In July 2010, the Nolan film Inception premiered.
It has since been said that the film was “A multilayered, self-reflexive action film that fires on all cylinders, manipulating time through meticulous editing to deliver a hard-hitting cinematic experience.”
(1)
Others felt, “[T]he real cause of wonder [...] is why Nolan should have embraced technocratic complexity in the service of such a puny story.”
(2), or simply that it “isn't a dud but nor is it a masterpiece.”
(3)
Opinions have since normalized to a positive note, but it’s safe to say that opinions were divided at the time. Naturally, the film's biggest fans fell back on demonstrating their intellectual prowess against the simple-minded barbarians who didn't like the film: “[A] lot of people are touting Inception as an extremely complicated film to understand. It's not at all. A seventh-grade education should suffice.”
(4)
That is to say, if you don’t understand it, you're obviously wrong, and you may be stupid or uneducated. A natural gut reaction when you love something and talk to people who don't. To the jubilant, the critics seem thick-headed or somehow less educated than seventh graders. Xbox versus PlayStation comes to mind.
This is how it’s been with
Cyberpunk 2077 for me.
I’m the jubilant, and what seems like the entire world is aligned in its near-universal dislike for the object of my celebration.
If you want to know the thousand ways people dislike the game, there’s an abundance of material for you all over the Internet. The game has seen a negative feedback loop since launch, as has the developer CD Projekt Red. Much of it is deserved. Especially criticism leveled against the company’s crunchy treatment of its developers.
But this article strives to do the opposite from that feedback loop. I want to praise the game for things it does so well that no other game even comes close.
Yes, really.
This is my love letter to Cyberpunk 2077.
