As a CD project in January 2013 for the first time a teaser for “Cyberpunk 2077 “showed, PS4 and Xbox One were still” next-gen “. Almost eight years later, the action role-playing game is finally available – and somehow it still has to run on very old hardware that has now truly earned its retirement. User reports and performance measurements show: “Cyberpunk 2013” is hardly playable on Xbox One and Playstation 4, despite extreme graphics compromises. Because of the long development time and numerous release postponements, “Cyberpunk 2077 “ended up in an extremely unfavorable window: Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 have been available for a few weeks, but PS4 and Xbox One are still the most popular game consoles. The difference in performance between the two generations is enormous, and the balancing act is demanding. At least for the release he doesn’t succeed CD Projekt Red.

In community forums, on Reddit and on social media, the mood is under “Cyberpunk 2077 “- lousy buyers: Not only does the console version look old-fashioned on PS4 and Xbox One, it is also catastrophic – sometimes with less than 20 FPS: There are also numerous bugs that disrupt the game or can destroy entire quests. Numerous users also report regular crashes.

PS5 and Xbox Series X are running properly If you leave out the cloud services, you can play “Cyberpunk 2077” on eight different systems: PC, Xbox One, Xbox One X, PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Playstation 5. PC gamers at least have the option of tweaking the graphics settings – a technology analysis by heise online will follow. Console gamers do not have this option. You have to put up with the graphics and performance that CD Projekt delivers. First comparison videos and user reports show: The next-gen consoles Xbox Series X / S and PS5 can play “Cyberpunk 2077” solidly. They create comparatively high graphic details and even target fluid 60 images per second. Bugs and errors can also be found in these versions in abundance, but the basic performance is good.

Then there is PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, a kind of intermediate generation. With “Cyberpunk 2077” you already work up a sweat: Heise online could “Cyberpunk 2077 “on PS4 Pro. The game runs there with up to 20 FPS, especially in the open world, however, the frame rate drops significantly. The graphics on the PS4 Pro leave an ambivalent impression: The impressive design of the Night City game world comes into its own, but the low resolution makes the picture look a bit muddy – the 4K resolution is “Cyberpunk 2077 “here miles away, in addition, textures that load too late are repeatedly noticed. Frame rates below 30 FPS while driving are also only playable to a limited extent.

PS4 and Xbox One hardly playable It gets really bad on the PS4 and the Xbox One – the consoles that have a almost a year after the announcement of “Cyberpunk 2013” came onto the market. The experts at Digitalfoundry have already pre-buttoned the PS4 version of “Cyberpunk 2077”: The frame rate therefore constantly falls below the targeted 30 FPS, in action scenes Digitalfoundry even has frame rates below 20 Images measured per second. With such low frame rates, games are practically no longer playable

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Although the frame rate on the PS4 regularly drops, “Cyberpunk 2013 “doesn’t even look good. With dynamic resolutions, developers try to keep the frame rate stable. In demanding scenes, the resolution is automatically reduced to ensure a smoother gaming experience. According to the analysis by Digitalfoundry, the PS4 version reaches a maximum resolution of 900 p, sometimes the resolution is even noticeable 720 p. The result is a very muddy, blurry picture.

In addition, CD Projekt has reduced the level of detail on the PS4 and populates the streets of Night City with fewer NPCs. The skyscrapers, neon lights and mirror facades of the game world no longer really look beautiful. Despite all these tradeoffs, Cyberpunk 2013 on the PS4 is still bumpy, and buyers are angry. The picture shouldn’t look any better on the Xbox One – the Microsoft console is even a little weaker than the PS4.

Nebelkerzen from CD Projekt CD Projekt was in an ungrateful situation during development: To meet the enormous expectations of Next -General buyers and PC gamers alike, “Cyberpunk 2077” should be an absolute graphic hit. The older consoles fall victim to this ambition – a large majority of console owners still play on a PS4 or Xbox One. You were allowed to buy “Cyberpunk 2077” at full price, but you can only play with massive restrictions.

In this regard, the review process that CD Projekt Red implemented for “Cyberpunk 2077” is questionable. Before the release, the studio only issued PC test samples to the press. Typically, publishers let reviewers choose which version to test. PS4 and Xbox keys for Cyberpunk 2013 were not received by heise online and other media until the evening before the release day – too late to inform customers about the problems before sales start.

CD Projekt has a good reputation. The studio is known for providing long-term support for its titles and providing them with free additional content. It is likely that at least the “Cyberpunk 2013” bugs will be fixed in the coming months. How much leeway CD Projekt still has to tease more performance from outdated consoles for a game as detailed as “Cyberpunk 2077” remains wait and see – by then, owners of an Xbox One or PS4 will have bought a game that doesn’t really work.

(dahe)