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With Cyberpunk 2077 set to release in a few days, the busy cogs of discourse have already begun turning at full speed–between reports of crunch, the game’s controversial marketing, and the massive build-up of hype since its debut trailer seven years ago, the game’s launch is already shaping up to be a moment of no satisfaction to any. Delays have been so numerous under the pretense of further refinement, that expectation could only be fallen short of–if the game misses its lofty commercial targets, CD Projekt investors will make sure there is hell to pay; and whether journalists or players bear the brunt of the game’s potential woes, that is up for future months (and potentially years) of its lifecycle to decide.
The seedings for all-out warfare to break out over the critical reception of this game have been planted for a long time–Gamergate made it so that any journalist going against the grain is bound to have the “ethics in games journalism” card leveraged against them until something gives, and Cyberpunk 2077 is no exception here. The Last of Us Part II earlier this year elicited a similar reaction where fans felt at odds with Neil Druckmann’s treatment of beloved characters in the story (especially in light…
