Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition Review: All-Time Great RPG NOW ON MAC

Price when reviewed

£ 69.99

Best prices today: Cyberpunk 2077 (Mac)

Steam (Base Edition)

£ 49.99

MAC App Store (Ultimate Edition)

£ 69.99

Cyberpunk 2077 had a famous troubled launch back in 2020 – the game received good reviews, but was plagued by a series of errors and technical errors. However, the developers at CD Project Red did not give up and issued a number of updates over the next few years that had most of the game’s technical problems. The Phantom Liberty extension in 2023 finally allowed the game to achieve its true potential, and Cyberpunk 2077 sold more than 30 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games of all time.

Now CD Project Red has made cyberpunk: 2077 available to Mac – in the App Store, Steam and Epic Games Store – what could possibly be the biggest gaming launch ever for Mac.

The Mac version costs a rather fierce $ 82.90/£ 69.99 when purchased in the Mac App Store, but it is for the ultimate version that includes both the original game and Phantom Liberty Expansion. However, the game is also available at Steam, GOG and other online stores where you can buy the base game for about $ 60/£ 50 or pay $ 83/£ 69 for the ultimate edition. And fortunately, people who already own the PC version of the game on Steam or GOG can also download the Mac version, without having to buy it separately.

As the name suggests, the game is set in the year 2077 and takes place in Night City – “A Megalopolis, possessed by power, glamor and body modification”. Night City is clearly inspired by Blade Runner, Night City A party for the eyes, all neon lights, dingy spinal cords and smoky bars. The first-person point of view initially suggests that Cyberpunk is a relatively straightforward FPS shot, but it is actually a deep and challenging role-playing game, and it’s great to see an RPG that is bold enough to step into the future rather than just rely on the tired old fantasy clichés of Dungeons and Dragons.

Your character – there may be man or female – is a hacker that is simply known as V, and you start the game by choosing one of three ‘LifePaths’ that fills V’s background. You can allocate experience points to attributes such as intelligence, reflexes, technical ability and ‘cool’, with each attribute that gives you access to different skills that you can develop throughout the game. And of course, there are plenty of body changes and upgrades that you can also collect along the way.

Foundry

It is a shame that there is no preset character that builds to help you get started, so you can end up restarting the game a few times before sitting down on a character that suits you. However, the opening section of the game acts as a tutorial that introduces the most important controls, and the futuristic setting means that V can use a VR simulation in the game as a kind of tutorial-in-one tutorial that helps you get started with combat, stealth and computer hacking skills.

The main game starts when V is sent on a mission to steal a prototype chip called relic, but then ends up with the relic implanted inside his own head instead. And it turns out that the chip is hiding the digital personality of a dead anti-corporate Rockstar called Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves). It may sound kind of cool that shares your noggin with Keanu Reeves, but Johnny will soon start taking over, forcing you to find a way to save your own personality before it is also overwritten and replaced by Johnny (there is also a guest appearance from Idris Elb in Phantom Liberty Expansion too).

In addition to this most important search, Night City even gives a huge open world that you can explore along the way. It has a great sense of atmosphere and you can visit various districts, such as the coastal town of Pacifica or the criminal-raised Dogtown. There is a varied role crew of characters that you can meet – and sometimes romance – and lots of jobs that you can pick up to pay for a few upgrades and changes, or maybe pamper yourself with a new car.

There are few games on Mac that create the same sense of freedom as you explore Night City’s world, and you can spend hours just exploring before deciding to tackle the main task. Not surprisingly, the action can be pretty violent and there is also plenty of bad language, so Cyberpunk 2077 is certainly not suitable for younger players.

The team on CD project Red recently introduced updates to Witcher 1 and 2 running on Apple Silicon, and they have also done a good job with the Mac version of Cyberpunk 2077. They say it runs even on MACs with a basic M1 processor -although the bad news is that you need MacOS 15.5 and at least 16 GB of hell of it Support for Intel Macs).

Foundry

The game includes presets that adjust graphics settings for different MAC models, and there are some useful support pages for the Mac version at support.cdprojektred.com which will help you get the best performance from the game. I got a steady 40FPS when I ran the game at 1,920 x1,200 resolution on my MacBook Pro with an M2 Pro Chip so you don’t need the latest, fastest Mac models to get good performance.

Should you buy Cyberpunk 2077

It’s expensive, but Cyberpunk 2077 creates an atmospheric and exciting futuristic world for you to explore. Whether you hang out with Keanu Reeves, tackle page views or collect smart cars, there are all kinds of activities that keep you busy. The various skills and abilities you can learn will even keep Die-Hard RPG fans busy in weeks-and there is not a dragon in sight.

Foundry