellar. However, games like “Anthem” and “Cyberpunk 2077” show that what made those games great wasn’t working their employees to the bone.

Night City of “Cyberpunk 2077” might be beautiful, but it is as hollow as the game itself. It is just another example of a game whose troubled development led to a problematic outcome. The dystopian future imagined in the game is centered around short-sighted and ambitious corporations who care little for people’s lives. CDPR and other game studios should take a look in the mirror.

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