It's been a rough ride from launch to now for CD Projekt RED and its heavily-marketed and overly-hyped Cyberpunk 2077. The game had already tested the mettle of anxious players with a lengthy stint in development, only to launch a buggy and broken mess, which tarnished its many redeemable elements.

And while those elements were all overshadowed by anger, frustration and outright blame, is it time now to pick it back up and reshape our position, post next-gen update, and judge Cyberpunk 2077 as it stands now?

On this question we answer in the affirmative. And while there should be no shying away from what really was more than a bit of a mess of a launch, enough water has flown under that bridge now to start seeing the game in an all-new neon light.

Here's an excerpt from our very own exploration of that, and why we think it's now time to start celebrating the many triumphs CD Projekt RED accomplished within the game:

What is genius then, is the choices you’re given to make in the early throes of the game (and later, also). You can, for example, entirely inject yourself into that ‘corpo’ world if you want, and maintain a level of alignment there. Or not. The lines between the aforementioned are blurred based on your own levels of investment in its presented ideals. And throughout your journey your surmised position conflicts and conflates, as the game’s story beats ebb and flow. To a small degree Johnny is something of an example of the city’s disdain over corporations, yes, but really, deep down, Johnny is afraid of being forgotten and ignored; of not mattering. And this sentiment rears its head more often than not among the myriad denizens of Night City who struggle against its bombastic state, even while it bleeds in every other non-corporate controlled corner of itself (and sometimes there, too). He’s definitely an on-the-nose trope on the surface, and acts as a crutch for the story at times given the amount of distraction available. But if you take the time to dig deeper, you’ll find a lot of nuance and drive beyond his “f*** corporations” mantra.

Cyberpunk 2077’s strength lies in its layered world, through which you can dig and extrapolate and be informed, and become a decisive part of...

This is a lengthy deep-dive into the game's initial failure, a bit of history repeating, some of the critical opposition it faced, and why we think there's so much more here than what its reputation currently sits as.

So strap yourself in and discover just why it's time to start celebrating Cyberpunk 2077.

It's by no means perfect, but a stable outing with it now just means players can explore and experience everything on offer without fear of running into problems.

On Series X it scrubs up very nicely and in that 300-odd hours I was never gated due to a bug or anything. A handful of crashes here and there, but nothing that borked my experience.

And its many, many stories and the different ways in which they're told really should be experienced by everyone.

I think I'm gonna roll a Corpo V in my next playthrough