VideoGame Manufactured Outrage
Cyberpunk 2077 has long been dogged by cries of transphobia, stemming from a combination of questionably objectifying in-game ads, a seeming lack of trans characters, and a half-baked implementation of trans-friendly options for the in-game character creator. At least half a dozen reviews have gone so far as to accuse 2077 of being transphobic, of failing utterly at trans representation, of being as callous and exploitative as the in-game company that uses a transfeminine penis to sell soft drinks.
From my (NB) perspective, these accusations come across as shallow and misinformed. 2077 is easily one the most normalizing, trans-inclusive AAA game I've had the pleasure of playing. It's hardly perfect, but its efforts should be lauded instead of lambasted lest it discourage others from following in its footsteps.
Character creation is its most explicit tool of normalization, effortlessly decoupling sex and gender. In literally no other game can I run around as a soft butch badass packing my particular kind of heat. It's a big step forward in that it specifically acknowledges that your character has transitioned.
It stumbles by instead coupling gender with voice, suggesting you must be voice-passing to be considered a trans woman. Thankfully, this is an easy fix: simply include androgynous voice types and pronoun options. But for now, better luck next time fellow theymers.
WRT representation, there are a slew of significant, complex, and queer characters throughout the game. WRT trans representation in particular, one need look no further than Claire, Afterlife bartender and accomplished auto mechanic. Aside from being quite literally the most human character in the game due to her lack of cybernetics, she is a robust, explicitly trans character whose identity is complementary to her engaging personal questline (seriously, she's so cool).
Strangely, Many reviews about the game's trans angle fail to mention her at all; she appears throughout the main quest, can be found at a prominent quest hub, and initiates her quest for you. Like, she's just really hard to miss??
As for the in-game ad itself, it is explicitly a component of the game's larger theme about the ways in which capitalism commodifies essential, vulnerable facets of our identities. The artist who designed the advert literally said as much, and the ad is accompanied by a slew of other adverts that sexualize cis, straight, and queer men and women alike.
Once again, it's disheartening that so many reviewers not only ignored but actively misinterpreted what is actually a subtle, thoughtful commentary on the commercial exploitation of queer bodies.
With so many outlets repeating so many of the same points, it's hard not to view this coverage as deliberately scandalizing. Ironically, the press is exploitative in its own right: by drumming up a false controversy, it seeks to profit off of the perceived mistreatment of trans people with little regard for genuine trans-positivity.
Truly, satire is dead.
VideoGame A Review 3 Years in the Making
On release in December 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was in a borderline unplayable state. After three years of updates and fixes, the game is finally... tolerable. My Playstation 4 still screams in mechanical fury, like a jet engine who has just found me in bed with Mrs jet engine. And for all that processing effort, I still see screen-tearing, slow loading textures, terrible driving, frozen NP Cs and constant wonkiness that show how unpolished this game still is
Storywise, 2077 puts you in the body of V, a crook-for-hire living in a futuristic dystopian society where violence and vice rule the streets, and your survival depends on you grafting mechanical parts onto yourself. During a heist, V is infected by a microchip carrying the mind and soul of a long dead rockstar/terrorist called Johnny Silverhand, and spends the rest of the game trying to stop Johnny's ghost slowly killing their brain. Keanu Reeves lends his likeness and voice to Silverhand; if you asked me who I would cast to the role of a volatile, extroverted, metal-head freedom fighter, Reeves would be lower on my list than Anthony Hopkins. Reeves is NOT a good voice actor, and certainly not a good fit for the part. He sounds too old, emotionally muted and awkward to play the otherwise fun digital devil who sits on your shoulder.
The rest of the characters run the whole gamut. Some are horrendously obnoxious, some are so lovely I want to put little picture of them in frames about my house. It's unfortunate that the game's first few hours are spent with V and Jackie, my least two favourite. Everyone else is an improvement thereon out. that said, tip one to writers; people who speak English with perfect fluency do not pepper their conversation with native words or frequently use sentences like, "As you Americans say...". Tip two; there is a line where, once you've crossed it, the more a character swears, the less cool they look.
Bugs aside, 2077 is the most beautiful dystopia I've seen in a game. It is such a bright, colourful, 80s looking vision that manages to avoid looking like Blade Runner, despite that being an obvious inspiration. It is let down a bit by the decision to poster half the city in crass, sexist adverting. The game wants to make a point about the prevalence of raw commodified sexism, but it is a point undermined by the fact that, as in The Witcher series, CDPR as a company love to spread hot boobs all over their games anyway. Hypocrisy aside, its plain annoying to keep seeing such vulgarity constantly on display, in the form of a 100 foot tall asses projected onto skyscrapers.
2077 is flawed in almost every respect, but it is a thing I still enjoy. It's like an old piece of family furniture; decrepit, scuffed, wonky, but still just about sturdy enough to stand up by itself, and still appreciated just enough that you can't quite bring yourself to discard it.