Whether you believe Cyberpunk 2077 to be a disappointment or not, there’s no doubt that it needs a lot of additional work. Bug fixes and different features are a given but there are numerous quality of life improvements that should be implemented. Without further ado, let’s highlight 15 of them here.
UI Text Scaling
Scaling exists for subtitles but not for text in the menus. Considering all of the loot earned and their descriptions along with Shards and their lore, it’s a huge inconvenience trying to read the small text. UI scaling this would make things a lot more easy on the eyes, especially for people with visual impairment.
Sliders for Body Customization
Of all the things that you can – and can’t – customize in Cyberpunk 2077, there are no sliders for one’s height or weight. V is still visible in certain instances, like mirrors and specific cutscenes, so being able to customize them in other ways would be great. It may not seem like much but this is supposed to be a role-playing game – any additional bit of immersion works.
Changing Appearance
In The Witcher 3, it made sense to not allow changing Geralt’s face or body structure since he’s a static character. But if you can create your own V in Cyberpunk 2077, why can’t you change their appearance later on? Isn’t this the future where extensive body customization is possible? Even if CD Projekt RED can’t offer this option, it would still be nice to change one’s hairstyle (unless barbers were the first casualty of the Fourth Corporate War).
Buffing Weapon Attachments
Weapon attachments and customization in general needs some big improvements. There are scopes that provide 0.02 less ADS time or 0.58 additional range. These numbers need to be significantly bumped up while more different types of attachments are also needed like grips, magazines and muzzles.
Transmog
As soon as Cyberpunk’s armor system was revealed, the first concern was whether stats would be tied to clothing. Sure enough, you often have to mix and match several pieces of clothing to get the best bonuses. Considering how important style apparently is in Night City, not to mention the cosmetic freedom one yearns for in an RPG, having a transmog system to separate fashion from stats is paramount. Also on that note – a “Hide Headgear” option for those who want to gaze upon V’s glorious mug is also a must.
Previewing Armor and Weapons
When purchasing either clothes or weaponry, it’d be nice to preview them beforehand. Just seeing the look of something beforehand is a no-brainer, especially considering the number of other open world games that achieved this without issue.
Loot and Junk Dismantle Settings
There’s a perk in the Tech tree called Scrapper and it will automatically dismantle any junk that the player picks up. Forget for a second that it also dismantles any valuable junk, robbing you of lots of potential cash – it shouldn’t even be a perk in the first place. In a loot-focused game like this, players should have the ability to mark different items as junk based on their rarity. Different types of junk should also be properly segregated based on their value. And finally, there should be an option to mark specific loot and items for sale or to dismantle right away. This would smooth out the loot grind quite a bit and help in managing one’s inventory as well.
Theft Mechanics
In the future, everything apparently is free for the taking. It would be nice to have some actual theft mechanics, whether it’s stealing money from NPCs or being able to steal foes’ weapons during a fight. If nothing else, it would provide some more options for both role-playing and combat, perhaps even some funny situations when stealing from NPCs in the open world.
Respec Attributes
While you can respec perks using a specific item, it’s insanely expensive at 100,000 Eurodollars. Not only does the cost of this need to be reduced but there should also be a way to respec attributes. Right now, if you’re unhappy with a specific set of attributes, then you need to start a new campaign. If deep customization and freedom of choice is a thing, then respeccing attributes should be allowed.
Journal Changes
Even before launch, some previews called out the Journal as being a mess. Everything is dumped into one place; you don’t really have a sense of which quests reward what in terms of XP or Street Cred; and the danger levels are annoyingly ambiguous in terms of threats and required level. Streamlining and providing more clarity for quests is a good first step to cleaning up the Journal.
Cleaner Backpack
The backpack provides an overview of all the different items currently in your inventory. There are options for filtering between weapons, attachments, mods, consumables and so on. However, upon first opening the backpack, you’ll notice that your equipped items are randomly scattered about and not, say, arranged close together near the top left or something. It’s an annoyance, especially when trying to quickly sell items and avoiding your equipped gear.
Crafting Changes
The sheer amount of random loot you get makes crafting redundant (especially when you must invest a significant amount into perks for crafting higher weapon rarities). Crafting and upgrade costs are also way too high in the upper tiers, further pushing you to rely on random drops. Also, are Blue Medkits supposed to give you so many more crafting materials after dismantling compared to how much they cost to make? It’s just a mess all around.
Ignoring Calls
When someone calls you, you should have the option to ignore their phone call. Plain and simple. Automatically answering calls, especially when other dialogue is playing results in a jumbled mess of words. Give players the option to look at missed calls and then dial the person back. Also, provide an option to make all calls silent, in case the player wants to roam the landscape without being phoned up every few minutes.
Road Indicators While Driving
The minimap could use more zoom levels so that you can see upcoming turns better while driving. But why not also add indicators on the actual roads? Guiding lines like in Forza Horizon 4 which indicate the best time to brake before making a turn (based on your speed) would be great and make navigation that much smoother.
Rebinding Keys
While there are options for rebinding keys, certain ones – like opening the main menu or going straight to the inventory – can’t be changed. So you can’t change “I” to go straight to your inventory instead of “O.” You’ll also need to fumble for a bit to learn that “P” goes straight to the character screen with the perk trees while “K” is for opening the crafting menu. In short, full rebinding for all keys should be a thing at some point.