In the Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.31 by CD PROJEKT RED, they went into day-one release, and the community instantly started digging through the changes. The patch was released for PC as well as for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Mac, even sorted investments for quality of life that the community has long campaigned for.
Well, what was it in this patch? The big things were improvements to AutoDrive and Photo Mode. Traffic handling is supposed to feel better now with AutoDrive–but some players are already complaining that it just skips traffic lights, unfairly against players who greatly enjoy role-playing as law-abiding citizens in Night City. Photo Mode improvements allow for a smoother process for capturing those perfect dystopian shots.
And naturally, this Cyberpunk update is being met with polarizing reactions. Time to pop some corn. User named Chloe Kennedy tweeted: “Mentally ready for another playthrough of this masterpiece,” while on the opposite end, DanielThePro29, “jokingly” expressed his delight: “the game will be fixed in 2040, gladly i didn’t start the playthrough yet.”
Then those were the modders. Updates always fuck up mods. bigdomsky again: “Mods fucked up again FFS.” A common refrain indeed. CDPR drops an update and modders fix their mods in a mad rush. _d1NS, however, was complaining that these new developers (since CDPR stepped away) keep adding features that break the game to the extent of causing stuttering, crashes, and collision issues.
Regarding those collisions, MaurimanSoza exclaimed, “No more NPC collision?! Yes!!!” Fewer things to worry about when hitting congested streets by car, though the real-world implications of this one still remain to be assessed.
On the other hand, Grande_Ben7 wasn’t impressed at all with this Photo Mode focus. “Im convinced this team they have been working on the game only knows how to do Photo Mode updates.” Then Yaboynosworc came next: “They’re obsessed with Photo mode, nobody cares about Photo mode updates. Do something useful like giving PSSR support.”
Listen, back to the update: It also deals with so many other burning issues that players have been experiencing, though the full details can be found in the patch notes that have been linked in the official Twitter account. Old problems that have really been on players’ minds for way too long keep being asked about, such as the neck/shoulder/chest seam break on Xbox Series X, as robesmith72 points out, which has been an issue for more than two years. While BennyBooker23 asks about unlocked frame rate VRR on Series X.
Albeit the reactions remain too mixed, the CDPR developer continues to stand for the support of Cyberpunk 2077, even after quite a few years post-release with a very controversial launch. Cooffeeeeeeee showed that gratitude: “Excellent news 👏 thank you very much for even more q.o.l. improvements! I still have yet to finish my first play through of the main story then i got phantom liberty to play through lol 😊 thanks again for this game and the continued support for it 🙏 keep up the amazing work😊”
And those for now wishing for more content: Pablo473722 was much blunt-er: “Excellent, now create or license someone to produce more content.” This sentiment reminds quite a few who have already put hundreds into Night City and are eagerly waiting for new adventures.
Another snippet of conversation was sparked by the update, when mrRoman_UA asked, “ps5 pro patch?” Given the recent releases, that really sounds like a natural question. And, of course, the rollout including Nintendo Switch 2 is exceedingly intriguing, hinting at a prospective support for the supposed next-gen console.
Overall, patch 2.31 is yet another step toward the continuing redemption arc of Cyberpunk 2077. It very much has its imperfections, both because it has its own critics, but they all stand as a reminder that CDPR has actually taken note of every bit of feedback and tried to work on them. Whether that will pull a few lapsed players back to action or shore up the hardcore modding community is for the players to decide, at least as of now, however, Night City certainly looks a lot better than it did yesterday.
This might be the perfect time to fire up Cyberpunk again and take AutoDrive for a spin and see if collisions are actually fixed if you think about it. Do back up your mods, though!
