Gameplay:

  • 54 parts
  • No commentary
  • All main, side, cyberpsycho, and NCPD quests completed
  • 77% achievements (GOG)

PC Specs:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
  • RAM: 32GB G.Skill DDR4-3200
  • GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
  • HDD: Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 1TB

Mods:

^Installed just prior to recording #28^

My takeaway from this is that hard mode is hard in the beginning and enemies are absolute bullet sponges from start to finish.

Getting bullshit killed and running out of ammo constantly becomes tedious after a while. I’m not sure if its me or what. I feel like every encounter required several mag dumps just to kill a single guy. In that regard I have to say Cyberpsycho attacks win the “shittiest to fight” award. Sometimes they become immune to damage for reasons unknown. You really have to pay attention to the damage meter at the top of the screen, or risk prematurely wasting your entire inventory on a single crazy asshole.

During my first playthrough on normal I was a shotgun samurai through and through. However, sadly, even the best shotgun in the game can’t keep up with the insane damage the various droids and gang members dole out at close range. Getting in close to splatter someone is a deathwish even if you spec out your character with full mitigation gear and select every skill under the shotgun skill tree.

If you’re thinking about picking up or revisiting Cyberpunk 2077, don’t bother with the higher difficulty settings. They add nothing to the game and have a tendency to break the immersion as you reload the same battle a dozen times because you got one-shot killed by a sniper from across town through five shipping containers.