Five features Cyberpunk 2077 needs to add in 2021

Michael Gwilliam

To say Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t meet expectations upon release would be an understatement. While the bug-filled game has been lamented as the worst AAA title launch of the generation, CDPR hasn’t given up hope, promising patches and even DLC going into 2021.

Now, with the game pulled from the Sony store, lawsuits brewing and refunds being issued aplenty, the developers may have an opportunity to revamp the game, introduce some bizarrely missing features and reinvent itself for when it properly launches on next-gen hardware.

It would be easy to simply write, “fix the game” and leave it at that, but we wanted to dig a bit deeper than that in our list of features that the game needs in 2021.

While Cyberpunk is an unfinished mess, there is a gem of sorts somewhere in-between the influx of crashes, floating cell phones and mind-bending physics sending cars miles into the sky.

girl looks at pc monitor in cyberpunk
Cyberpunk badly needs more customization options.

More character customization

It’s one thing to go design your character at the start of the game, right down to their genitals, but the inability to go back and change up something as simple as V’s haircut after that is a bit nonsensical.

Do barbershops not exist in Night City? Where did Judy dye her hair? Did she do it herself or was she born with it like that?

All jokes aside, there needs to be a way to customize V’s appearance after you start up the game. You don’t need new individual locations to change up the character, just let V do it in any mirror he/she sees.

Officer in cyberpunk 2077
“Well, do you mind if I look around the car a little bit?”

Police

The cops in this game are a joke who spawn out of nowhere the second any crime is committed. With such a fast response time, you’d think Night City takes the law super seriously, but you can get away from the police by just walking a block away.

As such, the blue in Cyberpunk may as well just not even exist. Heaven forbid a citizen accidentally gets shot in the crossfire when you’re taking out a gang because you’re going to have cops spawning right behind you.

Until the AI and police system can be revamped completely, they should probably just be removed. Which is why “police” are listed here to even begin with, they’re a feature that should definitely be added once they’re programmed properly.

Shooting someone in Cyberpunk
There’s a good game hidden somewhere.

More types of map icons

As it stands, a car purchase and a side quest appear exactly the same on the map, forcing players to highlight an icon to see exactly what type of mission it is.

While fast travel spots, ripper docs and police sections stand out, even the main story quest icons look far too similar to side missions, resulting in a map filled with yellow exclamation marks.

Even some sort of color-coding system would be better, not that we want that per se, but it just goes to show how just about anything would it easier for players to decide what to do or where to go next.

driving in cyberpunk
Do cars ever even run out of gas?

Enhanced vehicle and weapon modification

For a game with such beautiful car interiors, it’s a massive shame that there are no customization options at all. Unless you want to count what items you can store in your stash, which no normal person ever would.

You can drive around Night City and find plenty of cars for sale or to simply jack like almost any other open world game from Saints Row to The Simpsons: Hit and Run to a little-known franchise called Grand Theft Auto. But while you can own, you can’t customize. Unless there’s some bizarre car law that passed in the future banning citizens from being able to change how their car looks, this is a feature that needs to be added.

The same can be said for weapons, though there is some slight options users get with those such as adding scopes or damage modifiers. Still, it would be great to change up a gun’s look from its color to even small details like stickers or keychains. Make a gun really feel like your own.

Judy in Cyberpunk 2077
Seriously, where does Judy get her hair done?

New Game Plus

With a game like this that will no doubt improve over time, being able to hop back in once you’ve completed it for a New Game Plus would seem like a no brainer.

Being able to pick the game back up a bit down the road once a few patches have come in with all your weapons and/or stats already unlocked would the return to Night City all the better.

Hopefully, CDPR can get things together and focus on improving the Cyberpunk experience, transforming the game into the one it knows it can be.

About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam