Cyberpunk 2077 recently celebrated is four-year anniversary, and though for most single-player games a four-year anniversary would be well past the point where they would still be getting substantial updates (or really, updates of any kind), CD Projekt RED clearly didn’t get the memo. Update 2.2 recently went live for the once-troubled first-person action RPG, adding several new features and tweaks that won’t change the way you experience the game in any meaningful way by themselves, but do enhance various aspects nonetheless.
Primarily, Update 2.2 is focused on adding more options for cosmetic customization on several fronts. Released only for the game’s PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC versions (as has been the case with the last handful of updates), it adds as many as 112 new customization options for players to choose between when creating or customizing their V’s appearance, in addition to an improved Randomizer. A new feature now also allows customizing your owned vehicles’ appearance, something that you can even do while you’re diving one. Interestingly enough, if you change your car’s colour during a police chase and no cops were close enough to see you do so, you can shake them off faster.
Beyond that, the update also adds a bunch of additional Photo Mode options and features (like new frames and a Drone Mode), new purchasable vehicles, as well as other neat tweaks that won’t affect gameplay, but will definitely to the general vibes of the game, a department Cyberpunk 2077 is already pretty strong in. For instance, when driving around, there’s a chance that Johnny Silverhand will now appear in the passenger seat next to you, where he’ll sit and take in the sights while you cruise through the neon-drenched streets of Night City.
Again, none of these are updates that will change Cyberpunk 2077’s gameplay experience in any meaningful way, but not only is it a substantial enough update in its own right nonetheless. it’s also an update that no one was expecting, especially for a four-year old single-player game that, according to the gaming history books, has long since completed its redemption arc. And yet, here we are, with CD Projekt RED pushing out a new update that comes as yet another pleasant surprise for Cyberpunk 2077 fans- and is also indicative of the excellent support that the game has consistently received over a prolonged period of time.
Technically, of course, support for Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to end with the double punch of Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty a little over a year ago in September 2023. That was the moment that saw Cyberpunk 2077 finally managing to climb over what once seemed like an insurmountable hump in the form of its disastrous launch and its fallout. CDPR persisted in its support for the game, however, and last year, with Phantom Liberty and Update 2.0 (which came on the back of years of improvements and enhancements), it finally turned Cyberpunk 2077 into a legitimately excellent game with no caveats.
After that remarkable turnaround, most would have assumed that CD Projekt RED was done with the game at along last, especially with early pre-production also having kicked off on the next Cyberpunk game, currently codenamed Project Orion. However, not long afterward, the developer released Update 2.1, which was surprisingly substantial as well. The long-requested Metro system was the headlining addition, but the update also brought with it new vehicles, the ability to listen to music while on foot, improvements to boss fights, new accessibility features, and more.
At that point, it was clear that Cyberpunk 2077 would receive no further patches- or not any major ones, at any rate. A patch did arrive in January of 2024, and then another one in February, both bringing several more minor fixes and additions, but it seemed to be the end of the road. Hell, in March, game director Gabe Amatangelo himself confirmed in an interview with Game File that though Cyberpunk 2077 might receive some small updates here and there, for the most part, work on the title had wrapped up, with the team having moved on to either The Witcher 4 or the next Cyberpunk (the former being much further along in production). And then, of course, came Update 2.2, marking the year’s end with another unexpected boost for CDPR’s RPG.
Obviously, the ideal scenario for Cyberpunk 2077 would have been a smooth launch, eliminating the need for CD Projekt RED to have to redeem the game and restore its own heavily damaged redemption entirely. When you’re paying full price for a big, long awaited release, as players, you naturally hope for a game that values your time and money, and honestly, nothing is ever going to change the fact that at launch back in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was a complete and utter disaster. But though it may be all too common for games with tough launches to be abandoned before any real attempt can be made at recovery, CDPR chose to stick with what many deemed to be a lost cause, and managed to truly turn it around into the unequivocally great game it is today. And once that was done, the studio just kept going.
Incredibly enough, when you think about it, there’s still room for Cyberpunk 2077 to get at least a couple of not-so-insignificant updates in the relatively near future. For instance, one feature that many have been hoping to see added in for a while is New Game Plus, while many have also been hoping to see PS5 Pro enhancements released for what is widely considered one of the most visually impressive and technically impressive games available on modern hardware. We got neither New Game Plus nor PS5 Pro enhancements with Update 2.2, however, which means we could get those things with future patches- potentially, at the very least.
We realize we’re being greedy at this point, plain and simple, and honestly, it wouldn’t be shocking in the slightest if CDPR chose to finally move on entirely from Cyberpunk 2077 and shift its full attention to future projects, of which it has quite a few in varying stages of production. But curiously enough, for the purposes of Update 2.2, CD Projekt RED partnered with Virtuos. An external team coming in to continue enhancing Cyberpunk 2077 while CDPR itself works on other projects wasn’t something that many had given much (or any) thought to, but now that we know that’s on the books, we can’t help but wonder whether we might see more patches for the game in the future coming courtesy of external partners.
The point, however, is that even if we don’t, Cyberpunk 2077 will have already gone above and beyond with- let’s call them its post-post-launch efforts. After already having garner widespread plaudits for its miraculous recovery and the excellent high it ended (or seemingly ended) things on with Phantom Liberty and Update 2.0 last year, the game has continued to expand and improve, even when we keep expecting it to be finally put to bed. We’re certainly not complaining, however- as we’ve learned with time, we (and millions of others) have developed a taste for coming back to Night City again and again and again.
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