A friend sent me a link, many moons ago, to a preview video of the Cyberpunk 2077 game. The preview looked amazing, and while I know I should never rely on pre-vid for an example of the game or gameplay I have to say I loved it. That video made me ‘want’ the game. Whoever designed their marketing was damn good at the job. With all the delays over time it feels like I’ve been waiting for the game forever. Honestly, I can’t remember how long it has been since that early video. But, earlier this year Cyberpunk 2077 was available for pre-order. After very little deliberation and way too much eagerness I decided to go for the big box version and pre-order the one with all the toys. More time passed, and I was starting to wonder if the game was ever going to appear.
Then late November I received an email from Game to tell me that Cyberpunk 2077 was being released and that I would be charged for it soon. You know, the usual “make sure you have enough funds” kind of thing. I started getting a bit excited that soon I would have the game in my grubby little paws.
More waiting, and yet more waiting. But, this morning at 0726 the Postman erm…. Post ‘person’ ??? well anyway, the postal service delivered a very large box. To be quite honest I had no clue what the heck was in this box. It was bigger than anything I could remember ordering. After checking the address and delivery information to make sure it was for me – and noticing the Game logo on the ticket. I opened the outer box.
And at this point I can’t help but wonder if the designer of the packaging wasn’t having their own personal joke with the Cyberpunk “onion skin” scheme that was introduced to explain the underlying philosophy behind Cyberpunk. Because this is a box, within a box, within a box within a box. Seriously, there are layers of packaging to remove. Okay, it was a huge amount of fun digging through everything and finding all the little things that had been included, but still. That’s a LOT of packaging.
So, what arrived in the ‘big box?’
The game of course, which I am currently resisting only through incredible superhuman efforts of willpower (waiting for a new Series X toy to appear), before playing it. In addition to this is a beautiful full colour art book which covers a lot of information ranging from the game, characters, locations, weapons, corporations and other art work. Seriously, the book is absolutely gorgeous. I spent far too much time browsing through it before unpacking everything else. Also included is a map of Night City – I haven’t dug out my old Cyberpunk 2020 game to check on what is similar between R. Talsorian’s Night City and the one in the game, but from memory they look pretty close. I was quite surprised at how attractive the map is, considering it’s just a piece of paper with a plan on it. Still, looked good.
If you haven’t guessed already, I am, was and probably will be a fan of Cyberpunk – both literature and the RPG, so, this is like Christmas wrapped up in Christmas all covered in a birthday for me.
Also included are a couple pin badges, nice but nah, I won’t be wearing them anytime soon. They’ll go into the “treasure box” along with my Babylon 5 pin badges and other stuff. There’s a key ring with a small model of the car seen in the game previews – the wheels turn on this so if you want to drive it around your desk you can. Won’t be using that either, not many people will be able to tell the difference between a CP2077 car and a Lamborghini so, not putting that on my Mini One key ring. There’s a bunch of stickers which I will probably never use. They reflect graffiti and corporate and other logos found in the game. I’m sure some people will absolute adore the things, but it’s muchly a ‘meh’ for me. There’s postcards, bit, pieces, odds and sods.
Oh, and of course, there’s the model. It’s ‘plastic’ (ish) so I presume resin and vinyl from the feel of it. The base is surprisingly heavy, but that makes sense as the thing won’t get accidentally knocked over. The model consists of three pieces. The base which includes an unfortunate looking rather peeved, the motorcycle which is excellent. Beautifully designed, carved and molded. And a figure representing the protagonist in the game, the player character. This, leaping off the motorcycle which has rammed the unfortunate mentioned earlier while presenting two guns to the world and an awful lot of teeth. Assembly is really simple. A broad mounting point for the bike inserts into the base, a metal post on the character’s foot inserts into the seat on the bike creating a violent and very dynamic pose for the whole set. Easily the best thing in the box. This alone was worth waiting for.
So, I now have the game, but due to supply issues I do not have the Series X I was hoping to install it on. I do have an XBox OneX, but….. you know, new console, new game, get buried for the Christmas period …
Worth the money? I can’t really say until I’ve actually played the game, but so far I think Yes. I love the model that came with the game, it is absolutely gorgeous and is the envy of everyone I know as I seem to be the only one who ordered this version – everybody else just went for the game itself. The other toys and bits in the box will no doubt entertain other people and be gratefully received. But, the book, the model, the game. Worth it for me.
Not the wait, or the suspense, but definitely appreciating finally having the thing.
Now if I can just convince Microsoft to send me a SeriesX rather than waiting for the bloody stores to get one in….
